Six Minutes (The Killing)

"Six Minutes" is the thirty-sixth episode of the American television drama series *The Killing*, first broadcast on July 28, 2013. Veena Sud, the series creator, wrote the episode, and Nicole Kassell directed it. The story covers the last twelve hours of death row inmate Ray Seward, ending with his execution.

Twelve hours before the hanging, the execution team rehearses. Sarah Linden visits Seward and shows him four recently recovered rings; he identifies a fake silver wedding band he gave his wife, Trisha, by pointing out a scratch inside it. In the prison waiting room, Linden calls the state attorney general to request a stay of execution, believing more evidence may exist in Seward’s file. She asks her partner, Stephen Holder, to bring the file to the prison. Prison guard Becker tells Seward about unclaimed bodies in the prison cemetery and asks who will claim him. Seward’s son, Adrian, and his adoptive mother arrive. Linden tells Seward she is waiting for photos showing Trisha wearing the ring. Seward asks about Adrian, but Becker ends the visit. Linden threatens to call Becker’s captain, noting that Department of Corrections policy allows Seward to speak with visitors for five more hours. She rejoins Seward, who says he fears a slow death; she urges him to see his son. He calls himself a “monster” who beat his wife. Linden replies she is trying to save him to correct her own mistake.

Holder arrives intoxicated and gives Linden the file, calling the scratched ring a long shot. While smoking in the prison courtyard, he sees Adrian, who comments on his intoxication. Linden tells Seward the attorney general will soon have a photo of Trisha wearing the identified ring and again urges him to see his son. She speaks with the attorney general, who considers a stay. Adrian apologizes to Linden for lying about Joe Mills; he did not want his father to get in trouble, but adds that Ray is the man he saw in the apartment the night of the murder. Holder, after a beer run, discovers the prison cemetery and angrily throws beer cans at anonymous tombstones. Seward laughs when Linden says the attorney general is considering a stay. Angry, she asks why he was in the apartment that night and why he played her. In the parking lot, Holder accuses her of always running away. She receives a call: the stay has been denied. She tells Seward, who thanks her and explains he retu