Monday, June 18, 2012

The Killing, Season 2: Post Finale Thoughts

The Killing (AMC)

The Killing wrapped up its second season last night with the answer to the question posed for the first season, "Who killed Rosie Larsen?" Here are our initial — and probably final — thoughts on this series, which includes both seasons … as of course it must. (There are no spoilers in this post.)

In considering the series as a whole and as a murder mystery, the primary storyline was well thought out, well structured and well told. Thinking back, clues to the resolution of the crime were indeed peppered throughout, in good whodunit fashion. There were a handful of loose plot threads remaining at the end, but there almost always are in any telling of a reasonably complex story. And there might have been one too many coincidences in terms of people and places and times, but that's more of a quibble than a complaint. Could the murder have been solved in one season, as promised by the original promos by the network? Of course. Should it have been solved in one season? Absolutely. There were 26 episodes in total over both seasons, and at least half of these were tangential to the murder mystery itself and not important. There were also several extended subplots that were completely irrelevant as they didn't provide any important contextual information nor did they advance the primary plot in any meaningful way. An example of one of these would be Linden's prior psychiatric treatment that aired during this second season, which took up maybe a complete episode of time yet added nothing to her character nor was it related in any way to the investigation. Pure and simple filler … and not even interesting filler at that.

We did, however, like the second season a bit more than the first, primarily because the story seemed to be better focused and, probably more importantly, advancing to a resolution at a slightly brisker pace. (The first season will, in our minds, no doubt be forever fatally flawed as a consequence of how it ended — or didn't end, as the case may be — so this probably isn't a fair comparison.) A third season has not (yet) been announced. It wouldn't surprise us at all if AMC doesn't renew the series, but if they do, we would hope that if a promise is made to the viewers at the beginning of the season, it should be kept during that season. The current showrunner has amply demonstrated she is incapable of doing something as simple as that, and it would be a serious mistake to renew the series and retain her in that position.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Omnimystery Blog Archive

Total Pageviews (last 30 days)

Omnimystery News
Original Content Copyright © 2022 — Omnimystery, a Family of Mystery Websites — All Rights Reserved
Guest Post Content (if present) Copyright © 2022 — Contributing Author — All Rights Reserved