Friday, August 24, 2012

Detective Holder

This is one of my all time favorite characters, Detective Holder played by Joel Kinnaman from the AMC show, The Killing.

Wendy and I recently got into The Killing on AMC.  Based on a Danish series, Forbrydelsen, the show follows the murder investigation of Rosie Larsen, a teenage girl who goes missing and is found in the trunk of a mayoral campaign car in a lake in Seatle.  Family reactions, the effects on the mayoral race, the imperfections of the detectives and the investigation itself create a storyline that completely sucks you in.  This show is so good even though there are times it drags on a bit in the middle.  It covers two seasons of 13 episodes each and I did feel like it could have been shortened by a few episodes here and there but for the most part, I was totally entrenched. 

The acting and character development were phenomenal.  Each character, was so multi-dimentional and real, with flaws and human motivations.  You really feel the heartache from the family's perspective and nothing is black and white.  I feared early on that the show was relying on the character development and was just making up the story as it went, like Twin Peaks or more recently LOST ended up doing, but it was very careful to be consistent and it was obvious that by the end that they did it right.  They had a pretty good idea when they started what the ending would be and I can't recall painting themselves into any serious corners... at least they weren't bad enough to detract from the enjoyment of the show.

Detective Holder is a complicated guy.  He at first appears to have a pretty dark side, which he does, but there's a very likeable aspect to his character as well.  You end up rooting for him pretty early on.  In this digital painting I did of him, I'm imagining him at your door on a dark night asking if he can come in and ask a few questions.  My first instinct would be to slam the door and lock all the deadbolts...

Here's the preview: