The Killing - "El Diablo" Review

“No flowers. Flowers die.” -Darren

The Killing picked right up where it left off last week. The show is unapologetically dark and doesn’t sugar coat anything. There seems to be a lot of positive about the show, which is surprising for a show that is so dark and, for lack of a better word, unhappy. The show beats you up emotionally and we don’t get any real “wins” as a viewer. The Killing continues to further the murder mystery story but also provides us with great images. Two specific images stuck out in my mind from this past episode. The first it the view of “the cage” through the peep hole in the janitor’s office. Was he witness to the horrendous crimes against Rosie? Tough to think about. The second was Mrs. Larsen trying to feel what it’s like drowning herself. The view of the bathtub with just her hands on the outside was definitely stirring. The Killing has an ability to make us feel deeply for those involved through the cinematography and direction.

One aspect I really, and I hesitate to use this word, really *like* about The Killing is that a lot of the crime so far has involved kids. Drama involving teens always has an inherent sense of danger. They don’t fully understand risk, so they’re capable of a lot of damage. For this reason, I find the Jasper/Echols/Sterling story very interesting. I was definitely a bit uncomfortable watching the cell phone video of what appeared to be a duel rape of Rosie, but it seemed so real. Now I hope you can see why I hesitated to use the word “like.” It’s not that I enjoy seeing teens involved in such crimes, but it heightens every sense of justice when kids are involved. After watching what we saw at the end of the episode, we are now so emotionally invested in finding out just who killed Rosie that we will tune in every week and demand those involved get hit with the stiffest punishment possible. The Killing isn’t easy to watch, but dang it if it isn’t compelling.

Because of the nature of murder mysteries, this show will lead to a series of wild conspiracies due to pointers in the script. The newest ones are that Darren is being set up by the current mayor. He had the girl killed and framed his campaign. The other is that Hooper is holding some information that could impact the investigation. We learn about this because of his clandestine phone call. Murder mysteries always have to throw the viewers off the scent a bit. I’m not sure if any of these situations will materialize, but there were definitely some hints that there is more than just meets the eye with Holden and Darren Richmond. I never like it when in murder mysteries the killer is just some random person out of nowhere, so the writers need to introduce us to the killer at some point, make us think they are the murderer, then make us question that thought, and finally deliver them to us. As of right now, the only person we can really write off is Sarah Linden.

The writers have to be careful about the amount of time we spend with the parents of the deceased. I know they need to be present to humanize the situation and make us care, but at what point is it pandering? I know the show can’t just be about the investigation, or else it would be a procedural, but they need to serve and evolve just like everybody else. I’m still liking them, but I worry about that going forward. How much do we need to see of the two kids dealing with the loss of the sister, the dad trying to be strong, and the mom being broken up emotionally. They’re afforded this grieving time now, but at some point I’ll need to see more out of them. Perhaps they go rogue and try and take justice into their own hands because they aren’t satisfied with the pace of the investigation.

I’m curious why we’re spending so much time with campaign of Darren Richmond. It’s not that I don’t find mayoral politics interesting, but I wonder just how essential they are to the story. It has a similar feel to Carcetti on The Wire. It really rounds out the show, but in the first three episodes, we’re getting a heavy dose of it. Perhaps they needed to just show his quest to really get a grip on the race so it his involvement with the case will have higher stakes going forward. Either way, I’d like to see a little less of the mayoral campaign politics and more of the investigation.

Since we’re on the subject of things I think we can spend less time on, I submit Sarah Linden’s love life. I know that she is supposed to leave Seattle for a retired life in Los Angeles with her new husband and kid and that the case is keeping her here. We know she’s going to get emotionally involved and she’ll see the case out, so we don’t need to spend time every episode reminding us that she has somewhere she needs to get to. We should instead spend that time developing the relationship between her and Holden. I really enjoy seeing their two different styles of detecting playing against each other. They both have things they’re hiding and have their own demons, so I’m very intrigued to see how the situation plays out.

The Killing will undoubtedly put us through a roller coaster of emotions. I for one am very excited to be on this ride with the show. I’m a sucker for a good crime story and this seems to be no exception. I hope they take their time and really deliver some great drama. If the first three episodes are any indication, I believe we’re going to be in for a great season of television.

