The Killing: Everyone Killed Rosie Larsen

So, we’re still watching The Killing Sunday nights on AMC. It’s mostly still very good, though a half-season in, some of its flaws are starting to show.

First of all, the glacial pacing. At times, the show appears to be hanging around and checking its watch, waiting for the last five minutes to slap a revelation or cliff-hanger into our faces. It’s mostly forgivable, because it’s a full-season mystery, and if it was throwing suspects and clues at us every commercial break, it would be obvious that none of them would turn out to be legit. Still, it could use a little more content, more substance. Mood will get you only so far; some of the gaps could use a little filling.

Second, the “political” stuff. The Richmond campaign is boring, uninvolving, and poorly explained. I still don’t have any feel for Richmond’s politics despite his campaign crap taking up about half of the show, and it’s growing less interesting all the time. The Wire was brilliant at weaving politics into the story, but The Killing just isn’t.

Finally, Holder. Jesus. PLEASE give this guy more scenes, more airtime, more to say, more to do. He’s great — a former vice cop, used to manipulating and conniving people into telling him things they shouldn’t be telling him. When he’s set loose he’s great, but I’m tired of seeing him trailing Linden around like a puppy. Last week he got tired too, and started literally kicking down doors, and I hope he continues to get off his leash.

Anyway, here’s a list of suspects, and my odds on who seems the most likely killer (subject to change, of course).

Stan: Rosie’s dad, who it was revealed has mob ties and possibly did some “wet work” in the good old days. I initially thought (like, in the first episode) he might be the culprit, but it’s pretty clear he’s not at this point: he’s genuinely torn apart about Rosie’s death. I later thought that perhaps Rosie was killed as revenge due to his former dabblings in the underworld, but it doesn’t feel like it at this point, or at least they haven’t given any clues to suggest it. 0% Chance

Richmond: The mayor wannabe. Hum. Super earnest, but a bit of a sleaze. He’s tied to several aspects of Rosie’s murder: she was found in one of his campaign cars, and he’s linked to Bennet, the prime suspect, through a youth group. There’s probably more there. He’s so front-and-center to the show that even if he’s not suspicious, he’s gotta be a suspect. 10% Chance

Bennet: Prime suspect, which probably means he didn’t kill Rosie, simply because there’s so much more show to go. Still, he’s got a history of romancing his students, he’s lied to the cops several times, and if he was involved with Rosie he could have killed her to keep his wife from finding out. The thing that mostly exonerates him is that he looks so darn guilty, which is weird, but that’s how mysteries often work. 5% Chance

Amber: Bennet’s preggo wife. If a married man is cheating, and the other woman turns up dead, look no further than the dude’s wife. Which is probably why Amber is a false lead. She’s super pregnant, which makes it doubtful she’d be up for chasing a teenage girl through the woods. On the other hand, if she did kill Rosie, Bennet probably knows and might be trying to protect her. Maybe she killed Rosie, and he cleaned it up? 10% Chance

Rick: Linden’s long-suffering, clingy, whiny fiancee. I have no reason to suspect him of killing Rosie, other than that he’s played a gross creep a bunch of times before, and the murder happened just before Linden was supposed to leave. It’s refreshing, at least, to have the cop’s whining spouse be played by a dude for a change. 5% Chance

Belko: This is the bearded guy, Stan’s old mob buddy, who has been hanging around not doing much for the entire show. There was a scene where he tried to reassure one of the Larsen kids about wetting the bed, but it came off more creepy than sensitive (he was apparently a bed-wetter himself — isn’t that common among serial killers?). He tried to push Stan into murdering Bennet after learning from his “friend at the school” that Bennet was a suspect. Did he bump off Rosie? Did he then try to get Stan out of the way, or deflect suspicion from himself? Does he have designs on Stan’s whole family? He’s number one on my personal suspect list. 35% Chance

Terry: Rosie’s aunt, who has also been hanging around the entire show, not doing much. There’s nothing really pointing at her as a suspect except she’s around all the time, often for very little reason. There was one weird moment where she acted like she knew Jasper’s father (Jasper being Rosie’s sort-of boyfriend), but I don’t know where that ‘s gonna go. 10% Chance

Jamie: The little whiny Richmond aide. This guy gets a shitload of screen time for no reason I can figure. I can’t think of a motive, unless Richmond banged Rosie and Jamie decided she needed “hushing up” to protect the campaign. Still, nothing has really linked Richmond directly with Rosie, and leaving her body in a Richmond campaign car would be a weird thing for Jamie to do. 25% Chance

Everyone Else: There are a ton of minor characters, like Gwen (if Richmond was seeing Rosie, Gwen would be jealous), The Evil Mayor or one of his staff (to keep Richmond out of the race), Sterling (Rosie’s friend, who lived in Rosie’s shadow), and there may be characters we haven’t even met yet (though I hope it’s someone who has already been on the show). 5%

Note: I think that adds up to 105%. But that’s the kind of effort I put in.