AMC’s ‘The Killing’ season 3 finale review: Who was the killer, and why?
When we first saw the previews for “The Killing” tease the the person responsible for the latest string of murders may be someone from within the Seattle police force, this was a cause for serious nervousness. Was Holder’s partner the guilty party, or someone that we had barely seen to this point?
As it turns out, the killer was instead someone that we really did not see coming in Skinner, the head of the Special Investigations Unit. Having the guilty party come from within the force was somewhat cheesy, given that it was the sort of “perfect crime” that you traditionally see on TV, but his motives were chilling: He wanted to do something to “save” his victims from an inevitably terrible life, which is why he did not care just how young they were or what their future could have held. He was a monster, and one that the police may not have otherwise seen coming.
What made this finale worthy of applause was more than the reveal, but how this killer continued to be vile even after the truth was out there. He attempted to send Linden with him on a wild-goose chase for Adrian (who was fine), largely so that he could get himself in a position to be shot to death by Linden. He manipulated her, used her, and even played on their past connection … and in death, he got exactly what he wanted.
Linden’s decision to kill Skinner was a move that should not be taken lightly. He was guilty of horrible things, but at the same time, he was about to be put to justice. She now has to rely on Holder spinning the story to make it look like she acted in self-defense, and did not execute a man herself out of revenge. This was a bit of a cliffhanger, and you have to admit that it does set a stage well for a fourth season. While this case is solved, what happens with Linden next after this? While we weren’t so sure if we needed a season 3 after a so-so season 2, we really want the show to continue now. There were some great things done over the past twelve episodes, and Veena Sud has proven that there is still some story left in the talk.
What was your take on “The Killing” finale, and did you like the sort-of cliffhanger at the tail end of this? If you want to take a look at why we think that the show should be back for a fourth season, you can do so over here.
Photo: AMC
Dyan Vilardo Melucci
August 12, 2013 @ 7:55 pm
Well said Andrew. Totally agree.
Dirk
August 5, 2013 @ 3:22 pm
For Linden, the real monster wasn’t Seward, it was the man who mentored and seduced her. A simple enough story, but it kept me guessing and had great acting.
Gracedebtor
August 5, 2013 @ 12:33 pm
2. The show is about as equally concerned with its characters. The last hour was not as much about the killer’s reveal (although, in the process of the reveal, we got plenty of social commentary about street kids being unknown, forgotten, and/or undervalued, as Skinner couldn’t even remember Kallie and supposedly wanted to save his victims from their horrible lives) as Linden’s disintegration upon finding herself in a relationship with a serial killer. Like Seward, Skinner challenged Linden as to her motives in pursuing this case; both saw (correctly) that Linden’s own troubled past was a major motivating factor in her involvement and assaulted her with cutting assertions that left her unhinged. Even Skinner’s comment that Linden didn’t want to see his dark side when they were lovers may have had some truth to it. The outcome of the episode made me want to go back and see if Linden’s breakdown was more set up/foreshadowed than I remember; I wasn’t seeing it coming. The ending, to me, was not a cliffhanger (as cliffhangers tend to revolve around plot issues), but one that showed the descent of a main character into deeper darkness.
Addendum/correction to #1 (see previous post): The murderer does not have to be one in power, but can be someone damaged by others in power.
Gracedebtor
August 5, 2013 @ 12:09 pm
A few thoughts:
1. From the show’s beginning, one of its major themes/concerns has been inequity between people of different socioeconomic classes, between those who hold power and those who do not. Given how this played out in the Rosie Larsen case, it was to be expected that something along those lines would occur this season (and, indeed, with any murder case on The Killing). This time, the power source was not an election campaign, but something that could hold power over homeless street kids. We saw this theme throughout the season with corrupt payroll officers, etc. The show really is not that interested in planting clues throughout a season as to who the murderer is and constructing an intricate story around that. It instead wants to make social statements and set the murder within that context. Count on the murderer always being someone who holds some type of power in a socioeconomic sense over the murdered . . . at least as long as show runner Veena Sud is in charge.
