THE KILLING Returns From the Dead... Again

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 1^st.

CHICAGO PD Rescues Crime Genre From Procedural

Article first published as CHICAGO P.D. Review on Seat42F.

For those of you who read my reviews even semi-regularly, you likely know that I am against procedural dramas, and have often railed at the overstuffed crime genre. So it may surprise you to learn that I enjoy NBC’s CHICAGO P.D. A lot, and am looking forward to watching it on a regular basis.

CHICAGO P.D. is a spin-off of Chicago Fire, and features several recurring characters from the mother ship, now in a main cast member role. Sergeant Hank Voight (Jason Behge), Detective Antonio Dawson (Jon Seda), and Detective Jay Halstead (Jesse Lee Soffer) are already very familiar to viewers, having appeared in sizable arcs and many installments. Other cops that were in Chicago Fire only once or twice are included, too, although not every police officer in that series is in CHICAGO PD. In fact, some people set up for this spin-off are no longer involved, which one doesn’t really notice because the cast that is present is full and enjoyable.

Besides those mentioned above, the pilot introduces us to Detective Erin Lindsay (Sophia Bush, One Tree Hill), who has a past with Voight, Adam Ruzak (Patrick John Flueger, The 4400), an eager newcomer, Alvin Olinsky (Elias Koteas, The Killing), who can get things done, Officer Kim Burgess (Marina Squerciati, Gossip Girl), who may not be as much of a pushover as she first seems, Sheldon Jin (Archie Kao, CSI), the tech guy, and others.

Like Chicago Fire, CHICAGO P.D. is must more focused on the characters than the crimes, which is the key thing that sets it apart from its peers, and the main reason I am tuning in. The first episode immediately sets about fleshing out all of the people above (plus other characters), giving them varied personalities and backgrounds. These should clash in interesting ways as the series goes on.

CHICAGO P.D. is not quite a soapy as Chicago Fire (which my wife fittingly refers to as Grey’s Anatomy: Firefighter Style). In the initial hour, there is a major crime lord who the good guys are after. But while he is being hunted, there are lots of great interactions between characters, setting up the overall dynamic, and these overwhelm connecting clues in screen time. It’s this mixture that is so important to making the show interesting.

The Intelligence team is bound to be one rife with drama. We know Voight crosses the line a lot, and may just be evil. Even if you haven’t watched Chicago Fire, that much is evident right away. And we know Antonio is a good guy, someone concerned with what is right, and a man who is not afraid to stand up to those who are selfish or crooked. Add a bunch of other ingredients to the mix, and it’s unlikely the main group will be stagnant, as is often the case in other cop shows.

There’s also an incredibly cool twist late in the episode that kind of sets the tone of what CHICAGO P.D. will be. It is a similar plot device to what Chicago Fire had in its pilot, but carried out in a different manner to make an even bigger impact, and one sure to have lasting consequences. In fact, I dare predict that this show will have many long arcs, and a criminal will not be brought to justice every week. At least, that’s the hope, and the early signs are good.

If you are a Chicago Fire fan, the connections are present very strongly in the pilot, which should help CHICAGO P.D. retain the same audience, at minimum. Gabriela (Monica Raymund) is there, of course, being Antonio’s sister, but so are Shay (Lauren German), Otis (Yuri Sardarov), and Hermann (David Eigenberg), as well as Molly’s, the bar. I hope more of these cross overs occur frequently, since both series are set in the same place and time, giving more opportunity for such things than other spin-offs usually have.

In short, the first hour is excellent. It’s got enticing performances, a terrific cast, and an interesting story, with hints of good things to come. CHICAGO P.D. premieres Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.