User Reviews

This is an amazing conclusion to the second season. With the kidnapping of Adrian a search goes all over the place. Reddick is the prime suspect but can't be found. A burnt body is found, again a woman with a missing finger, another victim of the same killer. It is now obvious that Ray was hanged for a crime he did not commit. As Hlder and Linden investigate and need to talk to Reddick, Holder is nabbed by IAD and brought into an interrogation room. Sarah goes to see Skinner and he is leaving. His marriage has broken up, so he has an excuse to leave. His wife and daughter come home and there is a scene. Just as Linden walks out the door, she sees that Skinner's daughter is wearing the ring that Kallie was wearing (the one that has been on the wall at the precinct for the whole series). Linden puts two and two together. It's Skinner. What follows is a psychological drama like nothing I've seen before. LInden, who had an affair with Skinner, blow realizes that he is the guy that killed over twenty young girls. He is as psychotic as one can get as he talks about their love for each other. Meanwhile, Holder has been released and is in pursuit of his partner. Adrian is at issue because he has been kidnapped by Skinner. What follows is so dramatic and so amazing that I won't put it out there. Suffice it to say, it is about as gut wrenching a moment as you will see.

I thought that this season was phenomenal. Especially the episode when Peter Sarsgaard's character was hanged. The writing (dialogue and plot) and the acting are all top notch. The first two seasons were very, very good and this third season was even better. I find it hard to believe how good this season turned out - except for this episode. My god. The entire response of Sarah from the time she gets into her car and drives away with Skinner is completely unbelievable and drives the entire season into the ditch. Yeah, Sarah Linden has some psyche issues. Yeah, she took a hiatus from being a cop. Yeah, she had fling with this guy when they were partners. And, there was some rekindling that was marginally believable. But, a private citizen - let alone a cop of her caliber and instinct - would not have acquiesced to Skinners' request that she get in the car and driven for hours - I mean it went from daylight to being pitch dark (and how much driving can the characters do to get to this lake house? - they could've driven deep into Canada with this timeline.) The last 30 minutes of this episode - especially the last half of this 30 minutes was painful to watch...especially as we get little-to-no reprieve from this nonsensical and contrived plot in the last 15 minutes. Holder comedic interaction the with the IA officers and Detective Reddick gives us some reprieve from this awful episode. A truly phenomenal season that due to implausible writing left the season for me both frustrated and with a bad taste in my mouth. Hoping that they do not badly end the next season. (Episode 10 is probably one of the best episodes that I have seen on any series - I gave it 10/10 stars.)