‘Major Crimes’ season 4, episode 23 (finale) review: Who was the ‘Hindsight’ killer?
In the end, maybe the killer at the center of “Major Crimes” and the “Hindsight” arc was the one we should have seen coming a mile away. Yet, for whatever reason we never did.
By the end of the episode via a tense confrontation, we finally learned that the responsible party for so many of the murders was Stephanie Dunn, which turned out to be an extremely depressing reveal for Julio more than anyone else. He thought that the two had a common bond, only to realize instead that she was none other than a cold-blooded killer. It wasn’t Hickman or the Reverend after all, though the former may go down as one of the creepier / most unlikable people we’ve ever seen on the show still. We don’t really like the dynamic between him and Sykes, even though we concede that he was really necessary to the story.
This story was serious and intense, but the good news is that the writers really balanced this out with some other things that made us smile. Specifically, we’re talking here in terms of Provenza’s wedding, which allowed for a few welcome / happy moments. Sharon and Andy had a few moments as a couple, and even Rusty and Gus were together! It was a celebration, and sometimes we don’t get that on the show very often when it comes to dealing with some of the terrible things taking place. Ultimately, we consider this a nice shakeup from the mold.
In the end, we do think that this was a strong ending to a season, and a case that we feel was worth the time. We just wonder how in the world the show is going to follow all of this up. Grade: A-.
If you want to get some other news right now when it comes to the future of “Major Crimes,” just be sure to head over to the link here for some chatter on the next season! Also, sign up over here to get some additional TV news on everything we cover via our official carterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: TNT.)
Naomi B.
March 16, 2016 @ 11:54 pm
Nice job on the review, Matt! I can’t believe that you bumped them up to an A- and I am not telling you that I disagree wholeheartedly. That is all…I won’t bloviate!
osofine
March 16, 2016 @ 2:03 am
Dunn was a really obvious suspect. She was a total Redshirt and I was 99% sure she was either going to be revealed as the killer (or at least a killer), or get killed. There was no reason to add another cop to the cast unless it was to set her up (seriously, they already have a bunch of cast regulars they never use, like Fritz, Malcolm Jamal Warner, and some character named Kendall, played by Ransford Doherty who has been on 37 times, according to IMDb, that I’ve never even noticed!). When the Dunn character was first introduced as the wife of one of the victims and then volunteered to “help out” in the investigation, it was obvious she was a prime suspect. How many times does Provenza have to say “it’s always the spouse!” before people listen, lol!
These shows are almost always bound by the rule: the killer is someone who is shown in the first act.
The “glove scene” was really over the top. Halfway through the episode, they have Julio (poor Julio!) and Dunn break into the taco location and Julio does this walk of shame thing in which he has left his gloves and tie at Dunn’s place the night before and Dunn says, “These aren’t the fancy [schmancy] black ones you have in Major Crimes, they’re just the same old [same old] latex gloves everyone else has been using for the past 15 years” as there is this big show of her handing the gloves to Julio and he laboriously put them on (seriously, Julio fumbled with those gloves more than O.J. at trial) and snapped them to create a HUGE puff of cornstarch not once, but twice – and the second time was in slow motion! If those are standard issue gloves for every L.A. cop not in the Major Crimes unit, why isn’t every crime scene tainted with cornstarch?!
The glove scene was a misstep and it would have been far more surprising if the killer had been Hickman’s wife, but in the end it was watchable, because even though the killer was easy to figure out, the crimes were complex and there was some good character work (though, as usual, Rusty can get a bit irritating…). The serial format worked well and the finale was so well wrapped up that I came here trying to find out if the show was canceled and it was the series finale. Very Jane Austin, with almost everyone paired off at a wedding. I actually laughed out loud when the coroner said, “Notice all the minorities clumping together? We feel safer in crowds.” That had to have been improvised, right?