What I’m Watching: The Killing

The Killing: Season 1, Episode 9 “Undertow” (C+)

I made the mistake of reading another review of this episode before writing my own, which unfortunately may have swayed my opinion a bit. It talked about the fact that this episode took a few preposterous turns and also addressed the possibility of a second season renewal, which is reported to be looking quite likely. To the second point first, I’ve always thought that this felt much like a one-season premise, and it is. A second season would need to address a remarkably different case, and I’m not sure if it would be more or less interesting. Addressing the revelation that Bennett and Mohammed were hiding another girl, that’s not much of a surprise, something which I had predicted, although considerably more severe than I had anticipated. As far as that girl having the same exact T-shirt, I’d say that it’s bad enough to have bludgeoned someone to death, that his innocence doesn’t quite matter as much in the long run. The fact remains that Rosie was there the same night, and therefore Bennett is complicit in some way in the run-up to her disappearance and murder. Aside from that, this show seems to be unwisely forgetting its subplots, such as Sarah’s fiancée and Holder’s past as an addict, focusing instead just on their clashes with their superiors in trying to close this case. The one-shot $5 million promise was a bit contrived, as was having the mayor so corruptly order medical records faked. Darren’s storyline isn’t something that should survive to next season, and therefore I’m not sure what else this show has going for it.