“Does this remind you about what happened to your wife?” – Reporter
One of the benefits of telling a single, long-form story over the course of a season is that we get to follow narrative trails further away from the center of the action. If done properly, these trails and tangents should come back together at some point and make the experience a richer one for having followed them. The problem is once you start heading away from the crux of the story (in this case Rosie’s murder), it can be easy to get bogged down and lost.
In “El Diablo,” we spend a significant amount (read: too much) of time on the political angle and not a whole lot of time with the Larsens. I’ll tell you what, there had better be a major payoff with all of this Darren Richmond (Bill Campbell) wheeling and dealing. I’m really worried, though. I can’t imagine that Darren is the killer; that is way too easy. So if he isn’t the killer, is he covering for the killer? It doesn’t seem like it. Is one of his staffers the killer and he is oblivious to it? I dunno, I guess it’s possible.
But isn’t it also possible that the killer simply unknowingly stole a car belonging to a public figure? If this is the case, all of the political maneuvering we are watching (which has been relatively boring, by the way) is just filler. After all, the show is called The Killing, not The Campaign. If you want to watch a show that weaves a mayoral campaign into a larger story, take the time you were going to spend on The Killing and watch Season Four of The Wire instead. You’ll thank me.
Most of the Richmond stuff centers around his struggle to keep the powerful union organizer Ruth Yitanes’ (Lee Garlington) endorsement. Her endorsement is jeopardized when the story about Darren’s connection to the Rosie murder hits the papers. Darren is furious at the police department, who he suspects leaked the news to the press. However, he soon discovers that the mole is actually someone from his own camp. His private investigator uncovers an email from his assistant or campaign manager or whoever Betty Draper’s brother is that confirms his suspicions. Richmond jettisons Jamie (Eric Ladin) from his headquarters, but not before Jamie gives Darren the idea that could save his campaign.
On the investigation side of things, Sarah and Holden chase down a false lead, then hone in on a new piece of evidence that could blow the case wide open. Down in “The Cage” the detectives discover a peephole in the wall, which leads them to the door of the school janitor, a man who would rather hurl himself out a window than talk to the police. As it turns out, the janitor is not a murderer, just a pervert. He does point them in the direction of Kris Echols, a friend of Rosie’s boyfriend Jasper, who the janitor saw with Rosie on the night of the murder.
“El Diablo” ends with the discovery of a video on Jasper’s cell phone that shows Kris and Jasper taking turns with Rosie on the filthy mattress in The Cage. Dun, dun, duuun….
Other thoughts:
- There was precious little of the Larsens’ this week, which is a shame given the strength of the performances turned in last week by Forbes and Sexton. What we did get was pretty gripping stuff; a quiet moment of Stan sobbing to himself in the rain, a scary scene of Mitch submerged in a bathtub simulating her daughter’s watery death. The scene that stood out the most, of course, was the one when Stan made chocolate chip pancakes with his son. These moments of a family attempting to deal with the ultimate tragedy are infinitely more interesting that the machinations of a political campaign.
- Early on in the episode, Sarah’s boss forces her to work the case until the end of the week. She protests, pretty weakly. The Killing would be better served to just have her decide to see the investigation through to the end so we don’t have to sit through a scene like this in every episode to remind us why she isn’t in Sonoma with her fiancé
- What’s the story with the Reggie woman who lives on a boat? Why are they playing peek-a-boo with her and not telling us what her relationship to Sarah is?
- Holden uses the same “smoking a joint routine” he employed in the first episode. I was really wondering how a cop is able to smoke weed all the time and remain on the force, but he explains it by telling Sarah that it isn’t actually weed in the joints.
- In last week’s review, I remarked on the unnatural portrayal of the teenage characters on The Killing. My point was illustrated again in “El Diablo” with Kris, who, with his goofy haircut, skateboard, and pocketful of “shards,” is more of a cartoon than an actual person.
Some stats and info about The Killing, “El Diablo”
TV SHOW – The Killing
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 1 Episode 3
AIRED ON – August 10th, 2011
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – AMC
GENRE – Drama, Crime Dramas
CREATED BY – Veena Sud
CAST – Mireille Enos, Joel Kinnaman, Billy Campbell, Liam James, Michelle Forbes, Brent Sexton, Kristin Lehman, Eric Laden, Jamie Anne Allman
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.