Photos
Is everyone doing OK? After last weekend’s very disappointing The Killing season finale episode, I mean. Boy, did that stink! Did anyone like it? I don’t mean that in a sarcastic way, I genuinely want to know if anyone liked it. So far, I haven’t met anyone who liked it, and I’ve spent the past five days just getting out there, pounding the pavement and pressing the flesh, trying to see WHAT is UP! But, so, everyone hated it, which makes the show’s head writer and showrunner, Veena Sud, sound particularly crazy when she talks about it. From the Hollywood Reporter:
“I’m flattered,” says Sud, “and I guess surprised a little bit. But certainly it’s a good feeling to know people are watching and talking about the show. I mean, the last time I felt this personally myself, and saw this type of reaction, was when The Sopranos ended its run [with a shockingly abrupt, ambiguous, mostly despised 2007 finale]. If the show can be in that company, it’s a deep compliment.”
Uh, RELAX? The show isn’t in that company. Just because people hate your show doesn’t make your show the same as a long-standing, award-winning series that is widely regarded as one of the best shows in the history of the medium. Moreover, I would argue that as much as some people were disappointed in the ending of The Sopranos, those people are wrong, but also, that show made very intelligent choices from beginning to end. The surprise cliffhangers of the season finale of The Killing just feel like lazy film student garbage. “What if we DIDN’T find out who killed her?” is the kind of breakthrough concept I would expect from a college sophomore smoking Djarums in the dormitory courtyard after not even drinking half of the tiny juice glasses he filled up with all the different milks and sodas in the cafeteria. But wait, there’s more terrible quotes:
“The fact that people love us or hate us is a beautiful thing. I don’t want to be kinda liked. The fact that someone loves my show or hates my show is great.”
This goes back to my original question, of course, which is does anyone like this show now? Because, I’m pretty sure people don’t love or hate The Killing now. Pretty sure we all just hate it? But this part is the very worst part:
“Well, there’s two ways to look at it. Either it’s a left brain journey where you’re just connecting the dots of who the suspects are or it’s more of a holistic journey where a young girl is murdered these are the potential suspects and this is why.”
EXCUSE ME, BUT YOUR CABLE TELEVISION SHOW ABOUT TWO COPS WHO ARE TERRIBLE AT THEIR JOBS TRYING TO TRACK DOWN THE MURDERER OF A TEENAGE GIRL IN AN ALMOST COMICAL AMOUNT OF RAIN IS NOT A HOLISTIC JOURNEY!!! Wow. That is easily one of the most hilariously pretentious things that I have heard in a really long time. Congrats, Veena Sud. You may have ruined what seemed to be a very promising TV show, but you definitely won that important prize. This is also funny to me:
“I want to let people know and assure fans that they will know who killed Rosie Larsen in Season 2.”
Oh, phew. Of course, the very CONCEPT of a world in which we STILL did not find out who killed Rosie Larsen until season 3 (SEASON 3? HOW MANY SEASONS OF THIS THING ARE THERE?) is terrifying. And stupid. What? What is she even talking about? I’m pretty sure if “fans,” as if there are any left, didn’t find out who killed Rosie Larsen in season 2, we would all be wondering who killed Veena Sud. File Under: UNSOLVED! (Unsolved because the murderer was a The Killing fan and we didn’t know there were any of those left.)
 |
 |
You Might Also Like
 Was Anyone Excited To Start Watching The Killing Again Last… |  The Killing Season One Finale |  An Open Letter To AMC’s The Killing |  Oh, Did You Guys Watch The Killing? |
Leave a Reply
Sign inSign in with FacebookYou must be logged in to post, reply to, or rate a comment.
I’m in the minority that liked it and the season (it may be because the only other show I watched this year was the Event). I thought it was pretty clear throughout the finale that Richmond was not the killer and knew there’d be a second season. I also like the Larson family, even Mitch.
So in conclusion Veena Sud sounds like an idiot and I need to stop watching the Event.
Not watching the Event should be easy for you. Other than the emotional scars its cancellation has left, of course.
I loved it. I don’t really get the hate.
Don’t murder any teenage girls Gabe, especially not Elle Fanning
““I’m flattered,” says Sud, “and I guess surprised a little bit. But certainly it’s a good feeling to know people are watching and talking about the show. I mean, the last time I felt this personally myself, and saw this type of reaction,was the cliffhanger in the Bible when Jesus was dead for three days and then, BOOM, resurrection. That’s how I look at my show, like the collected word of God, but on AMC on Sunday nights.”
I lol’d!!! hahahahahaha– people in my office are staring.
