You don’t know how bad I wish I could spoil AMC’s first season finale of The Killing. I literally can’t because the killer was still not revealed even after a very long season. I think the actual episode number of The Killing was only 12 or 13 but it felt more like a full season as the show often dragged, a toss up as to which character was the most miserable.
I like the rain drenched setting of this show (Seattle) and at first thought it would be a moody spell binder. It wasn’t. The show just never went anywhere, and the fact that it’s been green lit for a second season AND that it will apparently continue with the SAME murder investigation as this season makes me wish AMC had cancelled it. Last year’s Rubicon was exponentially better but got cancelled after one season.
So, basically this “review” is a rant on a show I wish would have been cancelled, and to save you the time of watching all the episodes here’s what happened in the season finale: The entire episode revolved around trying to nail Councilman Darren Richmond for the murder of Rosie Larsen. After some evidence was turned in clearly showing he was driving the murder car, he was arrested at a press conference days away from winning the race to become Seattle’s mayor. In an 11th hour twist, it looks like Councilman Richmond might not have been the killer but was instead set up to take the fall. By who and for what purpose we don’t yet know (we also were shown that Detective Holder was in on it). I guess I’ll watch the second season to what sense–if any–the show makes but I bet it won’t. Just feels like a circle jerk to me. [And could we at least get a more appealing lead than Mirelle Enos’s Detective Linden who alternates between opaque and completely unlikable]
Supporting Scene Stealer: If there is one, it would be Billy Campbell’s mysterious Councilman Richmond. We get the sense early on that he’s hiding something but it shows just how talented Campbell is that we like him anyway. During the final episode I was downright angered they made him the killer when there are so many unlikable characters to choose from as the murderer (not least of which is Rosie’s own parents who somehow make grief unsympathetic). Luckily, it looks like he’s not the killer but (unluckily) he might be a goner anyway, as a vigilante gunman is seen shooting him right as the credits close.