this show is KILLING me
Jun. 20th, 2012 12:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kricketsI swear I will respond to all of your comments/posts later today. (Oh my god, you guys. I love you so much!) I just needed to get all of this out. It's been sitting in my brain for days and it's slowly driving me bananas, so here it is, in all its (in)glory.
Perfect finale was perfect. That's pretty much how I feel about this whole thing. But it's not even really true because it's not just the finale to me. It's the whole shebang. I was talking to Bradley about it and this is what he said to me:
"I thought it was brilliant. The way everything seemed to just sort of breathe. But of course, the masses want answers by the end of an episode as opposed to at the end of season two."
I told him, the masses can have it. If AMC is willing to make it, I'm going to watch it. Perfect show is, in fact, perfect.
Rosie Larsen:
I was so happy we got to meet this girl. It's been so long. And she was pretty much everything I personally came to believe about her. Writing my fic last week and making that fanmix before she show on Sunday was super cathartic. I had all these Rosie feelings bottled up inside and they needed to come out. But this episode brought them all back up again. And I expected they would. That shot of her lingering at the door, her hand on the frosted glass? So perfect I can't even see straight. Her farewell video, her dreams. Now we see why the Larsens kept saying stuff like "Not our Rosie." And "You got that wrong." Because that wasn't Rosie. Rosie was something else. And I find myself feeling really, really sad that she's gone. This show has worked miracles on my brain. Painting such a clear picture through the story that you fall in love with a character you've barely seen? And doing it so seemingly effortlessly? (Loving Rosie snuck up on me. Loving Rosie was a revelation.) That's just how The Killing rolls.
Jamie Wright:
I had myself so convinced that Jamie had nothing to do with Rosie's death, that when we learned the truth, it became hard for me to accept. Guy is a master of disguise. That scene where he kicks Gwen out at the beginning of the season is going to play so differently to me now. I think the thing that resonates with Jamie's arc, from beginning to end, is that we know he would do anything for Darren. He had only one single moment of doubt the entire series, and that's when he walked onto that elevator and out of the hospital. (And if he had walked away, let Darren deal with it alone, Rosie would have been for nothing. Even moreso than it already was.) But every other moment in the show, his focus has been singular. So in that way, it's entirely real and believable, despite the fact that many of us grew to really care about his character and we wanted to, or at least I wanted to, believe that he was innocent. The fact that he's not is heartbreaking, but real. Eric Ladin's voice when he shouts "It was an accident!" to Darren will haunt me for the rest of my days. He was brilliant in that scene. My baby made a bad decision you guys. I am rationalizing this in my brain, but my heart still hasn't accepted it.
Terry Marek:
THIS MADE SO MUCH SENSE. I thought that I had it pegged and I knew what went down. I thought that Terry was helping to protect Michael. It couldn't be any other way. But the truth is, that she did what she did in order to try and keep him. She did it for herself. In order to have the life she always wanted, the life she thought she deserved. Her in that car, listening to Jamie and Ames argue? God, that was so sad. Hearing him say that now he's never going to be able to leave his wife? And she just gets out of the car and makes a choice? That was beyond brilliant. Beyond. One thing I lament, and I think they must have made a conscious choice to do this, was that we never actually saw Terry find out about Rosie's death. I would have liked to see that. But we couldn't really. It would have given it away. (Maybe.) And her in that room and how she just totally breaks down and Holder putting himself between her and Stan almost as soon as he walks into the room. And Mitch, unable to do anything but let her sister hug her. I just don't know how this could have unfolded any other way and been this fucking satisfying. (My emotions! My emotions!) Terry's lost everything. And it's not like she had much. She had this chance to rebuild her life, but that relied on her secret being kept, that relied on her spending her days with the family that she unknowingly betrayed. And would she have deserved it? If she'd gotten that chance? No, not really. But it doesn't make her own life any less tragic. This reminds me of the moral question of the workers on the train tracks. If you can flip a switch to save a life over another, do you do it? It wasn't her life she was saving, no. But it was (maybe) her only chance at a happy one. She completely detached and she made (probably) the most selfish decision of her life, and so now she's ruined. Utterly and completely.
