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Critic Reviews
- Critic score
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- By date
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Few television shows are as addictive as this pensive, wonderfully paced suspenser.
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For now, The Killing has made a very good re-start.
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My own enjoyment of The Killing begins and ends with the gloom so brilliantly conveyed by its pace and performances.
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The Killing returns with all its powers intact, its uniformly superb performances--not least Ms. Enos's Detective Linden and Mr. Sexton's Stanley.
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This isn't a procedural with a neat answer at the end of each episode. But it is involving.
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It remains a show to which the viewer must pay close attention.
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Going into Season 2, the acting performances are the primary reason to tune in.
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The Killing remains compelling, and the writers (led by Sud, adapting the show from a Danish series) are adept at overcoming the stodgy pace by dangling tantalizing clues near each hour's end, creating a strong pull to see what transpires next.
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The series needs to propel its mostly superb actors into action, to push the narrative forward. [6 Apr 2012, p.63]
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The acting remains impeccable, and the writing adds depth to characters that seemed one-dimensional the first season.
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The premiere is actually very good. Of course, it would be a whole lot better if there were a new investigation into a new crime.
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Notwithstanding the cat-and-mouse plotting, we watch The Killing because of the superb writing and attention to character detail in the scripts by series executive producer Veena Sud and others.
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It's more subtly, and more forcefully too, a quest for understanding, specifically an understanding of how the world works.
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Sarah isn't easy to warm up to, and neither is The Killing, though I respect its moody insistence at depicting even the most sympathetic figures in the worst possible light.
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The good news is that you will get answers. The bad news is that they don't so much advance the story as circle around it.
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The good news is that Sunday's two-hour opener answers several key questions in relatively rapid fashion and in ways that don't seem totally unreasonable. The bad news is that it also puts Sarah back at square one, and therein lies the problem.
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It's still not anywhere near the ballpark of the earlier AMC shows, and the plot itself remains incredibly frustrating, but there are other aspects that feel closer to the show Sud said she was making last year, rather than the one she actually made.
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Once viewers accept it for the mediocre melodrama it is, they'll be more satisfied, tuning in for the strong performances and high production values while rolling their eyes at the umpteenth red herring and illogical plot turn.
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The muddled and recurrently tedious Larsen case, littered with irrelevant conspiracy-theory subplots (what the hell is up with Holder's AA "sponsor"?) render The Killing a mystery show whose mysteries agitate and bore rather than mesmerize and astound.
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Despite very slight improvements, this series still seems deluded as to what it is and blind to what it could become.
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It's very well-done, but the opener doesn't resolve a viewer's doubts. [9 Apr 2012, p.42]
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If you're moving on with The Killing, you're either a sucker for punishment or a hopeless fan of Detective Sarah Linden (Mireille Enos) and her Scandinavian sweaters.
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It's not nearly as highbrow and well-constructed as it needs to be, and it's far too serious and plodding to be a zippy break from reality.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 120 out of 140
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Mixed: 11 out of 140
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Negative: 9 out of 140
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Apr 2, 2012
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Jun 22, 2012
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Apr 24, 2012