AMC - The Killing

I'm excited. Even though there's nothing about this that doesn't look generic. 

 but in the wholesum i liked it and enjoyed it.

I thought this was a pretty excellent beginning to the show. Some great acting. Really dig the lead actress. She was great on Big Love. As ginger twins! Anyway, some great stuff so far. The tone of the thing is excellent. AMC's GUESS THE KILLER! web game commerical after the 2-hour premier seemed really in conflict with what the show accomplished in those 2 hours. Silly. Anyway, I'll be watching this thing through. Feel a little bad not starting with the original. But I can only be perfect in my life most of the time.

I really liked it, too, esp. that Julianne Moore 2.0 lead actress.  I like the dynamic between her and her skeevy new partner.  I will say that the show makes Seattle look like the most miserable place on Earth. 

 

I love all that miserable rainy Seattle stuff, especially in HD. Works great for a murder mystery show like this. Mireille Enos seems solid and interesting, and Joel Kinnaman is a bit of a revelation (so good in that "are we gonna party or what?" scene). The actual mystery isn't all that intriguing yet, though good leads means I'll give it time. Never saw the original.

 

Also the actress playing Michelle Forbes' sister- at first I was sure that was the meth addicted hooker from Breaking Bad... then I realized it was the crack addicted hooker from The Shield. Those two could be twins!

 

 

That's one of the drawbacks to have DirecTV. For some reason, they don't have AMC HD. So dumb.

This show seems to be the good stuff.

Nice to see skeezy narc guy come into his own so soon.

Really liked it too, and I'm excited to see where it goes.  It's funny; it seems like this pulls from so many different places (Twin Peaks, X-Files, The Wire, Rubicon) it ends up coming off as totally original. 

Really liked the lead.  She has a quality that comes off very real.  Also intrigued by Michelle Forbes, as this isn't the kind of role I'm used to seeing her play.

The lead was great; she even made me forgot the "one last job" cliche.  I'd never seen Big Love, so she's a pretty fresh actress for me, which just adds to the realism of her part and the way she plays it.

Am I the only one that thought this was completely mediocre? The parents were terrible, the way the writers decided to approach "telling the siblings about the dead sister" was just awful, and no matter how decent the 'no-makeup/realistic' lead detective was, I thought it was pretty rote. Pretty White Girl Was Killed. Film at Eleven.

I thought that the parents being terrible was part of the point. And terrible is bit over the top, as it's hard to know how to handle that scenario, really, especially given how emotional you'd be in that state.  I think we're going to learn more about the parents that won't surprise us that they're not the best at it. 

 

Having watched the first 6 episodes of the Danish version, I have to say I'm a little disappointed in the show and some of the changes they've made from the original.  Enos isn't as convincing as a homicide detective as her Danish counterpart, and the way certain scenes seem to be shot-for-shot remakes (right down to the musical cues) are a bit off-putting.  Why spend all that money on the remake when subtitles are all you need?  

 

All in all, the show is just like "Let Me In."  OK in its own right, but it doesn't quite match the source material.

Yeah, I dug this and I'm curious to see where this goes. Not sure about the lead's moving and retiring sub-plot at all. Seems like her family woes could've worked without it, and the friction between her partner and his unorthodox ways was all her character needed for development even without the "one last case" thing. Poor Callum Keith Rennie is stuck in Sonoma while all the action is going down in Seattle (?) Bigger issue with me is the music as it drowns the mood. But the rest is pretty great. Anyone else notice that the rich kid's house (who btw is gonna have a decent career playing assholes) was the Graystone's Caprican mansion? Anyone??

Edited by Pop Zeus - 4/4/11 at 10:33pm

I dunno about that, but I did notice that with Callum Keith Rennie and the girl's teacher they've got two Harper's Island vets on this show already. Now all we need is for Cal the British doctor to turn up as a suspect.

Does anyone else feel weird that Rennie isn't playing a shady character? I keep feeling that in the end they'll spring him as the murderer.

Happy I'm not the only one who noticed this.

 

Harper's Island 4ever.

 

 

As I remember, you were also the only other member of CHUD's "10 Items or Less on TBS" fan club.

 

We should probably get married or something

For me the bit that seemed most annoying was the political stuff on the show.  I'm talking about the beginning, where there was appartent some Solima situation that will bring down the mayor?  Honestly seemed liked lots of slang with very little meaning behind it (except that apparently the guy has some big endorsment about to occur).  Also are both politicans really wasting a day to court that huge 18 year old vote turnout, both campaign managers should be fired for that one.

 

Im in though because anything Michelle Forbes is in is much watch TV.

 

Thank you for saving me looking it up.  It was driving me nuts.

 

Loved the creepy partney and the red head lead.  Can never have enough red heads.  Definate Twin Peaks vibe without the weird stuff.  Can't wait till Sunday.
 