Holder/Linden:
I think I just about died when you think Jamie shot Linden and it turned out that Holder killed him before he had the chance. The way she looked at him afterward and the music THE MUSIC, you guys. And the look on his face and when they find out the gun wasn't loaded, THE SILENCE. It is either a testament to how subtley brilliant this show is, OR my impending loss of sanity, that I was having all the Holder/Linden feels in this episode and nobody else seems satisfied. I just was digging the way they moved around in each other's space and didn't have to say words. When they're in the room watching Ames and Nicole Jackon being questioned and they're about to cross paths and Holder just diverts. It was like a beautiful, beautiful dance. I loved how he just kept pacing in the scene by the water, and how she just stood here, basically. It was so them. What did they drive all the way out there for? Just to think? Just to ride in the car in silence alone together. And of course that scene in their office was pretty much the most perfect thing ever. Did Holder say "we should quit" or "you should quit." I think he said "WE." They're in it together now. Even if Sarah walked away at the end, these two characters are going to be wrapped up in each other for the long haul. Just you wait.
[Shipper goggles are a go.]
Richmond:
Ah, such a disappointment and he hasn't even taken office yet. The things Jamie said to him in that room burned with truth, but you wanted to think that Richmond would stick to his ideals and rise above. It's almost like the guilt he has for allowing himself to be so naive, for letting Jamie make the hard choices for him, has caused him to take control and just go ahead be the bad guy. I think I said before that Richmond was always best when he was the bad guy. (I found his idealism, while admirable, dull.) So it was kind of satisfying in a way, in the end, when he embraced his dark side. Satisfying in an infuriating way, though.
Gwen:
Get your shit. Go home. This girl needs to walk away. Quick as she can. As they say in bank robbery and blackjack: Take the money and run.
Michael Ames:
His argument with Jamie by the cars kind of made me see him a little differently. He struck me as the one most likely to have physically harmed Rosie with his own two hands. I wasn't putting bets on that, but I felt like that conclusion would have made the most sense. (But the thing about Rosie's death, is that none of it makes sense. It's completely senseless. In the action of it. But from a storytelling perspective, it actually makes the most sense.) But that wasn't the case and he wanted nothing to do with it. I'm eager to go back and see the scenes with him. I said that I doubted that Michael was distancing himself from Terry because she was a "murderous monster" and he wanted to be as far away from her as possible, and while I'm sure it was for his own preservation, it turns out, that that's pretty much exactly what was happening with them and their relationship. Terry is confused as to why Michael has cut off ties, stopped paying her rent... why he doesn't love her anymore. It's because of what she did that night. Despite the fact that he lied to the police about knowing anything about Rosie, and despite the fact that he's not exactly a good guy, I really don't blame him for that.
Sarah:
She had to walk away.
Stephen:
He had to let her.
(In my personal head canon, and in my fic, Stephen kiliing Jamie is going to have some emotional aftermath, the fact that he did it for Linden, to protect her, maybe that'll have some impact too. One can hope!)
Season three:
It needs to happen. It will happen. (Optimism!) I dread adding extra characters to the Holder/Linden (Jack) dynamic. Dear Veena, please don't! Though I feel like that's kind of a non-Veena-Sud-like thing to do. Obviously there will be more characters necessary for a new mystery to solve, but I don't think she'll mess with that dynamic in a way that diminishes it. She's worked too hard to build that bond.
Masterful:
Remember so many episodes ago when I called this show masterful but I didn't feel like I knew what I was talking about? I stand by that statement.
Perfect finale was perfect. That's pretty much how I feel about this whole thing. But it's not even really true because it's not just the finale to me. It's the whole shebang. I was talking to Bradley about it and this is what he said to me:
"I thought it was brilliant. The way everything seemed to just sort of breathe. But of course, the masses want answers by the end of an episode as opposed to at the end of season two."
I told him, the masses can have it. If AMC is willing to make it, I'm going to watch it. Perfect show is, in fact, perfect.
Rosie Larsen:
I was so happy we got to meet this girl. It's been so long. And she was pretty much everything I personally came to believe about her. Writing my fic last week and making that fanmix before she show on Sunday was super cathartic. I had all these Rosie feelings bottled up inside and they needed to come out. But this episode brought them all back up again. And I expected they would. That shot of her lingering at the door, her hand on the frosted glass? So perfect I can't even see straight. Her farewell video, her dreams. Now we see why the Larsens kept saying stuff like "Not our Rosie." And "You got that wrong." Because that wasn't Rosie. Rosie was something else. And I find myself feeling really, really sad that she's gone. This show has worked miracles on my brain. Painting such a clear picture through the story that you fall in love with a character you've barely seen? And doing it so seemingly effortlessly? (Loving Rosie snuck up on me. Loving Rosie was a revelation.) That's just how The Killing rolls.
