Veena Sud may be the queen of the crime mystery thrillers. Cold Case still holds up as one of the most intriguing, and at times gut-wrenching, procedural series of all time. She knows how to take basic formulaic elements of suspense and violence and marry them together with rich characters, each experiencing his or her own emotional arc, in order to churn out creative and clever one-of-a-kind television. Give her the freedom of a cable channel, especially one that allows their talent to shine as freely as AMC, and her instincts truly know no bounds. Sud’s newest endeavor is The Killing, a murder series based on a Danish crime drama that is out to push the boundaries of strong storytelling on the small screen.
The Killing is not a simple WhoDunIt? the way Cold Case was, though. Instead it takes your assumptions about the genre and turns them on their head, showing you the obvious suspects but offering strong alibis for and rebuttals against each one to rule them out just as quickly. There is no black and white to The Killing; this case is not going to be wrapped up in forty-four tight minutes and then get packed into a box as we all move on to the next one. The Killing specializes in shades of gray, taking the gentle care that such a case-- and such a child victim-- deserves. Even the frontrunner suspect, a politician named Darren Richmond is played close to the heart of Billy Campbell, who comes off much less smarmy and much more sincere than he has in recent roles, The 4400 included. The objective of The Killing is to expose the central crime of the murder but by shattering such boundaries-- and the glass ceiling-- they also expose the true crime of all network procedurals.
The Killing begins with the first half of the special two-hour premiere delving into the disappearance of Rosie Larsen, a teenage girl who is living in a very specific small town but the lifestyle of just about every teenager out there today. From the opening moments we visit this lush, expansive landscape that alludes those of us who live in cities like Los Angeles; we may even find ourselves wishing we were physically transported there as instantaneously as we are sent in our minds. The fact that such a tragedy is about to unfold in such a beautiful setting makes the events all the more punctuated.
Thus starts the conflicted emotions inevitable to experience while watching: we will want to live there; we will find ourselves easily able to imagine the adventures we could have there, but we will feel guilty and bad about it when staring down the horribleness of the characters’ particular adventures. After all, it is impossible to go into The Killing without already knowing Rosie’s true fate, and watching her family experience false hope for so long before they are allowed to grieve is heart-wrenching and may strike you in your core just as hard as they have been.
Michelle Forbes particularly hits hard as Mitch Larsen, Rosie’s young mother, a woman who assumed her daughter was just staying at a friend’s house for the weekend and never once even called to check up on her. It is a small detail that may not be uncommon among those who want to be the “cool” parents or those who are training themselves to see their children as adults and extending the leash accordingly, but it is a detail that will continue to grow and grow as the series goes on, perhaps as a suspicion in the mind of the detectives called in to investigate, but even more so in her own mind, gnawing at her psyche until she completely shatters.
Mireille Enos as Sarah Linden, the lead homicide detective assigned to Rosie’s case, is what we imagine Clarice Starling to be by now, assuming she hasn’t burnt out, become a drunk, or been forced behind a desk. She’s strong, stoic, but still sensitive; she is who most detectives, let alone TV detectives, should want to be. She is who most women in general should want to be. The first time we meet her, she is struck silent by the sadness of finding a dead seal washed ashore. It’s something that shouldn’t bother a homicide detective, but she clearly doesn’t come into contact with that many dead bodies in her small town, and because of it the discovery is more upsetting, shocking, and yes, foreshadowing, than it should be. Sarah is still emotionally attached but if she weren’t, we wouldn’t be either, so we can’t fault her, let alone blame her.
There is no such thing as the perfect crime, and there is no such thing as the perfect television show either. There are moments to The Killing that feel overtly drawn out, too focused on hyper-sensitizing images by which too many modern viewers usually remain unaffected. But even those moments feel chosen with the utmost care, each one an intricate and important piece to Sud’s puzzle, promising to reveal the sinister truths we may come to hope just stay buried.
The Killing, which admittedly feels more like a mini-series with a clear end already, premieres on AMC at 9pm on April 3rd.
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