They sure had a big one last night. A killing on “The Killing,” I mean.
The series, which spends too much time tricking us, began the night by tricking us once again.
For those who haven’t yet watched the episode, stop reading now or forever hold your peace. Those who did watch know that the show opened with the guards holding the hooded prisoner over the gallows before he swung. Hard as I tried, I had to turn away.
Then I realized it was a gotcha — again! Dammit!
No, it wasn’t death row inmate Ray Seward, it was a test dummy, and I was ticked off. Not because Ray hadn’t swung, but because I was the one strung along like a puppet. Again.
If there is a problem with this once again-great series, it’s that they’ve fooled us too many times over the past three seasons. The original premise of the series is that they’d wrap up one case per season. Never mind. The ratings were too high and so they tricked us into a cliff-hanger season finale in Season 1, figuring we’d be so invested in who killed Rosie Larsen that we’d hang around for the world’s longest murder investigation for another season.
The second way they tricked us? The old bait and switch. Each episode tricked us into being sure the killer was a different person. It worked very well for eight or so episodes. Then it got annoying. They only solved the murder because there was no one left in Seattle to accuse.
So, when Season 3 began, I was all-in again — knowing full well I’d get tricked most weeks into believing it was this guy! No, that guy! No, the other guy!
And we’ve had plenty of that, but with two seemingly separate cases. By the end of last night’sriveting episode, convicted wife killer Ray Seward (Peter Sarsgaard) finally did hang — and it was even more brutal than the dummy scene.
And I was shocked. I was sure he’d be given a stay at the last minute — and he wasn’t. I was so convinced that I was being played again that when it turned out I wasn’t being played, I felt like I had been!
I hope they resolve , by the end of this season, what exactly Seward’s wife’s death had to do with the murder of all those teenage girls. If not, I’m not in for a fourth season. I mean it this time.
That being said, despite the fact that Joel Kinnaman deserves an Emmy for his underplayed brilliance all season as Det. Stephen Holder, there’s no question that Sarsgaard’s award was hiding under the bag over his head last night.
Yes, he’s a scenery chewer, but no one’s chewed up scenery like that on TV in well, forever.
Next season, I hope they tackle the mystery of why no one in Seattle has mastered the art of turning on a light.
Damn! That’s one dark series.