What was initially a well acted, well shot crime drama, inevitably and manically, even obssessively, threw in as many red herrings as possible in the last two episodes to the point where I went, 'You know what? I ain't bothered no more, just tell me who the killer is'.
Similar to feeling so famished that you concoct, and then wolf down, a savoury feast so large you feel like a bad sac of offal, sagging off your chair afterwards, The Killing races towards its conclusion while simultaneously zinging out such a multitude of different possible resolutions that when we're finally rewarded for our perseverance, we realize that the journey was the fun bit, actually hearing the explanation for the series of murders is a bit of a damp squib.
I declare thus: 'Too many red herrings in a TV detective drama will always lead to disappointment'.
And just another small point: The time frame for The Killing feels completely skewed. In the eighth episode, President Gert mentions to Justice Minister Buch that he has only been Justice Minister for one week (Buch's appointment happened in the first episode). 'Huh???' I said to the TV, 'one week only?' And in that time 3 people have been murdered, Hans Peter Raben has had a parole board hearing, been put in solitary confinement for attacking a prison guard, escaped from jail and been to Sweden and back again, been shot in the chest, operated on, and is now running around, fit as a fiddle; Detective Sarah Lund has declined an offer of proper police work on a murder case, then accepted it, then been taken off the case, then been brought back on, then suspected her partner of being the killer, interrogated him, then made friends with him again; it just doesn't seem believable to me.
It reminds me of a moment in the X-Files at the end of season 2 when either Mulder or Scully, I can't remember which, mentions that they have been on the X-Files together for a year. A year!? That seems to average out at about one crazy X-Files wild ride every two weeks, and even though its a program you take with just a little more than a pinch of salt (a sack) I just find it hard to believe that Mulder and Scully are that goddamn busy with abductions and monsters, I mean, America must be positively buzzing with unsolved murders and UFO created time loss if that is the case. And the government have devoted only two agents to dealing with this crisis? They don't even get their own secretaries! One year covered in two seasons? What were the writers thinking? I just naturally assumed that in between episodes Mulder and Scully went for months just investigating dull stuff such as trad murders and organised crime. Clearly small town America's freaks of nature and alien goings on in deep, dark forests keep them busy 24/7.
Anyway, I'm out...
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