Not that any episode of The Killing could be described as ‘uplifting’ … but “I’ll Let you Know When I Get There” really bummed me out! As if the death of a teenage girl wasn’t awful enough, this episode highlights how the horrible chain of events following Rosie’s murder has shattered the lives of so many people. Even for those indirectly related to the tragedy, there’s no getting back to the way things were before.
The Case
Bennet Ahmed has been cleared of all suspicion in Rosie Larsen’s murder but he can’t exactly celebrate. After savagely beating him to the brink of death, Stan sits in a Jail cell while Bennet fights for his life at Seattle General. (Could be worse right? He could be subjected to the incompetent, navel gazing doctors of Seattle Grace! BAZINGA!) Linden and Holder explain to the Captain that Bennet and Mohammed were trying to protect a 12-year old girl, but lie about actually seeing Aisha and suggest she escaped to relatives in Canada. Technically she was still kidnapped and they don’t want to risk having to return her to her family.
They are struggling to find new suspects in the case and Stephen wants to explore the gang angle again. From the way Stan wailed on Bennet, Stephen figures he was “a pretty badass bag man 30 pounds ago”. Maybe he pissed off the wrong guy? While Sarah questions Stan at the prison, Stephen pays Belko – who he has christened “rat boy” (tee hee) – a visit. Linden asks Stan about his time with Kovarsky and he starts to say he was “a different man back then” … but chokes on the words. It’s a tough claim to make in shackles. Belko fesses up to his past as a runner for Kovarsky, which is where he met Stan. He denies his role in Bennet’s beating, but Stephen notices that his hands are shredded. (Yeah, that’s what happens when you repeatedly punch a giant rock! WACKO!) The consensus is that Kovarsky is too small-time to be a valid connection. Stan wouldn’t have come into contact with the type of people who had the clout to order a hit on his daughter.
The question is … where did Rosie go after she dropped the books off at Bennet’s and how did she get there? A search of all the cab companies turns up a driver who remembers picking up Rosie that night. Hilariously he says she “looked kind of like Alanis Morrissette when she was better looking”. HA! Random. Surprisingly, the driver took her back to the Larsen home. Cameras in the cab reveal that there were lights on in the apartment when she arrived. Who could have been home? With the Larsens out of town for the weekend that pretty much leaves Rat Boy … err … Belko … as the likely suspect.
One visit to Belko’s mother (picture a 70-year old slutty Cloris Leachman), and it’s clear that he has GOT to be messed up. She calls him her “little man” and still speaks about him like he’s 13. “My Belko’s a good boy. He always makes his bed.” Shiver-inducing creep factor! But she did offer the first laugh-out-loud line I’ve heard on this show – about her son being a late in life miracle baby: “I thought it was menopause, but it was Belko.” Searching Belko’s room, the detectives find a disturbing collage of the Larsen family plastered on the ceiling above his bed.
In the interrogation room, the detectives sweet talk Belko into admitting his participation in Bennet’s beating. But when the talk switches to his whereabouts on the night of Rosie’s murder, he becomes agitated. He would never hurt Rosie and he is so NOT a pervert or anything! He just likes to sneak into the Larsen house to sit at their kitchen table and play house. Okay … so he’s not a murderer, just a creepy stalker! When Rosie returned home that night, Belko hid in the closet and overheard her on the phone. “She said ‘Adela I’ll be there’ and then she left. And I never saw her again.” Belko begs the cops not to tell Mitch he was upstairs or she’ll be angry with him. He’s so deeply disturbed, desperate to hold onto the surrogate family he worships. How have the Larsens not picked up on his obsessive tendencies in the last 15 years and distanced themselves from him? But he knew about Adela, and Sarah believes he might be telling the truth about his innocence. That still leaves them with the note – Adela, 11:45. There are 47 Adelas in the King County phone book and Sarah wants to start calling them all immediately. Stephen leaves her to her obsessive craziness and goes home to actually get some sleep. What a novel concept!
At dawn the next day, Sarah is out for a run, pounding the pavement at an insane pace (presumably running on no sleep) when she dashes by a schedule for the Adela ferry, with corresponding departure times. She boards the ferry and heads off across the water, fixating on a sign for the ‘Wapi Eagle Casino’.
