by Sherry Lipp

This week’s episode of The Killing, “Head Shots,” was kind of like a jigsaw puzzle, where all the pieces are carefully moved into place. A few of the puzzle pieces are starting to fit together, but we still can’t see the big picture. One aspect I’m really liking about this season is the grittiness of it. The first two seasons were dealing with a corrupt political campaign. While it was entertaining, it was not as relatable. I’m not saying my life is anything like what’s depicted in this show, but the plight of abandoned teens who have to fend for themselves any way they can hits a lot closer to home than political machinations. It’s something we can see any time one spends time in metropolitan area.

Because so much has already been happening this season, I have neglected to talk about one of the best characters on the show – Bullet (Bex Taylor-Klaus). Bullet is the best friend of the missing Kallie. She is also the only one who seems to truly care about what happened to Kallie. Bullet has developed a tenuous relationship with Holder (Joel Kinnaman). I like that Holder is able to relate to Bullet. He is the only one who seems to understand her, and can work at her level. He knows how to get people to trust him, which is one of the great things about his character. He seems abrasive at first, but really he is just getting a feel for how to relate to everyone he talks to.

Speaking of Holder getting people to trust him, he and Linden (Mireille Enos) are finally working together again. Up until now, Holder has been saddled with aging detective Carl Reddick (Gregg Henry). Reddick has nothing but disdain for Linden, who he thinks is too inexperienced and emotional to be working sex-crimes. In one of the best scenes in the episode, Linden puts him in his place. I don’t know if Holder and Linden will officially become partners again, but it’s nice to see them on the same page.

What is not becoming totally apparent is how convicted murderer Ray Seward (Peter Sarsgaard) fits into all this. Linden is still convinced he is innocent of the murder of his wife, but we don’t know how the wife fits in with the current crimes. In the last episode Seward sliced open his chest with a razor he had hidden away. I had speculated that he was trying to get himself out of his cell and into the infirmary, but it turns out he was trying to obliterate the tattoo of the “A” on his chest. The A stood for the first letter of his son’s name. His death-row buddy had said the tattoo meant Seward cared about his son, so I’m not sure what getting rid of it means. Is he trying to protect his son? Does he not want to think about him? It’s hard to say at this point.

One thing I was mistaken about in my review last week is in thinking the detectives had hope for rescuing Kallie. It seems more like they assume she is dead, and they want to find her body. I don’t know if we are supposed to also assume she is dead, or if there is hope for her (based on the preview for next week, I’m thinking we may get more on this). The twist to this episode is that Kallie’s mother (Amy Seimetz) may tie into things a lot more than I would have expected. Her beloved boyfriend – the one she kicked Kallie out of the house to be with – may be directly tied in to everything. However, I highly doubt they are going to go in as obvious a direction as they are painting.

We shall see next week.

(Photos: Carole Segal/AMC)

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Sherry Lipp
Sherry is a writer/blogger specializing in entertainment and food writing. You can find her gluten and grain-free food articles at scdforlife.com.

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