ApeDonkey Power Rankings - 4/4/11

Top 5

1. Nancy Drew - As I wrote last week, my truck was broken in to and my wife's laptop and my ipod were stolen. Since that happened, my wife has been using all there Nancy Drew and Blues Clues skills to track down the perpetrator. The afternoon of the robbery she started scouring craigslist and ebay looking for postings that looked like they could be our stuff. In the meantime we had to buy a new laptop and I wanted to get a new ipod for the car. Last week my wife sent me a posting and said she thought this was my ipod. I completely blew her off but she continued to try to get information on it. Finally she noticed it was listed as a 7th generation ipod and mine was a 6th so she gave up hope that it was mine. However, they were selling it pretty cheap so I made arrangements to buy it from the person. It turns out they lived on my side of town and meeting them was easy. The person selling the ipod arrived and I approached his car to check out the item and make sure it worked. I turned it on and immediately recognized in the cover flow a record that only me and maybe ten others in the city would own. I went to the playlists and sure enough it was my ipod. At this point I wasn't sure what to do. This guy could have easily beaten my ass in an instance. I calmly spoke to him and told him I didn't want to make a big deal out of it but this was my ipod. I repeatedly expressed to him how important it was that I get the laptop back since it had all of our business files on it. As you would expect, he feigned surprise and told me how his girlfriend had found the ipod by stepping on it in a parking lot. Yeah OK. I just continued to calmly impress upon him the importance of getting the laptop back. Then he decided to be a good soul and knock the price down to $50 for my own ipod. Thanks.

I really didn't feel safe so I told him that was fine and paid for my ipod. I expressed to him a few more times that I wanted my ipod back and even if he didn't have it, if he could tell "whoever" did have it that I wanted to get it back, I would appreciate it. We then went our separate ways. A few minutes later I got a call from him telling me he felt bad about taking my money and offered to give it back. Once again I told him I didn't care about the money, I just wanted the laptop back. Anyway, thanks to my wife's detective skills we now have the guy's phone number, address and a picture of his car and plates. Unfortunately, this was over a week ago now and the police still have returned our call. We've spoken to them a couple of times and even had a police officer friend call and try to expedite the process but still nothing. Apparently there are two police officers assigned to work all the auto theft cases in Houston. Two! I'm not blaming the officers for this but the shitty system. We have essentially done the leg work to locate everything and have been completely ignored. On Saturday, we got a notice from the bank that our account had been disabled because someone had tried the wrong password too many times. I wonder who that was? So if either of the officers working auto theft read this please give me a call. I think we can close a case for you. Until then I'm going to go out a rob a few cars myself because auto theft is Houston's version of Hamsterdam.

2. Clank - This past Monday night Clank had a very good and well publicized evening. I don't know if someone thought it would be funny to replace the Final Four rims with some of those carnival game rims but neither team playing in the championship game could hit a shot. I don't know what UConn ended up shooting but it was beaten into my head yesterday that Butler shot an impressive 18%. I lost interest in the game about four minutes into the second half and started reading with the game on in the background. I couldn't tell you how good or bad the production was but I can tell you without pause how distracting the constant barrage of shots clanking off the rim was. At one point I didn't look at the television for a stretch of about 20 minutes and when I did finally look up Butler had the same number of points as they did the last time I looked at the score. It was just a pathetic performance by both teams. It reminded me of the Presidential elections of the last decade. No one deserved to win but they've got to give it to someone, so congrats UConn.

3. The Killing - A handful of new cable shows premiered this week including The Borgias, Camelot and The killing. Of the three new shows, The Killing looked to have something special. @heydannyv commented on Barry's review how much the cinematography, directing and use of music reminded him of Rubicon. I completely agree with that assessment. The previews gave me flashbacks to Twin Peaks but the reality is Twin Peaks was set in a completely different world where the supernatural and paranormal activity weren't out of the norm. The Killing looks to be an extremely well made murder mystery. 

