The Killing - Recap: Ride-Along

However, the episode isn't perfect. Though Bex Taylor-Klaus is doing tremendous work as Bullet, she wasn't served well by the writing, which played on her desperation in a fashion that might have been more compelling if it didn't ultimately turn out that Lyric (Julia Sarah Stone) was never in any real danger. It was a development that recalled past seasons of The Killing, where the cliffhanger of the previous week's episode would inevitably turn out to simply be a red herring. This always came across, to me, as a disingenuous way of telling a story. There's a solid enough foundation to The Killing that the series should be able to create a foreboding atmosphere without having to deceive the audience. But really, it's hard to get too worked up about it, one way or the other, since "Try" ultimately proves to be a damn solid hour of television.

Credit: AMC

So playing off of last week's cliffhanger, "Try" features Bullet approaching Holder with the news that Pastor Mike (Ben Cotton) has taken Lyric and is holding her hostage in the woods. This, of course, is a lie, compelled both by Bullet's desperation to have Lyric returned unharmed, and her feeling that the police aren't really doing anything, given that they have yet to find Kallie. Bullet remains one of the most useful characters in the show's roster, as she not only provides a window into the world of these juvenile vagrants, she's also the one character whose pain and desperation are the most easily identifiable, because it's a child's sensibility. Even if we might not be able to relate with her abandonment and loneliness, we could certainly understand it -- and it's for this reason that I think bad things so frequently happen to her, since the writers recognize how valuable it is to have a character that vulnerable in play at all times. And so even while it would be easy to get mad at Bullet for indirectly setting this unfortunate set of circumstances into motion, it's just as easy to understand why she lied to Holder. Her lie may not have compelled Pastor Mike to abduct Linden, but it did tie up valuable department resources, as the cops went chasing after a false lead while one of their own was at the mercy of a tortured soul.

Credit: AMC

It's those moments between Linden and Pastor Mike that take up the first half of the episode, and these scenes represent its best material. Pastor Mike didn't commit the murders Linden is trying to solve, but we do gain valuable insight into Linden's character, as well as Pastor Mike's. The conversation, overheard by everyone at the police precinct via Linden's radio, illustrates Linden's willful self-imprisonment in her lonely life: she first lies to Pastor Mike by saying she lost custody of her son after running out of money to fight her ex-husband's custody lawyers, but later admits that she never lost Jack, she simply let him go. "I didn’t know how to tell him, 'This is all I’ve got. I can’t give you any more. This is what I am.'” Pastor Mike, at some level, identifies. As Linden tells him a story about how Jack used to hide under the covers and wait for her when she got home from work. "Sometimes the ones who hide are the ones who want to be found the most," says Pastor Mike, as if to encourage her to reach out to her son. It takes a while, but Linden starts to form a bond with Pastor Mike, who explains that all he ever wanted to do was help the kids in his charge. However, his criminal record made things difficult. The original case for which he's on the lam was a matter of misunderstanding. He didn't mean to harm the girl he was accused of kidnapping: he had simply brought her home to his house to detox. But things quickly got out of hand and everyone jumped to conclusions. Suddenly, Pastor Mike lost his ministry, and had to find somewhere to start anew. If nothing else, Linden understands the prickly nature of fresh starts.

However, though a tenuous bond had started to form between the two, Pastor Mike quickly turns on Linden when he realizes her radio has been on the entire time and the police now know where they are. He takes Linden out to the pier, as if to shoot her, but Linden is able to convince him that he doesn't have to do this. Suddenly, it appears that Pastor Mike is going to shoot himself, as he falls to his knees and begs the Lord's forgiveness. But as the police come on the scene, Pastor Mike drops his gun into the waters below, and surrenders after a brief, tense standoff (in which Linden stands between the police and Pastor Mike to prevent them from shooting him. She even gets Pastor Mike to surrender by pleading with him not to force the police to shoot an unarmed man, since they'll carry the grief with them for the rest of their lives). Pastor Mike is taken into custody while Linden and Holder are reunited, leading to a scene towards the end of the episode in which the two acknowledge the need to let go of the past. Both characters are carrying baggage, whether it's Linden with her issues concerning Jack, or Holder and his conflicting problems with his sister/love for his nephew. It's interesting stuff that I wish the show would have gone into greater detail on, though it's better to get these character bits in pieces, and not in bulk. Holder, for his part, is forced to deal with being made to look like a fool in the wake of Bullet's lie, as Lyric later turned up safe and sound. She was never abducted, she simply left to go turn tricks on the street. Holder is not happy, to say the least, and tells Bullet they aren't friends, never were, and that he couldn't care less what happens to her. Though Bullet tries to justify the lie by saying that the cops haven't done jack in finding Kallie, Holder tells the kid to get out of his sight before he puts her in the foster care system. It's an intense scene that Kinnaman and Taylor-Klaus play very well, as in all of their scenes together, really.

Credit: AMC

But back to Bullet, as her storyline continues to be a real heartbreaker. When she finds Lyric on the street, Bullet asks what's up, and Lyric tells her that she doesn't have to answer to Bullet. "You don't own me," Lyric tells her. "I'm with Twitch." She then tells Bullet that she misunderstood the connection they shared. "I'm not gay, you know." Reeling from the sharp turnaround, Bullet buys drugs to numb the pain, only to inadvertently get a tip from her dealer as to the whereabouts of Angie (Laine MacNeil), the missing witness in the Pied Piper case. Bullet tracks her down and from their conversation, Bullet is able to deduce the identity of the killer. Of course, she doesn't actually say it aloud, lest the audience learn before the narrative is ready for us to know. But she does call Holder, leaving a voicemail telling him that she knows who the Pied Piper is, and imploring him to call her back. As if on cue, the Pied Piper can be seen driving past the diner, his/her eyes set on a lonely Bullet. Bad news, all-around.

Credit: AMC

As if Bullet being in potential danger isn't bad enough, it's looking like Seward (Peter Sarsgaard) is running out of options. His execution is a mere two days away, and his lawyer doesn't seem all that interested in getting a stay of execution, despite Seward's insistence that if he would just talk to Linden, he'd find there's more to the case. We've seen a changed Seward over the weeks, one who is open about his innocence. He breaks down into tears, pleading to have his hanging changed to a lethal injection. He even has a panic attack that has to be calmed by Becker (Hugh Dillon), in a wonderful moment between the two adversaries. Becker almost seems human towards Seward. However, his wife still feels he's a virtual stranger to her these days, going so far as to plead with Henderson (Aaron Douglas) for a sympathetic ear, to no avail. As for Seward, he's able to get a hold of Linden over the phone, promising to arrange for her to meet with his son, Adrian, believing that it's his only chance to be saved from the gallows. He tells Linden that he didn't kill his wife, and even gets Linden to admit that she believes he's innocent. But with two days left before the execution, it's going to take a small miracle to spare Seward from his inevitable date with the noose.

"Try" is as good as The Killing gets, and I sincerely hope the show keeps up the pace as it barrels on towards the finale.