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The Killing: I'll Let You Know When I Get There

“I thought it was the menopause, it was Belko.”

I don't know why so many fictional detectives even bother doing any sort of detecting. 90% of the time it's happenstance, rather than investigation, that ultimately solves the case. Why bother going through all the hassle of pursuing leads and interviewing suspects when all you have to do is go for a nice morning jog.

Had Linden decided to take a different route then she never would've discovered that 'Adela' was not a person but in fact a local ferry (although I'm sure a Google search could've told her the same thing). Now she's on her way to One-Eyed Jack's the Wapi Eagle Casino where, hopefully, she'll find the answers that she seeks. If not, she can always waste a few hours on the slot machines before catching the last ferry home.

The Investigation

Not letting the whole Bennet fiasco get them down, Linden and Holder got their respective backsides in gear and started to do some basic detective work. Hard to believe that these so-called experienced detective have waited ten days before even bothering to establish a freakin' timeline. I like these two but they should thank sweet zombie Jesus that Jane Tennison isn't their boss. She'd skin them both alive for that.

With Bennet cleared (and on life support) their focus shifted onto Belko, AKA Rat Boy.

Oh, poor, pathetic Belko. All the guy wants is to be part of a loving and happy family. A family just like the one in that disturbing ceiling collage of his (has he never heard of photo albums?). And after meeting his cat hating, lingerie loving mother (he calls her Bev), I don't really blame him. That woman is a walking Oedipus complex. Yeah, he's a bit of creep but he isn't a killer. After one rather terrific interrogation scene he was quickly eliminated as a suspect.

I really loved Linden and Holder during that scene. They might be tardy when it comes to establishing timelines but they do make for an effective interrogation team. For the most part, Holder just stood back and let Linden work. She managed to break Belko down without once losing her calm, stoic exterior. By the end of it all, as she started tenderly stroking his hair, Belko was practically a kid again, worried about getting into trouble, begging them not to tell on him.

Makes me wonder why they never stuck Bennet in the box.

She might be on form at work but Linden's personal life continues to deteriorate. None of this is really that surprising. She's a TV detective, her home life is supposed to be a complete disaster. It seems to be a law that no television writer (regardless of nationality) seems either willing or able to break. So Jack continues to act out. Leaking crime scene photos clearly wasn't clichéd enough for him so he reverted to that old classic - drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. He's such a tool.

The Cylon even briefly returned to give Sarah a final ultimatum about Sonoma. He also gave us, the audience, more cryptic exposition about Linden's past. Turns out she was in the hospital at some point, staring at blank walls. Did her obsession with the previous case, the one with the kid we've heard so little about, finally drive her to have a nervous breakdown? That would explain what Reggie meant a few episodes back about Linden almost losing custody of her son.

The Larsen Family

Stan and Mitch were mostly background players in this episode. He went off to jail for nearly killing Bennet while she started worrying about their finances (makes a change from brooding in Rosie's room).

This is all pure speculation but I'm convinced that Aunt Terry is somehow connected to Rosie's murder. I'm likely completely wrong about this, but I guessed right about River Song so I'm feeling smugly confident right now. That talk she had with the boys, about how “sometimes you do what you think is right, it end ups being wrong”, could've just as easily been about her instead of Stan. I actually thought we were going to find out that she, not Belko, was the one who was in the Larsen home that night, along with Jasper's dad. After all, why would they bother to set something like that up if they were not going to develop it later on?

The Richmond Campaign (Yeah, it's back. I know, I was as surprised as you all are.)

BY THE GREAT PARROT OF HADES! Something relevant to the investigation has finally happened. And we have Valerie (she hates Val) to thank for it. Her dogged investigating appears to have uncovered vital (possibly incriminating) video evidence that Darren might have known Rosie. Or, at least, shook her hand during a campaign rally. That was major revelation and yet the moment was oddly underplayed. You'd expect something like that would be saved for an end of episode cliff-hanger, not dished out offhandedly in the middle of the episode.

Notes and Quotes

--Jumperwatch: We seem to be going through the turtleneck section of Linden's wardrobe. This week she traded grey for brown.

--On a slightly related topic, Holder seems to have finally changed his hoodie.

--I'm really worried that Wookie isn't resting. Can the Larsen's handle another death in the family?

--Considering how much media attention Rosie's murder has generated I'm surprised that cab driver didn't come forward earlier. I'm certain Bennet would've appreciated it if he had.

--Seems I can't watch any show nowadays without someone being cruel to animals. First The Shadow Line, then Game of Thrones and now The Killing.

Holder: “Come on, Linden, it's almost midnight. You can be all anal tomorrow.”

Holder: “Larsen and his rat boy sidekick were mobbed up for years. From Larsen's performance last night I'm guessing he was a pretty badass bag man thirty pounds ago.”

Holder: “Larsen associate with the old crowd, got any enemies?
Belko: “No, family's everything to him, would do nothing to mess with that.”
Holder: “Too bad he forgot about that last night when the kicked the piss out of that teacher.”

Terry: “Its not that I think he's a pervert or something. He's just weird. Like he don't have a personality. Kinda like this table.”

Holder: “You call your mom Bev?”
Belko: “That's her name.”

Linden: “We were at your house earlier, Belko. Met your mother.”
Belko: “Yeah.”
Linden: “She's a different sort of person, huh?
Belko: “Yeah.”
Linden: “Seventy years old. Sure hope I look that good in lingerie.”
---
Mark Greig has been writing for Doux Reviews since 2011. More Mark Greig.

3 comments:

  1. This was the first episode that made me warm just a bit to Linden. That's a little sad, considering that it's episode ten. And since it's episode ten, I was wondering if they just set up Auntie as yet another red herring?

    Drinking bear and smoking cigarettes? I don't remember the bear. :)

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  2. The bear's sudden appearances was a bit of a blink and you'll miss it cameo. :)

    This late in the game it is harder to guess who is a red herring and who isn't. My current method for guessing is that once the story starts hinting at one person and I automatically think it has to be someone else. Right now, with the discover of that video, they seem to be setting Darren up as the latest red herring.

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  3. I honestly didn't think the handshake was a big deal. Bennett was her teacher and introduced her to a place working on the Richmond campaign. It's perfectly logical that Darren could have shaken her hand at an event and not remembered her at all. I can't imagine how many supporter hands he shakes at those things. Strikes me as a big red herring.

    Which probably means that it is a bigger deal than it seems.

    Mark, ceiling collages are much better for indulging your fantasies as you fall asleep. I'm sure Belko's fantasy family sent him off to many nights of happy dreams. Holding a photo album up over your head is a lot harder on the arms.

    A bear, huh? I guess I should have been paying closer attention instead of doing yoga while the show was on last week. Change of plans tonight!

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