Watch: The Killing (Netflix)
WATCH: The Killing (Netflix)
CATEGORY: Crime Drama Series
TIME: Present Day Seattle, WA
RATING: 5/5 Cups of Tea
The Killing is a brilliant, riveting crime drama taking place in Seattle over four seasons that pulled me in right away, and turned me into a couch potato until the very end. It is an adaptation of the wildly popular Danish series Forbrydersen, and stays true to the feeling of Scandinavian Noir. Seasons 1 and 2 cover one major crime and Seasons 3 and 4 solve a major crime in each season. It’s an exciting series. But getting to know the characters is the best part.
Spoiler-Free Review:
Season one opens with the brutal murder of Rosie, a beautiful young girl just beginning to spread her wings and discover herself. Her death affects many people in different ways. I immediately related to her character, and I continued throughout the series to relate uniquely to each main character in this remarkable show. Because of the writers’ uncanny ability to delve deeply into the psyche of each person, the viewer is able to see the layers of messiness, struggles, and pain that drive each character’s decisions and behavior. Most of the characters are broken in some way or hiding some secret. Because several of them are so troubled and damaged, it will be difficult and disturbing to watch at times. We won’t agree with many of the choices they make, but we will come to understand the motivation behind them. The grief and the despair behind some of these decisions are palpable, and the ability to feel that as a viewer is what, for me, distinguishes The Killing from more action packed crime series we are often familiar with seeing.
The myriad of suspects and plot twists, as well as the intense character development, kept me transfixed to the screen wanting to watch “just one more episode” every single time.
You might find it surprising that I would choose to pair The Language of Flowers with The Killing, a gripping crime thriller. But early on in Season one when the two main characters were introduced, I right away thought this would be the perfect “watch” to The Language of Flowers.
The two main characters, Linden and Holder, are partnered together as detectives in the beginning of the series, and it becomes apparent almost immediately that they both come from hurt and troubled pasts. While Holder is cocky, brazen, and unapologetic, Linden is quiet and barely emotional. She is struggling as a fiancé and a mother, but instead of facing her feelings of inadequacy, she pours every part of herself into her job.
Mireille Enos ,who plays Homicide Detective Sarah Linden, shows a stoic demeanor that took my breath away. I wasn’t the least bit surprised to find out she had come through the foster care system until aging out at 18. Throughout the four seasons of The Killing, it’s fascinating to see how being fostered comes through her character, how she feels about herself, the decisions she makes, and how she lives her life. (No spoiler here! - you’ll find out right away she was a foster child).
Just like Victoria in The Language of Flowers who wasn’t equipped to transition into self sufficiency after being a foster child for 18 years, or to take on the many roles that were expected of her, Linden too didn’t have the blueprint to be a mom, partner, fiancé, or friend.
The Killing is absorbing, addictive, and relatable.
Watch all four seasons not only to satisfyingly see several crimes solved, but to get involved with an incredibly interesting group of characters who are multilayered and complicated, but again so relatable, with most of them deserving a great deal of empathy.
