AMC's new murder mystery series "The Killing"

[samifan24]

AMC's newest series, the murder mystery "The Killing," debuted last night with a two hour premiere. Did anyone catch it? I liked it, it was very slow and atmospheric but I thought they did a great job setting the tone for the season. I read that each episode covers a single day in the investigation and the timing seemed to work pretty well in the first two episodes. I'm looking forward to the rest of the season.

[jeff061]

I recorded it, have high hopes.

[bbor]

From all the reviews i've read you have to watch at least the first three episodes before things get moving.I watched the first 2 episodes yesterday and thought they laid out some decent groundwork.

[Radii]

I set the DVR to pick up a rerun later this week, I'll give it a shot.

[JonInMiddleGA]

AMC has it online for free, in case someone missed it/didn't tape it.
Watch the Premiere of AMC’s “The Killing” Online (http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/04/04/watch-the-premiere-of-amcs-the-killing-online/88140)

[JonInMiddleGA]

Pretty good debut, 2.7m total viewers (4.7m including 2x encores). That's 2nd highest series debut in AMC history, albeit only about half what Dead did.

AMC’s “The Killing” Premiere Averages 2.7 Million Viewers (http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/04/04/amcs-the-killing-premiere-averages-2-7-million-viewers/88172)

[RainMaker]

Will this be airing again? I had not even heard of it but looks interesting. Don't care to watch online but will if no other options are available.

[stevew]

The pilot is free on iTunes, so i don't think it would be particularly hard to download and transfer to a thumb drive and watch on your 360

[panerd]

Will this be airing again? I had not even heard of it but looks interesting. Don't care to watch online but will if no other options are available.

If it's anything like AMC's other shows it will be on at least a few more times before next episode. Do you have On Demand?

[RainMaker]

I don't think I do but it looks like it's on the schedule a few more times. Putting it on the DVR right now. Looks a little Twin Peaks-ish.

[Peregrine]

I watched the first two episodes and really enjoyed them - will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

[Landshark44]

i didn't have much hope when i turned it on. didn't think i'd like it.....

but it really drew me in, and i was pleasantly suprised by the depth of it...

[Doug5984]

Just watched the first (2?) episode...it was 2 hours and so far I am really liking it, can't wait to watch the next one tomorrow night

[sabotai]

Liked the first episode(s). They are replaying it at 8, and then the new episode at 10, for those who wanted to watch but missed it the other night.

[whomario]

thanks for the tip for this series, very promising start. Really liked the setting.

If anyone´s not aware, it´s sort of a remake of a danish series that has been pretty good and is currently in it´s third season : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Killing_(Danish_TV_series (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Killing_%28Danish_TV_series))

hope the us version focuses more on the crimes and doesn´t get as much into local politics and stuff like that (the one weak spot in the original imo)

[Noop]

I watched the first two episodes and I am already drawn in. I must admit I had teared up a little when they found her.

[jeff061]

Just finished watching the first 2 hours. Was better than I expected. Most promising pilot I've seen since Breaking Bad.

[samifan24]

Pretty good third episode tonight. I know it's only been three episodes but it does feel like the writers will give answers at a reasonable pace, the lack of which really hurt Rubicon in my opinion.

[stevew]

Who's everyone got as the killer? Teacher is too much of a red herring IMO. I'm going with the guy who works with the Girl's dad. He seems to eager to enact justice IMO.

[StrangeWay]

One of my absolute favorite shows right now. I think her dad's friend might be the killer.

[Mac Howard]

Is this a remake of the Swedish series? I saw a 20 episode series about two years ago by this name. Excellent series!

Edited:

Just looked it up on IMDB. It is. Keep on watching. It's riveting despite the length (and the version I watched was subtitled). When I watched it I didn't know how many episodes there were and switched on every week expecting it to be the last episode. But it holds the suspense right the way through.

[jeff061]

One of my absolute favorite shows right now. I think her dad's friend might be the killer.

That was my thinking. Really just based on picking the lower profile guy. I wouldn't be shocked if they focus on him then clear him.

[Noop]

Who's everyone got as the killer? Teacher is too much of a red herring IMO. I'm going with the guy who works with the Girl's dad. He seems to eager to enact justice IMO.

This is a good question. Yeah I am going to go with him as well. They also say killers like to stay close to investigations so he is numero uno on my list.

[bbor]

Is this a remake of the Swedish series? I saw a 20 episode series about two years ago by this name. Excellent series!

Edited:

Just looked it up on IMDB. It is. Keep on watching. It's riveting despite the length (and the version I watched was subtitled). When I watched it I didn't know how many episodes there were and switched on every week expecting it to be the last episode. But it holds the suspense right the way through.

Apparently there is a different killer in the US version than there was in the swedish version.Just to keep things under wraps.

[Radii]

Knowing nothing about the danish series I would assume someone in the political arena. If that doesn't end up tied heavily back into the murder then its a very very weird side plot.

[stevew]

Howard Schultz killed the girl. All the basketball imagery in Seattle makes me chuckle.

I agree about the political side plot, however, I think the mayoral race is just there in order to frame the series cause otherwise 13 episodes would be too many.

How did the mayoral canidate's wife die?

[Peregrine]

Great episode - I really think the heart of the show right now is just the parents and the slow motion horribleness of their grief for the daughter. The dad, who is trying to be strong for his wife, falling apart in private was just really tough to watch.

Definitely a show I can't wait to watch each week, along with Game of Thrones.

[Mac Howard]

Apparently there is a different killer in the US version than there was in the swedish version.Just to keep things under wraps.

Excellent! I can now look forward to this new series being shown over here soon.

[Doug5984]

I know there are still some pieces missing, but it seems pretty apparent that teach and the wife played the major role- unless they throw us some crazy curve ball, but they were involved in some way

[Radii]

really good epsiode last night. I agree with Doug, they're making it look really obvious at this point in the story.

[sabotai]

Just watched it. The series was starting to lose me, but this episode was great.

[samifan24]

I have a question: is this show designed to be multiple seasons? It doesn't seem like there's any way that they can drag the current case out that long but could tackle a different case each season. I know the Danish show on which this show is based on went a few seasons so I'm betting that's the plan for now.

[Radii]

Was just chatting with a buddy in more detail on this... 13 episode season so what like 7 more episodes to go? What can reasonably happen such that there are 7 hours left to resolve this story without some kind of crazy '24' style twist that really dumbs things down a lot and makes it a lot less watchable?

[Doug5984]

Was just chatting with a buddy in more detail on this... 13 episode season so what like 7 more episodes to go? What can reasonably happen such that there are 7 hours left to resolve this story without some kind of crazy '24' style twist that really dumbs things down a lot and makes it a lot less watchable?

I was actually talking to my girlfriend about that after we watched it last night. It worries me, because it's been a great show- and as it stands now they are clearly pointing us in one direction, and with good cause. If they keep going down this road, then at the last minute say it was the janitors cousin's friend and leave us hanging on all the other plot lines and how it ties in.


Some thoughts-

1. The ex boyfriend and his punk friend are involved some how, they were very nervous when they were being held until they showed the video then said "that's all you got?" That leads me to believe they had some involvement...right?

2. If the neighbor did see them carrying a body out of the house at 12 am, the wife got to her sister's late and was very distraught, and then was cowering in the corner with a hammer when the detectives were at her door- there is something there, they are hiding something, something big. The main thing being the body rolled up.

It seems so obvious- and as it should- that the teacher and his wife are responsible- but with 7 episodes left, how are they going to fill that time without it somehow not being them.


I just like to put my thoughts in spoiler tags incase anyone stops in who hasnt' caught up yet

[Radii]

Quoting some of doug's stuff within the spoiler tags:


1. The ex boyfriend and his punk friend are involved some how, they were very nervous when they were being held until they showed the video then said "that's all you got?" That leads me to believe they had some involvement...right?

You know, that's a really good point, something I hadn't thought of until you mentioned it. Could just end up being a little plot hole but definitely something to keep in mind.


