Saturday, April 7, 2012

The Killing :: First Thoughts :: Night 13

A Matter of Trust

Mireille Enos as Sarah Linden and Joel Kinnaman as Stephen Holder on The Killing
Poor Linden. Right now, our obsessed detective distrusts both her lieutenant and her partner. The audience knows that she is mistaken about Holder. So is she wrong about Lieutenant Oakes too? Is he not really part of a conspiracy to hide Rosie's real killer? Can we explain his behavior as Big Daddy concern for Sarah's mental health?

And if she's wrong to distrust her colleagues in the police department, is she also erring in the confidence she has for Dep. Attorney Niilsen, her friend in the DA's office? Some of us recognize that Niilsen is Sophie Gråbøl, the original Sara Lund of the Danish Forbrydelsen. Have we mistakenly transfered Lund's trustworthiness to Niilsen, throwing ourselves off track yet again?

Special Message for Linden

Look, girlfriend, if you can lock eyes with a crab fisherman and know in your creepy hoodoo way that he has the explanation for Richmond's wet clothes the night of Rosie's death, then you can also hear the sincerity in Holder's voice and realize he's your ally, not your enemy.

And when the photo of the tattooed arm spills out onto your motel bed, you might want to note that son Jack is reading Japanese manga and can identify the character for you!

Really?

Mireille Enos as Sarah Linden and Sophie Grabol as Christina Niilsen
Yo, AMC! You manage to score the original Sara Lund for your version of The Killing. We get that great moment in the parking garage when two actresses who play the same role on different continents face off, like some weird transporter accident from Star Trek. But this photo is the best you have for us? And you don't even note who the shadowy figure on the right is? For shame! Why don't we get to see Gråbøl's face too?

I wonder if the Danes have flown out Mireille Enos for a cameo on the new season of Forbrydelsen?

Rhinestones and Butterflies

The best piece of evidence that Rosie isn't a prostitute is the book bag her "killer" left on the Larsen front steps.

Women who sell their bodies to high-end clients at night do not carry pink knapsacks bedecked with peace buttons by day. Some of the sophistication required for the casino job would have carried over to the typical teen hours of Rosie's life, something that we don't see here.

Sure, I didn't own a hot pink lace bra at seventeen, but back in the day, we didn't have Victoria's Secret in every shopping mall, either, so I don't find the underwear choice all that sophisticated.

The Most Telling Line of the Evening

Oh, Terry. We already suspected that the family couldn't really count on you. So when you tell Stan that he is "all the boys have right now," we thank you for confirming that fact with your Freudian slip!

Hide the Sharp Pieces of Jewelry

I understand why Stan returns to Janek Kovarsky to ask for mob justice for Rosie's death. Stan's life is in dizzying disarray: He's lost his daughter in an especially gruesome murder. Mitch, his support at home, and Belko, his sidekick at work, are both gone—Belko in a death just as senseless and horrifying as Rosie's. And the cops, from Stan's perspective at least, are imbeciles.

But I am too skool'd in the ancients not to recognize that this request might call down even more harm on the Larsen family. Didn't Oedipus demand that the citizens of Thebes drive away the man whose pollution had sickened the city, not realizing that he himself had spawned the plague? Doesn't the seer Teiresias warn Oedipus that the king has eyes which do not see?

I don't think for one minute that Stan murdered Rosie, not even inadvertently. But I do worry that in fulfilling Stan's request, Janek will put something in motion that will annihilate the family. I so don't need a character to go Jocasta and end up hanged from the rafters.

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