Entertainment For Lively Minds
The Killing 2- better than the first...
Posted by Retro Man on 19 December 2011 - 1:32pm.
So, what was your vedict on the Killing 2? Personally I found it far more satisfying overall than the first series, which was probably two episodes too long and had far too many plot inconsistencies/loose ends. This new series, whilst it lacked the emotional aspect of the parents dealing with their grief in the face of a murder enquiry, was much faster paced and far more exciting.
What did you think?
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That's pretty much my view (Spoiler alert)
Except I thought the end was a bit weak. There was no way I was going to believe that Strange had killed Lund, but then I was taken aback at her overkill in finishing him off.
Still can't it work out...
Why didn't Special Forces-trained Strange finish off Lund with a head shot?
What was Bilal up to? Why did he top himself?
And why did Strange protect Lund from the suicide bomb? Wouldn't it have been easier for him to eliminate the threat of her investigation by getting her blown up by someone else who would have taken the blame?
Why did Justice Minister Bund suddenly ditch all his principles and line up with the rest of the politicians behind the Prime Minister after having spent most of the previous episodes not showing any sign of caring about his career?
Why did the Afghan local police chief wait until the middle of the night before showing lund the bread oven?
Spent most of the last 2 episodes pausing the Sky+ and rewinding trying to figure out what was going on.
Enjoyed it immensely but thought the writing a lot lazier than it could have been.
Hope Killing III currently in production will maybe avoid the boring political stuff - maybe a corporate scandal?
Answer to one point (Spoiler)
My interpretation is that Strange saved Lund because he obviously had feelings for her. I think he would have assumed Bilal's death would tie the investigation up there and then and he could let things take their course romantically.
It was the lack of the head shot that convinced me she was wearing a vest. There's just no coming back from it.
I thought the same about Bund. He'd always been a lone voice, so why would he suddenly ditch his principles?
Vest
We knew she was wearing a vest, because she'd not been home to get changed after she and Strange split up at the airport, and earlier on Strange had told her to zip the vest up.
I interpreted Strange as having been haunted by the killings in Helmand, where presumably he was acting on orders. I also interpreted his serial killings afterwards as covering up for those who ordered him to do it. Bilal was also under orders to destroy all witnesses and evidence, hence killing himself, as was Monberg. You could tell that Strange was highly disturbed by shooting the child, where he tried to convince himself and Raben that Raben had done it.
Remember that the family who were executed were suspected of being informers who lead to the deaths of Danish soldiers, hence the implication is that the government sanctioned their execution "on the quiet" and covered up that special forces had ever been there. Raben's unit also had the same suspicions and happened to turn up at the same time as Strange to basically do the same thing - he was obsessed that the family were informers, remember?
He won't have shot Lund in the head because he couldn't bear to do that to someone he had feelings for. He tried to depersonalize it.
The reason the police chief only showed Lund the evidence under cover was that he did not want to be seen to be an informer in any sense. She appealed to his true self and he helped her out.
Buch did disappoint me, but, his principles will have been put on hold because he realized his life was at stake. Everyone who knew about this operation was dead except for: the PM, the Defence secretary, Hedeby (police chief), Raben's so-called lawyer, and possibly Brix - we don't really know how much he knew.
Raben's lawyer
I am pretty sure she is Strange's mystery date in one of the first two episodes, you only see her briefly from behind, but I think it's her.
That's not the way I see it
You'd assume she'd remove the vest, as Strange would have done, before flying back to Denmark.
I'm agreeing with Richard
the writing was pretty flabby at times. Compulsively watchable though, and mercifully miles shorter than the first series. 20 episodes was far too many, and I've never seen so many red herrings crowbarred into a story as a result.
Loved it!
Sarah Lund is the greatest TV cop ever!-well, maybe not as good as Bunk
It's been getting bigger ratings than some of Sky's bigger HBO imports, another one set for sky Atlantic?
Sorry,
but the consensus among the fans at g towers is that this was inferior to the first series. The whole point of The Killing, it seems to me, is that it was prolonged, unhurried and unencumbered by any of the usual cliches of the 'crime' genre. This second series felt unreal and more of an artifice. The central Afghanistan story never really rang true and, although I did like the bumbling Boris-esque Defence Minister, the political element of the story wasn't as gripping or convincing as in the first series. The humanity of the first series was missing and I found it hard to empathise with any of these victims. And I have it on very good authority that no vest in the world could withstand a shot to the stomach from point-blank range.
But hey, despite all that, it was still better than any homegrown crime show.
This is all very well but
What about the season finale for Braquo? Quelle cliffhanger! Bring on series 2 immediately!
I thought it did need to be faster paced
than Season 1. After sitting through 20 episodes of red herrings I don't think I or most of the audience would have had the patience for that again. I agree that the depth and emotional intensity were sacrificed but it was still v gripping and involving nonetheless. I do think the supporting cast were a lot more colourless than the characters in Season 1 like Theis, Pernille, Meyer,Troels with his extraordinary glittering eyes and his foxy super-ambitious adviser/girlfriend.
Buch did get better as the series progressed, Raben was quite charismatic, and General Arild v evil but we didn't see much of him. Still, Sofie Grabol as Lund was as mesmerising as before.
I wondered why Raben seemed so sanguine at the prospect of Strange driving him back at the end, when he thought he was 'Perk'. It did seem insanely reckless for Lund to confront Strange alone in the memorial park, even though she was wearing a stab vest. I get the point that it was scary and dramatic and made a neat counterpoint to the beginning scene in the Season though.
A final thought - The Killing Christmas Party game where everyone writes down all the Danish words and meanings they have picked up from watching all 30 eps and whoever gets the most wins!
I'm late to the party on this ...
... having just watched the second series over the last couple of weeks, but I have to disagree with the opening post. Series 2 is just not in the same league as Series 1.
Me too...
We only just finished this off...which probably says a lot. We eagerly watched the first couple, but then just found other stuff that needed watching in the interim. Frankly Mrs. NigelT was more engaged than me, but I actually found the 1st series much more multi layered and intriguing, possibly because the glacial pace let us explore the complexities of how an event like the girl's killing affected the family, their relationships, the cops, the politics of the city etc. - the solving of the killing was almost incidental, which was the fascination of the 20 episode approach. The Killing II was much more in traditional thriller teritory for me.....and there was also the lack of the surpise factor - we just knew Sarah Lund would nearly get sacked again, have problems with her partner, let her family down et al. I'm not sure a third series is a good idea...??