Even though it aired its fifth episode last night, I'm still kind of on the fence about The Killing, the new series on AMC. I'm emotionally invested enough in the series to want to watch it through all 13 episodes, to see who the killer really is, but I know I'm not going to like it.
The Killing takes us through the investigation of a teenage girl's death. That girl--Rosie Larsen--is found dead in the trunk of a car submerged in a lake. The car belongs to the campaign of a local politician, Darren Richmond (Billy Campbell), who is running for mayor of Seattle (he also has a dark past with a wife who was murdered). The show also plays major attention to the grieving parents, played by Brent Sexton and Michelle Forbes, whose lives must go on with their two young sons, despite the loss of their daughter. And heading up both the investigation and the show are two cops, Sarah Linden (Mireille Enos) and her new partner Joel Kinnaman (Stephen Holder). Linden is about to leave the Seattle police to move to Sonoma with her husband-to-be. She also comes with the requisite problem son, a teenager who's none too sure about the move or the new dad, and a dark secret that may involve the death of another teenager in a case she was obsessed with. Kinnaman, an undercover cop who was working the drug beat, may have been undercover too long. He too has his secrets.
Developed from a Danish TV series (Forbrydelsen) by American producer Veena Sud (Cold Case), The Killing is stylish, well-acted, and very atmospheric. It is also the most unrelentingly sad and depressing TV show I've ever seen. It rains constantly. People cry constantly. No one smiles. Enos, who is a beautiful woman, is made to look as absolutely dowdy as possible as detective Linden. Holder, as her partner Kinnaman, looks more like a twitchy drug addict than a cop. Billy Campbell plays the world's only politician who doesn't smile while actively campaigning. Sexton and Forbes are excellent as the dead girl's parents, but they have seemingly regularly-scheduled breakdowns each episode. And did I mention it rains? All. The. Time.
And here's where it all falls apart for me: The sadness coupled with actors that I can't quite like, plus a propensity for each episode to feature the "suspect of the week." I left last night's episode feeling the school teacher suspect was a total red herring, and maybe the girl's dad has something going on beyond his grief. The mayoral election thing is a tedious plotline, almost seeming to be filler, despite the connection of the girl's death to the campaign car.
Some critics have likened The Killing to Twin Peaks, the ground-breaking ABC series co-created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. The only things the two shows have in common are a dead high school girl and a very soggy Northwest location. The Killing lacks all of Twin Peaks' quirky charm and off-kilter humor. It's deadly serious, as perhaps a show called "The Killing" should be. But it's also morbid and joyless, and the show's resolution had better make 13 weeks of tears and sadness worth the emotional journey.
I LOVE THIS SHOW!!! EVERYTHING ABOUT IT!!! What I hope is that each season they end with solving that seasons murder.
As for the grief and morose behavior: having lived through the death of a sibling, standing on the sidelines intrepidly watching my parents, this show is spot on. There are no smiles to be had, and, sunshine just pisses you off.
Hope this makes sense.
Posted by: Kitchen Encounters | April 26, 2011 at 04:31 PM