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| The Killing The Complete First Season from AMC Network Entertainment |
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| Mini-Review February 10, 2014 |
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For those unaware, The Killing takes its lead from a Danish crime series called Forbrydelsen. Initially airing in early January 2007, only three seasons were made, and you can buy the complete set on Amazon.co.uk. I recommend this set, but it will cost you around $80 USD. As of this review, The Killing has had three complete seasons released, and surprisingly, there is only the first season available on Blu-ray. AMC needs to hurry up and get their act together.
The Plot
In the first episode, we see Detective Sarah Linden (Mireille Enos) of the Seattle Police Department, running through one of Northwest Washington's trails. This is her last day with SPD, and after just having a surprise going away party, she's ready to head south to California with her fiance, Rick Felder (Callum Keith Rennie). In the middle of packing things up from the office, Stephen Holder (Joel Kinnaman) walks in. It's a rather awkward moment, as he's her replacement. As law enforcement life would dictate, there's a situation which comes up in the middle of everything, and Lt. Michael Oakes (Garry Chalk) suggests Sarah take Stephen along and show him a few things before she leaves.
At the scene of a crime — which has yet to be determined — an officer shows the two detectives a pink sweatshirt with a significant amount of blood which was found by schoolkids on a field trip, and a debit card with the name Stanley Larsen. So far, no body has been found. Sarah and Stephen know they need to find out where this Stanley Larsen resides and follow-up. Sarah's flight to California is at 9:00pm, but Stephen assures her she will be on the flight if only she can tag along for a little while longer on the case. Sarah relunctantly agrees.
Eventually, detectives learn Rosie Larsen (Katie Findlay) has not communicated with her parents for several days, and her alleged whereabouts are not accurate. Rosie's parents, Stan Larsen (Brent Sexton) and Mitch Larsen (Michelle Forbes), are now dreading the possibility of something unthinkable.
Packaging
Packaging for The Killing: The Complete First Season came to me in a standard Elite 3-Disc Blu-ray case. Would've been nice to have a slipcover with additional artwork, but I'm not too picky. The three Blu-ray discs have a different color of artwork: Disc One is black, Disc Two is mostly white, and Disc Three is a light brownish color. Also, if you remove the insert on the inside, you will see the series episodes broken down by disc (along with special features) displayed on the opposite-side of the cover artwork, which is very convenient.
Screencaps
Video
The Killing: The Complete First Season looks great. I've included additional screencaps due to the variancea in scenes, and because it's a series. There are some instances where grain is observed, but this is not so common. Outdoor filming is rather good, and I think I observed more grain when there were scenes inside on a dark night. Still, this series looks exceptional, and really brings out the grittyness of the circumstances of the series altogether.
Additional Screencaps
Extras
Specifications
Main Audio Track: DTS-HD Master 5.1 (English) @ 3598 Kbps (48kHz/24-bit) D1
Main Audio Track: DTS-HD Master 5.1 (English) @ 3481 Kbps (48kHz/24-bit) D2
Main Audio Track: DTS-HD Master 5.1 (English) @ 3542 Kbps (48kHz/24-bit) D3
Conclusion
The Killing: The Complete First Season is one of my favorite crime shows available. I've read about comments regarding the "chain-of-evidence" during the series, and while these points are valid...you have to ask yourself what the series is more interested in: Chain Of Evidence procedures...or the psychological circumstances of the characters and how they play out with one another. Sure, let's add an extra 30-minutes per episode, watching Linden and Holder log evidence. I'm sure that'll put the series into the most exciting crime thrillers ever to grace television!
Not.
One of the few crime shows to make its way past the typical wrap-it-up-in 60-minutes for better advertising profits genres, The Killing: The Complete First Season (Blu-ray) gets a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED PLUS. If you like watching a crime unfold slower, building up to an amazing discovery of events, this is for you.
The Killing also presents us with several up-and-coming young actors which I am sure we'll see in future movies and maybe other TV series. Characters such as Bullet (Bex Taylor-Klaus) and Lyric (Julia Sarah Stone) stand out in my mind throughout the third installment of the series and I hope to be reviewing these other seasons eventually.
It would be nice to present the reviews of Season Two and Season Three of The Killing...but they aren't on Blu-ray yet. This is one of those very irritating behaviors of studios which frustrates me. You have something good, sales are good, so why not release it on Blu-ray?
The Killing of The Killing...and more Killing...?
Initially, The Killing was slated for only one season, but due to a surprising demand (yes, it's true, many viewers do know what quality content is), a second and third season was created. Then we heard the third season was the last...and now recently we have a fourth season being created to finally end the series, but this time, Netflix will be producing it, leaving AMC out of the production. Netflix has had some pretty good original productions, so I'm confident they can pull something together for a final...finale. |
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