The Killing

[flyonthewall2983]

...and it's been picked up by AMC for a 2nd season.

[dx23]

Judging from the comments on the A.V. Club's reviews, not to mention the reviews themselves, it does seem to be getting and more formulaic. It's a pity, because I couldn't tell any of that from the premiere episode.

They are right about that, yet the show still is entertaining. I don't know if the season finale will truly reveal who killed Rosie or if they are just doing a cliffhanger for season 2 but I seen several outlets who have previewed it give good reviews to it. Since I don't want to spoil the show for myself, I'll wait till Sunday to know what happens.

[MichaelB]

For the record, the Danish version is completely self-contained, and I think all the loose ends are tied up at the end. There is a second series, which BBC4 are screening later this year, but it appears to be a completely new story.

[GaryC]

For the record, the Danish version is completely self-contained, and I think all the loose ends are tied up at the end. There is a second series, which BBC4 are screening later this year, but it appears to be a completely new story.

That's correct as to the first series (which I saw on BBC Four) and that's my understanding of the second series as well. I think BBC Four's showing will be its debut in an English-speaking country - the first series had been shown in Australia last year. There's a third series in production, due to be shown in Denmark next year.

[HistoryProf]

I have really enjoyed this show and am very much anxious to see the finale this Sunday. Kind of surprised to see the complaints here actually - though not the standard "nothing happens! it's soooo slow!" nonsense elsewhere. It reminds me very much of UK crime shows in its more deliberate pacing and tone. My only real quibble is how overboard they've gone with the whole "boy, it sure is rainy in Seattle!" schtick. it's either wet or pouring rain in every single scene. I know it rains there, but not CONSTANTLY. I've probably spent a month total in Seattle in the last ten years and it's only rained on me once. I realize they are using it for atmosphere and all, but it is a bit much.

That said, I find the show a refreshing change of pace, and am very glad to hear it's getting a shot at a second season. I also think the big reveal at the end of the last episode did not necessarily reveal the killer.

[flyonthewall2983]

I didn't mind that it went at a slow pace. As alluded to before, the second season of Treme killed any enthusiasm I had for the show. Call it white guilt or whatever, but it felt a little silly to watch a fictional show centered around one dead white girl, after being immersed in this environment that's still feeling the after-effects of a real national tragedy.

[dx23]

What do you guys think about the season finale?

SpoilerShow

I'm bittersweet since I thought it as a pretty well done cliffhanger yet we are now back to square one. And how are they going to explain Holden's actions although it makes it a little clear how he ended up in that detective position?

By the way, I still think the killer is Richmond's assistant. He has all the qualities a girl like Rosie will fall for.

[Professor Wagstaff]

SpoilerShow

I only finished out this season of the show because I wanted some resolution, assuming season 2 would be a new case. I think this show doesn't have enough going on to justify dragging out the Rosie Larsen murder case for thirteen weeks, let alone multiple seasons. After the first 2-3 episodes of the run, any sense of immediacy left the storylines. This show could have benefitted from the Prime Suspect template in terms of short, single-case procedurals. I've never had the opportunity to watch it, but am I wrong in my understanding that Twin Peaks suffered from the same issue of dragging out the Laura Palmer murder far too long?

[John Cope]

SpoilerShow

The Laura Palmer murder investigation should have been allowed to go the full five years Lynch originally wanted, if only because it was what he wanted. He should have known, however, that this would have been impossible to get network support for.

As for this show, I've had a love-hate relationship with it since it began. The finale felt very flat up until the already infamous Last Five Minutes. But that section shifted my own attitude around dramatically. I liked it a lot and found it quite chilling, appropriately so given what is revealed. Some have complained that Holder was one of the only fully defined characters and to pull the rug out from under our relationship with him was therefore an ill considered move. I disagree. It's because he was one of the few rounded and defined characters that it did matter and demonstrated some guts. Whether the show runners necessarily grapsed the nuance of such a choice beyond the quickie shock value remains to be seen but it definitely provides fertile new ground.

[mfunk9786]

Twin Peaks only began to suffer once Laura's killer was revealed. What it truly suffered from was viewers' lack of acceptance of the concept of a MacGuffin.

[John Cope]

I'm not sure what you mean by that. Are you suggesting that the identity of Laura's killer and the mystery around her death was just a MacGuffin? Because I sure can't agree with that.

[mfunk9786]

It was what set the whole show in motion, what got all the characters together into the situation they were all in. The identity of Laura's killer was ultimately something that was profound, but also something that wasn't supposed to matter as much as it did to people. The existence of the mystery was the glue that held this quirky little show together.

I can't think of a better word for it, though. I know that's not the textbook definition of MacGuffin but it still fits so well here, while also being something that mattered so much to the large scheme of what the show was all about.

[knives]

Considering that Frost and Lynch have both called it a macguffin and presented the same theories as mfunk I think it's fair to call him right on this one. It might be a more thematically important macguffin, but one all the same.

