The Killing - “Orpheus Descending”
I was planning to write something about the finale, but I briefly checked after the episode to see the reaction, and it was pretty much universally negative. Maybe negative is a bad word - universally thrown into a thousand hells more accurately describes it. We all know the season was terrible and that the episode wasn’t any good, so my thoughts will be more of a response to those that are actually quitting the show because of the finale. Spoilers after the jump…
Yeah, I thought the finale was kinda sucky. It had the same plot problems as the rest of the episodes, little character motivation, and that ending, boy that ending.
People’s problems seem to be with the decision to not unveil the killer. I was under the impression we’d find out too, of course, and even the episode description said Linden and Holder would discover his identity. And yes, I think it would have made a lot of sense to reveal that tonight, all things considered.
But I wasn’t turned off by that. Yes, by this point I’m watching out of habit and really just want to know who killed her, but it didn’t bother me too terribly. There were no promises, and even though the promotional materials focused heavily on Rosie, the season clearly had too (whereas a show like Twin Peaks seemed to have a passing interest in Laura at times). It’s akin to demanding Lost saying what The Island was in S1. “We deserve answers,” indeed.
The problem, as Sepinwall even acknowledges, is that the rest of the show isn’t good. If the rest worked, then no one would really care, and the show would be about the city and the people more so than the murder. But it seems like everyone was just looking for a quick way to cut ties, and a nice wrapup to the murder mystery was the best way to do that. But I think it’s unfair to demand the killer be revealed because the rest of the show wasn’t working - either way you would’ve stopped watching, and they didn’t really know the rest of the show would be so terrible, or they wouldn’t have written it. It seems to me most are writing as angry fans right now rather than rational beings.
With that being said, I agree mostly with the above critics in saying the finale was terrible, but it’s not one of the worst ever. In the AV Club’s interview with Dan Harmon, he talked about how he wanted to do a cliffhanger-less season finale, the type where the thematic stuff from the season is just wrapped up and everyone sits down at the table for dinner and that’s it. Those are really the best finales, but of course there are memorable ones that shock us and get us ready for the next season as well. This did neither.
There needs to be some wrapup, some conclusion, not just a bunch of dangling threads. The season as a whole needs to be addressed, not just the next episode. There was no conclusion here. I can kinda buy that Belko would try and kill Richmond, but not showing that final moment is inexcusable. Make the point about justice right then and there, not make us wait for the next season. It’s cowardly and an insult to fans. (Aside from that, hasn’t this exact thematic/plot angle already been covered with Ahmed?)
One of the strong points has been Holder (and almost the relationship with Linden, it was almost there), but this pretty much destroys that with this left turn. I’d imagine he’s been taking money from Adams, but it doesn’t really make sense with his character. It’s out of left field to plant evidence like that, unless he’s been doing it the entire time, and in that case he’s a terrible plant.
I think the worst thing about having Darren not be the killer is that it retroactively makes last week’s episode even more terrible, a lot of this week’s episode terrible, and maybe his entire plot useless. There was a moment, right around the time Linden and Darren got in their shouting match, that I thought maybe he could just be the killer, and they would watch him go into the cop car and smile and nod and have some other cliffhanger that would get people to watch next year. But no. They had to go super-dramatic, which is always worse. Just give us some resolution, The Killing. Something. I don’t need Rosie’s killer. Just something. But no. It’s all a big middle finger, and I don’t really blame people for not coming back.
The problem is the rest of the show, really. It’s still not very good. In Sepinwall’s interview with showrunner Veena Sud, she says essentially nothing will change between S1 and S2, although I wouldn’t be surprised if AMC forces change. The numbers have been pretty steady, to be honest, but I think a lot of viewers might flee before S2 due to this awful finale. Sud comes across as off-base and borderline delusional in the interview, talking about how this isn’t your usual detective show. I guess not, but the issue is that the show, removed from its genre and network and expectations, is just not good. We’ve been over this before. Characters are shabbily defined, the plot is porous like a sponge, and it’s just not very compelling.
I’m not surprised that most critics are bailing out, but I’m surprised why. Rosie’s killer isn’t the problem with this show. It’s everything else.