2. If the neighbor did see them carrying a body out of the house at 12 am, the wife got to her sister's late and was very distraught, and then was cowering in the corner with a hammer when the detectives were at her door- there is something there, they are hiding something, something big. The main thing being the body rolled up.

I think at this point the timeline is supposed to point to the fact that the wife killed her and the husband came home later and helped cover it up. Neighbors say that she showed up at the teacher's house at 10pm. Teacher was still at the dance until at least 11pm. Unless this is part of the twist and someone from the political campaign was there as part of some crazy setup I think we're supposed to assume the teacher's wife answered the door.

It seems so obvious- and as it should- that the teacher and his wife are responsible- but with 7 episodes left, how are they going to fill that time without it somehow not being them.

It seems hard for me to see how it could be anyone else and have it come across as reasonable storytelling at this point. A witness was just dead wrong about what he saw or something, I guess, I dunno. Two thoughts though... one is that it seems like the dead girl's dad is about to kill the teacher. That opens up another storyline to allow things to continue awhile. Another is that there was a brief mention of other missing girls and a possible serial killer angle, so maybe there is time spent on that angle.

[Radii]

Something else that bugged me... isn't an eyewitness that places the girl at the house on the night of the murder enough for a warrant?! They already have a chemical in the house also in her tox panel plus have caught the guy in a couple lies about events from that night. The second a neighbor says "yeah she was here that night" don't you drop everything and get a warrant and search the house ASAP?

That bugged me quite a bit when watching the last episode.

[Landshark44]

who was the guy at the funeral that ignored the sister when she said "hello"?

[sabotai]

who was the guy at the funeral that ignored the sister when she said "hello"?

I believe that was the guy who the dad went to for money in a previous episode and got into a short argument with.

[Bigsmooth]

I believe that was the guy who the dad went to for money in a previous episode and got into a short argument with.

Nah that was Jasper's (or Casper's?) dad. First thing he says is that Jasper couldn't make it or something to that affect. Pretty sure Jasper is the rich kid that was down in the school basement...

[samifan24]

Wasn't Jasper the kid who sleeps around with older women? The sister would qualify as an older woman....That's the only explanation I can come up with at this point.

[sabotai]

Nah that was Jasper's (or Casper's?) dad. First thing he says is that Jasper couldn't make it or something to that affect. Pretty sure Jasper is the rich kid that was down in the school basement...

Yes, according to AMC's webpage, the guy who ignored the sister was Jasper's dad.

http://www.amctv.com/shows/the-killing/cast/michael-ames

[Desnudo]

Quoting some of doug's stuff within the spoiler tags:




You know, that's a really good point, something I hadn't thought of until you mentioned it. Could just end up being a little plot hole but definitely something to keep in mind.




I think at this point the timeline is supposed to point to the fact that the wife killed her and the husband came home later and helped cover it up. Neighbors say that she showed up at the teacher's house at 10pm. Teacher was still at the dance until at least 11pm. Unless this is part of the twist and someone from the political campaign was there as part of some crazy setup I think we're supposed to assume the teacher's wife answered the door.



It seems hard for me to see how it could be anyone else and have it come across as reasonable storytelling at this point. A witness was just dead wrong about what he saw or something, I guess, I dunno. Two thoughts though... one is that it seems like the dead girl's dad is about to kill the teacher. That opens up another storyline to allow things to continue awhile. Another is that there was a brief mention of other missing girls and a possible serial killer angle, so maybe there is time spent on that angle.


I figure he'll kill the teacher which will create a whole side trial thing and lengthen the show. Also, there's probably more people involved than just the teacher and his wife. At least it seems that way.

One thing I wish they'd adjust is the amount of rain in every episode. It rains like that in Seattle infrequently. It makes it seem like Noah's Ark is coming.

[OldGiants]

As to the 'slam dunk' it was the Ahmeds (teach and wife) did they not show Rosie running in the woods, attempting to flee an un-shown assailant at the very beginning of the show? Hard to do if she was already dead or died in the Ahmeds' place.

[Radii]

As to the 'slam dunk' it was the Ahmeds (teach and wife) did they not show Rosie running in the woods, attempting to flee an un-shown assailant at the very beginning of the show? Hard to do if she was already dead or died in the Ahmeds' place.

dear god, something else i'd not remembered at all. WTF! Great point.

[Doug5984]

As to the 'slam dunk' it was the Ahmeds (teach and wife) did they not show Rosie running in the woods, attempting to flee an un-shown assailant at the very beginning of the show? Hard to do if she was already dead or died in the Ahmeds' place.

damn- good call, and she was alive in the trunk...and a pregnant woman probably wouldn't be able to run that fast in the woods... So I wan tto hear the writing to explain that whole teacher story line.


This is what we know:
Teacher has been lying about everything, and had access to the car she was found in.
Rosie showed up at their house, per a neighbor.
Crazy neighbor saw them leave with a "body"
Rosie has all the chemicals used from teachers house on her.
Teacher's wife was hysterical when arriving late at sisters.
Teacher's wife was hiding in the corner of the room with a hammer when the detectives were at the door.

[samifan24]

Pretty good episode tonight, the only thing that disappointed me was how quickly they resolved the Stan/Bennett car trip

[Landshark44]

it's getting a little boring for me....

[Radii]

it's getting a little boring for me....

I am still firmly in on this but last night's episode was not nearly as good as any of the others imo.

[StrangeWay]

I can't help thinking it might have been her father's best friend. He's acted squirrely since they started the show.

[britrock88]

I loved Rubicon (primarily for the winds of conspiracy, but the slow unfolding was also a strong point)... would I like this series?

[samifan24]

I loved Rubicon (primarily for the winds of conspiracy, but the slow unfolding was also a strong point)... would I like this series?

Probably. Like Rubicon, this is a very moody, atmospheric and slow yet deliberately unfolding mystery series. I liked some of the Rubicon characters more (I am least interested in the Seattle mayoral candidate's storyline) but this show has been pretty good so far.

[OldGiants]

I am still firmly in on this but last night's episode was not nearly as good as any of the others imo.

True, but it was a 'Stan' episode in the sense we learned a good bit about how he perceives himself and his family. He is struggling with who he is, and 'family man' won for the moment. I liked that, even though it was a slower episode. We are also seeing Linden unravel, as well as her partner. His resentment for her is growing and can only burst open at a bad moment.

I think the Islam/FBI thing will be a red herring and we will circle back to an earlier character. I still think Rosie saw/photographed something on one of the candidates. Linden will discover that and we will race to the finish.

The FBI bursting in at the end reminded me of the final scene in the Justified season finale--a bit too out of the blue for me.

[Radii]

True, but it was a 'Stan' episode in the sense we learned a good bit about how he perceives himself and his family. He is struggling with who he is, and 'family man' won for the moment. I liked that, even though it was a slower episode.

I'm ok with that, but I was hoping for more from this show than "cliffhanger resolved in 10 minutes, new cliffhanger next episode to get you back next week." I'd probably view it completely differently if it were resolved in the same episode. Feels cheap the way it happened.

I think the Islam/FBI thing will be a red herring and we will circle back to an earlier character. I still think Rosie saw/photographed something on one of the candidates. Linden will discover that and we will race to the finish.

The FBI bursting in at the end reminded me of the final scene in the Justified season finale--a bit too out of the blue for me.

Similar to my above comment, I hope you're right, b/c right now I cannot get myself to point away from "this is a shitty over the top '24' plot device". Again, I expect better here.

[samifan24]

I have to admit that I found last night's episode pretty boring. I've slowly been losing interest these last few weeks.

[jeff061]

I like slower paced shows. Not meant as a counter to samifan. I just think they blew their load to early and now are reaching to keep it going. Not a huge fan of this terrorist angle. Out of left field, cliched and who really cares?

Still like the style and the actors, will likely enjoy this until the end.

