The Killing is shaping up to be a fascinating drama.
Sofie Gråbøl is superb in the lead role, an unusual and subtle take on the usual 'hero' cop. She's tiny, thoughtful, determined and empathetic, and her performance is a world away from the flashy theatricals and over-emoting of most stars of crime dramas. She reminds me of a pint-sized version of Frances McDormand as Marge Gunderson in Fargo (just less 'kooky' and comedic).
What's also impressive about it is not only its efficiency as a standard 'whodunnit', but also how it takes it time to follow the ripples and ramifications of a terrible crime (including some heartbreaking scenes with the victim's family).
BBC4 are showing this two episodes at a time on Saturday nights. I'm up to episode three and am completely hooked.

I think one of The Killing's strengths is the time it takes dramatising the impact on the victim's family, but doing so in a low key, unhysterical way which makes their emotional devastation all the more harrowing for the viewer.

On the plot itself, Theis's employee is beginning to look a bit suspect, or this just a red herring?

I've got all four episodes lined up. As I still haven't got round to watching Any Human Heart and have 19 films also on my hard drive to watch, I predict that I'll be watching some time in May.

Heard only v. good things about it.

I was really into this until the scene in Ep3 where the cop accidentally leaves a door open which allows the grieving parents to see the pics of their dead daughter. I just thought this scene was so clumsy and creaky that it's kind of coloured my whole opinion of the drama.

Funny, ref Chrish's reservations I thought that was a superb scene. very good use of music. the acting is so nuanced, and the plot and compulsiveness of ti reminds me of a straight twin peaks.
Saw a review that said it makes CSI seem like Glee. = )

the relationship between the two cops is developing, like the looks exchanged when the allotment guy asked if he could smoke.

I've thought this has been a tremendous piece of TV drama up until near the end of Episode 10; it has been a TV highlight not just of this year, but any year.

Now, for me at least, there is a massive hole in the plot. There may be a fix coming up in the next episode or two, but I don't see how the screenwriters could have fixed this.

I'm referring to the revelation that Theis knew the previous summer, that Nanna had been having an affair with an older man. They had a row about it, hence her reported change in mannner.

Nanna gets murdered and yet, through all the conversations he's had with Lund and Meyer, he never mentioned it. It just didn't occur to him that this man could have something to do with her death? Something he felt so strongly about that he rowed with his beloved daughter. He almost kills Rama, a suspect who proclaims his innocence and even gets halfway to proving it. Yet he was prepared to carry on with the beating. This despite the weaselly Vagn trying to stop him.

It's something I just can't buy. Was he trying to protect Pernille from finding out something unpleasant about her daughter? Well what can be worse than her death? If he was prepared to go to the lengths of killing a mere suspect in cold blood why would he be so reticent about some unpleasant, salacious yet wholly pertinent information.

Even if Theis had good reason to say nothing, why did Pernille's sister not say anything? If anything she was closer to whatever went on and had more reason to tell the police about the affair.

What do you other viewers think?

Cheers for the steer BigJimBob ... will watch tonight.

But it does grip me and I can't stop watching to see how it pans out. Only up to ep 6 so can't read the thread for fear of spoilers. I miss Wallander though.

Here's a piece from The Independent in praise of this excellent series.

However DO NOT read point 3 if you haven't seen Episode 10. There is also a detail in point 4 that I don't think is a potential spoiler, but some might:

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/02/22/ten-reasons-why-the-killing-is...

And the good news at the end of the piece is that there's a second series already aired in Denmark and a third in production.

I have been catching up on the series, and I remembered this thread had been created. I used the search facility to find it, and it also came up with a sponsored ad from Google for Gudrun and Gudrun knitwear "Creator of the Sarah Lund Sweater".

There is some shrewd marketing going on here by the company who must have realised that the show is being shown on the BBC and here's an opportunity to get into the UK. And they must be a small company, based as they are in the Faroe Islands (population 45,000). So good for them. But what surprised me is not just that the jumper is commercially available, but that it costs 280 Euros. I thought that it was meant to be home knitted, possibly by Sarah's mum, showing she cared more about her job than trivialities like clothes. Unlike say the ambitious and glamorous Rie. But it turns out that she wears expensive imported items - casting doubt on whether I have understood anything so far.

(I still find the programme very gripping, but there do seem to be slightly too many dark secrets coming to light at the moment.)

..on a Danish client's voicemail. For a moment I felt like I was in it. Just one thing, though. I know that the Danes like their candles and low lighting "hygge" they call it, but why does nobody in The Killing walk into the room and turn the lights on?

Anyone care to join in with their ideas, speculating on the identity of the culprit?

I was guessing it was Troels a couple of episodes back, but now with 8 episodes to play, it seems too early to have him in the frame. But on the other hand it seems too late to introduce a new character who hasn't passed through in some significant way. Is the remainder of The Killing going to play out like Prime Suspect?

There is however still the question of Nanna's boots, that were found in the wardrobe at her home. As I recall they were quite expensive and Lund or Meyer shouldn't have too much difficulty tracing where they were bought, when and by whom. It could be Troels. Do the boots matter?

