I fell as if shows live and die by their premieres’ and finales’. The Killing brought with it an amazing premiere, showing that a crime show can be more ‘realistic’ rather than solving a case a week. The Killing showed that a bleak, dark, painful world can and does exist on television, which is a breath of fresh north pacific air. Then there is the finale. The show stumbled half way through the season, on an arch that took far too much time to get through, especially with the mystery of whether or not he did kill her out of the question because there was another five episodes left. But the show got back on track, and seemed to be wrapping the season’s murder up. Last week we thought we knew who the murder was, the city council member / mayoral candidate and this week the detectives brought the case down on him. Case closed. Well, not at all, if it was closed that would be a lot better for the show, yet we are left with a cliffhanger. Not to say that I’m against having cliffhangers at the end of a season, but they have to pay off, and this one did not pay off in anyway. It just left me frustrated.
The Killing once prided itself in keeping the facts straight and doing real police work. Again, a nice difference, showing that doing this job takes time and patience rather than some kind of fast process that happens instantly. The show kept the slow, arduous police work, but lost keeping the facts in order. This all comes into play in the season finale. There are so many pothole questions that the season finale did not answer. What happened to the teacher that was almost beat to death? What about the Aunt and her involvement in the death? What about the actual use of police work? What about checking out your partner’s work, let alone your subordinate’s work. This is what made the finale more frustrating than just the cliffhanger that the season ended on. Now about that ending.
I always felt there was something wrong with Holder, particularly in the first few episodes of the season. He felt like a dirty cop. But then the show develops him into the humorous character that happens to be in a stalkerish relationship, and gets the job done with non-regulation tactics. But, for some unknown, mysterious reason, Holder has set up the city council / mayoral candidate up for the murder. Then gets in a car and says that the photo worked. I’m not seeing his motivation for setting someone up for murder, let alone working with someone who murdered Rosie. The show could have given some kind of reason for his choice to botch the case and who he was working with / for. It was nice having Linden stuck on a plane for the next 90 minutes or so without the ability to contact anyone with the knowledge that Holder is dirty, but there are so many ways to get around that. Linden could just tell the plane she is a cop and she has vital information in a murder case. Then there are the three or so other lose ends that the season left open, but most of those really aren’t that interesting in comparison to the murder.
I was hoping that the murder would be wrapped up this season, with some kind of satisfying ending and season two would bring the consistency that the show started out with. And the plot of season two you say? I would have loved to see the case previous to this one, where Linden had some kind of mental break while solving the case. That would have made a great second season. The case could have been even more brutal, and would have been a nice treat for those who watched season one since we knew parts of the repercussions to Linden’s life.
I have high hopes for season two of The Killing. I hope that the show realizes where they stumbled in their freshman year and fix those problems in the season premier. This might weigh down the premier, but it could just take the trash out that has been lying around from season one and push forward with season two. This show has so much going for it and a hap hazard plot should not be bringing down this adventure into a dark world that The Killing has the potential to be.
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