[DeToxRox]

In a an article on AMC passing on picking up any pilots (largely because it has a full slate of shows to air already), Variety’s Stuart Levin writes that the The Killing is looking likely for a second-season pickup.

The Killing premiered to 2.7 million viewers before pulling back to just below 2 million viewers (1.977) million on Sunday. Sure, it’s not exactly The Walking Dead, but neither is anything else on AMC ratings-wise. Its ratings so far are better than the first three seasons of Mad Men, and pretty close to how Mad Men performed in its fourth season.

[Sweed]

I like slower paced shows. Not meant as a counter to samifan. I just think they blew their load to early and now are reaching to keep it going. Not a huge fan of this terrorist angle. Out of left field, cliched and who really cares?

Still like the style and the actors, will likely enjoy this until the end.

I don't mind the pace and was enjoying the show. However the last two episodes, with the terrorist angle, haven't done anything to keep my interest up. I'm more or less now tuning in hoping they come up with something that makes me think the time invested will make it all worth while.

I just keep going back to the kid saying "is that all you got" (or whatever he said) when he saw the video from the school basement and wondering how the hell does it all tie in. Everything just seems so scattered now and I can't see how they can tie it all together so it makes sense.

I'll keep tuning in though in hopes it ends with a "wow" instead of a "what a waste of time".

[samifan24]

This show does seem scattered lately. I hope it doesn't take a Rubicon-esque turn into complete chaos and lack of direction. We're not there yet, I don't think, and I'm still holding out hope that the series can renew the promise it showed over the first four or five hours.

[Radii]

WELL THEN!!!!

I am not sure if that was really good or really stupid, but it was certainly interesting!

[Radii]

A bit more detail on my statement above in spoiler tags:


I'm having a bit of a hard time distinguishing this from the standard Law and Order plotline where someone heard or saw something and it sounds like a pointer to the guy that did it but it turns out that it was out of context.

I think if they had gotten here 2 or 3 weeks ago it would have been extremely powerful. When Muhammad reveals they are trying to prevent a female circumcision on a local Muslim girl instead of it being a thrilling twist my reaction was hysterical laughter. I really think it could have been a brilliant moment of suspense, I didn't see it coming at all, but I just didn't feel fully invested anymore after the last couple weeks and it didn't land like it clearly intended.

I am, all of a sudden, very curious to see what happens next week, so kudos to the show for that.

[jeff061]

So we get lectured on the Patriot Act and female circumcision. Dialogue and plot points that are beyond predictable. An ending that would have been much more satisfying weeks ago(as well as save us from a horrible plot point). It's starting to remind me of any cliche broadcast TV crime drama, with better acting.

Compare the writing of the last couple weeks to that of the first several, it's like a different show. I wonder how it compares to the original, if they started going off the track when they stopped using the original's material.

Did they decide Linden's family life was too difficult to deal with, so just stopped mentioning it? I guess she couldn't have been that close to her fiance. What happened to her "friends", when did they all get cleared? Things are mentioned and never resolved, just forgotten.

[jeff061]

Ha, you and I think alike Radii.

[stevew]

I stopped watching about 4 episodes ago. I wonder if they were going to shoot for like a nine episode run, but had to expand it out to 13. I'll probably watch it on DVD at some point if it becomes more interesting.

[Desnudo]

I stopped watching the last episode after the sister came in and grabbed the boys out of the running car in the garage. Ok, I got it, the mom is depressed. Please stop spending half the show showing it.

[Noop]

Would be cool if the mom was the killer or had a part in it.

[samifan24]

The bit about Muhammed and the female circumcision was totally out of left field. The show is really losing me but the final scene of last night's episode pulled me back in. I agree that things have really gone off the rails but I'm hoping the next couple of episodes will finish strong.

[path12]

Oh my god I hate this fucking show. Yet I keep watching. Sigh.

[OldGiants]

Time to find the homing-vector. The last scene reminded me of the Sopranos: lots of interesting talk, then Tony knocks the shit out of someone for all the wrong reasons.

Still, it keeps me interested.

My wife has been saying Stan's squirrely assistant is in on it all along, and that's looking good to me now, too. Watching him going batshit in the background was revealing.

[Glengoyne]

I'm in agreement that the past two or three episodes have been lacking. When the mother is on screen, I just want to fast forward. I get it. She is having a difficult emotional time. It makes me feel uncomfortable, which is a good thing from an acting perspective. She is doing a great job with it. Too bad we're now getting beaten over the head with it.

They have done a nice job marginalizing the Somalis as a community. The terror investigation. The Imam and Mosque leadership essentially advocating for female circumcision. Good stuff...?

Then you have Linden buying off on the back door wire illegal tap? And once the judge decides that this time he'll actually follow the law rather than play it fast and loose, the cops are surprised? That sounds more like a foreigner's impression of the US legal system than what I'd expect to be depicted. To top it all off, you have the cops bring up the illegally obtained wire tap during an interrogation that was actually brought about through legitimate means.

I do admit that seeing the father beat the teacher to death or near to it does have me tuning back in next week.

[sabotai]

The show has been losing me, but there's only 4 episodes left so I might as well stick it through the end and see how the season plays out. Stan's coworker/employee (whatever the work relationship is) looks like a good suspect, but I've been eyeing Mitch's sister as well. She's been very helpful with the family, always around....a little....too helpful. Almost like she feels she owes it to her sister to do everything for her.

[jeff061]

Think it was back to early form tonight. Someone here was saying they think maybe the season got unexpectedly extended and they had to write some (awful)filler. Starting to believe that, really everything between the 1st and 2nd time Bennet was taken could be scrapped, the show would be better and I don't even think there would be any continuity issues.

[Sweed]

Think it was back to early form tonight. Someone here was saying they think maybe the season got unexpectedly extended and they had to write some (awful)filler. Starting to believe that, really everything between the 1st and 2nd time Bennet was taken could be scrapped, the show would be better and I don't even think there would be any continuity issues.

I agree. The last three or so episodes before tonight's seem like just a waste of time. At best the total sum of those episodes was the teacher was eliminated as a suspect. Hell, that could have been done in one show. Now it feels like the actual story is starting to move again.

At least I'm back to being interested in who did it.

[Radii]

I agree with the last two posts, last night's episode was a big step up from recent ones and hopefully they're set up for a strong final 3 hours.

A couple holes still just GLARE out though... like "Rosie made a phone call and talked to someone named Adela" ... they didn't check phone records of the family's house on a weekend when Rosie was lying about where she was gonna be and no one was supposed to be home so any calls are instantly hugely suspicious? Not a massive deal in the grand scheme of things but if I'm supposed to view this as a significantly smarter show than just a drawn out procedural that kind of thing shouldn't be happening and gnaws at me even in one of the better episodes in a very long time.

Regardless of the complaints, the last couple weeks have brought me very much back in.

[JonInMiddleGA]

{scratches head}

With renewal all but assured apparently (if it hasn't come already & I missed it), I'm not quite getting how this is working for AMC unless it's being produced pretty cheaply.

I mean, this is a show that (last week) had dropped to A18-49 ratings (0.5) equal or less than such luminaries as River Monsters (0.6), Sister Wives (0.7), and Mob Wives (0.8). Meanwhile the total audience numbers are below Khloe & Lamar (1.95m to 1.69m), Coming Home (2.2m vs 1.69m) and less half of Army Wives (3.66m to 1.69m).

At some point it seems like the network is just sort of embarrassing itself as the show gets closer & closer to having fewer viewers than Strange Sex on TLC.

[stevew]

Jon. How did the Borgias get renewed? The ratings looked like nothing special and the show looked expensive as he'll to make.

[jeff061]

So I'm assuming all but assured is based on what's been reported and not so much the ratings?

If that shitty run of episodes is what we can expect once the Rosie storyline is finished I have no interest.

