Last week we learned a lot about the night Rosie died, but this week we learned about the two detectives trying to find her killer. This was the long awaited "character" episode. Where the two main characters stop being clichéd cops, and start being real people. I was amazed, and pleased that Linden and Holder were pretty much the only two people in the episode. The only other person who has appeared before was Linden's son Jack, and that was at the very end. That, and the arc of the episode gave both Mireille Enos and Joel Kinnaman time to shine as actors.
This episode begins following the events of last week. Linden has tracked Rosie to an Indian Casino. As expected they are will not let the police look at their cameras, or interview anyone. I wondered why Linden didn't want to release this information to the press, or at least threaten to do so. I imagine it would hurt business if people thought the casino was covering up something about the death of Rosie Larsen. While I'm sure the people that run the casino are innocent, I still think a threat like that would have helped a little bit. Linden however notices ATMs, and decides to use those cameras to try and find an image of Rosie.
But this, is the end of the Rosie Larsen case until the last few minutes of the episode. We find out that Linden's son has not been at school for the past three days, and he is not at the motel. In fact, he left his cell phone at the motel. I'm sure tracking down murderers every day has left her a bit paranoid, so she's understandably worried. Holder, is doing his best to keep her calm, and by best, I mean not a very good job. At first anyway, he improves considerably. We also find out that Holder has what I am guessing is a son. If we knew this already I had forgotten it. There is some parade he had promised to go to, and calls them to say he'll be there. This is a promise he will have to back out of due to disappearance of Jack, but it was interesting to see that Holder has an actual life, and it was good to see him get more of a story than junkie cop.
The search then begins. Linden gets a call from the mother of Jack's best friend. She says that Jack has been a sort of "ring leader" and is getting everyone to hang out somewhere called The Tunnel. While it has a creepy name, it's just a small tunnel overpass where middle school kids go to smoke, and make out. On the way to track him down, Holder asks about Regi, and mentions his own mom was never around. He was raised by his sister. I always assumed Regi was a close friend, or a sister. I placed her far to young to be Linden's mother, or social worker, but whatever. When Linden said that Regi was her social worker, we got more information than we have in the entire season so far about Linden's life outside of the case and her fiancée, and there was more to come.
Holder and Linden then stop off for some food. It was some fast food place, and Holder orders a hamburger with no burger. He's a vegetarian, but only some of the time. I really liked his explanation of his strange diet, and it goes well with his personality. This scene in the restaurant was one of the best of the season in my opinion. These two have been partners for a week and a half, and this really is the first time they have sat down and talked. Not about the work, but about themselves. Holder talks about when he was addicted to meth, and I could only think of Breaking Bad. I know neither show is big on jokes, but I would love if there was some connection.
We then learn that Jack has been receiving strange texts from someone with a restricted number. He is being told where he can meet someone. We later find out that it's probably his father, but this was definitely creepy. Jack may have been acting like a punk, but he's not stupid enough to get in the car with a stranger. I would have been very upset if that was a the case. Now, just because it was a restricted number didn't mean it was a stranger to him, but it certainly was creepy and troubling. Linden now is clearly past concern, and she's imaging the worst. During the next car ride to the next possible hiding place she tells Holder that she was a foster child until the end of High School, and had moved many times. She says the worst part was not knowing the bed room, they always were different. I wonder if that had anything to do with her becoming a detective. In her line of work, every new case is like a dark room, and she has to find the metaphorical light switch. That's a bit deep for the hour I'm writing this, so I'll stop there.
Another excellent scene takes place when Linden and Holder are checking a park for Jack. She tells a story about when Jack was small, and it's another shining moment for Enos. They then get a call that the body of the young boy has been found. Linden worries that it's Jack, and they race to the scene. I was worried too, but more so because I thought it would be a very poor decision to kill off her son. It's not her son of course, and we leave the scene. I assume all the ordinary police work will be done, but since they have one unsolved murder, I wonder if they will even consider a connection. I'm sure there is none, but still. When they get back to the motel, Jack is there. Linden asks where he's been and he says he doesn't want her to get mad, but he's been with his father. For some reason I thought the father was dead, but I guess not. I know her fiancée mentioned something about a hospital in the last episode. Maybe the husband beat her while they were together, and sent her to the hospital. That would be a very good reason why she wouldn't want her son going to see him, and why it didn't even occur to her to contact him.
The last few minutes of the episode get back to Rosie Larsen. Remember her? Holder gets word that they got the ATM footage, and he finds that Rosie was indeed there. I hope there won't be any crap next week about Holder not telling Linden right away. I mean the worst thing she could have done at that moment was run off to watch camera footage, and leave her son alone again. Next week, I'm guess we'll be back to the Rosie case, and perhaps will learn more about Jack's father. There are only two episodes left, so that kind of narrows down what they'll be able to do. I'm also going to go ahead and guess that next week we will advance the Rosie case almost to its conclusion, but I've certainly been wrong before.
Any comments are, as always welcomed.