 

So still liking the main procedural story, while the Rocketeer's campaign gets duller by the episode.

The stuff with the grieving family, which I thought was pretty good in the first two, was definitely weak- and the political stuff, yeah, yawn.  Liked the stuff with the two cops, though.

I had the red-haired Campaign Guy pegged as the actual murderer, so him being outed as the email mole already kind of kills that theory, I suppose.  

 

At least the high school kids in this show all actually look like teens, as opposed to Twin Peaks where all the high-schoolers were at least 23 or older.

So if conventional wisdom applies, slimy campaign manager, douchebag ex-boyfriend and ridiculous looking junkie are out of the running. And I have a feeling Admiral Cain knows more than she makes known.

So why did they allow the principal to view the peeping tom hole?  Shouldn't that have been dusted for prints and fibers before allowing anyone in?  The 2 boys may be prime suspects but I would think think they would want all bases covered.

 

I would think that the kids drug supplier might have something to do with it.  I'm assuming there will be one.

 

So will this come down to rich kids dad covering up for him?

Edited by Anyawatchin Angel - 4/11/11 at 3:24pm

Is this thing running a whole 12 episodes? Seems early to reveal such a big piece of the puzzle.

 

Also I love how the pedo guy had his porn right out in the open. Nope don't wanna leave any mysteries for anyone that might happen in. 

13 episodes I think.

 

And it occurred to me that Rosie isn't necessarily the girl on the tape. The red hair girl seems to be hiding something more.

Im pretty sure I heard them call her Rosie on the tape while they were raping her. 

 

There is a slim possibility that perhaps they were doing mock rape play acting. Much like Twin Peaks revealing that her parents and the town never knew the real Rosie.

You totally feel for the family when the dad opens the morning paper and his daughter's death is splashed all over the front page. That sense of ownership of your grieving is completely lost.

 

Random thought: Right now, the partner is my favorite character.

Except that we are obviously going to learn that the chick who's banging the candidate framed Campaign Guy by sending that email from his computer.  Yep, you heard it here first.

 

As for the cellphone video, it has to be a misdirection.  I suspect that we'll learn that either (a) it wasn't Rosie on the video (as mentioned), or (b) it was consensual (no matter how rough it looked).

 

And I thought Rosie's parents were quite good in their performances, especially the dad (or Louie CK 2.0 as I like to think of him).
 

 

Now you reminded me of Louis trying to act seriously in Louie. "Your father. Is dead."

 

 

He kind of reminds me more of a younger, taller Kevin James.  

 

As a parent who almost lost a child, I think the reactions of both parents is spot on. My wife and I related quite strongly to how the scene with the father, the mother and finding out over the phone and at the scene. It's hard for other people to understand the absolute terror, helplessness and despair that one goes through all at that moment. And I say all this considering it was a newborn baby for us. I can only imagine how much worse it would be for someone with a beloved teenage child.

 

My big question, why send the email from a campaign computer when you can probably just as easily go to the library, make a new email account and then send a message where you be more annoymous.

 

Overall though in complete agreement with the political stuff being dull.

 

No way that's her on the tape. Five gets you ten it's her supposedly best friend in the wig, and that it was meant to be put out to demean her. Probably she had a falling out with the friend, boyfriend and junkie dealer kid, and that was to be their payback. She finds out, freaks out, goes off with the real killer. That's my guess anyway. So far I'm finding the show engaging enough, though certain plot contrivances are bugging me.

 

First, the whole leak about the campaign car: how has The Rocketeer and his team been so stupid to not use that to their advantage. All you do is say: "One of our cars was stolen, we reported it as such at the time, no further connection. The reason we didn't come out with this ourselves is because the police asked us not too and we didn't want to put politics in front of justice for a young girl. You know who did want to put politics in front of justice for a young girl? You vultures in the media/my opponent, who leaked the information in the first place, thus giving the killer a leg up."

 

Of course, that would be too logical and thus cut down on easy (but nonetheless boring) conflict.

 

Also, your classmate has just been announced murdered and you're watching footage of her being raped on your cellphone in class? Come on. The fear-mongering portrayal of teens in this is really eye-rolling.

 

Honestly, the more I think about it, the more this is starting to come off like The Walking Dead. Types instead of well rounded characters, rote twists, and conflict that stretches credulity. So far there hasn't been much in the way awful racist caricature at least (although the Hispanic peadophile cluing the detective in with a spooky Spanish word that everyone recognizes comes close). I plan to follow through to the end of this season at least, just cause once I start watching a murder mystery I'm compelled enough to see it through to the reveal, but much like Walking Dead (and occasionally Mad Men) I think critics are confusing quality production value with quality storytelling.

 

PS. For whatever it's worth - I'm calling the high-school teacher as the killer at this point. Or the main detective's fiance. Probably the teacher though.

