# The Killing -- new series on AMC **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 31, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-killing-new-series-on-amc/576691 "2011-03-31T22:16:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-killing-new-series-on-amc/576691/101 "2011-04-18T19:05:11Z")
I find him skeevy too, and more obsequious than patient. I didn’t like the way he snuck up on her and grabbed her from behind. That’s the kind of a passive-aggressive, asshole move that gets really old really fast. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-killing-new-series-on-amc/576691/102 "2011-04-18T19:07:35Z")
My reaction to Linden’s fiance’ is probably tainted by other roles that [Callum Keith Rennie](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0719678/) has carried off convincingly, notably _24_ and _Harper’s Island_ which are the more recent things I’ve seen him in. He suffers from the ability to be cast for darker characters and that may not be a reflection of his acting skills as much as his looks and the vibe he seems to convey. Many actors have that aspect. Thus far I have been trying to be neutral on the characters, since the “red herring” and misdirection components of this series are so obvious. But if he winds up being a baddie, I can add another role to his list of creeps. I’m going to be surprised if [Michelle Forbes](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000405/) winds up being a baddie, because she’s being very convincing as the grieving and obtuse mother. ---
**Author:** ![Corliss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@Corliss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corliss)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-killing-new-series-on-amc/576691/103 "2011-04-18T19:22:17Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Not in the network version, but the pilot episode of Breaking Bad available on disk has bare boobs that were blurred for the network premiere. > > This week’s episode tried to imply that > > the teacher is the murderer. It’s an obvious red herring, IMO. The teacher is most definitely a red herring now. Which is good because I don’t want him to be responsible for Rosie’s killing. This episode also seemed to imply that Kris, the teenage junkie KNOWS that Holder is a fellow junkie like himself. Was that a red herring or more misdirection? We’ll see! I also found it interesting that the Chief so randomly dissed Holder about his clothing and appearance. That came out of nowhere. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-killing-new-series-on-amc/576691/104 "2011-04-18T19:22:43Z")
Okay, I’m changing my mind about the fiance. I was seduced by him bringing the wedding cake samples, but on second thought, it’s manipulation, not thoughtfulness. Also, it took a second too long for him to make up with Jack (Jake? the kid) about eating the samples. He reminds me a bit of Monte Markham, an actor from the 70’s that I had a big crush on. Mom seems to smart to believe that Rosie had no secrets, but maybe it’s a defense mechanism. It’s too soon to take away Rosie’s angel status. On review after seeing **Corliss** ’ comment about Holder’s clothes. Linden was wearing jeans! Why jump on Holder? He’s dressed for under cover, even if he isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-killing-new-series-on-amc/576691/105 "2011-04-18T19:30:11Z")
Is it just me or does [Holder](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1172478/)bear too much resemblance to [Mackenzie Crook](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0188871/) from the original (British) _The Office_? ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-killing-new-series-on-amc/576691/106 "2011-04-18T19:56:51Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > It’s used in training for noobs who may not have smelled the odor before, and for undercover narcs (as mentioned). When I went through training as a volunteer, they actually lit up a bowl of the real stuff and passed it around. Some of the veteran cops in the room tended to hold onto it for longer than necessary. 😉 Flashes back to that exact scene in _Serpico_. They made it quite clear that Frank Serpico [knew his way around a joint](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69WRoilMjv0)! There must be some kind of fake marijuana or else I really did get high the day “Officer Friendly” came to our junior high school to give us the big drug lecture (complete with many visual aids and the “marijuana incense”). CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-killing-new-series-on-amc/576691/107 "2011-04-18T20:35:17Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Skeevy because he’s too accommodating, too patient ? Or skeevy based on his looks? Just the way he looks. I don’t particularly care for the “needypoutytempermentalguy” schtick, either. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-killing-new-series-on-amc/576691/108 "2011-04-18T20:46:57Z")
Re the possible red herring: [spoiler]I’m expecting that it will turn out that he was borderline skeevy. Maybe not actually involved with the girl but not entirely resisting her infatuation and letting himself be emotionally inappropriate with her. So she got involved in a program he is involved with and that ultimately is the connection to the campaign manager who obviously killed her when she learned that she was sleeping with her senator father and that this information was being used by the girls Russian mob grandfather to blackmail him calling their political dynasty into doubt. But this isn’t L&O so probably not. [/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-killing-new-series-on-amc/576691/109 "2011-04-18T22:30:46Z")
What language was the guy speaking when he met Larsen in the cafe? I was thinking Larsen would be Danish or Swedish, but the language sounded like Russian. I actually had a hard time hearing it, so maybe I completely missed the boat on that. I’m enjoying this more each episode. Not great, but pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-killing-new-series-on-amc/576691/110 "2011-04-18T22:44:35Z")
I’m joining late but I absolutely love this show. The scene where Rosie’s parents discovered she was dead was heartbreaking and made me cry. The characters seem very real-life to me - as do the effects of the murder. You can watch Rosie’s mom age in every episode. No one is beautifully made up and perfectly coiffed except the politicians, which is believable. The only thing I have complaint with is the bluish filter through which they’re filming - Seattle isn’t **always** that gloomy. Maybe I’ll pick up some Blueblocker sunglasses and watch it through those… ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-killing-new-series-on-amc/576691/111 "2011-04-18T22:45:02Z")