(continued in next post)
disqus_GOTHZbVHu7
August 5, 2013 @ 11:32 am
How I so want this show to have a good twist for once. Heck they could rip off High Tension and make LInden the killer and it would be more satisfying than the crappy endings they give us. Still a great show though.
Lisa A Barbour
August 5, 2013 @ 9:37 am
Where is Callie ? Did I miss something?
cece r-j
August 5, 2013 @ 6:59 am
The Killing: Season 3 finale-Season 3 has been difficult to watch and I
am disturbed by the emotional rawness and even the ethics of subjecting
viewers to harrowing events such as Linden’s abduction by the minister,
Seward’s execution, and Skinner’s disturbing description of his
killings. What kept me hooked? Mireille Enos, Joel Kinnaman, and Peter
Sarsgaard.
What really bothers me is the lack of respect the writers showed for
their central character, Sarah Linden. We’re in her corner, this gifted
detective, who struggles mightily to overcome her demons.
Yet the show’s creators leave us with a woman whose own brokenness
forced her to relinquish custody of her son. In spite of the brutal self
honesty it took for her to send her son to Chicago, we are asked to
accept that she is blind in love to the extent that nothing felt amiss
during her affair and partnership with a serial killer. The final slam
is snatching away her precious desire to protect the people who stand on
the margins of society, when she killed Skinner, knowing that only he
could lead her to the other corpses.
The show’s creators showed disdain for their fans at the end of
Season 1 with their “gotchya for Season 2″ ploy. In Season 3, the show
brought viewers on a horrific journey with Sarah Linden, only to find
the writers opted to take aim at Sarah’s core, a force of empathy, an
advocate for the murdered street girls. I guess they figured that by
the time they stripped Sarah of her emotional resilience and
professional fiber, the viewers just wouldn’t care about the characters
we’ve been tracking this season-completing their stories.
It wasn’t the writing that brought me back to The Killing. It was
the acting and I look forward to the pleasure of seeing them in other
roles that no doubt will come their way.
I won’t be seeing them in The Killing again. That is for sure.
Former Fan
August 5, 2013 @ 6:05 am
The season finale was a total let-down. Not the reveal, identifying Skinner as the killer, but the unbelievable behavior of Sarah, jumping in a car with him on a ride to find Adrian. How would he have had time to sequester the kid as far away as that car ride was taking them? Sarah knew this and whatever explanation of her confused psyche was supposed to justify this irrational action was under-developed to say the least. It failed (egregiously) to bring the viewer along.
So we’re supposed to see her execution of Skinner as some sort of ultimate disgust and repudiation of the fact that she had renewed her physical and emotional relationship with him? This ridiculous development crumpled up and threw away the rich character Mireille Enos had developed to this point. What a lame exit.
Time for for some new writers. You wanted a cliff-hanger? Holder should have shot the gun out of her hand and taken both Linden and Skinner in–that would’ve had me at least mildly interested in Season 4..
The Season 3 finale was a total waste of superb ingredients. It took an incredible nose-dive to make me regret hanging with this excellent series to this point, but sadly the series finale was exactly that.
jcart330
August 5, 2013 @ 12:36 pm
Some of those feelings are legit. However, you have to remember that this show took an absolute beating for not having a “big reveal” in the season 1 finale. As hard as it tried to defy television conventions, the response the show got for doing so has almost required that they have a formulaic season finale. I essentially treated “six minutes” as the season finale and watched last night as a stand alone peice that was necessary to ensure future seasons. However, if you think that this show suffered from bad writing this season you have not been watching close enough. “Reckoning” may have been the best written episode of any show this season and the writing has been consistenly good. Even last night had its monents. The montage with Lyric, Twitch and Kallie’s mom on the bridge was brilliant and devastating. Also, Linden getting in that car was compleely consistent with her character. Linden is smart but unstable and nearly uncontrollably impulsive at times. She is more obsessed with her job than good at it and Skinner was essentially setting her up from the very beginning with this in mind. Look, last night was not an example of The Killing at its best but your analysis is entirely too harsh.
dave
August 5, 2013 @ 2:54 pm
Linden killed Skinner because she did care for him in some way….end his suffering… that is what the whole scene with her killing the starving cow was about..
