The Killing Season 3: why do they always ruin this show with the ending?

[alexd]

After the ridiculous ending to the first season, I really had no interest in watching The Killing anymore, but ended up watching season 2 anyway. I found it mediocre, and mostly going nowhere - the plot filled with enough red herrings to the point of being fishy. But I was addicted to the strange dynamic between Holder and Linder that developed over the two-year story arc in Season 1-2.

Season 3 is incredibly dark and Mireille Enos who plays Linder looks even freakier than ever. Holder's sense of humor comes out in spite of a plot dealing with gruesome child murders and the tiptoeing around Linder's emotional minefield: you don't know whether she will laugh, cry, or kill herself from moment to moment in season 3 - she is beyond high strung..

The cinematography in the show is even better this season (and it was good to begin with). I like they way they seem to de-saturate everything, the complete opposite of Breaking Bad, where the color is jacked up to the max. The super close ups of Linder looking frazzled, especially in the season finale when she realizes who the murderer is are amazing.

But Season 3 was again ruined by an ending that seemed both ridiculous and contrived.

[spoil] The ending sucks [/spoil]

It is like they ran out of episodes to finish the grim story line properly and had to wrap it up as the cast wanted to go home for the holidays or something.

It is like they resurrected the AMC Rubicon writers to write the endings. Clearly, if this show is to continue, they need to look at the writing of the last few episodes and figure out a way to integrate the ending in a better way, as I am sure the endings are starting to piss people off. I think they really need to take the long view like Breaking Bad and plan farther ahead when they are writing the scripts.

Anyway, I give them bonus points for putting Jewel Staite into the cast this Season. I've had a huge crush on her since Firefly.

I bet this show will be cancelled after this season. It was cancelled once already.

 

[praktik]

I loved the whole season and the ending..

 

[alexd]

I loved the whole season and the ending..

I wonder if it will be picked up for another season?

 

[kuba]

I didn't find the ending to be horribly contrived. It wasn't terrible but it wasn't too out there. It was believable without getting into too much detail. I will agree that overall the look & feel of the show was great this season, as was the acting. There were some really tense moments and I would be surprised if it was cancelled.

 

[Illuminati]

Peter Sarsgaard was unbelievable in his role this season and would expect some nominations to come his way in the next go round of awards season. Overall, the acting onthis show is very, very good(ditto for cinematography) but, I agree, the show does suffer a bit from the writing. It could easily be one of the best programs if they were able to sort this out.

 

[praktik]

I thought the turn this year w/ the street level view of the kids there brought it very close to serving a sort of "spiritual successor" role to The Wire in terms of fleshing out a narrative that really brought "the street" into a humanizing close-up.

Of course different shows completely, just something in back of my head especially over course of 1st 2/3rds of the season.

Agree on the cinematography - its why I wait til mondays for the 1080p torrent rather than watch on my cable subscription..

Will they cancel?

You never know w/ AMC, bit of a business oriented network but these kinds of networks have been known to let shows w/ limp ratings keep going if they enhance the brand. Enough awards and this one may be back!

 

[alexd]

Peter Sarsgaard was unbelievable in his role this season and would expect some nominations to come his way in the next go round of awards season.

Absolutely. He was totally amazing.

 

[coleridge]

I'm a few shows short of the end of the second season. I feel like I should have watched the original Danish series first.

But I've read some critics who've said that the second last episode of the 3rd season was the best hour of TV this year. Interested to find out.

I've been watching the British series Broadchurch as well. It's not bad, very similar in feel. A young boy turns up dead on a beach in quiet seaside town in England. It's a little different in that you know quite early on who the bad people are and you're left waiting for the police to catch up to them. They blatantly steal a few scenes from the Killing including the mother breaking down and crying when seeing the favourite cereal in the supermarket. But worth a watch if you're in to the Killing.

 

[kuba]

Oh that's interesting because I thought the 2nd last episode was not anything special, a loss of momentum and a filler episode. I won't say what happens though.

 

[kuba]

Hey is Broadchurch on NFLX?

 

[praktik]

Dad hooked me up w/ broadchurch a while back in file form, so its in torrents

Havent watched it yet I think I've got my "meditations on grief" quota for a little while.

Maybe when life is feeling too good and happy I'll whip out Broadchurch..

 

[coleridge]

Broadchurch premiered on Showcase on Sunday night, they followed up with a second episode on Monday night. They'll probably be playing reruns though.

I ended up going the torrent route.

 

[lobo]

I loved the whole season and the ending..

Same for me.

Lobo

 

[coleridge]

Want to come back to Broadchurch and say that it's REALLY worth watching. It sort of meanders along for a while and you're left wondering where it's going but the good acting and dialogue keeps you interested. Then all of a sudden the ending hits hard, really hard, and unlike The Killing it seems genuinely believable, not a fantastic circumstance made up for television. The finale episode is powerful and brilliantly acted.

 

[el presidente Highsteppa]

The show reminds me of Twin Peaks - very strong start, horrible tendency to fuck with their audience with the ending, and not in a good way.

After Twin Peaks, I learned my lesson when it came to "offbeat crime shows"

 

[alexd]

Because of the comments in this tread I downloaded Broadchurch. Wow, I am 5 shows in already and it is excellent. Cinematography is phenomenal, acting is first rate, and it has my favorite Dr. Who in it as a bonus.