The Killing — Page 2

Brilliant show, brilliant ending. when Linden saw that ring, that was amazing, and we shouldve known somthing was up when Linden was happy with a man, the other shoe was gonna drp

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I hadn't heard this!!! Thanks for the info, HorseTears! I need some kind of resolution to Vigilante Linden!

So...this weekend as I recovered from a truly decadent week on Fire Island, I decided to binge watch all six hours of THE KILLING final mini-season. Has anyone else watched? I thought it was absolutely sensational, and the performances from (nearly) everyone were outstanding. Tyler Ross killed it as the tormented boy who couldn't remember. And the resolution in the last few moments? Perfection. Anybody else watch?

Spoliers abound:

I spent a lot of time thinking about that. Linden is such a fascinating character cause she's one of the only anti-heroine's I've ever come across. She's a terrible, TERRIBLE mother, a pretty awful detective (in that she gets way to close to every single case) and a woman who pretty much makes all the wrong life choices in order to allow her obsessions consume her. And yet...we still were on her side. Holder isn't quite as well-defined, but he's still clearly a damaged soul who is working as hard as possible not to be swallowed up by the darkness that dominates his life. In many ways, they are the only two people for each other, which is why that ending felt earned. My guess is that it's simply a deep soul-mate kind of thing that may turn romantic out of necessity.

How about that Joan Allen? I called her being the mother pretty quickly, but still loved how we got there. Tyler Ross managed to give a pretty big performance without hitting a false note (cannot say the same about Sterling Beaumon, whom I felt was giving me generic psycho eyes through a lot of it...but whatevs...it wasn't too bad). All the Reddick stuff didn't bother me as I felt we needed to see him connect the dots. But, woman...WHY YOU GETTIN RID OF THE PHONE AT THAT LAKE??? Oooof. Add 'terrible murderer' to Linden's list of faults.

She pulled her gun on Holder!! Her descent into a very different kind of madness this season was shocking. Whereas during Season 2, she just kind of succumbed to the insanity, this season she really fought against it and it made the entire thing crackle. It was an inspired, dangerous performance. I loved them showing Holder doing a line and then going to that meeting and f*cking right up without knowing it. It's also interesting to show that a slide back doesn't have to be a full-on downward spiral. I felt that was a relatively 'adult' view of drug addiction.

The other takeaway? Joan Allen is a crack shot!

I think it was a purely selfish act. He couldn't bear to see himself through her eyes. The question is, why was he unable to kill himself. He clearly was calm and cold (the killing of Phoebe was the most horrifying to me) throughout the murders...even Nadine's. Did he just not want to die in the end?

I think the piano music was in his head, which made it so very creepy. But I watched all six hours back-to-back so maybe I was just delirious at that point!

Wait...what was the Yellow King?

I know I'm in the minority on this one, but I LOVED the Rosie Larsen case of s1 and s2. I loved the red herrings (which helped establish a false picture of who Rosie truly was in the end - an innocent girl who just wanted to see the world) and I LOVED the way in which Veena Sud pulled the rug out from under us at the end of season 1. I never understood the entitled outrage people displayed just because Sud chose not to solve the case at the end of s1. The s2 finale felt like a series finale and was beautifully done. Personally, I think everything that followed (s3 and this final s4) paled in comparison.

The two leads remained wonderful and the chemistry between the two of them was still magnificent, and the show is still beautifully shot, but I found the stories and the supporting characters far less compelling in s3 and s4. I thought s4 was especially cartoony and that while it's nice to see Joan Allen working, I thought she was largely wasted in a thankless, dull role. I guess it didn't help that I'd guessed the exact conclusion the show would take by the end of the first ep.

You know I love you, Horse Tears, but I just cannot disagree more. I actually think seasons 3 and 4 demonstrate that the show works best when it's tight and quickly paced. There are many, many pleasures to seasons 1 and 2, including Michelle Forbes sensational performance. It just felt like meandering storytelling. The shocking reveal of the killer was pretty great, but would have had more impact if we were hurtling towards that conclusion instead of taking a stroll. I also didn't love Linden's journey to the booby hatch. Perhaps in Denmark it's different, but I cannot imagine a detective having that much of a mental break being allowed anywhere near a case again.

I was a little pissed about the continuation of the story after being assured that it would be solved in 13 episodes. But just a little. I know people who went full on ape-sh*t. Clearly, I stuck around. I just wish I thought the Rosie Larsen case was interesting enough for 26 episodes...but I just didn't.

Totally valid points, though I still prefer the later seasons. And I actually think Linden's terribleness as a police officer was REALLY interesting to watch. I don't necessarily agree that Holder was terrible. And one has to imagine that when dealing with such terrible crimes with so little to go on, actual police work is kind of messy. I liked that.

I think at some point soon (maybe after I finish SHERLOCK which why have I waited so long to watch? Maybe cause Cumberbatch looks like a feline burn victim to me? Whatevs...it's FANTASTIC), I'm going to go back and watch the first two seasons again with your thoughts in mind.

Maybe I'm speaking from my cold, black heart, but I found the series finale's ending a touch too sentimental for my taste. I've said it before, but I think the season 2 finale is actually a better series finale than the actual one was - Holden saying "we got the bad guy" and Linden asking, "did we...?", getting out of the car and walking away - we presume - from Holden and from life as police officer - with a slight smile and a sudden burst of sunshine around her. It wasn't entirely dour - there is a small sense of hope - but it's also ambiguous and unresolved and, personally, I find that kind of complicated ending far more satisfying. S1-2 were the show Sud wanted to make. S3 and S4 were clearly compromises to appease disgruntled audiences and less than confident network execs.

That's actually a fair point, Melissa. The sentimental ending is perhaps the less obvious one in this type of show now, you're right.