There is no way Channel 4 would show The Killing in a prime 9pm slot if it didn't come with a built in cult following, it has More 4 written all over it. But with a guaranteed, curious Danish horde tuning in, why not?
That said, I am quite enjoying the American version of The Killing? It has the knit-ware, intrigue and requisite gloom, so all the boxes ticked there. Copenhagen has been replaced by a dark, dour, rain drenched Seattle, in fact at times it's so dark and dour that it makes Seven look like the Care Bears Movie.
Sarah Lund is now Sarah Linden and is very well played by Mirelle Enos, who wears her knitted jumpers with style. The political element is all in place however, Billy Campbell's Darren Richmond doesn't have Lars Mikkelsen's brooding, vampiric, charisma. The grieving Larsen family are all present, with an almost identical kitchen. In fact, nearly all the characters are carbon copies of their Danish counterparts. Well with one glaring exception, Jan Meyer. Lund's driven, cock sure, number two is now Stephen Holder, a street-smart slacker who seems to have learnt his trade from Dennis Hopper's character in Apocalypse Now. At first I thought this was a mistake, but he fits in quite well with how the American version is going. While Meyer could hold his own with Sarah Lund you couldn't see Holder getting the better of the Tweenies. And it is true what they said in Radio Times, he does look like Mackenzie Crook.
We've all probably heard there will be a new killer with a new motive and as there are only thirteen episodes in this version as opposed to the Danish twenty, you can see where the cuts are coming. Where the original paid a lot of attention to peripheral characters, which are either axed or given short shrift in the American show. How long The Killing keeps its prime Channel 4 slot relies on more than just the curiosity of the Danish horde, it will need a fan-base of its own. On what I've seen so far, I can see that happening.
Over
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