[OldGiants]

The phone call thing had me annoyed, too. The show explanation from Linden was that they were too busy going after the teacher, but that's a bit lame. Plus, what kind of Seattle police officer does NOT know there is place named Adela and a ferry goes there a couple dozen times each day.

The acting continues to be excellent with the Benko actor taking his turn at a top notch job. Made the bizarre behavior very real and believable.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Jon. How did the Borgias get renewed? The ratings looked like nothing special and the show looked expensive as he'll to make.

Whole different world for the HBO/SHO types. Damned if I understand it in the slightest, thankfully I don't have to ;)

[sabotai]

Plus, what kind of Seattle police officer does NOT know there is place named Adela and a ferry goes there a couple dozen times each day.

I thought Adela was the name of the boat.

[Jas_lov]

The show could have been better if it had not focused so much on one suspect for so long. Others have said the last 3 episodes were just filler and I agree. They could have eliminated the teacher in less episodes and introduced the Richmond/Rosie photo much sooner.

If the series was extended then they had more time to go in depth with some of the other characters/suspects- Sterling, the sister in law, more about where the parents were that night and why they didn't call or why Rosie didn't come with them. Sterling, in particular, and her personal relationships should have been a bigger focus.

[OldGiants]

I thought Adela was the name of the boat.

She looked at a big sign with 'Adela' on one side and another name on the other side. I thought they were place names. Ferry routes are not marked by ship names in real places, they are known by destinations.

[samifan24]

Since we're talking about things Linden should have recognized, what about the keychain with the casino logo on it? How does she not recognize that? Of course that's there for the audience but come on. We have two casinos in Connecticut and they advertise relentlessly.

[sabotai]

She looked at a big sign with 'Adela' on one side and another name on the other side. I thought they were place names. Ferry routes are not marked by ship names in real places, they are known by destinations.

The boat had Adela written on it as well.

[sabotai]

Here's a (shitty SD) screen cap of the sign.

[sabotai]

And a (shitty SD...I think I'm the only person left who does not own an HDTV) screen cap of the boat. I think the route is Seattle to and from Kulamish, and Adela and Veena are the names of the two ferries for the route.

[Radii]

(shitty SD...I think I'm the only person left who does not own an HDTV)

I have an HDTV but AMC isn't in HD here, its a sad thing!

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sunday Cable Ratings: ‘My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding,’ ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘The Killing’ & More - Ratings | TVbytheNumbers (http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/06/01/sunday-cable-ratings-my-big-fat-gypsy-wedding-breakout-kings-game-of-thrones-the-killing-more/94362/)

Down another tenth in A18-49, to 0.4
Oddly though, up noticeably in total viewers, 1.97m vs 1.69m last week.

So what's the deal here, the show has become an over-50 program? TVBTN readers seem to complain about glacial pacing, is that driving off the under 50 viewers?

[Radii]

I'm only halfway in but this would have been a solid character development episode about 8 weeks ago! Now? What the fuck, seriously!?

[Radii]

As a standalone episode that was really well acted and really powerful, but it seems so weird at this point of the season. Maybe it'd be all praise if the season had been strong all the way through, but given the general feeling that there was a massive lull of nothing in the middle this just seems very misplaced.

Am I alone in not giving a shit at all about Linden but finding Holder to be a completely fascinating character?

[Doug5984]

As a standalone episode that was really well acted and really powerful, but it seems so weird at this point of the season. Maybe it'd be all praise if the season had been strong all the way through, but given the general feeling that there was a massive lull of nothing in the middle this just seems very misplaced.

Am I alone in not giving a shit at all about Linden but finding Holder to be a completely fascinating character?

Pretty much spot on with my thoughts.

The acting and the story of last nights episode was pretty good, but the timing was horrible. I honestly don't care at this point- I just want to know what happened to Rosie. Also I agree about Holder / Linden

[Landshark44]

i only made it twenty minutes in.... i'll check this thread to see who killled rosie....cant. watch.anymore...

[Glengoyne]

Man I missed last week's, and was hoping to infer some story line by watching this week's episode. Oh man what a disappointment.

It was a good episode, in that it was powerful and had a ton of interesting character development. I too am in the camp shifting from Linden to Holder. This was the first episode to actually make me interested in Linden's personal life, so I guess that is something.

Some questions

Did the teacher survive or did Stan "disappear" him?

How did they get onto the Casino story line? A phone call...to or by who?

[Sweed]

I'm only halfway in but this would have been a solid character development episode about 8 weeks ago! Now? What the fuck, seriously!?

Yeah, another "what the fuck" episode.

I'm almost to the point of being afraid to find out what happened to Rosie. IE some lame dumb-ass off the wall ending that makes me regret wasting my time.

I hope I'm wrong and it ends with a bang but honestly I'm not thinking that is what will happen. Be more than happy to eat my words and be wowed though.

[Doug5984]

The more I think about it- the more I think I won't be too happy with how this show ends. We only have 2 episodes left (right?) and they have a lot of ground to cover, a lot of loose ends to tie up and a lot of suspects and plot line to clear and I just don't know if they can do it the right way- I thought this episode would start that process but it didn't do that. All this episode gave us in the Rosie case was...


a video of her at the ATM.

[Doug5984]

Man I missed last week's, and was hoping to infer some story line by watching this week's episode. Oh man what a disappointment.

It was a good episode, in that it was powerful and had a ton of interesting character development. I too am in the camp shifting from Linden to Holder. This was the first episode to actually make me interested in Linden's personal life, so I guess that is something.

Some questions

Did the teacher survive or did Stan "disappear" him?

How did they get onto the Casino story line? A phone call...to or by who?




The teacher is in ICU last we heard...stan is in jail, turned himself in

Casino came in from a few things...
1) the keys rosie had on her had the logo of the casino on them
2) In the quran Rosie had- had a note in it saying the name of the ship that goes there
3) Stan's sketchy helper overheard Rosie say something about 11:45 and the name of that ship so they pieced it all together and showed up at the casino.

[OldGiants]

Well that was a complete waste of an hour. The coming attraction minute had more plot than the entire episode. Character development that does not advance the plot exasperates me.

[jeff061]

Hmm...

Was likely my favorite episode of the season. Though I'm just looking to be entertained, not race to the end.

I still think that the multi-episode garbage in the middle of the season may have thrown the pacing all off.

[Radii]

really really liked tonight's episode.

[Doug5984]

That was a pretty good episode... I know who they want us to think did it, but they've been pointing that way all season so I'm wondering if they will clear that and then get someone else? Either way I'm excited for next weeks episode, I hadn't said that in a few weeks.

[OldGiants]

Finally got the time to watch the penultimate episode and liked it a lot. It redeemed the previous week a bit, too, what with Linden's ex showing up and increasing the pressure in her life.

I read this has been renewed for a second season, so character development has bit more traction with me.

With two prime suspects established in this episode, how will they pull a twist with a third one in the last five minutes as the promo promised?

I'm betting on Belko.

[Schmidty]

I thought we already know who did it? Wasn't this show already wrapped up in Denmark? My wife DVRs it and watches, but I never pay attention because I thought it was already over. Guess I should have just asked her.

[OldGiants]

I thought we already know who did it? Wasn't this show already wrapped up in Denmark? My wife DVRs it and watches, but I never pay attention because I thought it was already over. Guess I should have just asked her.

No, the writers say it will be different.

Then again, simply a bad translation from Danish would accomplish the same thing, would it not?

[Sweed]

Before the last show I thought it could end up being the mousy campaign manager, Jamie Wright. Still could be. He does have access to everything in the campaign IE cars and now with the emails, computers.

I've had trouble with this thought though in that he'd have to be a Jekyle & Hyde type. God knows if he tried to kill her with the persona we see in the show Rosie probably would have kicked the shit out of him:)

[Desnudo]

They're doing a second season of this? Meaning they aren't going to wrap it up the Rosie case in season 1?

[Radii]

They're doing a second season of this? Meaning they aren't going to wrap it up the Rosie case in season 1?

next season will be a new case

[Carman Bulldog]

Regarding the Orpheus email address...

