The Killing

I'm a huge fan of Mad Men and The Walking Dead on AMC.  Their latest show is called The Killing, where a young teenage girl (Rosie Larsen) is found murdered in Seattle.  It is a murky, dreary, atmospheric show that moves at a slow pace, or more likely, a realistic pace.  The crime isn't solved in an hour, and they encounter many procedural roadblocks.  It really gives you a realistic nature of crime solving.  It certainly lacks the glamor of the CSI shows....lets face it, no one is whipping off  their sunglasses and delivering smarmy lines, but that doesn't make it any less interesting.  There is a palpable feeling of dread and discontent with the characters.  The dreariness that pervades the scenery is created by all that Seattle rain.

Rosie Larsen, from The Killing

The show is definitely is reminiscent of Twin Peaks, (filmed just north of Seattle), but without the strangely quirky characters, weird dream scenes and memorable soundtrack by Angelo Badlamenti.  Twin Peaks, while having achieved cult status, was eventually cancelled after its second season.  I knew many people who hated the show, including my mom.  It was a confusing plot, with many twists and turns, but apparently the networks made the bad decision to give in to the viewers complaints about not knowing who the killer was.  Writers were forced to offer a resolution to the murder of Laura Palmer, much to the dismay of David Lynch, the creator,  who felt that revealing the killer was premature.

Laura Palmer, wrapped in plastic

Apparently folks were not content to let the story unfold at its own pace.  In the end, once Laura Palmer's killer was revealed, it basically killed the ratings and people started to tune out.  Sadly, it was cancelled later that year.  Hopefully, people can be more patient with The Killing and let the story unfold at the pace that the writers and director want and not have to cater to impatient people who consistently have to have a resolution at the end of each episode.  If you want that kind of show, tune into any of the CSI shows.  

You just know he's about to say something smarmy!