“I mean, the last time I felt this personally myself, and saw this type of reaction, was when the Zodiac killer made his run in the late ’60s. I mean, people were pretty upset they never found that guy. If the show can be in the company of the Zodiac killer, it’s a deep compliment.””
So Veena Sud is murdered and Agent Cooper shows up to investigate? THAT I would watch.
Veena Sud is an anagram for “Sad Venue*.” Ah HA! It all makes sense now.
*Also “Suede Van.” Was there a Suede Van in The Killing? I don’t know because I stopped watching after episode 4.
I hope Robert Stack makes an appearance as well.
What surprised me to find out is they went into production not knowing for themselves who the killer is, choosing instead to ‘feel it out’ or some such. Even David Lynch and Mark Frost knew who Laura Palmer’s killer was before Twin Peaks started.
It’s also worth noting that they didn’t solve the murder until the second season, and then their ratings plummeted after the reveal. Lynch is on record stating he was vehemently against ever revealing her killer and was not planning on doing so (which may or may not have worked as a show, we’ll never know). The network execs were the ones who wished it into existence.
It is also worth noting that even though there are surface-level similarities between The Killing and Twin Peaks, The Killing is based off the Danish show WHICH SOLVED THE MURDER AT THE END OF THE SEASON. Then the second season was about a new case.
It’s also worth noting I started two paragraphs in a row with “it’s also worth noting.”
I’m just curious as to why people are so upset it didn’t get solved. I didn’t watch it, so I can’t say. I’m guessing it was because the show it was based off of did? I love Twin Peaks, though, and maybe if I had been watching it when it aired, I would have been upset it took them so long to answer that question? Or did this show not having anything else going on BESIDES the murder? There’s a lot of ?’s in this comment, so I apologize for that.
Yeah, I was wondering the other day if Twin Peaks would have upset me too, had I not been able to jump from straight from season one on DVD to season two. Season two really sagged in the middle anyway, but at least you didn’t have to wait a week to find out what happened next.
It’s because the mystery was the only thing going for it. I watched the entirety of Twin Peaks again recently, and was reminded just how packed it is with great characters, an interesting setting, and an engagingly offbeat vibe – all of which The Killing lacks. (In honesty, I gave up on The Killing midway, didn’t see the finale, don’t care to anymore)
And yeah, while the Laura Palmer mystery is a great macguffin, its resolution does seem to take some steam out of the remainder – like if they forced the creators of Lost to explain the Island early into the second season.
I don’t think people are upset the mystery didn’t get solved as much as they are upset that the unsolved mystery is so uninteresting and at the heart of this police procedural are characters that quickly became insufferably un-engaging and template.
PLUS THIS SHOW IS SO DARK. My tv is old. It’s definitely not a fancy plasma flat screen. I need a new tv for sure. So when shows are REALLY dark, it’s like I’m watching Uma Thurman getting buried alive but with no emotional connection. It’s just a black screen with sound. That became very frustrating for me and me alone.
My theory on the reason why most of us didn’t like the ending is because the show wore most of us down through 12 episodes and we expected a little closure in the finale. There was a ridiculous amount of red herrings to wade through to finally get to the bottom of who killed Rosie. It was a season of cheap ploys without a payoff. They basically pointed out a suspect and stacked the deck against him so you think he’s the killer. Then they slithered out of it in the weirdest/worst way possible. For instance, her teacher (semi-creepily) married a young ex-student, they tap his phone where he talks about a missing girl, Rosie is seen at his house the night she died…it turns out the missing girl he talks about is a refugee he’s trying to save from female castration and Rosie was at his house to return a book. As a viewer you know it’s a red herring because it’s early in the season and they’ve already hit you with it before so you kinda wait it out.
Did Lynch know beforehand? I read somewhere that Bob only emerged as a character when Lynch saw the prop guy standing behind a dresser and thought he looked really creepy.
None of which changes the fact that Twin Peaks is incredible and The Killing stinks, but you know.
Not Bob. The other person that killed Laura Palmer that Bob was inside of. As we know, Bob’s presence was a menacing one since the beginning, but who he inhabited was the culprit.
Oh, right! I’d mostly forgotten who actually did it. Bob’s super creepy face is eternally seared into my brain though, so it’s no surprise I always think of him as the culprit.
Seriously. Bob scares the shit out of me. I love me some Twin Peaks, as evidenced by my avatar.
Even after using the shot over and over, I jumped a little every time they showed [REDACTED] looking in the mirror and Bob staring back.
But yeah, season 2 of Twin Peaks is almost like a second and third season – the first half leading to resolution on Laura’s case the second switching focus to the Windom Earl and White/Black Lodge stuff.