Jamie Wright:
I had myself so convinced that Jamie had nothing to do with Rosie's death, that when we learned the truth, it became hard for me to accept. Guy is a master of disguise. That scene where he kicks Gwen out at the beginning of the season is going to play so differently to me now. I think the thing that resonates with Jamie's arc, from beginning to end, is that we know he would do anything for Darren. He had only one single moment of doubt the entire series, and that's when he walked onto that elevator and out of the hospital. (And if he had walked away, let Darren deal with it alone, Rosie would have been for nothing. Even moreso than it already was.) But every other moment in the show, his focus has been singular. So in that way, it's entirely real and believable, despite the fact that many of us grew to really care about his character and we wanted to, or at least I wanted to, believe that he was innocent. The fact that he's not is heartbreaking, but real. Eric Ladin's voice when he shouts "It was an accident!" to Darren will haunt me for the rest of my days. He was brilliant in that scene. My baby made a bad decision you guys. I am rationalizing this in my brain, but my heart still hasn't accepted it.
Terry Marek:
THIS MADE SO MUCH SENSE. I thought that I had it pegged and I knew what went down. I thought that Terry was helping to protect Michael. It couldn't be any other way. But the truth is, that she did what she did in order to try and keep him. She did it for herself. In order to have the life she always wanted, the life she thought she deserved. Her in that car, listening to Jamie and Ames argue? God, that was so sad. Hearing him say that now he's never going to be able to leave his wife? And she just gets out of the car and makes a choice? That was beyond brilliant. Beyond. One thing I lament, and I think they must have made a conscious choice to do this, was that we never actually saw Terry find out about Rosie's death. I would have liked to see that. But we couldn't really. It would have given it away. (Maybe.) And her in that room and how she just totally breaks down and Holder putting himself between her and Stan almost as soon as he walks into the room. And Mitch, unable to do anything but let her sister hug her. I just don't know how this could have unfolded any other way and been this fucking satisfying. (My emotions! My emotions!) Terry's lost everything. And it's not like she had much. She had this chance to rebuild her life, but that relied on her secret being kept, that relied on her spending her days with the family that she unknowingly betrayed. And would she have deserved it? If she'd gotten that chance? No, not really. But it doesn't make her own life any less tragic. This reminds me of the moral question of the workers on the train tracks. If you can flip a switch to save a life over another, do you do it? It wasn't her life she was saving, no. But it was (maybe) her only chance at a happy one. She completely detached and she made (probably) the most selfish decision of her life, and so now she's ruined. Utterly and completely.
Holder/Linden:
I think I just about died when you think Jamie shot Linden and it turned out that Holder killed him before he had the chance. The way she looked at him afterward and the music THE MUSIC, you guys. And the look on his face and when they find out the gun wasn't loaded, THE SILENCE. It is either a testament to how subtley brilliant this show is, OR my impending loss of sanity, that I was having all the Holder/Linden feels in this episode and nobody else seems satisfied. I just was digging the way they moved around in each other's space and didn't have to say words. When they're in the room watching Ames and Nicole Jackon being questioned and they're about to cross paths and Holder just diverts. It was like a beautiful, beautiful dance. I loved how he just kept pacing in the scene by the water, and how she just stood here, basically. It was so them. What did they drive all the way out there for? Just to think? Just to ride in the car in silence alone together. And of course that scene in their office was pretty much the most perfect thing ever. Did Holder say "we should quit" or "you should quit." I think he said "WE." They're in it together now. Even if Sarah walked away at the end, these two characters are going to be wrapped up in each other for the long haul. Just you wait.
[Shipper goggles are a go.]
Richmond:
Ah, such a disappointment and he hasn't even taken office yet. The things Jamie said to him in that room burned with truth, but you wanted to think that Richmond would stick to his ideals and rise above. It's almost like the guilt he has for allowing himself to be so naive, for letting Jamie make the hard choices for him, has caused him to take control and just go ahead be the bad guy. I think I said before that Richmond was always best when he was the bad guy. (I found his idealism, while admirable, dull.) So it was kind of satisfying in a way, in the end, when he embraced his dark side. Satisfying in an infuriating way, though.
