AMC's The Killing

My problem is that you could have seen everything that happened this week from a friggin mile away. Bennet was a red herring all along. We knew that. Adams is a sleazy politician who would out-sleaze Richmond when pressed. We knew that. Stan was going to mistakenly beat the piss out of Bennet. We knew that. I echo a lot of complaints of people who post on Sepinwall's blog about this show. Who killed Rosie Larsen? Who cares? We don't know anything about her. They've done an awful job of making us care about her or reconstruct her final night. I dunno, just feels like this thing has been spinning its wheels for a while now. I'll see it out to the end just because I'm invested in it, but I've been fairly disappointed after a strong start.

 

A red herring, to me, is something that has NOTHING to do with the eventual solution. The teacher's alleged involvement has pushed other characters to act in ways they would not have without his being suspected -- this makes the police's interest in him important, if only as a plot device. For instance, say Stan's lackey ends up being involved in the killing, and let's say he's caught; would the police have caught him had he not helped Stan beat the teacher? Also, without the teacher, the mayor cannot use that information against Richmond, maybe forcing him to do things that may not match his principles, which may lead to something else, etc., etc.

Don't like the pacing of the show? Fine. Don't watch. But I cannot understand how a show like this can be constructed without having some predictable plot points.

 

Totally agree. A red herring would be if Stan's employee (Belko is his name, I think) is acting suspicious for no real reason. Possible spoiler below in tiny type. Don't read it if you don't want to know.







I suspect Belko might be an actual red herring. I read that the equivalent of his character was the killer in the Danish original, but the creators of this one said people that saw the original series wouldn't necessarily know who did it.

 

I don't mind the pacing ... and sorry for mangling the definition of red herring. I don't think it's an awful show. I'm just surprised as how predictable last week's turn of events was. Looking forward to seeing how everything ties together at the end.

 

Caught up on the last five - watching them in bunches helps. I'm still kind of stunned that this is supposed to be the Seattle PD. I was under the impression that it was a small suburban police agency - a major metro? With one detective? And no task force given the political heat? I won't even get into the way they dress.
It's still good. The show isn't supposed to viewed as a whodunnit? but a show about how a killing impacts peoples lives. I get that - but it could use a bit more of a pulse. And the showing of crime scene photos by a local TV station? Really?

 

Much better episode this week -- Belko's scenes were very good.

So did Rosie have a gambling problem?

 

Or someone else in the family (the aunt?) did and she found out about it.

 

This week's episode was all kinds of amazing.

 

If the teacher was at the dance, why didn't Rosie give him the book there?

 

What a strong addition to the series that episode was.

 

I liked it.
It reminded me of the original Law & Orders that they would do every couple of seasons that were out of the norm, like the one that either Logan or Briscoe had Knicks tickets and they spent the whole day trying to solve four homicides. The scene when Linden's partner was trying to explain why he wasn't going to make it to the parade was heartbreaking.

 

Agree completely. It felt like part of a Tarantino movie; great dialog, character development. These two characters earned this episode, and both of them will be forever changed because of their shared experiences. The prism in which we view Linden and Holder in the final two episodes (or further seasons) is altered for the better. I expect better police work -- from Linden, especially -- because they finally can trust one another.