The Killing - The Complete First Season - DVD

Film: Sarah Linden (Mireille Enos) is preparing to leave Seattle, as she plans to relocate with her son and fiancé and start a new job. Her final task is to train her successor Stephen Holder (Joel Kinnaman). The disappearance of 17-year-old student Rosie Larsen provides the perfect opportunity for a smooth handover of the baton. But when the girl is found dead and leads to the campaign team of liberal politician Darren Richmond (Billy Campbell), who is running for mayor, Linden's departure is postponed until further notice. That's because the case continues to grow in scope, opening up new chasms. While Linden and Holder try not to lose sight of the leads in the ever-widening circle of suspects, the dead schoolgirl's father is driven to the brink of vigilante justice out of desperation. But this is far from the most dramatic part of the investigation...

The Killing is the acclaimed U.S. remake of the hit Danish series Inspector Lund - The Crime. The action has been moved from Copenhagen to Seattle in the process. Otherwise, The Killing sticks very closely to the original, which naturally leads to the assumption that viewers who know the Danish original will be more bored than captivated here. But that's not the case. Even if there are so many parallels that some surprises are missing, the series, nominated for several Emmys and the Golden Globe, often enough goes its own way. Thus, even those viewers who actually already know the story, are carried away by the search for the murderer of Rosie Larsen.

What the U.S. counterpart manages just as well as the original, is the structure of the individual, interconnected storylines. One follows not only the investigations of Sarah Linden and Stephen Holder, but also dives deep into the world of grief and anger eaten Larsen family or follows the efforts of the campaign team around Darren Richmond, that the image damage of their candidate by the connection to the murder is limited. As a result, the series is just able to entertain brilliantly not only as a gritty crime thriller, but also as a multi-layered drama.

The actors are absolutely convincing overall. Granted, Mireille Enos (World War Z) is a bit more colorless than her Danish counterpart Sofie Gråbøl. This makes Sarah Linden a little less interesting as a character than Sarah Lund. But detached from the direct comparison, Enos delivers a similarly good performance as her co-stars Joel Kinnaman, Billy Campbell and especially Brent Sexton, who plays the victim's father, who is prone to violent outbursts, with great intensity in some scenes.

Whoever hopes that the Rosie Larsen case is solved with the end of the first season will be bitterly disappointed. Because at the end of the 13 episodes there is still no clear culprit, but many possible suspects and leads that will ultimately lead to the resolution in the second season, which - this much is revealed - is different from that of the Danish original. Since the first season ends with a thrilling cliffhanger, it's reassuring to learn that the release of the second DVD box set will come less than a month after that of season 1. So the supply for series junkies is assured!

Although The Killing is not quite as exciting and thrilling overall as Commissioner Lund - The Crime, the makers of this remake have managed to create a very good and atmospherically dense crime series that scores with interesting characters, great actors and exciting twists. And therefore there is for this first season also a deserved: Absolutely worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The technical realization of the series has turned out very atmospheric. The color scheme is somewhat subdued, which captures the oppressive mood of the story very well. The image sharpness is on a good level for a current TV series. Although much of the action takes place in the gloom, smaller details often come through neatly. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is also pleasantly atmospheric, with voices sounding very directional. However, ambient noises such as wind and rain and smaller sound effects also ensure that the surround channels get a bit of use every now and then. Good!

Extras: The first DVD features a (non-subtitled) audio commentary on the pilot episode by series creator and executive producer Veena Sud. The remaining extras are on the fourth disc. Here, there is an extended version of the season finale (48:16 min. instead of 45:30 min.), which can be viewed with an optional audio commentary by lead actress Mireille Enos and producer/writer Nicole Yorkin. While the extended version of this episode is in the original English audio with German subtitles, there are no subtitle options for the second audio commentary either. Finally, the disc has some cut scenes (approx. 12:28 min.), as well as a picture gallery to offer. In addition to these extras, the DVD also comes with an episode guide for the first season.

Conclusion: The Killing doesn't come close to Commissioner Lund, to be sure. But although the US remake sticks very closely to the Danish original in many moments, the series manages to build its very own atmosphere, which is intensified by the intense acting of several actors and by the oppressive imagery. An extremely gripping mixture of thriller and drama, which leaves many questions unanswered at the end and thus makes the wait for season 2 a real test of patience. If you like atmospheric thriller fare with interesting characters and a very complex story, you shouldn't miss this first season of The Killing - and pre-order season 2 right away!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp