Article first published as THE KILLING Review Season 4 on Seat42F.
THE KILLING, which ran for three seasons
on AMC and has been canceled twice before, returns for an abbreviated
fourth, and most likely (though one can never say for sure with this
show) final, season this week on Netflix. Picking up moments after
season three left off, the six hour-long episodes remaining seek to both
solve a new case and deal with the aftermath of the previous year’s
cliffhanger.
Lest you have forgotten, as year three
concludes, Linden (Mireille Enos) shoots her boss and former lover /
partner, James Skinner (Elias Koteas), who ends up being the serial
killer she is hunting, twice, despite the fact that he is unarmed and
kneeling before her. Holder (Joel Kinnaman), a witness to at least the
second bullet, freaks out, knowing there is no way for Linden to claim
self-defense. Fearing she is about to be locked up, season four’s
premiere has Holder scrambling to cover for Linden, who is still in
shock, and thus not protecting herself as she should be.
This begins with our characters in a
precarious position. As the day after unfolds, it becomes clear very
quickly that there are loose ends the detectives might miss. Try as they
might to hide the truth, it seems likely that Skinner’s murder will
eventually come out. We’re left wondering if both Linden and Holder will
go down, as well as what punishment they might face. Could their
actions be justified, given the circumstances, or could fate intervene
and protect them, even as the body surfaces?
My instinct is to say that yes, things
will work out all right. THE KILLING is a dark, depressing show, and not
everyone makes it out alive. However, Linden and Holder are the glue
between the seasons. They are also the good guys who give up everything
in order to find justice. They deserve to get away with this. Fans will
root for them to stay hidden.
That being said, I could see a twist at
the end of the series where Linden dies in a blaze of glory, her son
living far away, and she really having nothing left to lose. She’s
always had a bit of a martyr complex, so why not make it official? I
suspect a better prediction can be made after meeting Linden’s mother
(Frances Fisher, Resurrection), though, whom abandoned her as a child,
as that will surely help set Linden’s momentum.
Holder, on the other hand, has plenty to
live for. He has his romance with Caroline (Jewel Staite). He also gets
some surprising news in the season four premiere that will make it even
harder to see him go down. Plus, now that the air has been cleared
between them, on even footing since both got a punch in, Holder’s
friendship with Reddick (Gregg Henry, promoted to full-time) seems to be
sticking. So I think Holder is safe, successfully having turned his
life around and found his purpose, even without Linden around. But we’ll
see.
I don’t think Holder and Linden will end
THE KILLING as a romantic couple. There is a moment in season three
where it could happen between them and it doesn’t. There really hasn’t
been anything else to point them in that direction since, nor is there
in the first episode back, so it would feel forced to go there at this
point. That’s fine. Too many shows led by an opposite sex pairing feel
obligated to turn the emotional bond into something involving sex.
Sometimes, it’s fine if it doesn’t, especially if one or the other can
find happiness with someone else.
Now, despite all the character
development and furthering of existing arcs, season four has its own
case to investigate. Our duo are led to a crime scene where a family has
been brutally slaughtered and the evidence points to the surviving son
(Tyler Ross, Zombieland), whom a bullet grazed in the head, and who is
suffering memory loss. There are a number of pieces of evidence that
don’t add up, including some strangely severed piano wires, so it’s
uncertain if the kid is guilty, making for another juicy mystery.
Does season four need this sort of
murder to look into? After all, the show has always been best when
dwelling on the pathos of the players, and this could be done with
Linden’s deed. But instead, the writers decide to squeeze one more bit
of police work out of our leads. On one hand, they do have a job to do
so it makes sense for them to keep doing it. On the other, with a scant
six hours left (granted, all six installments are likely to be ten to
fifteen minutes longer than in previous seasons), one might wish for a
focus on the principals more than new stars, with Joan Allen (Luck),
Sterling Beaumon (Red Widow), and Levi Meaden (The 100) joining Ross
among the fresh cast. Ah, well. The decision has been made, so no sense
dwelling on it now.
In all, THE KILLING delivers a
relatively intense, very compelling fourth season premiere. It’ll be
interesting to see how creator Veena Sud chooses to wrap it up.
All six episodes of THE KILLING’s final season will be available on Netflix beginning this Friday, August 1st.
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