The Killing

Having watched the Danish original "Forbrydelsen" it was with great anticipation and some apprehension that I finally got to see the American adaption to this outstanding and huge successful drama. I was both surprised and amazed. "The Killing" has managed to maintain the somber and somewhat dark ambiance of the original while still incorporating enough elements to make the current version plausible. Kudos to the cast of this version which has kept the integrity of the original and so far, it looks every bit as good as I could have hoped. Although the plot takes its time to unfold, it's well worth the wait. Soon you will be trying to guess who killed the beautiful High School student and realize that nothing is as it seems, each episode offering a different perspective (and suspect) until the tantalizing conclusion. Get hooked!! ;)

When I was twenty-four, I was the foreman for the jury of a murder trial. There was plenty of evidence, including eye witness testimony, that indicated the young man's guilt. After two days of deliberations and endless discussions, we voted to convict. On our way out of the courtroom, I remember distinctly the high spirits we were all in. We had done our job as citizens. We had helped take a bad man off the streets. We helped get justice for a murdered individual. There were a lot of smiles and handshakes and back-pats. Then on the way out we passed the convicted man's eight-month-along pregnant wife. She was sitting, alone, on a bench outside the courtroom, sobbing. The implications of our decision for her and that unborn child hit me all at once as we passed. I wasn't smiling anymore; none of us were. The thing is, I still believe we did the right thing. It was our job to vote on the evidence and that's what we did. But even so, I'd be lying if I said I slept soundly that night.

The reason I mention that long-winded story is to illustrate a point. Real life is messy. Even when we make what we truly believe are the "right" decisions we don't always feel all that good about them. Sometimes to do what we think is right we end up hurting, albeit unintentionally, someone else. Even worse, sometimes we hurt someone doing what we think is right and then find out later that we were wrong. And that, as Aristotle would say, just plain sucks.

But it is the imperfect, wonderful world we all live in. Which brings me to AMC's fantastic 'The Killing'. A Danish import, 'Killing' follows the murder investigation of young woman in Seattle, Washington. The story is told in thirteen 1 hour episodes through the perspectives of the people whose lives are impacted by the murder and subsequent investigation, with special emphasis on lead investigator Sarah Linden (played picture-perfect by Mireille Enos). Amazingly, despite a fairly large cast, there is nary a flat character to be found. All the players are fleshed out, fully realized people with deep complexity and back-story. This allows the show to rise above a simple whodunit police procedural and really delve into just what a murder means to the people in the victim's life. It is alternately dark and gritty, inspirational, and heart breaking to watch these people cope with the loss and fear that surrounds this girls murder.

And that brings me back to my original point. The reason I love this show so much is because, unlike the many many many police procedurals out there, it is no fairy tale with all the bad guys punished and good guys victorious. It makes you wallow in the mud with the characters, encouraging you to feel all the frustration and confusion that they feel. It makes you want what they want, only to remind you that even good people and good decisions have consequences that are far less than ideal. This is the kind of show that you think about after it's over, asking yourself if you would have done this or that differently. But that deeply unsettled feeling you get is the digestive price you pay for such a rich, not-written-for-kids storyline, and is so worth it. There is really nothing quite like it on TV right now; I highly recommend it.

"The Killing" is an adaptation of a Danish TV series, and was billed to me as "Twin Peaks meets 24". Well it certainly does seem like an updated "Twin Peaks" so far, minus some of the bizarre twists and turns. Not that there's anything wrong with that, beautiful-girl-murdered is a time-tested premise that makes for a good crime drama.

In the first two episodes I was relieved to find some serious, quality television. The story isn't terribly remarkable - so far we know that a pretty typical teen girl has been murdered, that her parents are genuinely crushed with grief, and that the detective who caught the case, Sarah Linden, was due to leave the job and move to San Diego to get married had the case not come up.

The story is told with impressive direction and good enough writing, with plenty of details and realism to hook in most viewers. Like any good mystery, the introduction simply raises questions, and gets the viewer to care about what's going on. Mission accomplished.

The music is a bit hokey, drifting into melodrama at times, but that's the only real fault I can find. This is a fine start. It seems unlikely to dethrone "The Wire" as a pinnacle of realism but it's already better than any crime drama the networks have going. I'm looking forward to the next episode.

I love a good whodunit series and this one was excellent; kept me guessing at every twist and turn and there was a lot of both. This drama pulled me in and didn't let go until the last scene which had me holding my breath. Story lines were gritty and not over-the-top. The acting in this thing was old-school good like when directors gave a damn about their craft. The two lead characters were extremely well developed; I always knew who they were and Kinnaman and Enos played off of each other like two virtuosos, stuff was really magic. Seasons 3 and 4 were the best two for my money but seasons 1 and 2 made me stick around for the latter two. I fancy myself a film snob, I'll give films 15 or 20 minutes before I'm bored and surfing for something else. If I watch an entire episode maybe there's something there, I stuck around for all 4 seasons and had withdrawl symptoms when it ended. I can almost promise you that you will never guess whodunit.

I had to watch this twice, the two hour premiere that is. I think what struck me most was the calm and slow storytelling. When TV is drowning in unrealistic CSI's et al (where investigators cook up fingerprints to techno music in dimly lit rooms), every time we pass a CSI on channel surfing my husband always says 'don't they ever turn on the freakin lights in that office?' and we both laugh.

This is police work as it really is, plodding, unexciting, procedural, a lot of driving, mixed with a bit of clever intuition, slammin good.

Every character is a suspect, the story can go anywhere, so promising.

If anyone was worried about the state of the serialized TV drama going too far down the f-word/porn route, all arguments that only subscription HBO or Showtime dramas were good bc they used nudity or cursing bc 'that's how real life is'...this is yet another AMC show that shuts them all up. Don't get me wrong, I love my Trueblood and huge fan of Sopranos et al, but this show isn't a 'guilty pleasure', its just a pleasure.