Gwen:
Get your shit. Go home. This girl needs to walk away. Quick as she can. As they say in bank robbery and blackjack: Take the money and run.
Michael Ames:
His argument with Jamie by the cars kind of made me see him a little differently. He struck me as the one most likely to have physically harmed Rosie with his own two hands. I wasn't putting bets on that, but I felt like that conclusion would have made the most sense. (But the thing about Rosie's death, is that none of it makes sense. It's completely senseless. In the action of it. But from a storytelling perspective, it actually makes the most sense.) But that wasn't the case and he wanted nothing to do with it. I'm eager to go back and see the scenes with him. I said that I doubted that Michael was distancing himself from Terry because she was a "murderous monster" and he wanted to be as far away from her as possible, and while I'm sure it was for his own preservation, it turns out, that that's pretty much exactly what was happening with them and their relationship. Terry is confused as to why Michael has cut off ties, stopped paying her rent... why he doesn't love her anymore. It's because of what she did that night. Despite the fact that he lied to the police about knowing anything about Rosie, and despite the fact that he's not exactly a good guy, I really don't blame him for that.
Sarah:
She had to walk away.
Stephen:
He had to let her.
(In my personal head canon, and in my fic, Stephen kiliing Jamie is going to have some emotional aftermath, the fact that he did it for Linden, to protect her, maybe that'll have some impact too. One can hope!)
Season three:
It needs to happen. It will happen. (Optimism!) I dread adding extra characters to the Holder/Linden (Jack) dynamic. Dear Veena, please don't! Though I feel like that's kind of a non-Veena-Sud-like thing to do. Obviously there will be more characters necessary for a new mystery to solve, but I don't think she'll mess with that dynamic in a way that diminishes it. She's worked too hard to build that bond.
Masterful:
Remember so many episodes ago when I called this show masterful but I didn't feel like I knew what I was talking about? I stand by that statement.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-06-20 04:43 pm (UTC)I really really loved all those moments between Holder and Linden (even if my poor shipper heart wanted them to take that next step, I wasn't expecting it to happen). The way they look at each other and just feel calm and comfortable in the silence between them is just beautiful. I loved the scene where they were just sitting in the dark together, and his line at the end "you're still my ride, Linden." ;____;
no subject
Date: 2012-06-21 04:04 am (UTC)Yeah I wasn't expecting it either. I have been dying for a hug all season and I feel like with what they went through in this ep, they MIGHT have been able to squeeze one in. If their goodbye was on the street instead of in the car, etc. But... this is just as good too. They were perfect together in this ep. Exactly in sync.
no subject
Date: 2012-06-21 04:10 am (UTC)I think Mireille DEFINITELY deserves an Emmy for her portrayal on Linden. She is Best Actress material, oh god. And Joel as Holder was SO GOOD this season! The scene outside her door just killed me (thanks for the icons btw!), and the scene with him standing in traffic was just UGH. SO GOOD.
I would love to see this show nominated for Best Drama. Though it's a tough category for a relatively small show like this going up against faves like Mad Men and Dexter and the like.
I was on the edge of my seat when he shot Jamie! And then the realization that the gun was empty the whole time? I nearly died. Everyone else was fantastic in this episode too (Terry's scene in the bedroom was just AMAZING for everyone), but the Holder/Linden moments are always my favorite.
no subject
Date: 2012-06-21 03:24 pm (UTC)I am pretty sure Mireille was nominated last year wasn't she? Joel getting an nomination would be super exciting and well worth it.
If this show was nommed for drama I would be surprised. I feel like the emmys are usually fairly predictable there.
I don't think even Jamie knew the gun had no bullets. Richmond was probably smart and didn't have it loaded, and obviously he couldn't know that Jamie wouldn't have loaded it himself. It kind of just goes to show how very not killer like Jamie really was. I mean, what kind of a newb doesn't even check for bullets? Oh Jamie. We hardly knew ye.
no subject
Date: 2012-06-21 01:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-21 04:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-21 06:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-21 03:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-07 05:45 pm (UTC)Echoing your feelings about Gwen and Jamie, because Gwen needs to get the hell away from Richmond. And I think she might, having seen who he wants to be now. She was always too good for Seattle, tbqh.
Season 3 needs to be here already. Renewed for S3 at least. I cannot take the wait any longer.
*draws hearts around the last Holder/Linden scene* Because who am I?