Dirk
August 5, 2013 @ 3:17 pm
The long ride didn’t seem weird to me since I was sure that Skinner was working as a team with the prison guard. If there is another season, I hope we find out more about that guy. Though it makes sense too if he was just the red herring double for Skinner, with impending divorce for keeping secrets.
CCV
August 5, 2013 @ 5:43 am
Thought this was the first good season of the show, though the performances have always been stellar, and Joel Kinneman and Peter Saarsgard were outstanding. I would have preferred they not have ripped the ending from Seven, however.
ZiggyFish
August 5, 2013 @ 4:19 am
There are many, many examples of why The Killing is an awful show, but for me, it comes down to this: Mireille Enos is THE worst actress in HISTORY. She looks like death, she acts like death, and don’t even start me on her wardrobe: I hope I never, ever have to lay my eyes on the 2 sweaters she’s been wearing since season, UGH! I really hate this show and bitterly regret having wasted so many hours on it over the course of 3 seasons. Never again!
waynel3
August 5, 2013 @ 5:05 am
If you hate this show so much why have you “wasted” so many hours watching it in the first place. Mirielle Enos the actress who plays Linden is actually very attractive and a good dresser in real life. Maybe wardrobe is giving her those sweaters. Maybe she acts and looks like death because her character deals with it every day. Enos portrayal of Linden is a really exceptional job of ACTING. She looks like a real homicide detective and not like some attractive actress playing a homicide detective. Your reaction only confirms how great a job she is doing portraying her character.
feduptoo
August 5, 2013 @ 5:19 am
I totally agree, except I didn’t waste hardly any time – just the last episode to see who the killers were in Seasons 2&3.
Andrew
August 5, 2013 @ 3:51 am
Some of the most chilling, nuanced moments of dramatic television I’ve ever seen. Unbelievable and horrific twists. Changed my view on capital punishment completely. And that final shot – utterly chilling. Hearing Holder’s disbelief in the background…God…I’m exhausted by this show, but I stand simply astonished at the quality of writing, directing, and foremost – the performances. T.V. is blessed to have narratives of this caliber.
Lisa A Barbour
August 5, 2013 @ 9:41 am
I agree
Lori
August 5, 2013 @ 3:34 am
I did not like the ending, found it hard to believe Skinner could be the one to kill all those girls. It was exhausting to watch Linden and Skinner on that long car ride with Linden crying and falling to pieces. It was boring.
And I hated the cliffhanger of an ending. How can there be a 4th season with Linden as a cop after she executed Skinner? Maybe just as well, I’d rather see just Holder. I feel a lot like I did after season 1, played.
Bob
August 5, 2013 @ 4:25 am
Have to agree, this episode was incredibly insulting to the viewers’ intelligence. Skinner seems to have been made the killer for no reason other than every other character on the show had already been falsely accused.
After figuring out that Skinner was a sociopath who killed dozens of people, it was absurd that Linden would get in a car with him and drive to nowhere in particular.
Maryanne Stahl
August 5, 2013 @ 3:29 am
I would be fine with Linden getting put away and a season 4 starring Holder. she has always been borderline nuts, and I don’t think Holder will cover for her. I don’t think he should, anyway. I would like a season 4 , in any event.
Lynn
August 5, 2013 @ 3:28 am
I don’t understand who would think this show is junk…maybe the Kardashians are your thing? I mean what other “really good” shows are out there anymore..sick of mainstream TV..the actors on this show are so good!!
