The Killing – US vs Denmark

Who’s the Daddy?

Who wins the knitwear comp?

I think the answer to that question depends entirely on timing. I missed out on the Danish original. So by the time BBC 4 got around to repeating it I was already well and truly hooked on C4’s American version. I’m a big Sarah Linden fan.

I watched the first episode of the Danish version and discovered the scenes were pretty much identical to the US version shot for shot. So I carried on with Seattle-based drama and abandoned the Copenhagen one.

Oops!

Yesterday C4 screened the final double bill of The Killing – USA. And… we still don’t know who did it!! Not so much a cliffhanger as a smack in the face with a rain-soaked chunky jumper. Only now do I find out the Danish version’s got 20 episodes to the 13 of the American one. And iPlayer’s only got episodes 16 to 20 available. Watching episode 16 feels like plunging in the deep end of a COMPLETELY different series. I’m totally lost.

I might risk checking out the final ep just to see who did it. But will that ruin the second series of the US version? I realise this is not a dilemma on the scale of the current Euro crisis, or the recognition of Palestine as a sovereign state by the UN (although there may be some US vs Europe parallels in there somewhere). Do I stay loyal to Linden and give up completely on Lund?

What I will say is, Mireille Enos (Sarah Linden) is a fantastic actor, as is Michelle Forbes (Mitch Larson). And I’ve been watching Brent Sexton all this time convinced Ray Winston has perfected a brilliant American accent. Great performances all round.

Brent/Ray - ever seen them in the same room?

**SPOILER ALERT**
But the final two episodes – really? Would ‘Orpheus’ have set up his personal laptop to pick up emails from his anonymous webmail account? Very convenient that Linden was there while those emails were coming through. And what about the sudden realisation that the gas tank of the campaign car was nearly full and no one thought to check who last filled it? That may have been a convenience too far in an otherwise pretty plausible plot.

I’m tempted to stick to the US version just to see how many more actors from Battlestar Gallactica turn up. Maybe I’ll find out it was the Cylon skin-job whodunnit.

Did he even have an alibi?