I found it weird that in his inbox for that account, he was also receiving emails from Gwen about the campaign and what not.

[samifan24]

Regarding the Orpheus email address...

I found it weird that in his inbox for that account, he was also receiving emails from Gwen about the campaign and what not.

Maybe he uses a unified inbox! Ha! (Making up for possible plot holes!)

[jeff061]

I'm assuming his wife drowned? I forget, I know a drunk driver killed her. If so I think it's safe to say he did it, I don't think it's another false suspect. I'd be amazed. I like him being mentally unstable about his wife's death and him revisiting it as a motive.

Think at this point only a really lame twist could change it up.

[jeff061]

Well I have pretty much zero interest in next year after that.

[Radii]

I'm speechless.


Wait no I'm not I have a ton to say about what just happened on my TV, none of it good.

This should not carry over to next season, no freaking way. If everything had happened the same way but there was a couple extra minutes at the end that showed who the killer was in some way and that he got away with it I think I would have *loved* it... the cops don't always get the right guy, devastation everywhere. Linden never finds out evidence was faked(maybe we know, a call to Holder about it, something like that) and the case is considered closed and the bad guy wins. That would be a brilliant ending.

But they implied that this is carrying over to next season. Linden knows the pictures were faked, and its just a big cliffhanger? Complete horseshit imo. I hate it with a passion.

This doesn't begin to cover the stupidity of requesting the pictures then faking them, that's going to come up in court, zero chance of conviction. If they want planted evidence that's fine, its different than usual, go for it, but not something so ridiculously obvious to prove that its faked.

[Radii]

Haha I hopped on twitter and looked for #thekilling:


I feel the need to apologize to everyone who I convinced to watch #TheKilling. I was right about #FallingSkies being good right, guys?

I'm going to start a movement to legalize murder just to keep #TheKilling from coming back for season 2.

I really can't remember ever being so angry about a TV show having flat out wasted my time and insulted my intelligence. #thekilling

Was the AMC's ending of #TheKilling dif from the original? Cuz I don't remember "Hated it with fury of a 1000 suns" in the Guardian writeup

Ditto. RT @scott_tobias: Wow. I'm glad I gave up on #TheKilling weeks ago, because my Twitter feed just projectile vomited.

Detective Linden is almost as bad at getting on planes as she is at police work. #TheKIlling

[jeff061]

lol, awesome.

[samifan24]

I can't believe they did that to us. So much for rewarding your audience's patience.

[stevew]

omg, are you guys fucking serious?

So glad I bailed on this piece of shit. Fuck this.

[sabotai]

I missed the last few episodes, but curiosity got the better of me and I wanted to see the end*. One of those times that I hate being a curious person.

* - And by end, I mean who the killer was. Fuck you AMC.

[jeff061]

I could almost wait until next season if there was still a story to tell. There isn't, it's been milked dry and whoever really killed her isn't going to match up to a crazy politician trying to recreate his wife so he can feel something.

That's not even getting into the ridiculous amount of coincidences that have to fall through to believe he isn't the killer. They can't be this stupid, right? He had to be the original killer and they changed it up when they decided to go for season 2? He drove another girl to a lake and asked what it's like to drown, they all look like his wife, his girlfriend says he was out all night during the murder and comes back in the morning soaking wet, wtf? Hell they even went into how he can compartmentalize his emotions to explain is public persona. Not to mention a whole season foreshadowing how traumatic his wife's death was to him.

Are they all lying? They going to write those off the same way they did with Holder and the picture?

[jeff061]

Ha, twitter feed is golden.

Seriously, I could write a better murder mystery than #TheKilling (http://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23TheKilling) & so far all I've got is, "The koala did it." Boom. Greenlight.

[Jas_lov]

I should have bailed much earlier. How did they not do a more expansive search and find the shoe much earlier? The mayor is going to have a top notch defense and there's no way faked evidence would hold up. One call to the toll booth and it's over. It's just too unbelievable.

[tyketime]

Wow - not exactly the ending I had hoped or expected either. I also wonder if they didn't change it up because of the Season 2 renewal.

Who does Holder get in the car with? The only way this works is if he is somehow linked to the current mayor's camp. Desperate Politicians will do just about anything. And by the time they untangle the Richmond mess, the election would be over, right? Many more questions than answers. I have a feeling this may blow up without some serious damage control.

[Doug5984]

I wish I'd have bailed once it went downhill mid season...it was so good the first few episodes, then they gave us this shit.


Is Richmond dead, I'm assuming Belko shot him at the end?

[tyketime]

I have read a fair amount of reviews and comments from fans and the Producer. Almost all I've read has been very negative. The producer is putting her blinders on. She also said there will be no announcements of Season 2 casting, etc..

[Glengoyne]

I wish I'd have bailed once it went downhill mid season...it was so good the first few episodes, then they gave us this shit.


Is Richmond dead, I'm assuming Belko shot him at the end?




It all depends on whether or not they want the character back next season. I'm at the point where I don't believe that plot or story line will play much of a part in that decision. If it did, Holder wouldn't be there next season, 'cause I'm pretty sure you can't fake evidence in such a grand and colossal way(after previously falsifying a warrant), and continue to be a police officer.

[OldGiants]

Bring back RUBICON, AMC

[Radii]

It all depends on whether or not they want the character back next season. I'm at the point where I don't believe that plot or story line will play much of a part in that decision. If it did, Holder wouldn't be there next season, 'cause I'm pretty sure you can't fake evidence in such a grand and colossal way(after previously falsifying a warrant), and continue to be a police officer.



I've read a few interviews and reviews, there's nothing concrete from the creators, but I think there's an assumption that Holder wasn't really trying to close the case, but that he was working with someone powerful to frame Richmond and that will be a big part of the start of season 2.

There are tons and tons of plot holes to that line of thinking (Holder's aggression in wanting to get the teacher early on) but plot holes haven't seemed to stop anything in this show so far!

One of the biggest criticisms I've read and I agree with it is that they had started spending a lot of time building up Holder as a likable but conflicted character, one of the last positives the show had going for it really, and they threw it away. Additionally, two episodes ago they spent an entire hour working on character development between Linden and Holder and having Holder pull this stunt basically invalidates all of that and makes it even a bigger waste of our time and insult to the audience.

[Sweed]

What a fucking joke pretty much sums it up for me.

Is this supposed to bring us back to watch next year ensuring producers and writers another year of work? They had a good chance getting me back if they had a real ending this year. As of now I don't particularly give a shit about who did or didn't do it.

[Doug5984]

What a fucking joke pretty much sums it up for me.

Is this supposed to bring us back to watch next year ensuring producers and writers another year of work? They had a good chance getting me back if they had a real ending this year. As of now I don't particularly give a shit about who did or didn't do it.


I pretty much don't give a shit either- and by the time season 2 rolls around I won't even come close to giving a shit. I'll save myself an hour a week and watch something else.

[Peregrine]

I have to say that I enjoyed some elements of this show, but it became so slipshod as the season went along, I was just watching it for completeness. Have to say the way things played out in the final episode really pissed me off though.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Given the overwhelmingly negative reaction to the season finale, it's kind of ironic (or something) that the audience climbed back up over 2m, up more than 25% from the previous week ... only to get an episode that seems destined to drive away viewers.

[path12]

Oh my god I hate this fucking show. Yet I keep watching. Sigh.

I still feel the same way, but at least I will not be watching anymore.

Jesus Christ what a shitty way to wrap that up.

[samifan24]

As much as I hated that ending, I am still thinking about it a day later and I will definitely watch the season two premiere even though I don't think I should. It's strangely alluring and almost like I want to see what the writers could possibly come up with to justify that ending.

I would've been fine with everything except for the part involving Holder. I'm fine if Darren killed her and if Balko kills Darren but Holder was my favorite character and, as others have said, they just spent a whole hour just on his relationship with his partner. It's like they put his bit in just because they thought they needed a twist.

