Are you kidding me with this?
Linden tells Reddick she shot Skinner twice, that she will sign whatever he needs so her statements will be admissible in court, and that he can arrest her now. This show is finally getting back on track! It’s showing realistic consequences for actions and having characters behave in ways that the series has been establishing for years.
Psych! Linden is saved via deus ex Rocketeer hogwash 1. Billy Campbell, the mayor from the first two seasons of The Killing and the dreamboat from The Rocketeer, rolls in 2 and saves Linden. The higher-ups decided that having a high ranking Seattle PD detective as a serial child murderer would destroy their public image so they’re sticking with the story that the innocent man they executed last season was indeed the real killer. Skinner’s murder was ruled a suicide by the coroner under direct orders. Let’s hope that autopsy doesn’t report the two bullets Linden pumped into Skinner.
YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!
After an abstract exchange about what they’ve been up to for the past five or six years since the last time they saw each other, Holder asks Linden directly why she has shown up at his work out of the blue. Linden then says the dumbest thing ever uttered in this series: Holder was her home. She says that she never had a home before (sorry, Linden’s son! apparently you don’t count for Jack 3 ). Linden tells Holder that the only home she’s ever known was with him when they were sitting in her car for hours driving around solving mysteries or during stakeouts. So, her idea of home is a gritty version of Scooby Doo?
To top off this crap-cake of a face slap to the audience, they end the series with Linden and Holder getting together! My rage could not be contained when this happened. Earlier in the series, Holder almost kissed Linden when he was at his lowest point, but she stopped him and pointed out that he was just reaching out in a desperate moment. She made him realize that neither of them having feelings for each other beyond friendship, and he agreed with her. This forced happy ending is just insulting to everything this once great series stood for: a look at how things don’t always work out for the best, how life is often unfair, and how so many people in this life do not get a happy ending or closure. For a more in-depth explanation, please go read this article that does a better job explaining why this series had an absolutely terrible ending. Seriously, go read it. Right meow.
Honorable Mention:
Apparently, this episode had a shorter than expected runtime after the first edit. Why else would there be a shoehorned montage of the opening credit’s visuals of Linden driving around Seattle and staring at the water. It is literally the exact same footage from the opening credits just without the credits.
If you’re like me and you watched The Killing from its wonderful beginning years ago to its insufferable ending this year, I found a clip that shows what we all did when the credits rolled at the end of this episode. After Arrested Development and The Killing, I hope we’ve all learned our lesson that Netflix enjoys ruining good television series.
