In contrast with it's Danish origin, the US adaptation of The Killing took the decision, for better or for worse, to not reveal Rosie Larsen's killer at the end of season one and dedicate another season to the Linden's investigation.
I like The Killing as in a similar manner to The Wire, it shows the detective process in a more painstaking light and at a more realistic speed, with the detectives sometimes at a loss for clues or leads and makes a change from solved in an episode police shows. Again similar to The Wire, it dedicates time to the characters from both the police and the suspects as well as the grieving family.
Season two begins immediately where the first left off, as Linden pieces together clues of a possible conspiracy to frame Richmond. This has Linden questioning Holder's loyalty to the case and the two lead characters manage to avoid each other's attempts to explain the situation for the first few episodes. This became frustrating as first Linden ignores Holder and then Linden struggles to reach Holder after she clears him. There are only so many times you can watch someone choose to not answer the phone.
Holder remains as amusing as before with his macho posturing but Linden becomes quite dislikeable during the season. Her neglect of her son as she becomes addicted to the case is abhorrent.
A lot of screen time of the first half of the season is spent with Richmond recuperation in hospital. While I assumed that this time was being well spent, and that Richmond's involvement hadn't finished yet it was a distraction from the crime solving activities.
The season improved greatly from Episode 8 onwards. Linden manages to save Holder, loses her badge, sends Jack away and the episode ends with her and Holder driving away from the camera in a new direction, both having found new determination.
The final episode brought all three groups of characters together and despite the anti-climax of the first half of the episode, the second half provided a heart-breaking twist and some solid acting from Rosie's family as all was revealed, both from a justice point of view and with regards to Rosie's feelings towards her parents.
The show has now been cancelled by AMC and I feel that having solved the Larsen case and been through so much in doing so, there is little left for the writers to work with for Linden and it would not be the same starting with a fresh investigation so all in all a good decision to let the show finish on a high.
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