Oh and not divulging the killer was lame, too.

[gstelmack]

Bill Simmons chimes in: Bill Simmons on The Killing - Grantland (http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6680958/hackery-first-degree)

[JonInMiddleGA]

Bill Simmons chimes in: Bill Simmons on The Killing - Grantland (http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6680958/hackery-first-degree)

Which borrows on the theme (that AMC did serious brand damage) that showed up on a TV-oriented blog earlier in the day.

[Radii]

Which borrows on the theme (that AMC did serious brand damage)

I've seen that in a number of places. Simmons is friends w/ hitfix.com's Alan Sepinwall (I listen to both of their podcasts) and I assume they had talked about the show a bunch as well.

The next series that AMC gets behind will not be an auto-watch for me, and that will be a first since I got into Breaking Bad and Mad Men. I'm probably just echoing what I've read elsewhere when I say this, but I feel like not everything from AMC has to be brilliant, but that up until now I could completely trust them to give me something original and thought provoking, something with a lot more depth than I'd expect from the major networks, and without the manipulation. With The Killing, I got none of that, then felt even more insulted when I didn't get a resolution, and then got downright angry at the unbelievable bullshit from the showrunner saying that its my fault for expecting a resolution as one was never promised. Fuck that.

[samifan24]

FWIW the next AMC original series is "Hell on Wheels" about the building of the Transcontinental Railroad and begins airing this fall.

[jeff061]

then felt even more insulted when I didn't get a resolution, and then got downright angry at the unbelievable bullshit from the showrunner saying that its my fault for expecting a resolution as one was never promised.
I didn't even care much about the lack of resolution this season as much as how they just threw a full season's worth of material in the trash. The absolute only tangible thing to come out of the season intact was Linden's past and personal life. With everything else they basically said "Ha fooled you, we were lying!".

It's like they spent all this time to build up characters simply so the twist would be even more pronounced, they didn't consider that the twist would leave behind ruins no one cares about anymore.

[JonInMiddleGA]

It's like they spent all this time to build up characters simply so the twist would be even more pronounced, they didn't consider that the twist would leave behind ruins no one cares about anymore.

Seems more likely to me that they're simply shitty writers that aren't very good at little things like continuity.

I mean, based on all the descriptions of the clusterf*** end, I don't think this was arrogance or even carelessness, it was just incompetence.

[jeff061]

Well I think you stated the cause to my effect :D.

I also expect, as you have noted, there were tons of people who tuned in only to see who did it, people who have not watched much of the season and did not have the investment in the characters I did. Clearly they got screwed over as well.

[Radii]

I mean, based on all the descriptions of the clusterf*** end, I don't think this was arrogance or even carelessness, it was just incompetence.


This sounds accurate.

You can have twists and red herrings and do them in a thoughtful way that makes them work well. This show had no ability to execute that and it came across as insulting the intelligence of the viewer to expect us to view their BS cliffhangers as high drama.

[QuikSand]

Just finally caught up and watched the finale. Less pissed off than most, it seems.

Have one thought that seems to be a minority view:

Seems to make sense to me that Holder's action was intended not primarily to send Richmond to jail...but to derail his campaign. To expect that the fabricated photos would hold up long term takes a pretty big leap of faith, to me... but hustling along an arrest seemed like a reasonable goal. Given the undertones of how political bigshots play life above the rim, that seems like a fit to me overall.

[jeff061]

Just finally caught up and watched the finale. Less pissed off than most, it seems.

Have one thought that seems to be a minority view:

Seems to make sense to me that Holder's action was intended not primarily to send Richmond to jail...but to derail his campaign. To expect that the fabricated photos would hold up long term takes a pretty big leap of faith, to me... but hustling along an arrest seemed like a reasonable goal. Given the undertones of how political bigshots play life above the rim, that seems like a fit to me overall.

I think many would agree with that. Holder would be derailing his own career though. Possibly even setting himself up for jailtime. They spent a lot of time on him making you believe he cares about moving forward in his life.

I'm sure this all ties somehow back to gwens father and some shady friend of his(that's 2 reveals right there for next season) She's in on the conspiracy to, blowing up his alibi and all. Maybe pissed because of all his "girlfriends" and manipulated by her father. None of which interests me.

[Radii]

Seems to make sense to me that Holder's action was intended not primarily to send Richmond to jail...but to derail his campaign. To expect that the fabricated photos would hold up long term takes a pretty big leap of faith, to me... but hustling along an arrest seemed like a reasonable goal. Given the undertones of how political bigshots play life above the rim, that seems like a fit to me overall.


I agree with you there but on the face of it I have a pretty big problem with the idea. No way they can say he was aiming for this from the start, he worked too hard (including an illegal wiretap) to try to pin the teacher for the murder, despite open avenues to steer things towards the politicians if that was the end goal all along. What can they reasonably do with Holder's actions that aren't full of plot holes? The only thing my friends and I have been able to think of is that he was very, very recently coerced into doing so because of an old drug connection or some other seedy underbelly thing he may have going on that has not even been introduced yet.

To me, even if they can explain it away like that in a semi-reasonable fashion, I still think its awful. Holder is, in my opinion at least, a more well developed character than anyone on the show, the only one many people feel invested in at all. Now we learn that was all a lie. A show is certainly allowed to build someone up only to tear them down in dramatic fashion, but there's a huge problem where everything in this show is a lie(I'm basically copying reviewers when I say that, not an original idea). They aren't even well crafted lies, they're the poorly written red herrings and twists that are done in such an amateur fashion that I find them insulting. Finding out that everything with Holder is a lie too and again revealed in a hokey "hey there's 30 seconds left in the show ITS TWIST TIME" fashion just stings.

I will say I've softened very slightly on the whole "no resolution" idea. The showrunners never promised a resolution. But I do feel that AMC's marketing of the show did. As a result I'm slightly less inclined to throw more hate on the producer and such... still, the no resolution thing to me is only ok if they've given us a well written, thoughtful story and not an endless string of awful twists, because that just makes the ending come across as another poorly thought out twist. Ah well!

[QuikSand]

Well, my thinking would follow this line:

Holder is/was a good guy, who got approached by the current Mayor or more likely his shifty aide, and promised protection under the new Administration in exchange for the hastening of the case against Richmond. (Also a chance that it was someone else switching to the Mayor's side in this mix) But if the Mayor wins re-election, he or his cronies would be in a position to shield Holder as a quid.

[tyketime]

I find it very interesting that the show's producer, and now yesterday I read the lead actress make the same point that this cliffhanger was a great thing that will make people want to watch Season 2.

They have obviously greatly miscalculated the negative reaction. If you piss enough viewers off, there won't be anybody left to watch Season 2.

[QuikSand]

I confess that I also come from a somewhat different perspective... I don't think I have ever seen an ad for the show, other than maybe segments of the "on the next episode" preview things. So, to the extent some/many others feel like there was an outright broken promise there, maybe I just wasn''t listening to the sweet nothings that got everyone else all weak in the knees.

[Glengoyne]

I'll agree that I don't feel like I was promised resolution to the murder. I do share the feeling that viewers were somewhat betrayed by the poor development of the show. The willingness of Holder and even Linden o falsify a warrant earlier in the season. The build up and portrayal of the discrimination of the Somali community, only to portray them in the end as a bunch of misogynistic female mutilating barbarians. Then Holder submitting evidence that he knew was falsified, and that it would be damned hard for him to legitimize his possession of. It just seems like they sold this as good, even smart, TV. The truth is that it fell far short of that standard. I agree with an earlier assessment that it did stray well into the neighborhood of incompetence.

[Maple Leafs]

Never watched this show, had barely even heard of it, but the reaction to the finale has been entirely entertaining.

[MikeVic]

Never watched this show, had barely even heard of it, but the reaction to the finale has been entirely entertaining.

