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#The killing danish finale series#
Although it enthralled a nation, Forbrydelsen, as it was called, had numerous detractors who thought the series didn’t make a lot of sense and that – wait for it – the gratuitous use of red herrings was harmful to the overall quality of the series. What’s worse is that we all might have been sold a bill of goods on the Danish series that led to this U.S. Red herrings are not, in and of themselves, acceptable plot devices or story accelerants, and asking the audience of a serialized show to commit to another season when they haven’t been given any answers in the first one is foolish.Īnd so – disappointment. Great acting can’t cover annoyingly thin character development. If this was show runner Veena Sud’s attempt to add depth and gravitas to a series that cruised on atmospherics and exceptional acting, I’m not sure this is the right direction. So, in the course of an hour, The Killing shook off a chance to close Rosie’s murder, prolonging into Season 2 a fan’s need to follow the show down another twists-filled path, and took one of the most likable characters in the show and made him a creep. Worse, we find out that detective Holder – played with ever-increasing brilliance by Kinnaman – helped frame Richmond. But since the screen went black, that will probably be a red herring, too. And now he looks to be gunned down in the final seconds by Belko, the mentally-challenged friend of the Larsen family. Beyond that, there was a satisfying ending that could have bled into Season 2, where we saw B storylines from Season 1 get wrapped up as a new case emerged.īut no. Had Richmond been the killer, not only would it have put an end to the red herring business a couple of episodes shy of the season, it would have worked thematically: the too-good-to-be-true politician who grieved for his dead wife turns out to be an amoral con artist and psychopathic killer, who is driven to commit heinous acts by his tortured memory – one that kinks out on women who could never be his beloved. That was the deciding factor, ultimately. Though I held out hope that the politician Darren Richmond ( Billy Campbell) would actually be the killer, a part of me was waiting, with head-shaking disappointment, for the return of the red herring. The Killing relied entirely too much on red herrings, a gambit that grows increasingly ineffectual the more it’s used. But ultimately a series comes down to its storytelling and, given the conclusion (or lack thereof) in the season finale, it’s just impossible to prop up the weaknesses if there was no final saving grace.Īnd there wasn’t. I also liked the atmospheric bleakness of Seattle, even when others thought there was too much rain (perhaps they’ve never been to the Pacific Northwest). The excellence in those performances stayed true to the end. I kept up with The Killing because I liked the acting performances of Mireille Enos and Joel Kinnaman, the detectives trying to figure out who killed Rosie, and Michelle Forbes and Brent Sexton, who played Rosie’s grieving, troubled parents. It’s always this way and it will always remain this way: the audience decides.Īnd yet, as someone who has defended The Killing, if for no other reason than a story like this needs to be fully told before final judgment is passed, there really is no defending the show after the finale.
#The killing danish finale serial#
Mayor Darren Richmond (Billy Campbell) intervenes and conveys that the city cannot let people know that James Skinner, a detective, was a serial killer.There is no bringing the two together and I doubt, anyway, whether the fans that love The Killing are worried about what others think of their entertainment choices. But then Linden confesses and orders to arrest her. Reddick manages to develop a concrete case against his fellow detective. Holder was also at risk for his involvement in the cover-up and refused to reveal anything about his partner. Immediately he began to suspect Linden and Holder. It also had another detective, Carl Reddick (Gregg Henry), investigate Skinner’s murder. The fourth and final season focussed on a new mystery. Season 3 of ‘The Killing’ ended with Detective Sarah Linden killing serial killer James Skinner (Elias Koteas).
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Related: Forget Season 4, Stranger Things Was Not Coming Back Even For Season 2 ‘The Killing’ Season 4 ending At some point, you have to close the book on every character featured in the storyline. But in doing justice to the story, I had to end it.” Though she added that every story has to end. When she was asked if Netflix comes with an offer for a fifth season, she said: “ Of course I would be interested.
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