TV Review: The Killing 2.3, 'Numb'

Here’s something that’s never worked for the show – the “everyone’s a suspect” angle.

By Cole Zercoe /

rating: 3

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I mentioned last week that the season two premiere of The Killing was much better than anyone could have really expected it to be. There was one big reason for this; both episodes featured a renewed focus on character. What was before only implied or occasionally mentioned actually started to become tangible: Linden actually came off as paranoid and obsessive, Holder actually started acting erratic and unhinged, Jamie displayed the control and the passion that a campaign manager would have to have €“ the list goes on and on. I didn€™t focus on the story elements much at all €“ truthfully, it€™s been hard to care about the actual story of The Killing for quite some time now. The show is often very strong when it focuses on character, but when it€™s wrapped up in its plot, things go downhill very quickly. But you can€™t have a great show without a great story, no matter how interesting or well drawn the characters within it are. There€™s no avoiding it this week €“ it€™s time to start looking at season two€™s story, and the short of it is, nothing much has changed. Here€™s something that€™s never worked for the show €“ the €œeveryone€™s a suspect€ angle. This resulted in a slew of frustrating red herrings throughout the show€™s first season, as well as multiple story detours that went on for far too long and offered very few worthwhile returns. It€™s apparent in €œNumb€ that this creative choice is still very much in play in season two, and it is in this that €œNumb€ finds its weakest story thread. Left with virtually no one out of the remaining cast to pin the murder on, the writing staff have chosen to turn their focus onto a minor player from season one: Stan€™s old mob boss, Janek. By the end of the episode€™s hour, Janek has gone from a forgettable hint into Stan€™s questionable past to a major threat to Stan€™s family and a key player in the Beau Soleil prostitution ring. None of this is a good thing. In fact, it reeks of the show once again falling into an area it never does well in: needing to make itself €œbigger€ than what it initially appears to be. Why oh why does The Killing continually think it needs to do this? It has so much going for it in so many other respects; it€™s got an incredible sense of atmosphere, it€™s got a great score, it€™s got an amazing cast of actors at its disposal, and, as €œNumb€ once again proves, it€™s got a great pair of central characters. €œNumb€ is at its best when it€™s focused on Linden and Holder €“ and they both get their fair share of memorable scenes tonight. Holder€™s on a bit of a downward spiral following Richmond€™s dismissal as a suspect. He teeters back and forth between nearly attending an NA meeting and falling back into crystal meth, and as is usually the case, Joel Kinnaman plays it all wonderfully. By the end of the episode, after a slew of poor, kneejerk decisions, he€™s pacing back and forth in the middle of traffic, about to collapse at any given moment. Linden arrives in enough time to pull him back to reality, and the episode closes on the two seemingly in a renewed, albeit fragile, partnership. These two really do have a natural chemistry €“ it€™s just a shame they€™re surrounded by so many unnecessary distractions. We don€™t need a conspiracy, we don€™t need everything to be connected, and, by god, we don€™t need this show to keep piling on the twists and turns. With the promise that the show€™s plot is about to become much, much more complicated in the next few weeks, €œNumb€ feels like a step backward from the progress that was made only a week ago.