I watched the first episode and couldn't finish the second, figured it just wasn't the show for me. But I'm also entertained by the reaction to the finale. I think at the very least, 90% of the reactions I've seen have been negative. And not just "well, that fell flat." But more like "what the hell, how could this do this." And the way it's described, I'd probably be as pissed off with it too.

I remember when Heroes got to be too much for me to watch, but that was built up over time. This sounds like how I felt about Heroes but all in a 2-minute time frame at the end of the finale.

[Logan]

I haven't seen a second of the show but I've been reading "coverage" of the finale all over the internet. I really can't get enough.

[sabotai]

It just seems like they sold this as good, even smart, TV. The truth is that it fell far short of that standard. I agree with an earlier assessment that it did stray well into the neighborhood of incompetence.

That's why I stopped watching several weeks ago. It seemed a bit obvious that they were going to keep going from suspect to suspect, making it look almost impossible the suspect to not be the killer, only to pull the rug out with a twist and move on to the next one. For the last episode, for them to end the season the same way instead of wrapping it up, just screams to me that they are trying to stretch this out as long as possible and have no plan on how they are going to end the plot line. Not only that, but the writers in stretching out the plot are destroying all character development and making everyone look like fools.

I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt on them having a plan or not early on, but now it's clear they don't. Which might be fine if they had good writers winging it as they go, but they don't so it's just a mess.

[OldGiants]

I tried explaining my frustrations with this show to my daughter and son-in-law (who did not watch this) and that made me think that the plot does not have as many holes as I once thought. For example, Holder's motive in pinning the murder on the Teacher and Richmond is for the same thing: making Richmond lose the election. Remember that for Richmond the teacher was a part of his Rucker League scheme and having the teacher as murderer badly crippled Richmond in the poles. So Holder has not changed his motive, we simply don't know exactly why and for whom he's doing this.

That also means the Paul Allen-type donor for Richmond is not the killer because his tie to the campaign is obvious.

Making Holder likeable and then getting more evil is good character development, hard to pull off, but a good idea.

American TV simply cannot understand that a six episode series is a good thing if you only have six episodes of material. More is not better. The Brits get this--Fawlty Towers being a classic example.

Anyway, my wife will want to see who done it, so we'll watch season 2.

[jeff061]

Making Holder likeable and then getting more evil is good character development, hard to pull off, but a good idea.
Only a good idea when what you are blowing up isn't one of the few things that make the show worth watching. And if 5 seconds doesn't render an entire season irrelevant, on a very simplistic cliffhanger no less.

A cheap mechanism to create shallow and stereotypical drama and tension, at the detriment to creating an actually in depth and thought provoking show. The only reason it wasn't predictable is because we were all hoping we were watching a quality series.

[stevew]

Anyone going to dare to accept the challenge of watching this shit again?

[Grover]

Anyone going to dare to accept the challenge of watching this shit again?

No thanks!

[samifan24]

Anyone going to dare to accept the challenge of watching this shit again?

Nope. Was a loyal viewer during season one. Not bothering with season two.

[sabotai]

Looking over the ratings, the season premiere had 1.8 million viewers, down almost a full million from the season 1 premier, a half million from the season 1 finale, and only beating out 1 episode from last year (Episode 9, 1.69 million. Second lowest rated episode from season 1 was Episode 6 with 1.81 million).

Guessing this one won't make it to a 3rd season.

[tyketime]

I swore it off after being so pissed from the finale. But Mrs Tyke talked me into giving the season opener a shot. Several times we looked at each other and were like, "do you want to continue?". We did finish watching it, but we're done with it. In addition to the finale debacle, there are a couple other reasons I won't be watching again.


AMC has already announced that they won't reveal the killer until the Season 2 finale. There were enough red herrings to drive us crazy during Season 1. Now we will have the additional knowledge that any early season "suspect" will probably not be the real killer.
I can appreciate a show operating at a slower pace. But with the 2-hour premiere, there were very few significant events that occurred.
Linden was able to quickly blow a hole in the "fake picture" setup. Did they really think it wouldn't take long to unravel?

[digamma]

Anyone still watching?

[Radii]

Anyone still watching?

Spoiler alerts...

Yep. I'm horrible about taking things off the DVR, my expectations were lowered to the point that I have been able to enjoy it. For most of this season I watched with a lighter view, laughing my ass off at some of the ridiculous plot lines, holder said in one episode "this thing goes all the way to city hall" and it was the most hilariously cliche'd line, I had to pause the DVR and take in what I'd just seen. I drew a lot of parallels to 24 with some of the conspiracy stuff and with Linden insisting on investigating even though it was risking her life and breaking the law, etc etc.

The high point of absurdity was the episode where Linden wakes up in a psych ward. It was the most nonsensical hour of TV I've ever seen. I basically laughed through the entire thing, Linden was pretty much fine (if you can ignore the idea that she's breaking tons of laws by trying to investigate the murder while suspended). Then all of a sudden she starts acting like a complete lunatic, lashing out in really weird ways at the shrink, then magically getting released at the end. This episode had one of the biggest legitimate breakthroughs in the case itself with Holder starting to piece things together, and they completely glossed over it in 5 minutes, instead to spend 20 minutes with Linden completely out of character trying to do random character development that didn't work.

Then, like 3 episodes ago, all of a sudden it got interesting again. I feel that the last few episodes were well done, the storylines have been good and compelling, the scenes where we weren't sure which political campaign was going to be end up being involved with the murder, the closure with the dad and the mob. I'm finding myself still with lowered expectations but legitimately looking forward to the finale.

Looking back, I feel like there was enough good work done here to make one great season of television. The first few episodes of the show, the stuff with Richmond being framed, arrested, and shot, and then the end of this second season contained some pretty solid television. They just dragged it out twice as long as it should have been and the filler in the middle was just completely ridiculous.

I don't know anyone else besides me that kept watching, curious what others think.

[digamma]

Almost completely agree.

I had the good fortune not to discover the show until earlier this year. So we blew through the first season and got caught up with season 2 by about episode 3 of the second season. We were spared the anger at the cliff hanger--which didn't seem so bad knowing we could watch the next episode the next night.

I thought the first part of season 2 really lost its way. All over the place in terms of plot angles and story development. Then, like you said, a few episodes ago, it sort of found itself.

Very much looking forward to the finale and trying to figure out what the one last twist will be.

[Bigsmooth]

I've been watching and have found the show pretty compelling despite the many ludicrous angles you guys mentioned. I really like Holder as a character and thought the dynamic between Linden and her son was very well played and gut-wrenching.

[OldGiants]

My wife and I have watched this all along and have much the same reactions of the others here. Moments of 'wait, what?' followed by interesting bits in the plot and characters. Watching Stan trying to hold it all together has been tremendously entertaining this season.

The Indian tribe as a sink of corruption and villainy is also a nice twist on the 'noble savage', 'weeping ecologist' pap we've had crammed down our throats for decades now. Perhaps it takes a European to get away with this.

Likewise, the scene between Stan and Mitch where he says, "Don't give me that 'I'm the mother, you can't suffer like I do' crap. I love Rosie and I stayed" also went against the Hollywood grain in a satisfying way.

The problem for me is that they have built a case for everyone but Holder and Linden to have been the murderer and now it seems as if they are randomly picking one character as the killer. Knowing the killer in the original Danish version is now dead in the AMC version only adds to the reason that I'll not be satisfied with the ending, pretty much no matter what they do.

[OldGiants]

Much to my surprise, I did enjoy the final episode. They managed to make the final plot twist (while not unexpected) very real and not contrived. And the final scenes for each set of major characters were very good, too.

If the last three episodes had been the final three of the first (and therefore only) season, this would have been a first rate series. We all know what could have been cut from the first season to have made that possible.

[stevew]

Who killed her?

[Radii]

Who killed her?


The aunt, she didn't know it was her, just some chick in a trunk.

[stevew]

Season 3 in May. Can wait!

[Radii]

what? I thought it got cancelled?