Of course Nanna's affair may be yet another red herring. There seems to be something about Vagn, beyond his weaselly countenance and his lurking around the garage. Could he have somehow intervened? Did Troels leave the flat, but somehow Vagn knew she was there, that the flat was otherwise empty and he managed get in and do the foul deed? The woman with whom Troels had had an affair has said when she saw the silhouette at the window, she was sure it wasn't Troels. Who then is the mysterious shadow?

We still have the possibility (probability) of a serial killer to be followed up. Will this bring up another new character? Does the smarmy civil servant (I don't remember his name) who was working on Troels's campaign have secrets to reveal?

I'm thinking that the civil servant is the man to watch, but it may turn out that he is nothing more than a two faced, smug git.

So let's hear your thoughts.

i reckon Rie knows more than she is letting on.

I did yesterday and immediately regretted it.

Well my theory on Olav, the civil servant, didn't even survive, as indeed he failed to do, Episode 13.

So who might be in the frame now?

Jens Holck, minority group leader, is one name, but I don't think it's him, despite how things stood at the end of ep 14. For one thing I don't think he's handsome enough to have turned a young woman's head.

Bremer's assistant, who seems to be hiding things. Has he switched plates on the white estate car? He could be smooth enough to be the man who assumed the Faust identity.

I agree with BigJimBob that Rie appears to be hiding something. Now we know about Troels's whereabouts, and she wasn't with him, perhaps the question needs to be asked of her: Where were you?

That was a real cliffhanger ending. I can hardly wait for Saturday.

the glance of recognition between Pernille and Troels in one of the earlier episodes when they passed each other in the Police station?
Was it just Pernille acknowledging a face she must have seen from billboards and TV or is there more to it...???

The final two episodes go out on Saturday 26th - the night after the next London Massive drink.

There should just be enough time to order a woolly Faroe Islands jumper for the occasion.

According to the Guardian, the BBC have already bought series 2, to go out later in the year.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2011/mar/04/the-killing-bbc-danis...

There's an interview with Sofie, who plays Sarah Lund, in today's Observer.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2011/mar/13/the-killing-sofie-gra...

Unfortunately the picture on the website is standard publicity stock and not the much nicer shot that accompanies the article in the paper. At first glance I thought it was a shot of Alison Krauss, as her hair colour is much lighter.

Holck not handsome enough? So Nanna did after all have an affair with him, but at least I was right that he didn't do it.

I'm sure the taxi driver is not the man. Yes he's lied about picking up Nanna, but whatever reasons he had, I don't think it was because he murdered her. Possibly because he fears retribution from Theis, if Theis found out that he played some part, maybe inadvertently, in Nanna's final hours.

Could Bremer be the man behind it? We now know he knew about the flat and he may well have had the opportunity, but loathsome as he is I can't see him as the killer.

The black heart pendants seem to be key to the two killings. Who gave Nanna her one? My thoughts return to Troels. Did he stage his suicide attempt to provide an alibi? Are we clear how soon Morten got to him to save him? Why couldn't he answer Rie's question about why he did attempt suicide? Looking back he seemed almost too sure that Brix should have him released from custody. Did he assert himself because he was so confident in his alibi standing up?

Away from the killer's identity, I thought that scene between Pernille and the man at the hotel was absolutely horrific. One of the most powerful, but soul withering sequences I've ever seen. It may be a drama, but I felt ashamed to be male. A huge credit to Ann Eleonora Jorgensen for investing those scenes with so much force while conveying Pernille's surrender to despair.

Have we ever seen him before? And now, at the end of episode 16 he's being mooted as the killer after all we've been through. Tsk.

Still, the way this series twists and turns it's unlikely to be him, so we'll just have to wait and see.

I have to say, if this series was on ITV starring Trevor Eve, Sarah Parish, Clare Foy and Robert Pugh, no one would be fussing about it the way they are. The Guardian (naturally) has gone mad for it. It's good and it's gripping, but it's hardly the best thing I've ever seen.

I'm sure it helps that it's stuffed with unknown actors (to us), is in a foreign language and set in unfamiliar surroundings that makes it so interesting.

And for a start, no British TV company would commission a 20-part drama these days.

due to thinking that the killer had to be involved at City Hall in some way due to access to the apartment, Troel's emails and the secret payments to the Civil Servant. Now that little detour has been cleared up I'm swinging back to my original theory that the Dad did it...!

It seemed very unconvincing that the boyfriend Amir had not gone to the police straightaway to say that Nanna was about to elope with him when she was murdered. This is unlikely as the point mentioned above by Carl Parker about neither the Aunt or Theis telling the police about her bar job and affair in the previous summer. These are the people closest to the murder victim - surely they would have said whatever they knew in the hope that it could help with the case.

I have liked the series, but the plot does seem to be getting implausible.

as I've seen parts 1 and 2...only kidding massive. Number 2 is good but not as good as number 1...Don't worry all will be revealed.
Spiral 3 coming after.

I thought I'd followed the show closely through the many twists and turns but can someone enlighten me please.

