8/26/13
View Logs: Low Winter Sun S1 Episode 3
Episode Title: No RoundsI don't have much to say about this episode. Which is actually an improvement considering I've had nothing but negative afterthoughts for the show so far. That said, this episode isn't anything amazing like the episodes we've been experiencing with Breaking Bad.
However, I think we're finally here. I think we might be at a place where this show can start standing on its own. This episode was very solid, and that's what this show needs to start building up itself. The plot is still moving a little too slow for my liking, but the dialogue and acting has been far better than the past two episodes. So as a result, the relationship between Frank Agnew and Joe Geddes is finally going somewhere. Really these two characters, before this episode, seemed much more like a concept rather than living and breathing characters. Within what we just saw, you get a much better sense of who they are as people and it comes across through their ways of dealing with the situation. Low Winter Sun isn't cliched enough to have Joe and Frank as complete opposites, so the differences in how Joe and Frank respond to their situations isn't obvious. However, if you pay close attention it's definitely there and it's really the first time I've seen their relationship explored beyond just yelling and punching. A great example of this is how the two reacted and interacted with the chief when a witness to McCann's body dump suddenly appeared.
Frank was comfortable with directing false information. He was even ok naming himself as a hypothetical suspect as a joke. Joe seems more on edge. You notice him occasionally glancing uncomfortably at Frank throughout this whole sequence. This states that Joe is still very uncomfortable with McCann's murder and he might not trust Frank. While Frank seems to have moved on just a little. This is a change I've noticed from the original series. In the UK version, McCann was a part of Frank's guilt. In this US version, Frank seems more ok with what he's done and his anguish is solely over losing Katja. This ties into another sequence that I must note for it's quality. In a bar scene right after the cast came out of McCann's funeral, I remember a very marvelous exchange where, after department try to find only good things to say about McCann, Frank decides to interject and talk about all the horrible, but truthful, aspects of McCann. This moment came to a head when Frank looked at Joe, and said "he deserved punishment. But he didn't deserve this." This one moment between Frank and Joe is so intricately layered that I found myself pausing the video just to think about the subtext. (I've only done this recently with Breaking Bad btw).
See, in just this one exchange, what Frank is telling Joe is that he's still angry that Joe tricked him into killing McCann. But the dialogue also has a second hidden meaning between Joe and Frank where Frank is saying that McCann doesn't deserved to be remembered fondly at all. But he doesn't necessarily regret McCann's demise. Earlier in the bar scene, one of the police asked Frank if he's celebrating a "break" in McCann's murder case. Frank responds with "I'm not celebrating, I'm drinking." Which sets up the hidden meaning in Frank and Joe's eventual exchange. This is so absolutely marvelously written and this is what I was expecting from Low Winter Sun. I guess better late than never... The Killing is a perfect contrast to Low Winter Sun in that respect.
