AMC's The Killing

This is the worst series AMC has produced although Rubicon's a close second.

Lazy and flabby writing, red herring after red herring, no real character development and plot holes as wide as a Mac Truck.

As Sepinwall (and others have said), an insult to the viewers.

Would love to see the Danish series--with subtitles.

 

From what I've read, the second season of the Danish series has little to no continuity with the first in that it's a whole new case.

Those looking to turn there for answers don't appear likely to get any.

 

Fuck it, I'll probably still watch next season. Dammit.

 

Rubicon was a mess at times (probably because of the cads which we were dealt by pilot show runner being fired post-pilot), but there was some excellent writing (the tie scene) and development of some of backstory and motivation of the players. Ultimately, they were hamstrung by the out-of-place Katherine sub-plot and the silly plot resolution at the end. But I would have watched in a second season in a heartbeat.

Here, I would have been annoyed but ultimately OK with the fake and dodge, but the show had built up no goodwill with me. We learned nothing about Rosie for most of the season, we didn't see any real police work and the writing was just plain foolish in many spots. I thought that they got the grief of the parents right, but Midge basically stayed the same.

Wouldn't the fake picture be seen through in 2 seconds by a court and then Holder would have been arrested? Even the teacher's wife not recognizing Stan was just so stupid, even if it was pretty well acted. Why was she running to fly -- wasn't the engagement off?

 

Falling asleep last night I tried to piece the series together - I don't mind "vague" and letting the audience fill in the gaps for themselves - it reminded me of a friend of mine who writes mysteries describing the "tea cozy fair play" idea of mystery writing: everything the characters know, the audience knows. But the way the show presented plot developments with a "this is important" vibe - then tossed them aside wasn't fair at all. Agree with the idea that the problem isn't the lack of resolution, but that the "journey" wasn't interesting enough.
They've also run out of suspects and motives.
Okay - so Holder is hooked in so he tells Linden the photo from the bridge will take a week (pointing to the campaign - also I thought the car he got into was made to appear to be one of the campaign cars). It's not Belko, the teacher, Richmond, Linden, the Larsen family - leaving Gwen and just about only Gwen (who we really don't know much about). Which makes the ending that much more frustrating. I'm guessing she wanted Richmond for herself and didn't want to "lose him" to the office of mayor. Though the way they have told the story they could pull a deux a machina and have it be about something else entirely. About the only thing I'm fairly certain of is that the "story" turns out not to be about Rosie at all.

I read that "24" was written on a week by week basis - the producers didn't have the season mapped out (which explains a lot), which I can understand for a broadcast show. A 13-ep cable series? Lame. I figure the best shows (The Wire, The Shield, Damages) obviously DO have the entire show mapped out before shooting the first scene.

 

A dissenting opinion: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/20/the-killing-finale-clearer-than-you-thought/?src=tptw

 

To buy that argument, you would have to disregard other seemingly unprovoked "honest" reactions - and the producer's own explanation for not "solving" the mystery.

 

http://watching-tv.ew.com/2011/06/20/the-killing-amc-joel-kinnaman-billy-campbell/

This review is nails. The show was in a no-man's land of being too conventional at the same time as being not conventional enough and in the process rendering a lot of the work of the actors involved moot.

The Richmond character was also problematic - he wasn't good enough to be considered a "great candidate" and a threat significant enough to warrant such an elaborate frame job.

Another good review:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/bastard-machine/did-killing-just-kill-203342

If you burn the audience time and time again - makes it kind of hard to expect them to invest in any of the characters - especially since it seems less like this is part of a larger plan and more about the producers not having any idea of where the story is going themselves. Like a taxi driver who has made numerous wrong turns, should the audience be expected to stay in the cab for one more?
Which is one of the good things about a show like Damages, where they shoot the ending first and then dole out the path to that point as the season progresses.

 

http://espn.go.com/espn/grantland/story/_/id/6680958/hackery-first-degree (I guess this is crossthreading, huh?)

 

Isn't part of the point of watching movies and television to see something similar to life, but either more entertaining or more neatly tied up than what you will find in the real world?

Nothing wrong with challenging the viewer, but there is a difference between doing that and just jerking everybody's chain.

I'm asking this in a general sense. I don't watch the show and now I'm glad I passed. I just read this thread to see the reaction after reading Sepinwall's mention of it in his review of the Game of Thrones finale (which was excellent, by the way, without really wrapping up much of anything).

 

I'm going to go ahead and agree with CI and YGB, too. I am really surprised at how much people hated this finale. I thought the series lacked movement in the middle episodes, but beyond that, I think I pretty much knew what I signed up to watch. I did not expect total resolution in last night's finale, especially after the "Richmond is Orpheus" reveal in the previous episode. That moment didn't mesh with how the rest of the season had played out; there had to be final twists and turns, otherwise that moment occurred way too soon.

And that moment, by the way, with Linden's "send it again" mantra corresponding with another pinging email message is the reason I will watch the show next season. So creepy and awesome.

But, I think over the course of the show, the acting was excellent, the dialog was good, the scenery/atmosphere was beautifully gloomy, and the story had moments. Sure, there were some big plot holes, but after years and years of watching 24, I think I'm pretty numb to that. Plus, it is my understanding that the Danish version spanned a 20 episode arc, which is perhaps why the story lines and characters were apparently a little more fleshed out...

I guess I'm just not frustrated because I wasn't expecting the big payoff last night. I can understand disappointment from viewers who were anticipating it.

I look forward to The Killing's return. It's certainly not perfect, but it's full of fun and potential. I'm guessing this thread will pick up right where it left off next year, and most of us will still be posting on it.

 

wow, the 'showrunner/exec producer' or whatever you call this character sepinwall interviewed to look back upon year 1 comes off as a stupid, arrogant she-devil who revels in dicking around viewers in her self-involved search to give is a 'cop show unlike anything we've ever seen ANYTIME, ANYWHERE, ain't i brilliant? i didn't even bother to pat the critics or viewer reax any mind from the get-go 'cause i'm effin' brilliant and the rest of you are toads and when y'all wak up tomorrow your sad lives will be the same while i'm getting to work ON A NEW WAY TO SCREW EVERYONE OVER in season 2 -- SUCKERS!!!'

She should NEVER have another shot at producing a tv/film ever again. NEVER. EVER. AGAIN.

i cannot believe the powers that be at amc are at all happy with what they're reading/hearing today after pinning their hopes on the finale making everything right with viewers. uh, no. if they want ANY chance of retaining the show's small following in ANY measure they'll show viewers the respect they deserve and can her sorry ass to restore a modicum of good faith.