What was the link to Hartmann's city hall apartment and Vagn? I thought Nanna was murdered in the flat originally, but it seemed she was murdered in Theis' house.

I'm a bit confused as to how Vagn had the access to the Hartmann's apartment and pool car.

Please help me out here...

.

I've been trying to work out the sequence of events of the night.

The key locations are in chronological order: The school; the flat; the house; the woods & river.

Nanna leaves the school. She travels to the flat to see Holck & tell him she's leaving - she is picked at the school up by Leon. Leon sees her with her childhood sweetheart. (Ahmed?). On the trip to the flat she tells Leon that she is going away with Ahmed.

She goes up to the flat and tells Holck she is going. He leaves and ends up at the station, where he is captured on CCTV, to try and intercept her.

Leon phones Theis to tell him what is happening. Theis of course is away and Vagn takes the call. Vagn goes to the flat. He argues with Nanna and ends up beating her up severely. He then takes the injured Nanna to the house.

At the house he rapes her. He said last night he couldn't bring himself to kill her so he takes the body and dumps her in the car in the water. However before he does this he has to clean her fingernails etc.

Presumably he went to City Hall first (ie before going to the flat) and steals the Hartmann campaign car. He wouldn't want to risk a Birk Larsen vehicle being seen. How he has the foresight to link this to the flat and indeed know which car to take (I assume the other candidates also have cars) isn't clear.

Your refinements to this are welcome.

After posting the comment above I was talking about The Killing with Mrs P. There are a hell of a lot of inconsistencies.

The opening scenes of episode 1 were a terrified Nanna running through the woods. Yet we now know she's suffered two major beatings (or so it would appear from blood spatter at the flat and the house) and you'd hardly think she'd be in any condition to run, let alone effect an escape.

Theis and the lover. We saw Theis going after the ne'er do well ex-boyfriend in the early episodes, yet he knew Nanna had an older lover. While you wouldn't expect crystal clear logic at such an emotionally traumatic time, I would still think, given the option of an unknown older man against a callow youth, I'd have been trying to find out who the older man was.

Chaos v Planning. The implications at the start was that Nanna had been the victim of a pre-meditated murder - exemplified by the care the perpetrator had taken in removing traces. Yet we now know Vagn's actions were totally unplanned and chaotic.

The heart shaped locket. How did Nanna come to have this in her hand? It clearly wasn't a gift from Vagn. If he was wearing it at the time of the murder, presumably it would be something he regularly wore, yet it wasn't connected back to him. No-one noticed he didn't have it anymore.

Signs of struggle. If Vagn had gone to the trouble of cleaning away traces why was he not showing any signs of struggle?

Gunpowder traces. We were told that Vagn's clothing had gunpowder traces from Lund's gun. Why didn't the Internal Affairs guys (or whatever they were called) take Lund's clothing for forensic analysis?

It's strange that a series that has gripped its audience so strongly managed to only expose a couple of weaknesses (noted in the thread above) when it finished on the whole unsatisfactorily.

I also find it hard to accept that Theis would kill Vagn in front of Pernille, Lund and the police. He might have done so if they'd been alone, but once he heard Pernille's voice wouldn't the thought of leaving her and the boys alone cause him to reconsider. Surely he'd have put the gun down, or at least done no more than grievously wound Vagn either by beating him with gun or trying to avoid a lethal shot.

Spiral starts next week. Hurrah. Series one and two have had the virtue of being structurally consistent, so hopefully the third will as well.

If you haven't seen it series two contained some of the most tense scenes I have ever watched. I thought in one episode I might have a heart attack.

And then there is Josephine Karlsson. Oh Ms Karlsson, so beautiful but so bad…..

And was all that with Hartmann at the end. What was he about to say?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2011/mar/26/the-ki...

Brilliant brilliant show, series 2 can't come soon enough.

A few mentions of Spiral here, haven't seen that. Worth getting next?

Clearly this is one for me, so shouts La-La-La loudly. Box Set out on April 4th. Lets hope our local (SAVE OUR) Libraries snaffle at least one copy for the county. (Cheshire : I'm looking at you.)

...and I predicted May upthread, so I'm proudly ahead of schedule.

It was wonderful, but now I've read the comments, I do tend to agree that it all fell apart a bit in the last few episodes.

Still superior though and great watching. I'll be there for Series 2, without a doubt.

...but are we absolutely sure that Theis's alibi is watertight?

Just finished watching the last episode and the feeling I got was that Vagn was desperately trying to put words into Theis's mouth and to take the blame - in front of witnesses - so that Theis would escape punishment. Perhaps payback for all that Theis and Pernille had done for him over the years?

All the evidence surrounding the new house could just as easily be blamed on Theis as on Vagn. And the cancelled removal job didn't specify which man had cancelled the job...

That said, from episode one, when Vagn first racially abused one of their removal clients, I had him pinned down as the baddie.

I had him pegged as the bad guy from the get go but then discounted him(what with being so weasely and guilty looking).It was therefore somewhat deflating to discover that he was apparently the guilty party. Such a long and convoluted road only to have your initial gut feeling confirmed.Or will that prove to the case?