Photos
Obviously, Seattle’s detective Sarah Linden isn’t the worst police officer in the whole world for one reason: she doesn’t exist! She is a make believe character on a TV show called The Killing. But, OK, can we talk about what a terrible police officer she is? Because it’s kind of getting outrageous. First of all, she allows her partner to use morally questionable tactics like smoking “fake” weed in front of high school students to illicit a confession, but then she also talks about him behind his back, cockblocks him with their boss, and in general doesn’t trust him and prevents him from doing his job. Well, which is it? Either play by the rules, or throw out the book, but you can’t happily let your partner throw out the book and then complain about shoddy police work after the fact. He’s not the one who followed YOU into an abandoned meat factory without a warrant! (There is also the part where she spied on him during an AA meeting, which had less to do with her abilities as a cop and much more to do with her failings as a friend and a human being, but more on that later when we talk about her fiance and son). So, after bungling a federal case by intruding on a potential crime scene without a warrant, she BREAKS INTO A FBI EVIDENCE BOX? Cripes. Meanwhile, when Rosie Larsen’s mother calls her in hysterics and accuses the police of doing “nothing” despite the fact that it has by Rosie Larsen’s mother’s own admission only been A WEEK since her daughter’s body was found, Seattle’s detective Sarah Linden promises her that it will “all be over tonight.” Whoa. Why would you promise that? I didn’t go to QUANTICO, or whatever, and I’m not part of the Blackbriar program, but even I know that you don’t just make promises like that to the families of victims, because what if something goes wrong? Even more importantly: why feed their irrational emotional breakdown? Speaking of the family of the victim, did you ever think perhaps that after Rosie’s father abducted your prime suspect and it was revealed that he had long-standing ties to the criminal underworld that you might want to at least keep an eye on him? See what he’s up to? No? Bad work, detective. You are a terrible detective.
She is also bad at most other things. For example:
She also happens to be a terrible mother. And a terrible girlfriend. Like, this whole “I missed my plane to go to the rehearsal dinner for my wedding, so now what I need to do is wait around for my fiance to call ME before I catch the next plane out there for my wedding”? What is THAT all about? Just get on a plane! What are you talking about? Her kid is sending photos of corpses to all his friends. Cool mom. Ms. Cool Mom. (Incidentally, having your kid send photos of a corpse from an on-going investigation to his friends? KIND OF COUNTS AS BEING TERRIBLE AT BEING A POLICE OFFICER.) And, of course, what I mentioned earlier about completely and unapologetically invading her partner’s privacy by watching his open talk at an AA meeting for way longer than she needed to if the point of spying on him was just to make sure he wasn’t leaking information to the press or buying heroin or whatever. But so here is the thing about all that: if you’re going to be a terrible mother, fiancee, and friend because you’re supposed to be so obsessed with your work, shouldn’t you AT LEAST BE GOOD AT YOUR WORK?!
And why does she seem to think that being a police detective is all about self-entitlement and complaining? Like, there are a lot of established rules to effective police work known primarily as LAWS and you learn about them in Police Academy VII. Why is she constantly baffled by the fact that she can’t just arrest everyone with no evidence and that her boss, the police chief, is hesitant to put his own career in jeopardy and destroy the integrity of the entire department by allowing her to illegally pursue her hunches? Oh, I know why she thinks that: because she is terrible. I REST MY CASE.
 |
 |
You Might Also Like
 Was Anyone Excited To Start Watching The Killing Again Last… |  The Killing Season One Finale |  An Open Letter To AMC’s The Killing |  Oh, Did You Guys Watch The Killing? |
Leave a Reply
Sign inSign in with FacebookYou must be logged in to post, reply to, or rate a comment.
*slow clap*
For a good murder mystery you guys need to check BBC’s The Shadow Line (airing currently). Everything the killing promised it would be.
Sorry to misuse the first comment reply, but i have to get this show out there.
