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| Shooting star – Sarah Lund. Pics: BBC |
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| Reinhardt and Zeuthen |
The devotion of British viewers to
The Killing will be cut tomorrow night when the third series concludes and we say
Hej hej to Sarah Lund and what has been a memorable TV drama. As Lund's cowboy strut takes her off into the sunset (or, as this is Denmark, into the gloom), will it end happily for Sarah, the obsessed but shrewd detective? Will she be reconciled with her son? Seems unlikely she will end up with Borch, the man she loves, after that visit from his wife last week. But surely writer Søren Sveistrup won't be cruel and kill her off… Oh, and then there's the investigation. We now know it was Zeuthen's right-hand man, Reinhardt, who seemed to have provoked the whole killing spree and kidnapping of his daughter. Will the killer get Reinhardt, or will Lund stop him? Will Kamper win the election, and what has been Karen's game? This series has had its slow stretches (anyone care if Kamper's party forms an alliance with the Centre Party?) and its implausibilities (how did the killer vanish after Lund shot him from a few feet away, and then again when he limped away from his pursuers at the government HQ?).
The Killing III may not have matched the superb first series, but it has still been a sophisticated, emotionally charged thriller. And in Sofie Gråbøl (Lund), Nikolaj Lie Kaas (Mathias Borch), Morten Suurballe (Lennart Brix) and the rest, the series once again gave us a gripping display of ensemble acting. It's about time UK broadcasters tried to match
The Killing's depth and quality.
The final two episodes of The Killing are on BBC4 tomorrow night (Saturday, 15 December), starting at 9pm
The Killing has always been slightly above average in my opinion, but for my money this last series has been the most tightly structured, evenly plotted and well acted of the whole bunch. Yes, the political machinations get long-winded and boring, and yes, some (many?) of the particulars stretch the limits of plausibility, but The Killing's chief flaw seems to have been tamped down a bit this go 'round, that being the endless tail chasing of one red herring after another. For all of those that have great big crushes on Sofie Gråbøl the ending will be unwelcome, but otherwise it's another so-so procedural coming to and end that just happened to spark an interest in winter jumpers a year or so ago.
ReplyDeleteI think The Killing I, II and III have all been excellent, despite the occasional long winded parts, but certainly a notch above most British drama. The series have been taut, tense and enthralling and we could never wait to see the next episode. In the end, it was easier to record the whole lot and watch the entire series over 4 straight nights so we could get our fix.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I was actually moved to tears by the ending of series III. Not because somebody died, or somebody was saved or even the ending for Sarah but because all along I had seen Kristian Kamper as a good guy and I hated the fact that both he and Robert K fell victim to the demands and machinations of politics and big business.
Honestly, I guess I was upset because unfortunately, it is actually the most plausible outcome.