[John Cope]

Okay, I see what you mean and I can agree with that, at least to a point. I would still argue that the identity of Laura's killer was, in fact, inextricable from the larger mystery. By that I mean (as I'm sure you already know) it was a specific expression of that mystery made flesh as it were with all the attendant ramifications. Its ultimate intimacy is what brought into sharp focus just what was at stake in a very real and more universal sense.

[HistoryProf]

i'll admit the bit with Holder at the end was an incredibly well done surprise - you knew SOMETHING was going to happen, but that was way left field. But i'm otherwise annoyed by the whole way they ended this. I can't believe they think they can make this last 13 more episodes can they?

[jbeall]

Bill Simmons is pretty pissed at the show's ending.

[MichaelB]

I've only seen the Danish original, but the article was fascinating - it's very clear that they've tarted it up beyond all recognition, presumably in an attempt to chase ratings. The ending in particular sounds ludicrous: the Danish one was entirely logical, wrapped everything up neatly and the trailer for the second series (shown immediately after the final episode) makes it clear that while certain characters will be returning, it'll be a brand new story.

I do have one quibble about the piece, though:

Our heroine was a redheaded detective named Sarah Linden, a poorly written character who didn't wear makeup, kept her hair in a sexless ponytail, and wore the heaviest sweaters anyone has ever worn on television. Halfway through the season, she chased a suspect through a farmer's market and we suddenly realized why she wore those heavy sweaters: because the actress (Mireille Enos) is, um, amply endowed, so they covered her assets up so we never got distracted. I know this because, during the chase scene, her breasts nearly beheaded someone who was selling corn.

Actually, I suspect this was more an attempt at paying homage to the original - Sophie Grabøl's various patterned sweaters were a surprisingly hot topic on British fashion pages back in January. I don't remember her being especially amply endowed.

[flyonthewall2983]

The show's problem as I see it, was it spent too much time telling you it wasn't your regular procedural TV crime show, and not enough establishing itself as such.

[Professor Wagstaff]

Hitflix review with a link to a Veena Sud interview (which she comes across as pretty contemptible towards her audience).

[tartarlamb]

Heads up: that Bill Simmons article spoils the ending of the Danish version. Also: "I think they were trying to humanize Linden, which was obviously hard because you can't humanize a "strong" female character when she's dressing like a lumberjack" is just a weird, weird thing to say.

[flyonthewall2983]

You gotta remember he has a jock mentality, being a sportswriter.

[ianungstad]

I've had the last few episodes sitting in my DVR que and was certainly not in a rush to watch them. The evisceration of the season finale piqued my interest and I've managed to finish the season today.

I can't believe there are people on this forum who are praising this shoddy work. "The Killing" has to be the biggest train wreck this television season. Sure, there are worse shows on the air but I can't think of any show that started out pretty good and ended up being such an epic flop.

I don't know if I even want to waste energy nitpicking the many failures of this show but I'm glad to see that it has rubbed people the wrong way. The failings of The Killing are structural, so there really isn't a defense of this series. At least if it was down to personal taste, the themes, etc. you would have some wiggle room in arguing a defense. This series is just objectively bad.

I'm surprised this got picked up for a second season. There is no way that ratings aren't going to plummet.

[jbeall]

You gotta remember he has a jock mentality, being a sportswriter.

I think it's more plain old sexism, rather than a jock mentality. Yeah, the two sometimes go hand-in-hand, but they don't have to. I like Simmons' observations about sports, but he (or at least his online persona) is definitely sexist. There are plenty of sportswriters out there who don't feel the need to be sexist in order to connect with their audience.

Meant to post this along with the Simmons link earlier, but Matt Zoller Seitz has a similar gripe (without the sexism) of the finale. If you follow Seitz's posts on the killing, you see how he became increasingly frustrated with the show as the season wore on.

[flyonthewall2983]

True. I quite like Bill too, he's the only sportswriter I know of that really knows and gets pro wrestling. His obit on Randy Savage was quite a good portrait of wrestling fandom.

[jbeall]

Hitflix review with a link to a Veena Sud interview (which she comes across as pretty contemptible towards her audience).

I think you mean "contemptuous," but otherwise I agree. And her excuses seem pretty hollow at best. Hey, it's the audience's fault if their own formulaic expectations prevented them from comprehending her masterpiece! I'll give her credit for ambition, but at this point in her career, it seems she lacks the chops to pull it off.

As the season progressed, it became increasingly clear that the show's "realist" cred was bogus, with the result that its derivative mix of genre-trappings was all it had to fall back on as it lurched towards a thirteenth episode. So despite Sud's claims to the contrary, The Killing failed to produce gripping drama on one hand, and it failed to escape the shackles of convention on the other.

It's possible that the show will find its stride in season 2, but if nobody tunes in, will it really have happened?