'The Killing' Recap - Orpheus Descending

"Hey, Jamie, if you see the po-po, let me know."

As a fan of Lost, I'm a TV viewer who is familiar with not getting answers or, when I do get answers, getting unsatisfactory ones.  So, the end of The Killing last night, which provided a little of both, didn't throw me into the depths of despair.  However, most of my family members, who don't usually watch serial dramas because of the "commitment" and "slow pace," had to be kind of peeved last night. (And maybe a little peeved at me for getting them into this show.)

The theme of the night was "red herrings," and here were all the stinky fish:

Councilman Orpheus: I kind of love the title of this episode, "Orpheus Descending," because it alludes to both the Greek myth about a man who went down to Hades to earn back his wife and the total destruction of the man who used the name "Orpheus" as his Beau Soleil handle.  And by the end of the episode, Orpheus was most certainly descending, as in "going down."

We all knew Richmond wouldn't be the killer, right?  I mean, that would've been too easy.  They caught him too quickly.  Linden put a tail on him so he couldn't escape.  Catching Richmond was like shooting fish in a barrel.  Town's the fish, Richmond's the barrel.  Fish in a barrel.  (Sorry, Tommy Boy reference.)

So, who else was on our Rosie Killer Radar?

Suspect #1: Gwen, AKA Richmond's latest in a string of sexytime aides (though, the only non-brunette one, so she's special): Gwen spent the entire episode in some combination of standing in the shadows, crying, or looking suspicious.  Murderer!  Except not.  At the moment, she just seems like a jilted lover and a disappointed political wonk.  But nothing on this show is ever as it seems, is it?  We've learned our lesson the hard way.

Suspect #2: Belko: I got a little rush of excitement when Belko showed up on screen holding a gun.  OMG, was I totally just about to be right about my very first Rosie killer suspect?  Nope.  Belko just grabbed that gun to do some councilman hunting.  

The Real Deal

None of the above people was the killer.  And none of the above was the unseen person driving the getaway car into which our (my?) beloved Holder stepped as he said, "The photo worked.  He's going down (descending, Orpheus-style)."  

So, I'm working hard to get over the heartbreak and the total what-the-frakkery of the honchos at The Killing turning the most likable character on this entire show into an accomplice to Rosie's murder (I refuse to believe he actually killed her.  Not my Holder!!!)

So let's focus on who could be in the driver's seat, shall we?

Definitely NOT driving (because the camera cut to them in "real" time as Holder entered the car): Linden and Jack (on the plane); Terri, Stan, and the boys (in the Larsen home); Belko and Jamie and Gwen.

Presumably NOT driving (though we can't know for sure): Mitch (because she's Rosie's mom), Bennet (because he's hooked up to life support), Chrissy Seaver (because she's eleventy months pregnant) 

The Top Suspects: Billionaire Assfedora, Murderous Fiance, Jack's dad, Mayor Sucks-a-Lot, Gwen's dad who plays a bad guy in every show, Richmond's old lover/aid named Meg whom we just met in this very episode, Jasper, Jasper's dad

Non-Top Suspects (i.e. the people we REALLY should be paying attention to, because that's how this show rolls): Regi, Belko's mom, Holder's "sponsor," Sterling, Holder's sister, Jack's friend's mom, the ICU nurse in charge of Bennett's care, the girl Bennett saved from genital mutilation, Murderous Fiance's sexytime assisstant, Mitch's mom and dad, the guy who ran the gas station where "Richmond" stopped to fill up, Linden's secret evil twin sister

Where are you with all this?  Are you crushed that HOLDER, our Holder, has been playing Linden all this time, just when we (I) had such high hopes for her ditching Murderous Fiance for her bad boy (in the best sense of the term) partner?  Are you so peeved at the ending that you will not be tuning in for the next season of The Killing?  Or did you really love how it all played out?  

Source: http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/hammervision/2011/06/the-killing-recap---orpheus-descending.html

Eva Longoria Eva Mendes Jennifer Garner Jennifer Love Hewitt