I have watched almost every recent Scandinavian drama series you can name.
Except for this one.
When it aired in the UK, I was in the Netherlands - and not quite skilled enough at changing my computer proxy so that I could access BBC iPlayer. The pain.
I had heard about it for years, I knew about The Jumper, and Lund and the cult viewing. I was sure that I would love it but could never get hold of it (again, due to lack of illegal online viewing skills...or perhaps it was just too obscure for online streaming pirates to bother with).
Now, the time had come for me to give in, and use part of my birthday Amazon voucher to get the ENTIRE box set.
It is huge.
Like, so SO many CDs.
My family and I are currently on CD 2 (so, episode 6 or 7 or something). Even though there was minor drama where certain family members sneakily watched some episodes without me, which, in joint-box-set-watching law - is an absolute sin. Nevertheless, we are hooked.
Firstly, I think it is probably incredibly unfair of me to compare The Killing with the other Danish series I have watched of late. I am going to try and judge it as an isolated piece of drama, even though it's tricky and I keep finding myself wanting to mention The Bridge or Borgen.
In order to get this comparison out of my system, I will say this:
It is less complex than The Bridge, more gory and darker. There is some great acting, especially from one of the actors who was also a lead actor in Borgen. It is quite slow compared to The Bridge, but beautifully and cleverly filmed (although in a different way from both Borgen and The Bridge). The lead actor is a strong female juggling family life and work, much like the lead in Borgen.
[end of comparison]
Lund is fantastic as a thoughtful, smart and focused detective, and shows vulnerability in a very subtle and believable way. The father of the murder victim is also a particularly great actor - he shows bottled up sadness and anger extremely poignantly.
The building rapport between Lund and her replacement is well-observed and funny at times, and the little Danish children actors are adorable.
Either I have watched too many of these sorts of things, or The Killing is slightly more predictable than some other 'intense' crime shows (as opposed to 'lighter' ones like New Tricks or Rebus).
But only predictable in the short-term - as in, I have predicted the 'red herrings' so far, but still cannot 'call' it. And anyway, there are still like 100000001 episodes to go...
I will keep you updated / write a proper or more professionally-written review once I have watched it all.
Heart It
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