[sabotai]

According to Wikipedia, Fox Television Studios made a deal with Netflix and AMC. AMC gets to air the episodes before they go up on Netflix in return for sharing some of the production costs.

[spleen1015]

While catching up with Mad Men, the commercials for the new season of this show have made me very interested in watching it. So, I watched episode #1 last night on Netflix. I really liked it. Are the folks here sticking with it? I don't want to read through the thread because I don't want spoilers.

[Desnudo]

Do you like rain? Like a lot of it. all the time.

[spleen1015]

Do you like rain? Like a lot of it. all the time.

It takes place in Seattle, right? I've never been there, but it rains a lot there, yes?

[QuikSand]

While catching up with Mad Men, the commercials for the new season of this show have made me very interested in watching it. So, I watched episode #1 last night on Netflix. I really liked it. Are the folks here sticking with it? I don't want to read through the thread because I don't want spoilers.

My thinking: this show will actually hold up better watching after-the-fact than it did in real time. It's pretty well done and well acted overall, and worth the time, I think, despite being a bit heavy-handed and too clever sometimes. There were some issues related to real-time buzz that you will skip watching it now, and I suspect you'll like the show more than the average person who watched it week by week originally. Stick with it.

[jeff061]

Have had zero interest since season 1. From what friends have told me about season 2 it was a good choice.

My perception is for every 4 fantastic episodes there are 8 eye rollingly stupid and ham fisted episodes that blow up the 4.

[Izulde]

The last episode of Season 2 irritated the hell out of me. Up to that point, it was admittedly uneven in many respects, but still engaging enough to keep watching.

[QuikSand]

The last episode of Season 2 irritated the hell out of me. Up to that point, it was admittedly uneven in many respects, but still engaging enough to keep watching.

I think that's a pretty fair summary.

[Desnudo]

It takes place in Seattle, right? I've never been there, but it rains a lot there, yes?

Not at all in the way it's portrayed. And watch it, you'll see what I mean.

[OldGiants]

While catching up with Mad Men, the commercials for the new season of this show have made me very interested in watching it. So, I watched episode #1 last night on Netflix. I really liked it. Are the folks here sticking with it? I don't want to read through the thread because I don't want spoilers.


The big problem we all had (lots of little issues with meandering plots) was that the writer had said it was a one season deal with the solution in the season 1 finale. Then it wasn't, so all felt lied to. Season 2 was reasonably solid. The acting was orders of magnitude better than the writing, so there is that going for it. I loved the actors who played Holder and Stan, the father.

That said, I don't have any interest in watching this on-again, off-again, on-again third season until it is over and the reviews are in. I'll get the DVD out of the library if people whose opinion I value say it is worth watching, but I won't risk wasting my time until I know that.

[Bigsmooth]

It takes place in Seattle, right? I've never been there, but it rains a lot there, yes?

It's set in Seattle but filmed in Vancouver. Typical.

[QuikSand]

So, through two episodes of season three...a few observations:


The echoes of The Wire transitioning to its season two are strong...even deliberate, or just obvious?

I like seeing hope that this will be much less gotcha-driven with its plot twists

Skaarsgard is one of those guys it's hard to take your eyes off

I hope they're done jerking the Holder character back and forth - he's plenty complicated and interesting now, just go with it

If this just turns into a somewhat more character driven and complex good guys chase bad guy plot... I think that might be too drastic a switch from the first two seasons (so I don't expect that we've already met/seen the central bad guy/s)

[Johnny93g]

I've enjoyed the first 3 episodes of this season. I officially give it my (meaningless) stamp of approval! haha

Holder has been great. I like his new partner slowly and consistently driving him back to Linden. He has good chemistry with both.

Saarsgard, his scenes have been much watch TV.

So far, the story has been told in a way that really holds my attention, and the acting is top notch, as is normal for this show.

Any guesses to if we have seen the killer yet? I'm saying no, though, I'm horrible at predicting well written shows.

[Radii]

I feel like Season 3 has started pretty well. I'm stealing this thought from critics that I listen to: They are doing a great job of making me interested in the victims and potential victims by getting us involved in some of their lives. I never gave a shit about Rosie Larson, other than the fact that I thought her dad was awesome. That made it hard to invest in a two season arc to figure out who killed her. So far that's a non-issue here, which helps.

Past that, /agree with QuikSand on pretty much everything. I believe its been announced that this is a one season case, so hopefully they can put together a solid, full season without having to rely on much absurdity to drag out the story. Skaarsgard is compelling, Holder remains the highlight of the show to me. I still find Linden annoying, that's probably not changing.

My expectations are still low, but so far, so good.

[Radii]

bump, I was pretty surprised to see that there's only two episodes left this season. They've really done a very good job not going off the rails, and I feel like they've done a solid job of telling a good story so far.

Joel Kinneman's acting remains the highlight of the series to me no matter what else they do, so of course I found last night's episode to be spectacular, probably the best of the series so far. Peter Sarsgaard has been solid all season as well and the big scene with him last night was outstanding as well. We even got a scene with Linden and a kid where she didn't come across like a complete out of control nutjob. Bravo!

I'm actually legitimately looking forward to seeing how they wrap up this season now, I never thought I'd be saying that!

[Johnny93g]

+1

Sunday's episode was fantastic. I just wanted to echo Radii's comments. Love this season. Kinneman was just awesome on Sunday.

[Radii]

what just happened? That... that was just a terrible ending. None of it makes any sense, they did nothing all year to earn that "twist" in the final two hours, and most of the stuff that was supposed to be riveting and emotional I had zero investment in because they did absolutely nothing to make me care about any of this.

So, so weird after everything they did well this year.

I'm curious to see if others liked it!

[path12]

My wife liked it. I haven't been able to watch because the first season pissed me off so much.

[Johnny93g]

what just happened? That... that was just a terrible ending. None of it makes any sense, they did nothing all year to earn that "twist" in the final two hours, and most of the stuff that was supposed to be riveting and emotional I had zero investment in because they did absolutely nothing to make me care about any of this.

So, so weird after everything they did well this year.

I'm curious to see if others liked it!

I liked it, I expected a twist ending, and came away satisfied. I did care about the characters, and even the Seward, and Bullet, and to a lesser extent Callie were all gone, I felt they did a good job with who was left.

Holder is just a fantastically entertaining character. His IA scenes were gold.
"Don't mind the pictures of me banging your mama" hahaha.

I thought they pretty much nailed the whole season, and I'm looking forward to season 4.

[Peregrine]

Has anyone watched The Fall on Netflix? Similar concept, and only one series (so far) but I think it's a great show along the same lines as The Killing.

[jeff061]

If they did a spinoff on Holder I'd give it a shot. Still haven't gotten back in since season 1 and most of what I read have justified my reasons for avoiding.

[QuikSand]

Just finished.

Found the ending of season three neither baffling nor stupid - just an expected twist, executed reasonably well. The antagonist (the actor) is quite good, and in retrospect did seem undercast. Hindsight, I know.

Holder character gets into the ranks of most interesting dramatic TV supporting players... Like Omar from The Wire, Pembleton from Homicide, and a handful of others.

[QuikSand]

Anyone into the fourth season? I'm contemplating starting soon...

[QuikSand]

I just finished Season 4.

Had an interesting experience doing so. Late last night sat down to watch starting with Ep 5, and then started up Ep 6. I knew the 4th season was 10 episodes from looking it up earlier (and since then staying away from IMDB etc for fear of spoilers) so I was really puzzled how the show seemed to be very tidily wrapping up in Episode 6. And then it very clearly did. Turns out I was wrong about there being 10 episodes, oops my bad.

It was the reverse of what I called the old Law-And-Order clock trick. "Well, it can't be her, it's only 10:35 and if she did it, the show's over... and we have 20- minutes to go, so hold tight for another twist." Here I kept muttering to myself about "WTF are they going to do for the next four hours of television???" Funny stuff at 4am, at least.