The Detectives
Sarah is blaming herself for Bennet’s beating … feeling guilty about his injuries and Stan Larsen’s tragic incarceration. She never should have spoken to the Larsens about arresting Bennet (well DUH). I never thought I’d say this, but Stephen may be the more mature of the two. He points out that if Bennet had told them the truth things may have gone differently, but either way there’s nothing they can do about it. “If you want to get all worked up about it that’s your thing. I’m not going to let myself lose any sleep over it and neither should you.” Take note Sarah. That’s what it looks like when an adult puts an appropriate amount of distance between themselves and their work.
Of course, Sarah is incapable of leaving the office at the office … or of leaving it at a decent hour. She returns to the boat to find that Reggie has finally had it with her absentee parenting. Reggie caught Jack and his friends drinking beer on her boat and when she broke up the party he called her a “stupid lesbo”. Sarah wants to smack some sense into her son, but Reggie says Sarah’s the one who needs a good smack. Instead of acknowledging her shortcomings, Sarah tells Reggie she won’t have to deal with her anymore, packs up Jack, and moves him to a motel in the middle of the night. She behaves so rashly that it’s a wonder she has survived this long! For someone who appears so quiet and stoic, she’s completely driven by her emotions, incapable of finding a middle ground when her instincts kick in.
Even after dragging her misbehaving 13-year old to a motel, Sarah is too restless to stay in and spend some time with him. Instead, she pays a visit to Darren Richmond. She’s compelled to let him know that she was wrong about Bennet and that Darren was right to stick by him. It seemed like she was seeking some type of atonement, confessing her sins to someone with a strong moral code.
The next day her fiancé Rick shows up at the motel to break the silent treatment he’s been giving her since the missed flight to Oakland. He’s reached that critical point where he NEEDS her to give him something or he can’t justify staying in the relationship. He offers her another chance to get on a flight with him that night, leaving Seattle and the Larsen case in the past. He wants her to jump at it, but he’s resigned to the fact that she won’t. “I flew all the way here because I was tired of waiting for you to come to me. But that’s never going to change, is it Sarah? I’m always going to be waiting. Won’t I?” He tells her that he’s not going to “end up in a hospital again watching you stare at a blank wall”. That’s a juicy new tidbit, but I can’t say I’m surprised. If anyone was ever ripe for a mental breakdown, it’s Sarah Linden. Rick kisses her and walks away.
The Richmond Campaign
In the wake of Bennet Ahmed’s vindication, Darren Richmond has become the integrity candidate; the man who stands up for what he believes in, even in the face of suspicion and fear. He makes an impassioned television speech, vowing to re-open the doors of the After School program and re-invigorate the Muslim communities that suffered attacks.
With the newfound cash flow, Darren’s campaign workers are busy putting together ads. Buried in hours upon hours of footage, one intern finds a clip of Darren shaking hands with Rosie Larsen at a rally. Gwen and Jamie fall all over themselves to ‘calmly’ ask her to keep it under wraps. There’s no need to tell Darren because “He must have shaken 100 hands that day. Doesn’t mean anything.” It’s just a coincidence right? If after all of this, the suspicion pendulum swings back around to Darren Richmond again, I’m going to be pissed off!
The Larsens
Stan Larsen is arraigned on two counts of kidnapping and attempted murder. He tries to plead guilty, but his lawyer insists the judge accept a not guilty plea due to Stan’s ongoing duress. Stan is obviously feeling guilty and ashamed, but is he punishing himself for the beating, or does he just want to suffer because his daughter is gone?
Stan’s remaining children, Tommy and Denny, just don’t understand how their father can be in jail. “He’s not the bad guy. Why don’t they put the bad guy in jail?” How heartbreakingly naïve. Terri tries to explain, “Sometimes you do what you think is right and it ends up being wrong.” It’s tough to be the ones left alive after a tragedy, but especially for children. If Stan is convicted and serves serious jail time, they’ll grow up without a father … in the care of an emotionally damaged mother. I want to say that Stan was being completely selfish by indulging in his own anger and depriving his boys of a father, but it is reasonable to expect a grieving parent to be capable of thinking straight in those circumstances? Awfulness all around.
Mitch seems eerily calm after her husband’s arrest. Perhaps she’s completely drained and doesn’t have anything left to give. But she’s shocked to receive a call from her bank informing her that their cheques have been bouncing and their account is overdrawn. Mitch is floored, believing they had $16,000 in their savings account. It’s a really bad time to find out that your imprisoned husband was trying to surprise you with a new house!
Photo Courtesy of AMC