I find him skeevy too, and more obsequious than patient. I didn’t like the way he snuck up on her and grabbed her from behind. That’s the kind of a passive-aggressive, asshole move that gets really old really fast.
My reaction to Linden’s fiance’ is probably tainted by other roles that Callum Keith Rennie has carried off convincingly, notably 24 and Harper’s Island which are the more recent things I’ve seen him in. He suffers from the ability to be cast for darker characters and that may not be a reflection of his acting skills as much as his looks and the vibe he seems to convey. Many actors have that aspect.
Thus far I have been trying to be neutral on the characters, since the “red herring” and misdirection components of this series are so obvious. But if he winds up being a baddie, I can add another role to his list of creeps.
I’m going to be surprised if Michelle Forbes winds up being a baddie, because she’s being very convincing as the grieving and obtuse mother.
The teacher is most definitely a red herring now. Which is good because I don’t want him to be responsible for Rosie’s killing. This episode also seemed to imply that Kris, the teenage junkie KNOWS that Holder is a fellow junkie like himself. Was that a red herring or more misdirection? We’ll see! I also found it interesting that the Chief so randomly dissed Holder about his clothing and appearance. That came out of nowhere.
Okay, I’m changing my mind about the fiance. I was seduced by him bringing the wedding cake samples, but on second thought, it’s manipulation, not thoughtfulness. Also, it took a second too long for him to make up with Jack (Jake? the kid) about eating the samples.
He reminds me a bit of Monte Markham, an actor from the 70’s that I had a big crush on.
Mom seems to smart to believe that Rosie had no secrets, but maybe it’s a defense mechanism. It’s too soon to take away Rosie’s angel status.
On review after seeing Corliss’ comment about Holder’s clothes. Linden was wearing jeans! Why jump on Holder? He’s dressed for under cover, even if he isn’t.
Is it just me or does Holderbear too much resemblance to Mackenzie Crook from the original (British) The Office?
Flashes back to that exact scene in Serpico.
They made it quite clear that Frank Serpico knew his way around a joint!
There must be some kind of fake marijuana or else I really did get high the day “Officer Friendly” came to our junior high school to give us the big drug lecture (complete with many visual aids and the “marijuana incense”).
CMC fnord!
Just the way he looks. I don’t particularly care for the “needypoutytempermentalguy” schtick, either.
Re the possible red herring:
[spoiler]I’m expecting that it will turn out that he was borderline skeevy. Maybe not actually involved with the girl but not entirely resisting her infatuation and letting himself be emotionally inappropriate with her.
So she got involved in a program he is involved with and that ultimately is the connection to the campaign manager who obviously killed her when she learned that she was sleeping with her senator father and that this information was being used by the girls Russian mob grandfather to blackmail him calling their political dynasty into doubt.
But this isn’t L&O so probably not.
[/spoiler]
What language was the guy speaking when he met Larsen in the cafe? I was thinking Larsen would be Danish or Swedish, but the language sounded like Russian. I actually had a hard time hearing it, so maybe I completely missed the boat on that.
I’m enjoying this more each episode. Not great, but pretty good.
I’m joining late but I absolutely love this show. The scene where Rosie’s parents discovered she was dead was heartbreaking and made me cry. The characters seem very real-life to me - as do the effects of the murder. You can watch Rosie’s mom age in every episode. No one is beautifully made up and perfectly coiffed except the politicians, which is believable. The only thing I have complaint with is the bluish filter through which they’re filming - Seattle isn’t always that gloomy. Maybe I’ll pick up some Blueblocker sunglasses and watch it through those…
The AMC web site suggests the character is Polish.
But I’m pretty sure I heard the Russian for “I don’t know” when they first started talking.
No it’s not, but keep in mind that only four days has gone passed. And it is late October.
So I can accept it. But it does raise an issue, one writer I saw commented on how since only four days have passed the continued deep grief of the parents is completely right, but as a viewer a month has gone by and it starts to get repetitive.
I thought he sounded like The Greek in The Wire, but maybe it was just that they were meeting in a cafe over coffee. 
Anyone else mightily bugged by the casket salesman, er, funeral director, and the minister?
apparently not marijuana, if you believe what he told linden. he ‘borrowed’ something from the narc boys that looks and smells like the real thing.
Put me down for bugged, if not annoyed with the stereotyping. That guy would never make it on Six Feet Under. In fact, he’d make a poor vet.
I wonder if they cast him with this in mind. **Everyone **seems to be slightly suspect at this point.
I want to like her fiance because Rennie played my favorite character from Battlestar Galatica, even though he was kind of a baddie there too.
Yeah, they both bugged me too. You would think they would both have much more experience (and compassion) dealing with people paralyzed with grief.
Huh, doing a Google search, it seems like Narc Scent is a real thing.
You’d think so, but in my relatively minimal experience with such things I’ve been amazed at how unhelpful these people have been. Admittedly, the guy who did my great-grandmother’s service (I didn’t even know she considered herself a member of a church until she died) had no idea who she was, but he did a piss poor job masking that.
Yeah, this is starting to be a problem for me. I appreciate that within the story it is correct for the parents to still be in shock and grieving, after all they haven’t even had her funeral yet, but all the constant standing around staring quietly is *really *starting to get tiring.
And yeah the coffin salesman seemed to be over the top in his obnoxiousness. I kept thinking how he’d be fired from Fischer & Sons for acting like that.
The coffin salesman redeemed himself a bit in this episode.
Somebody tell me – where do the Larsens live? Is it close to Stan’s business? Same building? Next door? I can’t figure out why the boy’s wet jammies ended up in the trash at the moving van place. In some scenes, it looks like they live in an industrial area.
Also, how is Mireille pronounced?
I liked this episode. I don’t think Bennet is the killer but they’re sure leading us that way.