The Killing

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ianungstad
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Re: The Killing [Please use spoiler tags in this thread.]

#51 Post by ianungstad » Wed Jun 22, 2011 11:50 am

This show also openly stole ideas from Silence of The Lambs, 24, Psycho, Twin Peaks, The Wire and probably from many other tv shows and films. It's shameless.

It's also not a mystery. A mystery would indicate that it was solvable. This show just dished out one deus ex machina plot twist after another.

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MichaelB
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Re: The Killing [Please use spoiler tags in this thread.]

#52 Post by MichaelB » Wed Jun 22, 2011 12:11 pm

It really does sound radically different from the Danish version (which I'll call Forbrydelsen for the sake of convenience). It's a few months since I saw it, but I'm pretty sure that while there were plenty of plot twists (entirely understandable in a ratings-chasing drama series), they all made coherent sense - and the ending certainly did.

Another thing that struck me is that Forbrydelsen took much longer than The Killing to tell essentially the same story. Forbrydelsen ran for twenty episodes of nearly an hour apiece (BBC4 doesn't show commercials). The Killing ran for only 13 episodes of 45 minutes apiece. That gives Forbrydelsen around double the running time - which is one of the reasons it was able to go into so much painstaking detail about both the minutiae of the police investigation (complete with multiple red herrings and blind alleys) and the emotional texture of the murder's impact on Nanna Birk Larsen's family and friends. Unavoidably, The Killing must have jettisoned a huge amount of this in the translation.

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Professor Wagstaff
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Re: The Killing [Please use spoiler tags in this thread.]

#53 Post by Professor Wagstaff » Wed Jun 22, 2011 3:37 pm

jbeall wrote:I think you mean "contemptuous," but otherwise I agree.
Thanks, jbeall, I did mean contemptuous. That'll teach me to proofread next time.

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Paul Moran
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Re: The Killing [Please use spoiler tags in this thread.]

#54 Post by Paul Moran » Sun Jul 03, 2011 6:22 pm

The US series makes its UK terrestrial debut on Channel 4 on 7 July at 9 p.m., starting with a double episode (Pilot/The Cage). I think I heard it trailed as "critically acclaimed". Are they telling porkies?

frankiecrisp
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Re: The Killing [Please use spoiler tags in this thread.]

#55 Post by frankiecrisp » Sat Jul 09, 2011 9:32 am

Paul Moran wrote:The US series makes its UK terrestrial debut on Channel 4 on 7 July at 9 p.m., starting with a double episode (Pilot/The Cage). I think I heard it trailed as "critically acclaimed". Are they telling porkies?
Yes they are telling porkies, I lasted till almost the end of the second part before I switched off. The lead actress is very good but the rest of the cast is terrible casting, it reminded me of a poor mans Twin Peaks.

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MichaelB
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Re: The Killing [Please use spoiler tags in this thread.]

#56 Post by MichaelB » Sat Jul 09, 2011 10:02 am

Zoe Williams wrote:If you loved the Danish version, and felt an ache of longing at the end of each episode, culminating in something like bereavement when it was all over, then this will be like meeting the cousin of someone you were once in love with, a combination of curiosity and sorrow. If you never saw the original, on the other hand, then you may as well watch this because it certainly passes the time.
(source)

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Paul Moran
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Re: The Killing [Please use spoiler tags in this thread.]

#57 Post by Paul Moran » Sat Jul 09, 2011 6:07 pm

Well, I think I'll continue to record it, but defer a decision whether to burn to DVD-R/watch until it's all over. When preparing a play list (dubbing list) of the first 2 parts, I was dismayed by the number of ad breaks - and at least 3 of them occurred after only 9 or 10 minutes of running time! I don't know how anyone can watch commercial channels "live"!

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colinr0380
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Re: The Killing [Please use spoiler tags in this thread.]

