The Killing Season 3 Finale Review: After a strong start, ‘The Killing’ ends its third season with a preposterously stupid climax with the 2 parter ‘From Up Here’ and ‘The Road To Hamelin’.
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SPOILER ALERT: Make sure you watch the finale before reading! You’ve been warned.
Oh ‘The Killing’, what am I going to do with you? Each season you start off strong, but consistency is not your strong suit. After championing you recently as a terrific, underrated show, I may have to retract this statement.
After a terrific build, the 2 hour Season 3 finale ‘From Up Here’ and ‘The Road To Hamelin’, committed the cardinal sin of whodunit reveals; a character who set off no glaring red flags during the entire season, turns out to be the real Pied Piper killer. Cheaters.
But first, a brief recap: last episode we learned definitively that neither Ray Seward nor Joe Mills was the killer.
At the beginning of the finale, Linden is greeted at her home by Lieutenant Skinner. he informs her that he’s leaving his wife. This leads into a romantic moment. He mentions that perhaps its just their destiny to be alone, given the all-consuming nature of their work. Given this was a view shared by Linden at the season’s beginning when she dumped her recent boyfriend, her rebuttal that they could be happy together seemed completely illogical. A sign of things to come.
Holder also reunites with his ex, apologizing for shutting her out of his life in the last episode. In a refreshing break from cop show clichés, they share a healing, restorative moment. It feels good to see Holder happy.
it also appeared that Frances Becker, the weird prison guard who was fixated on the recently executed Seward, might still warrant being a suspect. He’s retiring from his position due to its toll on his family. But he’s a red herring, as all of his angst toward for Ray Seward was left hanging (excuse the pun), with no resolution or explanation. Okay…
Holder and Linden are about to resign themselves from this unresolved case…until a lead turns up. A badly burned corpse with a severed finger. They identify the body as missing victim Angie Gowers.
Holder deduces that the Pied Piper would have to be a cop, given he knew information that was never leaked to the public. And the living victims all said that the killer would watch them in the rear view mirror of his car. Just like a cop eyeing a perp in a squad car.
He suspects his former partner Reddick. After all, he had spoken to Bullet shortly before her murder.
When they question the father of one of the earliest victims, Brigitte Delahanty, Holder sees a picture of Reddick with Delahanty. Turns out he was her neighbor and worked with her on a junior officers program.
Later Linden goes out to the body dump site. Turns out it was within clear view of Adrian Seward’s treehouse. She deduces that the killer and the boy made eye contact.
Shortly afterwards Holder is later yanked off the case by Internal Affairs. This puts Holder and Linden at a big disadvantage. Adrian is missing, which they believe is due to the killer tieing up loose ends.
Linden calls Skinner frantically, asking him to get IAD off Holder’s back, so he can get back on the case. When he wont answer she goes to his home, which turns out to be bad timing. His wife and daughter show up, leading to an awkward moment for all.
But then we see Linden’s eyes widen with horror; Skinner’s daughter is wearing a ring that looks just like the one missing from victim Kallie Leeds, whose body’s still missing.
She then holds Skinner at gunpoint. Yep, he’s the killer!
Why?!? How would a detective as skilled as Linden not pick up on something being off about her lover/boss?
And why would he be so stupid as to let his daughter wear jewelry from a victim? And WHY, wouldn’t Adrian have figured out that the same cop who worked with Linden, and who arrested his Dad, was also the killer? He did have a good view of the dumping ground correct? WTF????
And wouldn’t Bullet have a left this important detail on Holder’s voicemail, since she said she knew who the killer was? Don’t you think that might have been helpful to the case? While I found her character annoying, she didn’t seem the type to hold back. Seriously. C’mon!
So Linden tells Skinner to get in the car and take him to Adrian, who he claims is still alive.
On the way up, he explains why he killed all the girls; the power he got from seeing them die, his feeling that he was taking out human trash who were just suffering and were better off dead anyway.
Again, this lacked urgency and dramatic heft. Elias Koteas is a wonderful actor, but even he couldn’t make this dialogue and big reveal plausible or rewarding for the audience.
Meanwhile, Holder is rescued by Reddick, who tells them he never pressed charges in the first place. Turns out it was Skinner who wanted Holder off his back. Holder thanks Reddick for springing him, and Reddick replies by punching Holder out to even the score. But they agree to work together to find Adrian and Linden.
Linden and Skinner arrive at the spot where he tells her the boy is being held. But then he admits he lied and that the boy had been in the trunk the whole time.
I swear, I’m getting tired writing this, given my annoyance with the subject. But turns out the boy isn’t in the truck at all! He’s visiting his Mom’s grave.
Skinner just wanted to get Linden all riled up, and so hateful, that she would kill him, and put him out of his misery.
Now for a cop with such a strong moral code, who had just seen an innocent man hang, and who hasn’t yet found Kallie’s body, don’t you think Linden would realize they need him alive, so they can put all the pieces together, and put his ass away the smart way? Nope! She shoots him dead. Holder arrives, screaming, knowing that her career is over, and she’ll now face severe repercussions for killing an unarmed suspect.
So yep, a big, stupid, completely illogical reveal. I don’t care how the show wants to spin that into a plausible outcome, it just doesn’t fly.
‘The Killing’ is a stylish, wonderfully acted show. It has moments of great suspense and character, but it simply doesn’t get how to resolve a mystery. I guess I’ll just stick to Sherlock.
I don’t think I can go another round with this show. ‘The Killing’, you are dead to me. Hopefully AMC will get a police procedural right with the promising Low Winter Sun.
So that’s my take. Did you like The Killing Season 3 finale? Do you think I’m being too harsh with ‘From Up Here’, and ‘The Road To Hamelin’? Or do you agree that this was an aggressive cheat that made this whole season go belly up? Comment below.