AMC's The Killing - One Point of View.

As ill advised second seasons go you would have to go a long way to beat the American version of The Killing. I still have five episodes to go and it feels like I've been watching it forever. 

It didn't start out well, there was no recap of season one. Obviously, all concerned, though The Killing was such a dynamic and exciting affair that the events were seared 

across our brains. But we took up where we left off, so I'm sure I wasn't alone as I stumbled clueless through the first couple of episodes. It's not like the show moves at 24 pace, so you don't even have to pause to figure out who's who just watch them slowly trudge through the endless gloom and rain. And is it me, or has suddenly Sarah Linden's jumper got bigger? The roll neck is now so high she resembles Wilfred from the Bash Street Kids. Holder is still about, Joel Kinnanan doing his Shaggy with a badge impression. How did this man make it into the Seattle Police Department? Two seasons in and he's still a whisker away from yelling 'Zoinks Scoob'. We even had the stunt casting of Sofie Grabol (the real Sarah Lund) as a D.A. it was OK as an 'oh look' moment, but it hardly shuffled the plot along. But, then again nothing does that, if you ever wondered what it would be like to wade through treacle in concrete boots, and let's face it who hasn't at one time or another, then following the plot of The Killing must be pretty close. Entire episodes go by with about five minutes of action and development, the rest is meaningful looks and mournful silences. The Larsen family have become intolerable and any sympathy we had for them has long since drained. The killing of Rosie Larsen has gone from who-dunnit to who cares? And the whole Darren Richmond political side of the show seems to have nothing to do with the rest. 

OK, you are now saying, but this idiot hasn't even finished the season and you could be right, I might have egg on my face as all the strands pull together in the next five episodes and I can sit back and feel it wasn't all a colossal waste of time but, then again, you might have seen them and be laughing at the sheer boredom I've got coming.

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Take The Plunge.... The Killing 2

The Killing II had been sitting on my planner for a while and I didn't have the guts to get started. What if it is not as gripping as the first, after all it was only half the length, what I get bored, what if I go off Sarah Lund? All these questions haunted me as I bypassed the Killing II to watch Burn Notice, or something of that ilk.

Well, I finally decided to plunge in and, after a couple of episodes, all my fears were gone. It had me gripped. Let's face it, just the sight of Sarah and her jumpers are enough to get us fired up. Much like the last outing, it was a multi-stranded affair. And, much like the last outing, the political side had a character to rival Sarah. Justice Minister Thomas Buch, brilliantly played by Nicolas Bro, who bowled through the Danish parliament like John Candy in Uncle Buck. He really was great, with his outbursts of temper and stunned looks when he was thwarted at every turn. And also we got more of the scary, but ever reliable, Brix the boss who looks like he doesn't know whether he wants to support Sarah or kill her. And it's Sarah we have all came for and she didn't let us down. Sofie Gabol gave another pitch perfect performance. You never lose patience with the character, you're with her all the way. Even when she rudely walks out of her mother's wedding reception mid speeches.

I won't go into the plot because you too might have it waiting on the planner. But let's just say if you are nervous, jump in you'll love it.

I find it mad that a Danish thriller has now held me for thirty episodes, where something like The Shadow Line, which the BBC seemed so proud of, couldn't keep me for half a dozen.

Perhaps before some of these writers send in their naff thrillers, they should take a look at the Killing. But, then again, they'd probably cry and give up.

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The Killing USA - A Real Cliffhanger!

I know it has had more than its fair share of critics but I liked the American version of The Killing. Let's face it, if it had come out of the blue we would all be raving. But it lived under a very large Danish shadow.

The two versions started almost identically, but at around the half way mark you could see them going their separate ways. The American went more along the lines of a straight thriller, where as the Danish spent a lot more time on character and atmosphere, so you had a real sense of empathy and unease. This made the Larsen's much more complex and sympathetic, in truth, I found their American counterparts a little wearing at times. Also I didn't really like the episode that seemed to ditch all the story-lines, you know where Linden's annoying kid goes missing. The Danish version incorporated it neatly into the narrative.

I've started out saying I liked the American Killing and haven't stopped slagging it off. Right, here is where it made a comeback, with the last two episodes (aired as one on Channel 4) I worried that they were just saying 'sod it let's just finish this thing' but I was wrong, it was tense and exciting with more twists and turns than than the world contortionist championships. An alarm bell did go off in my head, when Tahmoh Penikett turned up as Linden's ex husband. He's a relatively well known actor, to everyone who has seen Battlestar Gallactica and Dollhouse that is, so him being in only one scene made me think this might not finish tonight. And, unusually, I was right, we had a real cliffhanger ending. So, unlike the Danish version, there was no hard and fast conclusion. Where is the American Killing going? In truth, I'm looking forward to finding out.

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Pic http://www.flickr.com/photos/25802865@N08/3686204244/sizes/m/in/photostream/

The Killing USA - Knitwear and Gloom.

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.

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The Killing - Revisited.

A fair few weeks back I raved about the first few episodes of the Danish crime thriller The Killing. But wondered if it could keep up the quality and suspense over twenty instalments. Well I needn't have worried. If anything it got better and better. This was magnificent television. I won't give anything away because, if The Killing gets a repeat, and it should, it's a perfect fit for BBC 2, you should watch it. I promise you, you will be gripped by it.

But it's sad to see Danish television do something we can't. There's no way a British station could mount something so contemporary and epic. As we all know most British shows start to fade after three episodes. Mad Dogs anyone? Plus there is no way a British company would attempt twenty hours of television without James Nesbitt. You could imagine the pitch.

"It's called The Killing. It's a twenty part thriller. Our main character is DCI Sarah Lund."

"A woman? "

"Well, yes. "

"Couldn't we make it a man, and couldn't that man be James Nesbitt? "

"Well, err- "

"James Nesbitt. James...Nesbitt. Sounds good doesn't it. "

BBC 4 teased us with the trailer for The Killing II. I got all excited at the prospect of more Sarah Lund and her penchant for knitted jumpers. But the spectre of sequels past descended. Would it be the wet fish that was Prime Suspect 2 was? Or the damp squib of the second season of Murder One? I can't believe it will. I doubt it will beat The Killing, but if it's half as good, it will still be the best thing on the BBC, Nurse Jackie excluded, by a very long, long way.

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