An awful lot of people out there seem to be waxing apopletic about the season finale of the AMC series The Killing. At the start of its run, television writers were promoting The Killing as something not to be missed since the Danish version of this series had proven to be an insanely popular international hit. To get to the bottom of who killed teenager Rosie Larsen, each of the 13 episodes in the American version would track the events of a single day in the aftermath of the murder.
Somewhat improbably, the series begins with Detective Sarah Linden being required by her boss to stay on the job for a week beyond her official resignation date in order for her to work the Rosie Larsen case and help break in Steven Holder, the new guy in the department - this is in spite of the fact that her boss is well aware that Sarah and her teenaged son have plane tickets to California and that Sarah actually needs to be in California to attend to last minute details relating to her upcoming wedding. I don't know if it was harder for me to believe that Sarah's boss could be that unreasonable or that Sarah herself could be such a passive wimp, even if she does love her job.
After that, the story line slowly unfurls, with a string of different characters being dangled in front of the viewers as possible suspects, only to be ruled out as the spotlight then moves on to focus on another potential bad guy. Had this been a novel, I suspect I would have found this approach to be annoying in the extreme but as a television show it seemed merely to play into the episodic nature of the series. Without giving away any of the story, I will say that a couple of extreme plot twists in the final moments of episode 13 guarantee that this storyline is going to be continued in season 2; it is these last minute developments that have infuriated so many people.
While I do not consider The Killing to be up there with my other TV drama favorites (The Wire and Deadwood), I thought the acting was generally good, found the rainy Seattle setting compelling, and was totally blown away by some extraordinary videographic images. If I were to give it a grade, it would have to be a very solid "B". I do not watch huge amounts of television and my viewing habits are limited almost exclusively to HBO, Showtime, AMC, and FX, with a smattering of Comedy Central. Programs that I have found way more annoying than The Killing include Damages (especially the last season) Big Love, In Treatment, True Blood, and anything after the first season of 24.
The only reason I can think of to explain why emotions are now running so strong is that, based on the phenomenal success of the original Danish version, TV writers allowed themselves to indulge in an unwarranted level of hype in promoting the American version and are now perhaps feeling just a tad sheepish about it. Viewers too have been let down by all the hype. Perhaps there is a cautionary tale here somewhere.
I, for one, will be back to watch season 2 of The Killing.
