In the first of a three-part chat, TVGA contributors Mike Proper and Lucas High break down the first season of The Killing and discuss possible negative effects the show has had on the AMC brand.
Lucas: So, I woke up on Monday morning and found myself smack dab in the middle of an Internet firestorm. Apparently the finale of The Killing has really struck a nerve out there. EVERYONE was using the opportunity to take shots at the show. Bill Simmons even ripped it on his new site. Can you believe how much anger this show has sparked in the TV community?
Mike: As angry as I was myself, I'm still kind of surprised -- mainly because it seemed that most critics had given up on any sort of positive expectations for the finale and yet they all seemed disappointed with the results. But unlike the Alan Sepinwall, Maureen Ryan and Lucas High's of the world, I still (for some reason) expected a strong, satisfying conclusion and yet... it's fairly safe to say that I didn't receive one.
And now in the post-"Orpheus Descending" world we live in, I'm pretty embarrassed by how much I DID defend The Killing, even if those defenses were admittedly somewhat feeble.
Lucas: Speaking of defending The Killing, there are still folks out there doing just that. I can't fathom it.
Mike: Veena?
Lucas: Well, yeah her. Plus a few critics and few people I know personally.
Mike: Well, the thing is, there are certain aspects of the show I can still defend.
Lucas: Do tell.
Mike: The atmosphere was impressive -- I for one had no issues with the constant rain, whether or not it's 100% meteorologically accurate -- the acting was for the most part strong (in spite of the writing), and it eventually even made me care about the Holder and Linden partnership.
Sure, it took that very out-of-place "bottle episode" to do so, but, hey, it worked.
But the problems were far too many to overlook the few positive aspects it had and it NEEDED a great finale to be worthwhile. Instead, "Orpheus Descending" was one of the worst season finales I've ever seen.
Have you read any of Veena Sud's post finale interviews? And what do you make of her statements if you have?
Lucas: She comes off absolutely AWFULLY in the Sepinwall interview. She seems completely out of touch with what audiences are looking for in a well-executed TV show. She seems to have no regard for the AMC brand. She's at once arrogant and ignorant. That's a bad combo.
Mike: But what does this whole ordeal really say about the AMC brand in general? I've read many commenters speculate that maybe they just got really lucky that Mad Men and Breaking Bad kind of fell into their laps (and this is coming from a guy who loved Rubicon and for the most part and enjoyed The Walking Dead). Is the network’s reputation in trouble?
Lucas: Well, on my scorecard they are 0-2 with their last two new shows. I really liked the Walking Dead pilot, but by the end I was struggling to make it to the end of each episode. That said, it was still just as good or better than most everything on network TV.
Speaking of AMC and its brand, I've got a theory for you.
Mike: I'm all ears.
Lucas: Now, bear in mind that I don't necessarily buy this theory. It's extremely snobbish, but I find it to be mildly plausible.
The ratings for The Killing were good. Really good by AMC standards. Like Mad Men good.
So someone, aside from we critics that were watching out of obligation or some equally unworthy reason, must have been watching. Who are those someones?
Is it possible that these people are folks that have heard the "smart people" at work talking about how great AMC shows are? Maybe this person gave Mad Men a try, thought it was too slow. Maybe the watched an episode of Breaking Bad and couldn't figure out why Malcolm's dad wasn’t being funny.
So when The Killing rolled around, these people found their "in." It's a cop show, a murder mystery, so they pretty much know what to expect, they won't be confused about the premise.
These people might be saavy enough to know how bad the cop shows on the networks are. And with The Killing they finally that "smart," "complex," "intellectual" show they were missing out on before. Now they have a show they can talk about on Monday mornings with their "smart friends." Because the smart friends damn sure didn't watch this week's NCIS.
Mike: I think there's some weight to that theory and I wouldn't even really mind if I thought Veena Sud and company were trying to make a full-season-long episode of Criminal Minds or the like, but she's so self-unaware of her show's problems that it didn't even succeed in those CBS-procedural aspects.
And I think that audience you are discussing may have stuck around for the "prestige" that comes with following an AMC drama closely, but that I imagine will bail pretty quickly after not finding out who killed Rosie Larson on Sunday night.
Lucas: Oh yeah, I'm sure next season's audience will be a fraction of this one's.
First, great chattin' Mike and Lucas !
I'm certainly a contrarian in believing that while The Killing has lots of problems (some of them major, particularly the overuse of red herrings), overall the season was pretty damned good.
So take that for starters and I didn't have the enormous expectation going into the finale that many did, that it had to hit a walk-off grand slam to "save the season."
Further, here's my big difference with many: I'm totally fine that the killer wasn't revealed in the season one finale. Who says that a show has to play by "the rules." I've heard a lot about the show's marketing campaign and how things were "set up" so that we would know who killed Rosie Larsen by episode 13? So what, says I. Shouldn't we take the show material separately from all that other crap and speculation. And isn't it a good thing when shows run against standard expectations.
I used the examples of The Wire and Buffy the Vampire Slayer of doing this expertly in the past. The Killing isn't operating on that level as yet but I applaud the show for doing something different.
It has its problems, but the good stuff -- much of which Mike pointed out -- will keep me watching well into Season Two.