“stlolth” is all like, “FIIIIIIIIIRST”
plus the boring aka the killing is no mystery, they made it clear the mom did it from the get go, go man go, oh brother not another motha fucka gotta go now
No you’re the worst Police Officer
I guess we were foolish to think lightning would strike twice with regard to Lindens being good at police work.
I don’t know what you’re talking about, Gabe – she’s very concerned with and talented at chewing nicorrette, thinking heavily in the rain, and taking too long to form complete sentences. 2011 WINNER OF AWARD FOR STUPID POLICE WORK.
She is also apparently unaware that every young girl in Seattle owns a grand canyon t-shirt. Know your town, Linden!
which is why GAME OF THRONES RECAPS ALREADY!
Yes, we need to discuss it. Llast night’s episode was….golden.
To truly determine whether or not she is a bad cop, we must first measure whether King Kong does or does not got nothin’ on her.
which is why GAME OF THRONES RECAPS ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!!1!1111
You seem to be agitated about something, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.
just a bit gassy, that’s all.
I don’t think she knew that her partner was doing the fake weed stunt.
I agree on the girlfriend/mother thing. We haven’t heard a peep about it since she missed the flight.
How about the cell phone trick? That has to count for something.
I’m more bothered by Detective Ratface’s wearing the same thing for seven days straight (except when he wore the bad suit). And I keep wondering how he got through the academy with that type of speech.
“Drop and give me 20″
“Fer shizzle”
And at this point I think Detective Ratface’s Police Academy would be a better show. I’m chugging along only because I’ve put in time but I’m getting close to downloading the original and watching it all one Sunday (because that’s how exciting my life is).
what about when he said “Everybody’s gotta hate on tha Po-Po!”
Detective Linden really needs to start taking notes from the master:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN7pkFNEg5c
Linden would be so much more likable if she dated her IRL husband (best known as Cameron Frye) on the show instead.
“This is uh… This is ridiculous, ok I’ll go, I’ll go, I’ll go, I’ll go, I’ll go. What – I’LL GO. Shit.” – my thought process every time I press play on this show’s recording.
I want this show to be so much better! Poor Rosie, she died of boredom. RIP.
YES!! I keep watching weekly, hoping it will live up to my expectations. Every week at my house we high-five each other about how AWESOME Game of Thrones was, then we have to settle down and say with Eeyore-voices, “Time to get depressed and bored.”
Thank you, Gabe. This was long overdue, Linden is the Worst Police Officer in America (TM).
And while we’re talking about this show, can we please take a minute to talk about Rosie’s mother, Midge (Mitch, Marge, I’m not really sure, honestly, and I’ve watched every episode)? How awful is this woman? I mean, sure, I can only imagine how terrible it would be if my fictional teenage daughter were fictionally murdered and I had to suffer through the fictional aftermath, but Midge (I’m just going to assume that her name is Midge) has moved well past the sympathy zone and into the I-am-clearly-just-a-bad-person-and-make-it-impossible-for-anyone-to-feel-sorry-for-me zone.
That’s because Mitch is a Maenad.
And Ensign Ro.
Mitch killed her daughter FYI
I was willing to overlook some of the GAPING HOLES in the plot of this show until last night’s episode. Why wouldn’t Bennett tell his wife and the police that he’s helping a 12-year-old girl escape FEMALE CIRCUMCISION in order to explain all the sneaking around and covert phone calls and clear himself of being a MURDER SUSPECT? Especially when the victim’s father has already KIDNAPPED him one time? Sorry, but I can’t suspend my disbelief any longer, THE KILLING. I don’t care that I’ve spent nine weeks watching you. Pack your terrible “twists” and go.
Most especially when his wife is pregnant with a daughter? Like, nope, she definitely wouldn’t be understanding or sympathetic to that at all.
I completely agree! I asked my husband what he thought, and he was like, “that’s aiding and abetting”.
Umm, yea, so nice of this guy not to tell his wife so that she will remain innocent while some fat loser murders him in a macabre misunderstanding…
Also: Mistic River, anyone?
