TV Review: The Killing 2.4, 'Ogi Jun'
For followers of the show Damages, it’s likely you’ve noticed some parallels here.
rating: 3.5
Heres another huge problem with how The Killing is currently constructed. Lets assume, for a moment, that the events that transpire within Ogi Jun are not, in fact, functioning purely to misdirect the audience (a stretch, I know). In this case, Ogi Jun reveals that season twos direction for the Larsen murder revolves around Stan Larsens past activities with the mob and Janeks involvement with the Beau Soleil prostitution ring. This is a good thing as opposed to season ones constant jumping from one unrelated suspect to another, this would indicate that the show has decided to focus on one primary lead (a criminal syndicate) that links to a large cast of characters, but characters that are all naturally operating within one overarching world, nonetheless. Heres where the problem comes in; if this is indeed the case (and again, theres no guarantee here it is), then why are we still bothering to follow the Richmond campaign at all? For followers of the show Damages, its likely youve noticed some parallels here. By choosing to keep up with characters from the events of season one, whether or not they were related to anything going on within the present, Damages focus gradually became more and more widespread, to a fault. It wandered in a multitude of different directions splitting its time between advancing its respective seasons main plot while also checking in with characters that slowly moved further and further away from the primary conflict. That show chose to deal with this problem in the same way I fear The Killing eventually will by re-linking those characters back to the shows primary narrative in the most inorganic of ways. By the time Damages third season came around, characters had gone back and forth between having nothing to do with the shows central conflict and everything to do with it so many times it started to boarder on the ridiculous. All of this is to say that while Ogi Jun was fairly solid in involving both the Larsen family and Linden and Holder in the same narrative, it was substantially weaker when it chose to focus on the Richmond campaigns cast of characters. At this point, sticking with them in their current form would be a mistake, but linking them back to the case would only do further harm. The show needs to realize that it doesnt have to hold on to all of its characters in order to continue, and in fact, doing so is the very thing that is preventing it from having a focus it has lacked for quite some time. But despite this problem, Ogi Jun has its fair share of successes, and turns out to be a fair bit stronger than last weeks installment. Linden and Holder are working together again, and despite a disappointing retcon (Holder thought the doctored photo was legit), the show doesnt let this reveal negate the pairs fractured relationship with one another. Linden still cant trust Holder completely, despite his attempts at making things right, and both characters are discovering more about each others pasts then they ever did in season one. Weve known about Holders drug related past for quite awhile now, but the writers are using the twos current predicament as a tool to further explore it. Holders source for the photo was the man who pulled him out of the gutter and got his life back on track, and while thats about all we get out of the reveal in this episode, theres promise well see a lot more of this fleshed out in the coming weeks. Linden, on the other hand, gets far more light shed on her this week both in terms of her upbringing and her current relationship with her son and his father. Jacks been living in motel rooms and eating out of vending machines since the early days of the show, and the inevitable consequence of this has finally materialized in the background of this weeks episode: Jacks dad is filing for joint custody. Much like the Holder plot thread, we dont get very far into this angle besides the initial reveal, but we are treated to a lot of scenes of Linden considering, and perhaps in some way accepting, that she hasnt turned out to be Jacks answer to avoiding the pain of an unstable upbringing that Lindens past in foster care caused her. The question here is whether having a parent, no matter how terrible the conditions or how unavailable the parent turns out to be, is better than growing up with no parent at all, and Mireille Enos, despite being given very few things to say on the subject, plays Lindens silent, unspoken struggle with this question well. In fact, childhood turns out to be the predominant theme running throughout the majority of Ogi Jun, both in terms of the case and within many of the casts personal affairs. The newest suspect in the case, Alexi Giffords (Tyler Johnson), was in and out of foster homes throughout his life, only to be saved by Janeks invitation to join his criminal enterprise. Over on the Larsen familys side of things, Stans older son, Tommy, is acting out as a consequence to both the situation at home and at school, where his classmates are teasing him over the loss of his older sister. Finally, theres a reveal that Stan had to pay a substantial price to leave Janeks organization for good; he had to commit a murder. The victim of that murder? Alexis father. Granted, it is in this reveal that the show gets a little too convenient yet again, but at the very least, by linking all of these characters to one episodic theme, the shows given us quite a bit more to chew on while at the same time advancing the plot than it has in the past. Yes, weve barely scratched the surface, and yes, theres a feeling that all of this could be dropped as early as next week, but for now, Ogi Jun begins a few story threads that could very well lead to some substantial character and plot development. Lets hope the writers choose to run with them.