Killing off fans? Murder mystery returns to AMC
In its first season, AMC’S offbeat crime series The Killing started with a really cool idea and then blew it big time. Now, as Season 2 is about to unfold, the question is can this show win back the skeptics who feel burned by it?
Presenting itself last spring as a fresh alternative to broadcast television’s formulaic crime-of-theweek shows, The Killing took on a single case — the murder of Seattle teen Rosie Larsen — and examined it in-depth, from various angles, over 13 moody episodes. It instantly seized our attention.
Then came a disappointing baitand-switch finale. Instead of providing a resolution, executive producer Veena Sud and her writers not only kept the case open, they tossed in a couple of wild, out-ofnowhere twists right at the end. For the show’s ever patient devotees who expected some closure, it was a slap in the face, a senseless act of disrespect and betrayal.
So the haters went on a rampage. Critics and viewers tore into Sud, many of them vowing to dump the show. All the clamour put AMC executives in the awkward position of having to apologize without overtly admitting they did anything wrong. At a news conference with TV critics last year, network programming chief Joel Stillerman said, “If we had to do anything differently . . . we would have taken a different approach with respect to managing the expectations. ”
Now, as 13 new episodes come down the pipeline (beginning on Sunday at 8 p.m.), Sud and AMC are doing their best to head off those expectations, telling anyone who’s still listening that — spoiler alert! — Rosie Larsen’s killer will, indeed, be revealed at the conclusion of Season 2. But is that what fans really want to hear? The ratings will provide our answers in coming weeks, but first a quick review: When Season1ended, stoic homicide detective Sarah Linden (Mireille Enos) believed the Larsen case was solved. But suddenly, one phone call changed everything: the prime suspect, mayoral candidate Darren Richmond (Billy Campbell) apparently might be innocent and Linden’s partner, Stephen Holder (Joel Kinnaman) might be corrupt.
The good news is that Sunday’s two-hour opener answers several key questions in relatively rapid fashion and in ways that don’t seem totally unreasonable. The bad news is that it also puts Sarah back at Square 1.