The [AMC web site](http://www.amctv.com/shows/the-killing/cast/janek-kovarsky/) suggests the character is Polish. But I’m pretty sure I heard the Russian for “I don’t know” when they first started talking. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2011, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-killing-new-series-on-amc/576691/112 "2011-04-18T22:47:56Z")
> [@Surly\_Chick](#): > > Seattle isn’t **always** that gloomy. No it’s not, but keep in mind that only four days has gone passed. And it is late October. So I can accept it. But it does raise an issue, one writer I saw commented on how since only four days have passed the continued deep grief of the parents is completely right, but as a viewer a month has gone by and it starts to get repetitive. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-killing-new-series-on-amc/576691/113 "2011-04-19T04:14:10Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > What language was the guy speaking when he met Larsen in the cafe? I was thinking Larsen would be Danish or Swedish, but the language sounded like Russian. I actually had a hard time hearing it, so maybe I completely missed the boat on that. > > I’m enjoying this more each episode. Not great, but pretty good. I thought he sounded like The Greek in _The Wire_, but maybe it was just that they were meeting in a cafe over coffee. 🙂 Anyone else mightily bugged by the casket salesman, er, funeral director, and the minister? ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-killing-new-series-on-amc/576691/114 "2011-04-19T13:29:16Z")
> [@Tarwater](#): > > Given his conversation with Linden preceding the incident, his leading of the conversation with the two girls, and his sudden and immediate disinterest in them once they told him where the local kids hung out to get high, I find it really difficult to believe that his primary motive for being there was anything else than juicing a couple of young, gullible teenagers for information. He put himself directly in the path of the two girls – it seemed to me like they \*had \*to walk by him to get where they were going, which I presumed was a storage locker or whatever. I mean, he was in narcotics before this, wasn’t he? Manipulating the two girls for information by leveraging his rebellious status as a drug-user is exactly the kind of thing he’d have done a hundred times before during his tenure in a narcotics unit. apparently not marijuana, if you believe what he told linden. he ‘borrowed’ something from the narc boys that looks and smells like the real thing. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-killing-new-series-on-amc/576691/115 "2011-04-19T13:39:21Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Anyone else mightily bugged by the casket salesman, er, funeral director, and the minister? Put me down for bugged, if not annoyed with the stereotyping. That guy would never make it on _Six Feet Under_. In fact, he’d make a poor vet. ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-killing-new-series-on-amc/576691/116 "2011-04-19T15:41:45Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > My reaction to Linden’s fiance’ is probably tainted by other roles that [Callum Keith Rennie](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0719678/) has carried off convincingly, notably _24_ and _Harper’s Island_ which are the more recent things I’ve seen him in. He suffers from the ability to be cast for darker characters and that may not be a reflection of his acting skills as much as his looks and the vibe he seems to convey. Many actors have that aspect. I wonder if they cast him with this in mind. \*\*Everyone \*\*seems to be slightly suspect at this point. I want to like her fiance because Rennie played my favorite character from _Battlestar Galatica_, even though he was kind of a baddie there too. > [@AuntiePam](#): > > Anyone else mightily bugged by the casket salesman, er, funeral director, and the minister? Yeah, they both bugged me too. You would think they would both have much more experience (and compassion) dealing with people paralyzed with grief. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-killing-new-series-on-amc/576691/117 "2011-04-19T16:40:56Z")
Huh, doing a Google search, it seems like Narc Scent is a real thing. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-killing-new-series-on-amc/576691/118 "2011-04-19T16:42:50Z")
> [@Skara\_Brae](#): > > Yeah, they both bugged me too. You would think they would both have much more experience (and compassion) dealing with people paralyzed with grief. You’d think so, but in my relatively minimal experience with such things I’ve been amazed at how unhelpful these people have been. Admittedly, the guy who did my great-grandmother’s service (I didn’t even know she considered herself a member of a church until she died) had no idea who she was, but he did a piss poor job masking that. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2011, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-killing-new-series-on-amc/576691/119 "2011-04-19T22:15:25Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#): > > So I can accept it. But it does raise an issue, one writer I saw commented on how since only four days have passed the continued deep grief of the parents is completely right, but as a viewer a month has gone by and it starts to get repetitive. Yeah, this is starting to be a problem for me. I appreciate that within the story it is correct for the parents to still be in shock and grieving, after all they haven’t even had her funeral yet, but all the constant standing around staring quietly is \*really \*starting to get tiring. And yeah the coffin salesman seemed to be over the top in his obnoxiousness. I kept thinking how he’d be fired from Fischer & Sons for acting like that. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-killing-new-series-on-amc/576691/120 "2011-04-25T04:25:46Z")
The coffin salesman redeemed himself a bit in this episode. Somebody tell me – where do the Larsens live? Is it close to Stan’s business? Same building? Next door? I can’t figure out why the boy’s wet jammies ended up in the trash at the moving van place. In some scenes, it looks like they live in an industrial area. Also, how is Mireille pronounced? I liked this episode. I don’t think Bennet is the killer but they’re sure leading us that way. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-killing-new-series-on-amc/576691.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-killing-new-series-on-amc/576691.md?page=7)