Joseph Wilson
August 5, 2013 @ 3:27 am
This season was FANTASTIC. I hope The Killing returns for a 4th season, if only for the Linden/Holder dynamic. Praise all around!
profesora
August 5, 2013 @ 3:24 am
Brilliant. And after what she went through with this case. I get why she killed him. Nothing predictable or stereotypical about this girl. Fingers crossed for Season Four,
agt. cooper
August 5, 2013 @ 3:23 am
yup, junk.
Branget
August 5, 2013 @ 3:18 am
Big Fan of the series. It ranks 2nd only to 6 feet under for me. The best endings in TV were 6 feet and The Killing Season 2. They both left nothing and tied up all loose ends. Not a big fan of this ending unless there is a Season 4. That way I can treat Season 3 like Season 1. To be continued….
meowmyx
August 5, 2013 @ 3:18 am
Thought the ending was somewhat of a rip-off of the movie Seven. And if Linden was so concerned over all those bodies just waiting to be found, then why kill the only man who could lead them to those bodies. Also, they seem to have created some confusion around how many girls he killed. Supposedly his first victim was the girl from the junior officers, and his burial site was the woods where all those girls were found. Then he commented to Linden that there were many more in the lake by the lake house and other places. Was he lying about this, or did he start well before the junior officer girl, in which case his story about her being the first is a lie. Or was Kallie the only girl killed up at the lake because they had discovered his burial site before he had a chance to kill and dump her there?
Lisa A Barbour
August 5, 2013 @ 9:39 am
Where is Callie and did I miss something,? Obviously dead if the ring was on his daughters finger , and who was the latest burnt victim in the trunk
Frederica Massen
August 5, 2013 @ 2:58 pm
exactly
Gracedebtor
August 5, 2013 @ 12:37 pm
He killed more people than had been realized (since one of the points was how street kids are overlooked), or some murders had not been seen as being committed by the same person. It made sense.
Dirk
August 5, 2013 @ 3:19 pm
I figured she was imagining the humiliation of admitting her affairs with the “monster” at his trial, seeing as he had already humiliated her privately during the drive so much that she puked.
Lynn
August 5, 2013 @ 3:14 am
The cliffhanger ending was well done! Sets it up perfectly for a season 4 (hint hint, AMC!!) I felt so bad for Linden when she found out her Skinner was the killer..you could feel her pain..and could see the sociopath in him as well when he talked about his victims…I cried a bit at the ending of this one also~(not nearly as much as last weeks execution of Ray..I was bawling!).
This is such a good show..one of the few I look forward to each week as the acting and writing, and directing is brilliant!!!
celador2
August 5, 2013 @ 3:14 am
I liked the ‘Rosie Larsen’ series better as it relied on the law. This season is cops taking the law into their own hands. If there is another season Holder will lie and cover for Linden. They are police officers! Lawlessness has no appeal to me and I doubt I care to see more of the same.
I found the lighting too dark and that may be another reason this show is on my short list. It used to be a favorite show but being filmed in the dark and above the law is not for me.
I like the characters very much however and regret the rogue direction of the story line.
Eh
August 5, 2013 @ 3:10 am
It was garbage…all these storylines that went nowhere or ended with the character dead…the only remotely redeeming character on the show is holder.
Pleases put this series out of it’s (literal) misery
Joseph Wilson
August 5, 2013 @ 3:30 am
I think you should put your opinion of of its(literal)misery.
Frederica Massen
August 5, 2013 @ 3:02 pm
I totally agree, I hung in there hoping this season would be better but ….
Alc812
August 5, 2013 @ 3:10 am
Hated it. Decided after three seasons that Linden is the worst character on the show. There is truly not one likeable thing about her. Holder, on the other hand, is great. He should not defend his partner and maybe season 4 can be all about Holder and a new, appealing partner. Even Reddick was great in this episode.