‘The Killing’ takes another stab at solving murder
‘There’s a lot still to be learned’ in second season
Who killed Rosie Larsen? Hang in there, fans. AMC’S The Killing is promising the answer — just not right away.
Some Tv-show finales shock audiences for what they reveal. This Seattle-based freshman crime drama was lambasted last June for not revealing the solution to its overarching mystery, Rosie’s killer, as most viewers expected. Instead, even more questions were left hanging.
The 13-episode second season starts Sunday (8 ET/ PT) with a two-hour premiere. Executive producer Veena Sud promises that the slow burn toward the revelation will be worth the wait.
“We were truly surprised by the level of expectation that viewers had for closure,” Sud says. “None of us, certainly not I, certainly not the network — none of us who created the show had any intention of misleading anyone.”
The Killing is based on a Danish television series, Forbrydelsen, and Sud says this second season in many ways mirrors its source. “We’re try- ing to be very clear that this investigation is modeled on the Danish series, which was a two-season arc,” Sud says. “We’re going to solve the mystery of who killed Rosie Larsen at the end of Season 2.”
The crime drama, which averaged a solid 2.2 million viewers for premiere episodes last season, has been critically praised for its dark and moody atmosphere, as well as for stellar performances by Mireille Enos and Joel Kinnaman as the detectives hunting Rosie’s killer. The series’ strong focus on the destructive impact the teen’s death has on her family also was lauded for sensitivity and realism.
Sunday’s opener picks up the moment Season 1 left off: Just-resigned homicide detective Sarah Linden (Enos) and her son had boarded a plane to California, where they planned to begin a new life. Just before takeoff, a call brings Linden the realization that the arrest she and Stephen Holder (Kinnaman) made in Rosie’s murder, of mayoral candidate Darren Richmond (Billy Campbell), may have been based on false evidence.
At the same time, an unhinged Belko Royce (Brendan Sexton III), another suspect, gets close to Richmond in a crowd outside the city jail and aims his gun. Season over.
“In the last moments of Season 1, we discover along with Sarah that
“The journey had so much more depth and richness that needed to be explored.”
Mireille Enos
she doesn’t have the right man, or almost certainly doesn’t have the right man,” Enos says. “There is a larger conspiracy, and her partner may have been involved in it.”
Enos, who earned Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her portrayal of Linden, says she also was shocked by fans’ frustrations. “The hope is that the audience isn’t just watching to know who did it, but they’re actually invested in the characters and the journey. It has been clear, shooting Season 2, that the journey had so much more depth and richness that needed to be explored,” she says. “I have no doubt that once people show up for Season 2, they’ll be glad there’s more Rosie Larsen story line.”
Season 1 was about questions, Sud says, “about the reality of a murder investigation in the sense that the very first people you look at are people personally connected to the victim.”
Season 2, she says, will show there’s more to be discovered. “We’ll learn more about the victim. Some secret people in her life will come forward. Secrets about her parents’ past will be uncovered that may have led to their daughter’s death. There’s a lot still to be learned about Rosie Larsen, who we’ve only known for 13 days.” (Each episode constitutes one day in the investigation.)
Then, Sud says, toward season’s end, “and intricately woven into the journey that Sarah Linden takes in solving the murder, a new mystery will start to unfold” — possibly laying the foundations for a Season 3.
Enos is confident — and hopeful — that fans will return. “I actually think the people who were the most angry at the end of last season will be the biggest champions for the show,” she says. “I think their anger came out of feeling betrayed. And if they can just put that emotion back into the show, they’re going to love it.”