Before I begin gushing about how much Holder ROCKED this episode, let me attempt to talk about some of the other characters and moments I also loved! In no particular order, of course.
Darren Richmond – he is really back on his political horse now, and so far looks to be somehow more able to run his campaign than he was before. Is it just me, or does it seem like he’s making decisions more on his own, or with his team, as opposed to doing what he was told, like he was before Belko shot him? He didn’t exactly go out of his way to help the Rosie Larsen investigation as far as pushing to allow the police to include the casino, but he DID broach the subject with Jackson, AND he caught that little dodge she used to try and get permission to build whatever she wanted to on the land. I barely even notice the chair anymore when he’s on screen – he’s in full politician mode now, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s really working for him.
Gwen really took a risky step up to the plate this week, too. Taking Mayor Adams on in private – about something that happened when she was 14 – was a bold move. I have to admit, I really felt for her in that scene. When he went from “I think we remember events differently” non-committal chatter to, “You think he didn’t know?” at the mention of her father, my stomach dropped a bit, I have to say. Kudos to her for keeping most of her reaction off her face in that moment, because that comment personally made me sick. Freaking filthy politicians, man. I want that dude to lose the campaign so bad – and I actually hope he had something to do with Rosie’s murder now, just so we’d get to see him go to jail.
Mitch Larsen – I sometimes have a hard time knowing what that woman is thinking, but Michelle Forbes is such a joy to watch that I actually love trying to figure her out! Some incredibly interesting moments came out of her visit to the home of David, Rosie’s biological father. It’s possible he’s one of the nicest guys ever, too. Watching him make Mitch laugh at their shared memories was wonderful, especially given how little she’s had reason to smile these past three weeks. I’m so happy that she said Rosie was Stan’s, and that she called him after to tell him some of what she’d found out. Though…like, part of me – a big part – wants to tell her it’s WAY past time for her to be getting home now, there’s another part of me that recognizes that she still hasn’t found whatever it is that she’s looking for. Turning to her husband – whom she has judged so harshly all this time – in her honest moment of self-doubt was, I think, a big step for her. She needed to hear that she’d done her best as a parent – that they both had, and in the end it was Stan that she called when she needed it. But I don’t think that’s all she needs, and I don’t think she’s ready to go home quite yet. Maybe she’ll end up making a pilgrimage to California to see the butterfly migration in Rosie’s place. I don’t know.
And poor Stan – that man has been taking a spiritual beating for the past three weeks at least, and it doesn’t seem to be over yet. I love that he sort of got Tommy to talk to him, even after they’d had it out with one another at the school. They obviously still have some trouble connecting, and wee Denny is just a sad witness to it all on the side, but when it comes right down to it, the Larsen men truly do care for one another, and their girls, and they’re handling everything the best they can. That family could very well have been completely destroyed with the loss of Rosie, but right now, they are all still fighting for it – just each in their own ways.
Okay, that’s as much as I can bear to talk about without beginning the Holder’s Awesome Gush of 2012. Dude OWNED this episode! Like a boss, as my nephew would say! lol
Where do I even start? Shows up at the police station to confirm that everything to do with the Larsen case is gone, BUT finds out that it’s been taken over to County. He tells Linden that he has a few contacts over there who may be able to help them out, and promises to call in the morning. He makes a crack about the hotel room she’s living in, she kicks him out of the car, and they both giggle. LOVED that scene. Also loved the following scene where Sarah notices Jack forgot his jacket in the back of the car, and fully breaks down over it. And then she spends the night in her car, right outside Holder’s apartment. Bless. When will she realize that’s where she feels safest? 
Holder finds out that the files never made it to County – they’re gone. “Lost”, as it were. So he tries a different tactic. Bald former friend and mentor comes home to find Holder chowing down on leftovers in his apartment. After having worked up an appetite by tossing the place, naturally. Leaves him with a vague threat, and then has the brilliant remembrance that he’d helped the dude move before, and that there was a storage facility nearby where he’d stored all his crap. Holder and Linden get in there, and manage to find the Larsen files hidden away, safe and sound – including the last remaining key to the 10th floor. Shizzle’s gettin’ real.
While the arrabiatta conversation was hilarious, I think my favourite Holder moment in this ep has to be helping Linden get past the casino security when mary has a change of heart about letting them in through the kitchen.
“Sir, you need to come with us.”
“Oh…I need to go with you!”
Priceless. And then he takes a pic of Jackson’s henchwoman on the phone he said they had (“Oh…I-I found my phone! My bad!”) and shows himself out. The flick of the cigarette with “Sayonara, Hiawatha” sealed it – best distraction scene ever. Love you, Holder!!!
So that takes us to the epic concluding minutes of the episode – Linden prowling around on the 10th floor, trying to figure out what Rosie had been doing up there. She’d called Alexi from the balcony overlooking the city, they figured, then had gone back inside because she saw “him” again. How did she end up in the car? How did they even get her out of the building without being seen by every camera and security guard in the place? That all makes the casino look pretty damn complicit in her murder, I’m thinking. But we’ll see.
Linden spots a bloodied key card in one of the open construction holes (that sounds way dirtier than I meant it to, but you know what I mean), and doesn’t quite manage to get her hands on it before something completely different happened right at the end of the episode. Did you notice? Every single ep so far has had that music play over the final moments, as we sum up where everyone is at by then. Always the same music, leading into the cliffhanger end of the episode. This one, though, didn’t have that. We saw Holder outside as he noticed a light appear in a 10th floor window, and he warns Linden again to shut off her flashlight. She has just enough time to say, “It’s off” before being clocked from behind. And scene – roll credits. No music to cue the end of the episode, much like when certain eps of 24 ended without the sound of the clock counting the final seconds of that hour. It was creepy, and probably significant in some way. If you’re like me, and look for little things like that! lol
So, let’s see…the key card was from where? City hall? Which made me like Jamie as the killer again sort of, but not enough for me to be totally convinced. It’s just another tick in the possibility column. However…whoever was there that night – maybe more than one person – I mean, Rosie’s backpack was turfed into a dumpster outside the casino. Makes me think maybe the casino didn’t feel the need to be careful about getting rid of that evidence, or more likely they didn’t know it was there. So, Rosie’s still alive when they leave, but assuming that’s her blood all over everything, she has been hurt. So they get her out to the car, dump her backpack before they leave (Why? Did they plan on killing her? Or did they fear they already had, and were just covering it all up from there?), and then drive the long way around in a car from Richmond’s campaign with her in the trunk, at least part of the way. Though if they stopped for gas and she jumped out and made a run for the trees, chances are she wasn’t in the trunk the whole time.
Who would Rosie go to the casino to see on a night she wasn’t working – on a night she’d apparently planned to leave? Why would she pack and then go all the way out there that night? it has to have been someone who knew she worked there – knew she had a key to the 10th floor. Someone who also had access, or could get it when they wanted to. Because something happened up in that construction site. I think Linden’s right…that’s where it all started. The pieces are coming together, come hell or high water.
Maybe the real question now is – can Holder see Linden through this, or is she heading for more hospital crazy time?
The Killing airs Sundays at 9pm EST on AMC
Edited to add: Maybe Rosie’s biological father is a murdering psychopath, and that’s why Mitch ultimately decided to keep Rosie from him? Maybe she caught Terry in an umcompromising position? I think she saw something she shouldn’t have – just can’t quite figure out what yet! 