4. Friday Night Lights Season 5 - FNL comes out on DVD today. We here at ApeDonkey have dedicate a ton of time to praising the series, season and actors of this outstanding show. One thing that hasn't been discussed enough it how stupid NBC is. NBC was set to cancel the series after the second season. Instead Direct TV stepped in to pick up some of the production cost and to broadcast the series on their channel 101 six months ahead of NBC's broadcast. This agreement has allowed me to see the entire series without ever watching a single episode on NBC. I was a late comer to FNL, becoming a fan during its season 3 run, so I saw the first two seasons on Netflix then watched the rest through uploaded episodes on the Internet. Anyway, like I said season 5 comes out today on DVD. If you have Direct TV you could have already watched season 5 on The 101 but NBC still won't be start showing it for another couple weeks. Genius. I'm a bit surprised they didn't cancel Community and Parks & Rec while they were making these brilliant programming decisions.

5. It was a tough week so just pour a little out for #5 this week.

Bottom 5

1. My Wallet - A couple weeks ago my six year old vomited in my Prius. Now I cleaned it up the puke but there's still that lingering barf smell in the car. I need to get it detailed to see if they can freshen it up. In the mean time I've been driving my truck instead. Nothing shocks the wallet quite like going from a car that gets 50mpg to a truck getting 15mpg. Especially when gas is nearly $4/gal. Since I've been driving the truck I've been going through $20-$30 of gas a day. That would last me at least a week in the Prius. If nothing else this week has reminded me why my 2+ yr old truck has less than 15k miles on it.

2. Catholicism - I'm not catholic, in truth I'm about as WASPY as a person can get. However, I did graduate from a catholic university and had to take catholic studies courses as part of the curriculum. So I do know a little something about Catholicism. I find the history of Catholicism fascinating and I tried to convince my wife to let me name our son John Paul so I could call him Pope. That idea didn't fly but I had to try. I do have quite a few friends and people I respect who are catholic. I don't know how they are going to feel about The Borgias but I can't imagine The Vatican being very big fans of the show.

The new Showtime series is based on the 15th century Papal family that was rife with controversy and scandal. In the series Pope Alexander VI has several kids with one of his mistresses. His son who he appoints as a Cardinal is uncomfortably interested in his 14 year old sister. One of his other sons is the head of the Papal army and may as well be based on Uday Hussein. I thought the first two episodes were pretty good but not great. Jeremy Irons as the Pope is his normal terrific self and the show's stand out has been Fancois Arnaud as Cesare Borgia.

The catholic church has a long rich history filled with both incredibly charitable and despicable act. This story happens to be one of the dark times in the Vatican. Showtime has proven they can produce an excellent series and this one has all the elements to be their next one I just wonder how well it will be received by the followers of the worlds largest religion.

3. Toyota Service - I've only had to take my Prius in to the dealer twice for service. Once was for a recall on the brakes and the second time was to have the back seat belts replaced. Both times the service department at Joe Myers Toyota has sucked giant balls. When I bought they car I was given two free oil changes. I used the first free oil change when I had the brakes fixed. At that time the guy told me to skip a few changes before I used the second one because I couldn't use them within a certain amount of time of each other. What? OK. So I tried to use the second one this last time. The guy before never said anything about having to use them before 36k miles. Fucking Dickhead. On top of that the shit heads didn't wash my car like they're supposed. I'm almost glad my car is now out of warranty because I won't be tempted to take it to the retarded monkeys at the dealership. I have a place down the road that does good work and I trust them. For the first time in my life I'm actually looking forward to doing one of those service surveys for a dealership.

4. Brandon Lyon - This is where I was going to talk about Brandon Lyon blowing a 4-2 lead to the Phillies on opening day but the Astros have much bigger issues than Lyon and he's only had one save opportunity so far this season. The Astros are going to suck all season. The best gambling decision I've made this year is not betting the over on the Astros win total. I think they'll compete for the worst record in the majors this year. Thank God for fantasy baseball to make other games interesting to me.

