The Killing: S4/E2 – Unraveling

The Killing S4 E2 is called Unraveling. An excellent title seeing how Linden is wound up so tight it seems she likely to snap or crack or unravel at any moment. While unravel is a fair term to describe as a possibility for Linden, I think she compares much more like a piano wire just about ready to snap. It was fairly exciting to see her take on both Gregg Henry’s Detective Reddick and Joan Allen’s Colonel Margaret Rayne verbally in this episode.

Searching for clues in both the Stansbury beach house as well as the main house, Linden and Holder discovered another woman’s clothing. The search also revealed some photographs of the Stansbury daughter that had been killed. A simple bit of deduction showed that the pictures were likely taken by someone with a zoom lens and the proper angle to shoot the images which led them to the neighboring house.

Which leads to the neighbor, a photographer. He was the one who had phoned the police on the night of the shootings. He is different; he’s peculiar in the way that artists often are. Of course he worked at giving off that vibe as well. When Linden and Holder ask him about a couple of the photos, he said, So she kept them…

After a minor scuffle, Holder had him in handcuffs, as Linden searched the house. As expected, since he had admitted knowledge of the photos, and since he had already described himself as a photographic artist, it was not surprising to find more of the pictures. In fact a huge number of them covering an entire wall.

This kind of ‘display’ is usually symptomatic of a classic obsession meaning either a pervert or even more seriously – a pervert with murderous tendencies. Ross admitted to being a loner, and he had inherited the house when his mother had passed. So he had opportunity and means – but not necessarily a motive – at least so far.

But I am troubled because even with an obsessive amount of photos, plus the knowledge that the brother knew about the photos – neither of those make him a killer. And he’s already a known entity to the police. It is just the beginning of the second episode, so I think it is too early. Plus the show’s DNA suggests that we be strung along for a while.

If we go back to the woman’s clothing – a new avenue of investigation opens. It seems that this woman, named Kat Newton (she’s played by Eve Harlow – a grand stage name if there ever was one) has left finger prints all over the Stansbury house. Not only that, Kyle Stansbury denied knowing her, AND she had a few entries on the police files for some minor crimes and one about a physical assault charge, that was dropped because the victim declined to press charges. And who was that? Mr. Stansbury.

So this brings us to the question of a possible motive – murder for the inheritance as sole surviving member of the family, like Kyle doing his family at the instigation of Kat

So while Holder and Linder try to solve the Stansbury murders, the tension is mounting because Reddick is helping Skinner’s daughter who is worried sick because Skinner hasn’t returned any calls or texts for two weeks. We know that he’s dead – but Reddick and Bethany Skinner don’t know this. However Reddick who is a far better detective than we give him credit for, did check the Skinner phone logs and discovered that the last call Skinner made was to Linden.

Back at the St. George Military School – things are not going well for Kyle Stansbury. He’s being harassed by a small clique but Kyle has earned the respect of an upper class man in Cadet Fielding, who becomes Kyle’s ally and defender. But Kat Newton is seen leaving the barracks by Kyle’s nemesis at the school, likely a violation of the cadet code of conduct – so this should have some repercussions

Adding to the tension is an absolutely terrific musical score. I think I am enjoying this season, which is also the final season of The Killing far better than the last two. Maybe it is because we are not continually visiting a prisoner on death row, and there’s not a new teen-ager killed every week.

I think it will be very interesting to see how the Joan Allen character – Colonel Rayne will play out. She has this unwavering idealistic view of her student cadets. And she’s a strict disciplinarian. We already know that Kyle has lied to the police, and that he’s not as upstanding a cadet as Rayne thinks he is. Rayne still has to see and hear this with her own eyes and ears.

Stay tuned.