I just want to say this post is awesome. Unfortunately I’m too busy at work to make a joke — obviously because I’m so obsessed with my job that I am a terrible person.
(Today my job is to help build a Powerpoint comparing different health insurance companies’ B2B demographics and strategies, so, OBVIOUSLY I have the kind of job a person can really obsess about and love, if by “obsess about and love” you mean “someone please pull out my eyes and beat me to death with them.”)
I am so pissed at this show. I really, really wanted it to be good. Now I’m just hate-watching it.
Don’t worry everyone. There’s only a few episodes left, so the killer is bound to fall into Linden’s lap real soon here, ya know, now that we’ve exhausted most of the red herrings.
This is something I hate about every murder mystery I’ve ever watched. You eliminate the most obvious suspects only to be left with a killer whose motive is boring and/or contrived. Oh look, Detective Linden was the murderer all along! For real though, it’ll probably be Councilman Whateverhisnameis because he’s the least likely suspect. SURPRISE! I thought it would have been groundbreaking if “The Killing” had slowly made it apparent who the killer was and built the climax around something other than the whodunit. But I guess we’ll see. Prediction: you will not care about the person who killed Rosie Larsen, which is the ultimate failure of “The Killing.”
ps. despite all its problems, I find it pretty entertaining.
despite all your rage, you’re still just a rat in a cage, “Peeps”
the mother did it FYI
Yeah, she needs Agent Dale Cooper to get in there and whip her into shape.
I’m actually really enjoying the show. Well, as much as something so grim and unfunny can be really enjoyed.
I wonder if her police work getting super shoddy is a choice the show is making on purpose. I will have to rewatch early episodes to test my idea, but it seemed like she was pretty solid in the beginning. She had good instincts, and was really good with witnesses and stuff. It almost seems like, as the rest of her life falls apart, her desperation to solve the crime is making her sloppy. (And/or vice versa, her desperation to solve the crime leads to the deterioration of her life, which makes her MORE desperate, which makes her sloppy.) It’s like we start watching on the upper end of what appears to be a steep, fast downward slide into her becoming Bad Lieutenant: Seattle. I sort of like it. We’re seeing how loosely she’s held together, and how little it takes for her to let her entire world collapse. Like the situation with her asshole son emailing the crime scene photos was a perfect synergy of her letting everything completely slide.
But also, lady has a serious sourpuss and she wears the same brown sweater every day, too. Rat Face hasn’t cornered the market on wearing the same shit every day. The must smell awful. They’re always getting soaked in the rain, then drying off, then getting soaked again. Barf.
While the story line about Rosie’s parents is hard to watch, because of how terrible that situation must be for them, I don’t mind it. I feel like it’s being handled pretty well. Unless any of us have actually had one of our kids die and can attest to it ringing false, I’m gonna give them the benefit of the doubt about how much something like that will unhinge you, mentally and emotionally.
The story line that’s bumming me out is the mayoral campaign. Who cares? Shut up, Billy Campbell. Uncrumple your forehead and also up your caloric intake because you’re looking weird and overly skinny.
To me, the mayoral campaign is reminiscent to the corporate espionage and backstabbing between the Packard Sawmill and Ben Horne in Twin Peaks, with the exception that I find the Mayoral campaign a bit more interesting, but not by too much.
And yes, I’ve just compared The Killing to Twin Peaks, which is the first time anyone has ever made that comparison.
Look, I have plainly stated in the past that I’m a Grammar Nazi. If you’re going to write “a FBI,” I will have to assume you pronounce it “fubby.”
I think the garage guy did it. Why is he beating up a big rock!? only guilty people do that?
But this is one of the reasons I like this show – I’ve met detectives (hell, I have cop friends that will probably be detectives one day) – they aren’t like those other shows. They can be idiots. They make mistakes. I had two break ins at my apartment and they sent a CSI guy out – he couldn’t find a single finger print in any relevant surface of my apartment. Not even mine!