#58 Post by colinr0380 » Sat Jul 09, 2011 7:02 pm

The advert breaks have been increased in the last few years, and as Mark Lawson mentions in that article Mitchell and Webb did an amusing sketch on the way that it is distorting the structure of television programmes! I seem to remember something about the allowed amount of advert breaks being relaxed especially in the peak time hours. It is still far less than the US but rather than being able to count on the adverts occurring every quarter of an hour or so for an hour long programme slot, I've noticed an annoying tendency for Channel 4 in particular to squeeze in an extra advert break just before the final scene of Desperate Housewives/True Blood/etc which may only last a minute or two before the end of the show. If I actually regularly watched those programmes I'm sure I would be really irritated by that.

All of the above of course is far more interesting than The Killing. I certainly get all the Twin Peak comparisons so far - the first episode in particular felt like a remake of Twin Peaks pilot episode with the parents and wider community learning of the death of their daughter crossed with the investigation sections of either version of Insomnia (the cop's partner smokes weed and propositioning schoolgirls!?! How edgy!) It's not as bad as Kingdom Hospital so far, but seems just as misguided. And Kingdom Hospital was particularly atrocious.

Was anyone else creeped out by the way that the scenes surrounding the body and breaking the news were drawn out and dwelt over to an almost pornographically fetishised extent? It was all done terribly 'tastefully' without too much detail but that somehow made the slow motion, overly scored nature of many of the scenes feel far worse.


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Re: The Killing [Please use spoiler tags in this thread.]

#60 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Fri Mar 23, 2012 8:43 am

April Fool's Day. Appropriate.

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dx23
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Re: The Killing

#61 Post by dx23 » Mon Apr 09, 2012 11:51 pm

It's really sad how bad the writing on this series has become. The last episode just portrayed Detective Linden as the worst detective in history. Just an example:
SpoilerShow
A policeman sends her an email attachment. She tells that person that she can't open the attachment. That person responds to Linden: "Go to the link that says Download Attachment". The camera shows the computer screen and Linden (as well as the viewers) see this huge, unmissable Download Attachment icon right in front of her face. Stuff like this as well as how they have turned most of these characters we are supposed to be feeling sorry for into dumbasses have just killed any chance the series had of redeeming itself.
I'm just waiting for the Rosie Larsen case to be over and really doubt that I will watch if the series gets beyond that.

flyonthewall2983
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Re: The Killing

#62 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Mon Jul 09, 2012 11:19 pm

Can someone give me the Readers Digest version of everything that happened from the middle of season one to the end of season two? I really just want to know how it ended, without the potential slogging I'd have to go through to get to the end.

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brendanjc
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Re: The Killing

#63 Post by brendanjc » Thu Jul 12, 2012 4:49 pm

There's a plot summary for each season on Wikipedia that will probably suffice.

flyonthewall2983
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Re: The Killing

#64 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Fri Nov 09, 2012 12:34 pm

Looks like AMC and Netflix is going to put this show back on the air.

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dx23
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Re: The Killing

#65 Post by dx23 » Fri Nov 09, 2012 8:07 pm

flyonthewall2983 wrote:Looks like AMC and Netflix is going to put this show back on the air.
Why? Contrary to Friday Night Lights, people were clearly not asking for more of the Killing. Blame Sud and the writers for screwing on a decent first season with a shitty season finale and making the show even worse on season 2.

Perkins Cobb
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Re: The Killing

#66 Post by Perkins Cobb » Sat Nov 10, 2012 2:55 pm

TVLine's take was that Fox gave it the hard sell, since they had deals in place with the cast and the ratings were never terrible. I haven't seen it yet, but it does seem like all the buzz had dissipated and Netflix has reached the point of reviving shows nobody was asking for in record time.

It's too bad they couldn't have reconstituted Rubicon instead -- derivative premise and weak finale notwithstanding, that was a stylish, well-acted show that has stayed with me.

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domino harvey
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Re: The Killing

#67 Post by domino harvey » Fri Nov 15, 2013 8:32 pm

Unbelievable: Netflix revived the show again

flyonthewall2983
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Re: The Killing

#68 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Sat Nov 16, 2013 8:50 pm

Still no fucking renewal for Terriers.

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