Venna Sud’s husband: “Sex last night was awful.”
Venna Sud: “I’m flattered.”
If I would have been drinking chocolate milk in the school cafeteria when I read this comment, I’d be soooo super embarrassed right now.
Whatever, dude. Veena Sud just goes for it. Who wants to have kinda good sex?
Veena Sud is every friend with a terrible band you’ve ever had.
“Rolling Stone TRASHED Zeppelin, man!”
Who liked the season finale? My boyfriend, that’s who. “I thought the show was phenomenal. Nowhere did it promise to give the identity of the killer.”
In other news, my boyfriend is currently planning on watching 5 shows on the CW this fall.
I am concerned that your boyfriend is a 12 year old girl
He’s not! He’s just a 25 year old gay man. Which can be kind of the same thing at times.
Dealbreaker
He also watched the Footloose trailer like 5 times the day it came out. Is this serious enough to write to Dr. Birdie?
That’s your boyfriend?
That’s your boyfriend?
Not Bob. The other person that killed Laura Palmer that Bob was inside of.
WTF?!
Leland Palmer SPOILER ALERT
Sud pulls a DVD box set off the shelf. “The Sopranos, by David Chase. Good stuff. That’s what I write,” she says, putting it back. “That’s what I write.”
all the upvotes please!
agreed, good job, “sodannysaid”
More Veena Sud awful-ness (link:http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/interview-the-killing-showrunner-veena-sud-on-the-season-finale)
Q. Well, in terms of getting to know the characters better, we had that episode a few weeks ago, “Missing,” where you essentially put the case on hold for an entire hour and just follow Holder and Linden around. Why did you decide to do that episode, and why place it at that specific point in the season?
A. I always wanted to do an episode where we would get to know our lead better, and would get to spend time, and in fact be forced to spend time in a situation with both these characters, and the sparing amounts of information we were given with Sarah, finally start to get some answers about who this woman is, why she does what she does, why she’s a cop, ultimately. Her inner nature. It was also deeply inspired by the “Mad Men” episode with Don and Peggy in one night and the “Breaking Bad” episode where Jesse and Walter are stuck in the desert and dying. It’s very much an AMC tradition, to take this rapid, unexpected detour from what we think might be a linear story, and find ourselves, as Walter and Jesse did, lost and trying to make sense. I loved that, I thought that was such a brilliant episode, and I wanted to do something like that.
SHUT UP SUD.
Yeah I posted that link the other day because it infuriated me so much.
Breaking Bad and Mad Men and The Sopranos and The Killing. Totally. Right on, Veena.
“The Killing will be on DVD soon, and The Wire has been on DVD, so I’m happy to be on the same level as The Wire.” – Veena Sud, probably
I miss Rubicon.
Was reading these comments just to say the same thing. What a shame THAT show, a smart, riveting, slow-burning tour de force (oxymoron?) was canceled but we get another year of The Boring.
And Michael Cristofer was simply THE BEST.
Glad I gave up on that show after watching the pilot. A character named Stephen Holden with a Swedish accent just didn’t bode well.
Oh God, I broke the internet talking about Bob. I’m probably going to have nightmares now.
WHAT
This was supposed to be up there as a response to the Event being cancelled.
Veena Sud was recently seen wearing her trademark pin:
I need some time to think about how I feel about the show. If you guys excuse me, I’m going to go spend some time at “Greenlake Mosque” and then stop by Discovery Park, which magically moved from Seattle to about 100 miles north of it.
-Guy making jokes for the 12 fellow Seattlites on here.
My two cents: Mad TV and/or SNL should do a parody skit called “The Kidding” because they’re all like, “This guy is the killer… JUST KIDDING!” at the end of every episode. Get it?
Wow. I’m not opposed to twists or ambiguity, but I can only abide them if they’re earned. A Serious Man had the most open-ended conclusion ever, but it was arguably successful because everything else in the movie lent itself to that type of an ending. If you rewatch The Sixth Sense, you see the breadcrumbs of the surprise ending sprinkled throughout the narrative.
Sorry, Veena. Not what you’re doing. You’re basically being Nicholas Sparks at this point. The Holder twist? WTFINHELL was that? Nothing about his arc during the season would lead viewers to buy cheap melodrama like that.
I only watched this show until the end of the season because I thought it would provide some measure of closure for what had been our shared 13 episode national nightmare – but no, Veena. You continue to try to enslave, rather than captivate us, with your hollow characterization (look! I’m wearing a Carhartt jacket and I don’t trust the police!) and your unearned plot twists.
Too late! I don’t care who killed Rosie Larsen. Maybe she killed herself because this show is so shit.