The TWO actors from Harper's Island???? You, my friend, are biased.

 

The teacher does look good for it, though.

Heh, didn't realize they were on that show. never actually heard of that show, to be honest.

 

I'm looking at the high school teacher based off the Roger Ebert rule that the seemingly superfluous character is usually a secret villain. In this case the teacher might just be an exposition device, but they seem to focus the scenes around him more than, say, the principle. His seemingly good nature also strikes me as suspicious.

 

As to the fiance, it just seems like the kind of ridiculous twist a television mystery might go for. Plus that actor usually plays creepy villains, so there's that.

 

As to how the campaign figures further into the case. My guess is either whoever killed Rosie also killed Rocketeer's wife, or Rosie is his daughter. Maybe she found this out, and lady campaign manager had her killed.

 

The thing is, and this is kind of a weak spot for the show, the killer has to be someone introduced in the first two episodes to be at all dramatically satisfying. Otherwise the answer to the mystery is just going to be...some guy. As is, they haven't really set up too many interesting possibilities, or enough characters at all. That's something that Twin Peaks had that really worked in its favor. You get introduced to all of these really interesting, mysterious characters in the first two hours, so not only do you care who killed Laura Palmer, you also kind of just want to know more about the kooky therapist with the different colored glasses.Can't really say the same thing for anyone in this show.

II had no idea that Ebert had posited such a theory.  I've always called it the "Scooby Doo Theory": Once you've eliminated the obvious heroes (Mystery, Inc., say), look for the seemingly most inconsequential tertiary character to be the big bad.  That's how you'll always know that it's Old Man Terwilliger who's been dressing up as the Electric Yeti to scare pesky kids away from his gold claim.

 

In the case of The Killing, I agree that the teacher is the most likely Old Man Terwilliger, although I'm thinking Rosie's aunt is looking pretty good, as well. 

 

 

My two biggest complaints by far are the above-mentioned "look how scary teens are today!" nonsense, and the fact that I'm not sure I really want to watch a devastated family coming apart at the seams due to unimaginable grief, no matter how well acted or accurate it may be.

And it's not just that they're watching the cell phone video, but they're actually chatting and laughing about it. I hate skateboarding teenagers like nobody's business, and even I think they're portrayal is over the top.

 

As to the Ebert theory, it's called the economy of character, and it actually has to do with the idea that movies have only so much money to spend, so there can't be any extraneous characters. So if an actor is hired to play a minor character, and yet is given time and lines while seemingly serving no purpose, you can bet they'll show up in the last act as some kind of villain, or otherwise important character. Think the chef from Hunt For Red October.

 

Granted, this isn't really the same on television shows, but still: just look at the way the scenes with the teacher are focused on him, as opposed to how the principle is generally in the background, or else used to hammer home a plot point (the peep hole).

Were the students watching that video in class?  The teacher confiscated the phone and tossed it into his desk drawer.  He only retrieved it from the drawer when it signaled what sounded like an incoming text.  My impression was that someone had texted the video to the phone and the teacher happened to intercept the text. 

Hey, you know how these kids are today, with their rock and roll and their drag racing and being in gangs like the Sharks and the Jetts and hanging out at the malt shop all day instead of the church.

Kidding aside, this is one of my biggest pet peeves with crime shows in general. "Ooh, look at all this nasty stuff goind on with the youth today!" As if fucking, getting drunk and taking drugs before you're eighteen doesn't exist as a concept until you're old enough to have kids of your own. But it's not a problem I have with this show in particular. More of a general thing.

 

Bingo, they were never taling and laughing about the rape video. Question is who sent the rape video.

Nope, I recall that they were watching it. Wasn't the music playing on the phone when the teacher took it and the music on the video the same? 

Yes, it was the music from the video.

The question is: did they KNOW it was a rape video of the dead girl? They could've been passed it and thought it was just another sex video from the cage.

Either way, and thismay be a nitpick, but you're classmate has been murdered, you're in class with her boyfriend and bestfriend, and you're chatting and laughing about anything? The scene is just sloppy, which seems like it might be a problem for this show. Consider the likewise sloppy reaction by the campaign to the media leak, or the peadophile just leaving porno mags lying around. If a show or film or whatever can't take the time to really think through the basic logic of it's characters actions, what's the point? I've noticed this has been happening a little more with the big dramas coming out (this problem plagued Walking Dead and Boardwakl Empire). It seems like the show runners are focusing more and more on production value, and less on well developed story.

Well then what happened that made the teacher pick up the phone? He heard a beep whcih was probably a text message. If it wasn't the video then that means he would of had to cancel out the text message and then scroll through the phone's media menu to find  the video. A video probably among other videos that im guessing wasn't marked rape-o-rama. I erased it off my DVR so I can't go back and check but it sounds like you guys are right but then why would he do that?