TV Review: The Killing 2.10, "72 Hours"
When you’re dealing with a serialized drama, continuity is often vital...
rating: 3
When youre dealing with a serialized drama, continuity is often vital. Its one of the many elements that separates a middle of the road drama from a top-tier one, and is often the go-to example of why many television shows these days have more in common with novels than they do with any other forms of artistic storytelling. Think of the micro-plotline of the nameless junkie that made brief, sporadic cameos throughout the entire five seasons of The Wire. Or Jesse Pinkmans never-ending phone calls to Janes voicemail long after she had already overdosed. Or how about the out of nowhere return of Paul Kinsey on last weeks Mad Men? Building on the past is a hallmark of a strong narrative, and without it, a story runs the risk of having many big moments ultimately get undercut because they turn out to be inconsequential. But what should you do if the past narrative of your show sucks? Should you abandon it completely in favor of starting over? Should you pick and choose what to hold on to and what to ditch? Or does it all remain in play? The Killing has handled this problem fairly well throughout season two. Prior events that were terribly executed or severely misguided were expanded upon in ways that justified their existence (the Richmond shooting), plotlines that were not working at all were put on the backburner (the Bennet assault), and characters that werent adding much of anything to the narrative disappeared or had roles that were drastically reduced (Lindens ex-fiancé, her social worker.) Even the very structure of the show, with its formulaic emphasis on one new suspect or one major lead per week, was abandoned in favor of much less ridged format (and the shows all the better for it.) To an outside party, this may make it sound like The Killing is just the same show with a better polish, but for anyone whos been watching this season, its obvious that thats not at all the reality. Despite keeping everything intact to some degree, there hasnt been a single episode this year that could be wedged into season one without sticking out like a sore thumb. The very essence of the show has changed, and while its difficult to single out any specific reason why, its undeniable that this feels like an entirely different animal. This makes 72 Hours a very strange episode to go through, because its the first time this year that there were significant flashbacks to season one, both in the construction, tendencies, and tone of the hour. Part of this falls squarely on the unnecessary return of Lindens ex-fiancé and Bennet Ahmed, but its nowhere near the root of the issue. The real reason why 72 Hours feels like a step backward is in the way the episodes narrative is handled. Theres two plot twists, each of varying significance to the overall plot. The details dont matter (one involves Lindens ex, the other involves Gwen.) What does matter is that these twists are presented in the same frustrating tone that turned so many people off of The Killing in the first place. Theyre gotcha! moments cheap shots that take away from the richness the show has in so many other areas. And much like the reintroduction to characters we havent cared about in quite some time, (or ever did, for that matter) it tampers with the flow of the narrative as opposed to enhancing it. I started this off by saying that continuity is often vital. 72 Hours proves that sometimes, its not. Sometimes its better to let things go and start anew. The show had the right idea in previous weeks: keep running with the stuff that works, fix the stuff that doesnt, and if it cant be fixed or it just doesnt work, minimize or eliminate it altogether. Nothing good came from reintroducing characters and narrative structures from the past in 72 Hours. If anything, it only served to remind everyone that The Killings still only a few misfires away from becoming its lesser self all over again. But its not all bad. The episode shines when it spends time with Linden. Chief Jackson has placed her in a psych ward on suicide watch, and her imprisonment allows the writers to peel back some of the layers of Lindens often alluded to, but relatively unexplored mental breakdown. Were teased with the reasons behind Lindens obsession with certain cases, and like a lot of this season, the biggest theme running through all of it is childhood. The shows become as much about this as it has been about survival, and in a way, the two are linked to one another. All of these characters live in a world where extreme methods of coping are the only way to survive, and for most of them, the heavy burdens attached to that have been present with them since childhood. Linden, in particular, has revealed herself to be a major victim of this circumstance, and while shes a hell of a fighter, its apparent that at this point, shes barely hanging on. Perhaps most effective of all are her final moments in the ward, in which, seconds before shes about to have a breakthrough, Linden chooses to pull away, rejecting salvation in order to bury herself, once again, in a case file. This type of depth and power wasnt present in the narrative much at all last year, and its inclusion here, along with all of the missteps listed above, makes 72 Hours a strange sort of hybrid of both versions of the show. On the one hand, we have The Killing of yesteryear: uneven, manipulative, shallow, and frustrating. On the other, we have the new version: compelling, complex, deep, and well-crafted. There was enough here to suggest the show could easily continue in either versions direction. Next week, well see which one it chose.