Is Sarah Linden a bad parent?

Since the complete first season of 'The Killing' is now on Netflix, I decided to rewatch it. Certain character flaws are certainly illuminated when you watch the episodes back to back.

Let's start with: Sarah Linden



For one thing, Sarah Linden is one of the least likeable characters on the show. I think that in small quantities she would be less annoying, but watching back to back episodes of her ignoring the feelings of everyone around her, including her own son and the murder victim's family, is hard to take. 

The show tries to justify some of her behaviors. Clearly she does care about the victims, and she wants justice. She also is truly committed to the cases she works. The problem is, her obsessiveness about her cases makes her a bad mother. There's no excuse for the way she treats her son. Regi attempts to point out that Jack is having issues, but Linden completely ignores her. The fact that Jack was once almost taken by DCF is not at all surprising. While her behavior in these episodes does not warrant Jack being removed from her custody, her parenting is still incredibly flawed. She repeatedly tells him they are moving, promising that this time it is the truth, while repeatedly changing plans at the last minute. She pulls him out of school, tells him he'll have a new school, tells him to say goodbye to his friends, and then they don't leave. Regi points out Jack might like some stability, but Linden refuses to address this. She also repeatedly brings her child into the precinct while crime scene photos and details of the case are on display. She leaves vivid images of another murdered child on the computer that she shares with her son. It's no surprise that he doesn't understand why he was doing anything wrong when he emailed those photos to his friends. What's really shocking is despite the fact that Linden is angry (rightfully) about Jack emailing the photos, she does not punish him, or have an in-depth conversation about why he chose to email them. She just yells for a moment and then drops it. Certainly not how any responsible parent would behave when their child had just emailed photos of a dead girl to all of his friends.

When Jack breaks rules--drinking and smoking cigarettes on Regi's boat, and calling her a "Lesbot"--Sarah again barely punishes him. And when Regi points out that she is not a babysitter, and that Jack is probably acting out to get his mother's attention, Linden wakes him up in the middle of the night and drags him to a motel. She storms off like a petulant child. 

Sarah Linden does have a few good moments. When her son is being teased at the birthday party, she pulls him outside and teaches him how to use a paintball gun. And she attempts to apologize to Rosie's family after the autopsy photos are leaked. However, these small cases where she shows her humanity do not make up for her disregard for everyone around her.