5. Kavorka - I'm not a particularly handsome guy. I probably trend somewhere in the middle of the looks scale but for whatever reason women in the service industry just dig me. I'm a happily married man and don't invite this kind of attention at all. In fact, nearly everything I do should deflect it. I shave maybe once every other month or so. I sustain myself on donuts so that I'm as fat as I can possibly be. I rate closer to the Unabomber on the anti social scale than most. In person, aloof is the best I can do. Mean and flat out ignoring people is more of the norm though. I've adopted a French sensibility to hygiene. Yet, these women and some men still want me. I thought this curse had left me when I moved out to the burbs but then one of the women at the local McDonald's started giving me that extra little smile and wanting look. A few weeks ago though she turned on me and now has started a strict regime of giving me the cold shoulder. I figured out her issue the other day. She finally gave up on me leaving the wife and kids and got engaged to what I assume was at best her second choice. Sorry but I've got a good thing here at home. Now I'm getting those same uncomfortable looks and the eyes undressing me from the girl who delivers pizza. I've tried to tell my wife not to send me to pick up the pizza by myself. You never know when the Kavorka is going to send this poor woman over the edge with desire. My wife seems to be willing to take the chance of my shirt being ripped off but I have to admit I'm a little frightened every time we order pizza.

AMC's The Killing Review

“I should have said goodbye.” -Stan Larsen

AMC debuted their new drama The Killing on Sunday night and it appears they have found another hit. The Killing stars Mirellie Enos (Jodeen Marquart from Big Love) as Sarah Linden who is investigating the murder of 17 year old Rosie Larsen. It takes place in dreary, and very very rainy, Seattle and the backdrop couldn’t be more perfect. The mood, ambience, and atmosphere are essential to shows success. We are taken into the world of the show and are gripped from the beginning. The show smartly debuted with the first two episodes of the series. The pilot was largely introducing us to the family and the characters surrounding the investigation. The first 50 minutes is dedicated to finding out if Rosie is alive or dead. The show is called “The Killing” so it was obvious from the beginning that she would be dead. This is why it was so smart to air the second episode immediately following the first. The pilot, on its own, is not completely compelling until we get to the end of the episode where we are treated to such a heartbreaking scene that I believe will define the show.

The scene where the body is discovered in the trunk of a flooded car was so perfectly captured it moved me to tears. The father is talking to the mother on the phone as he approaches the crime scene and learns of his daughter’s death. All we hear through the phone is the father screaming his daughter’s name while the mother breaks down. Rosie’s brothers are looking on in complete confusion all juxtaposed against Sarah Linden’s stoicism. The scene is truly striking and moving. The parents Stan and Mitch are played by Brent Sexton and Michelle Forbes (most recently Maryann on True Blood). Their performances as the grieving parents is so gripping and real that you feel such deep sympathy for them instantly.

One piece of the story is a bit trite in that this was supposed to be Detective Sarah Linden’s last day of work before she retires and moves to California with her fiance. Naturally, the case sucks her in and she has to keep putting off her move until she solves the case, which will presumably be on the 13th episode of the season. The season takes place over 13 days. One day for each episode. In that respect, The Killing is sort of 24 meets Gone Baby Gone. It’s not as ridiculous and over the top as 24 is, but the convention of real time is similar. In being that it’s her last day, she gets a new partner for the day, Stephen Holder (played so darkly by the Sweedish actor Joel Kinnaman). His character might be my favorite one one the show as he adds some much needed moments of levity to the show. He’s a gunslinger type who flies by the seat of his pants in the investigation. He also has some real darkness to him as evidenced in the scene where he gets two young girls to smoke weed to gain information about the seedy parts of the high school. This is in stark contrast to Linden’s methodical approach. I really think their polarizing styles plays really well on the screen and it will be interesting to see where the show goes with this relationship.

The murder story isn’t so simple. Rosie Larsen was found in the trunk of a car belonging to a Councilman Darren Richmond’s mayoral campaign. Richmond, who is played by Bill Campbell (Carter Buckly from The OC), is running for Mayor and appears to be in line to win the position. This investigation could ruin his chances of winning so he and his campaign managers are forced to try and spin the story. At first, his involvement seems largely coincidental, but I highly doubt that we’d be focusing so much on his campaign if it were to just be a smoke screen. He’s the obvious first choice for being the murderer, so I hope that the payoff isn’t what I expected all along. I know that to keep a story interesting the investigators are going to have be lead down several paths that don’t lead to the murderer, I just hope that every false angle isn’t obvious.

The real worry for a series like this is the payoff. After 13 episodes will be satisfied with the catching and conviction of the killer? The danger is that the killer could be a red herring, someone we don’t even know or care about. But on the other side, it can’t be someone so obvious. Also, the killer has to be believable. We have to fully understand why they would do it. The first two episodes show tremendous promise, I just hope that the payoff is satisfying.