Since I have been underwhelmed with by Masterpiece's Upstairs, Downstairs, I found myself looking for something I could really sink my teeth into on Sunday night. Thanks to Fancast, I've recently been hooked on AMC's The Killing. Dark, cold and utterly mesmerizing, it's a cerebral program that isn't as focused on the victim as it is the psychology and motivation of the crime itself. While some might find this detachment chilling, I think that it's a unique way of looking at the rather tired genre of the crime TV show. Based on a Danish show, The Killing is right in the midst of the world's fascination with Swedish/Scandinavian crime novels and TV. Thanks to the success of Stieg Larsson's Girl With a Dragon Tattoo and Wallander, starring Kenneth Branagh, crime from the frozen regions of Europe has never been so hot. And The Killing, while set in American, brings that iciness to our backyard.
Set in Seattle, The Killing focuses on the brutal murder of Rosie Larsen, whose secrets are slowly revealed in each episode. Starring Mireille Enos (who was brilliant in Big Love) as lead investigator Sarah Linden and Swedish actor Joel Kinnaman as Stephen Holder, her partner, the plot becomes more and more twisted and tangled with each new clue. Linden, who is supposed to leave her post and move to warm climes in California, keeps trying to ditch the investigation, but her boss asks her to stay again and again. Thus far, the audience can can see that the search for Rosie's killer is taking its toll on Linden's personal life, and her fiance alludes to the fact that she has a tendency to become obsessed with her cases. Holder shows that he resents Linden's staying, and we can see that he has a tendency to go rogue, as evidenced by his bribing Rosie's classmates with drugs (albeit fake ones) to get more information.
The story also takes us to Rosie's home, where we see how her death is causing her family to slowly crumble, weak from grief. Her mother, Mitch, spends hours in Rosie's room or roaming the halls of her high school, and her father, Stanley, tries to keep them all emotionally and financially above water. And, we get to know mayoral candidate Darren Richmond, whose campaign car is where Rosie's body was left. His wheeling and dealing is suspect, but, for now, there appears to be no connection between the two.
As we delve deeper in everyone's psyche, hopefully Rosie's murderer will be revealed. Yet, we're only four episodes in, and I can't tell what's going to happen. And that's the way I like it.
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