Thursday, June 21, 2012

REVIEW - The Killing

I wouldn't normally bother with a review of a TV series, but this double-series was made with an intensity rarely seen in this format.

It concerns the murder of a teenage girl, Rosie Larsen, daughter of gruff building contractor Stan Larsen, and his wife Mitch.

The first season wove in a long cast of seemingly unrelated characters: builders, politicians, native American casino developers, and sinister associates of all three. But many people - me included - were disappointed to find that first season ending with no answer to the question "who killed Rosie Larsen?"

Patiently we waited for the second season, and that just ended with an answer, but no real satisfaction. The show burned and eventually bored its viewers with long-winded, rain-soaked side stories whose purpose seemed mainly to use up air time rather than propel the investigative team toward solving the case.

The cast was excellent, but the weather was foul. Normally, that wouldn't feature in a post-series review, but this drama was set in Seattle, and mostly filmed in nearby Vancouver. Wherever it was, whatever time of day, it was raining incessantly. Cold, miserable rain. If this series did nothing else, it ruined for me the notion of spending any quality time in either city.

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