Pales in comparison to the Danish original. The many red herrings seem contrived; the characters (with the notable exception of Joel Kinnaman's nuanced performance) are sadly two-dimensional; and the atmospherics (i.e. darkness, constant rain) are oppressive rather than mood-setting. I'm not convinced the show-runner has any idea where this is going.

nice camera work and good acting. but compared to the original show, there are much more 'inconsistencies' and some rather weird and unbelievable story twists. it doesn't manage to build up the same atmosphere that one finds in the original show.

This show would have had a 9 fromme, but they blew it at the end. First of all, two shows from the end they said in the trialer, "the killer will be a shocker to all." Well, I knew right then and there it was the guy running for office because he was the LEAST likely. And then when the end came, there as no end! No clear murderer. These shows needs to be a story within itself for a season and start fresh with a new story line for the next season, like Dexter.

Don't know if I'll turn in for the second season now. I was ready to move on… Expand

I was disappointed in this show, it had mediocre acting by amc original series standards. and the pacing is painfully slow and relies on the viewer to feel bad everytime they see the irrational characters cry over something stupid they've done. and the ending to season 1... it throws out everything it was building to with a rushed and not very well thought out ending full of holes. i won't be returning for next season =(… Expand

This show didn't appeal to me. I watched the first half of the hour-and-a-half long pilot and I was bored. Some parts of it were thrilling but overall, it was simply too slow and too long to my taste. I feel like nothing happened in the 45 first minutes and I really wasn't caught up in the show. Under the pretense of realism and suspense, the show delivers boredom and depression. Don't watch it -- or if you do, you've been warned.… Expand

I've been watching this series from the beginning. "The Killing" just goes on and on and on .... are the detectives never going to solve this case? I have absolutely no interest in suffering through the grief of Rosie's family and the politician's story is just as dull.
I want the story to stay with the two--interesting--detectives. Hurry up!

In brief, two points:
1)You can't judge this show by its first few episodes, which is why the scores are so drastically inflated. 2) I am simply in shock at how bad the writing is [scene by scene and in the series overall]. It's like an elephant playing piano. How did this show-runner get to adapt a series? More details:
The writing's so bad that it's hard to gauge the talent of the actors, so I will reserve judgment there. However, for those of you who haven't studied the interplay of writing and acting, you may find yourself frequently inclined to blame the actors.

I've found this show to be an interesting study in what a series can get wrong at the same time that it gets several things right. [Its strong points are cinematography, design and editing; and the fact that it's based on a Danish series with an interesting premise: an in-depth examination of a murder case]

Many user reviews cite "slow and depressing" as a problem with this show, but I disagree. I think that a show like this, if written well, would not bother people with its heavy themes and in-depth examination of a case.… Expand

I really wanted to like this. I watched the first 4 episodes and in the end it just came across as one piece of depressing, badly acted , TV detective series. I am sure there must be some mystery to the whole thing but i could not fathom having to endure any more damp depressive dialogue. Awful, Awful, Awful.

Apparently I missed the critics Koolaid party. I am a Twin Peaks fan, but this series first show borders on "a waste of time" or "horrendous first date" - the next episode will determine if it is permanently removed from my DVR list. It could have (and should have) been condensed to 45 minutes simply by deleting the "gazing into the mist" scenes. It feels like "Fargo" yearning to be "Twin Peaks" with a subplot from "Homicide/Life on the Streets" without benefit of Richard Belzer. I could not wait for the show to end - Somehow I don't think that counts that as a plus!… Expand

What a shame. The first two episodes were great, and then the show took an olympic nosedive. Nothing. Ever. Happens. "The Killing"? More like, "The Grieving" or "The Raining." The show is an hour long. In that hour, we get 40 minutes of Rosie's family mourning their daughter's death (who we never meet, by the way, so why should we even care about her?) 15 minutes of the mayor storyline (more on that later) and 5 minutes of actual, you know, mystery solving. And throughout this time, it never stops raining. According to "The Killing's" writer's, Seattle has only one type of weather: gloomy and wet. The Killing should have been 5 episodes long, not thirteen, since it's painfully obvious that they're using the grieving and mayoral aspects as filler. In what little time we spend with the detectives, they make little to no progress. I'm starting to suspect that even the writers don't know who killed Rosie, so they distract us with shots of the Larsen family staring out into space or having dinner in silence, or with the mayoral race. Fun fact: NO ONE CARES ABOUT MAYORAL RACES. In this show, they treat it like a presidential election. Excuse me, this show is called "The Killing," not "The Campaigning." I'm only giving this a 1 because of Linden's partner, the narc. He's the only good part of the show.… Expand

I have "stuck with it" the entire season. Like watching wet paint dry sloooowwwwly !! The final episode last night convinced me that I will not be a returning viewer next season. Too slow, too long, boring, depressing ... even "real life" doesn't move this slow. This series doesn't even approach Twin Peaks. Boring, Boring, Boring ... I gave it a score of 1 because there weren't any lower choices (-12)!!… Expand

"The Killing" is proof positive that critics need to analyze the entirety of a season, or do follow-ups to their first impressions, before declaring something good or bad. Like them, I would have given this show a 9 or 10, had I only, again like them, seen the first couple episodes and were writing this review in April. Fortunately, I have the benefit of time and watching the full season and can accurately compare this show to going around a roundabout for 13 weeks and not taking off down ANY of the roads leading out of it. Shoddy detective work, shoddy story telling and that godawful last episode really hammer home how poor a series this is. They strung the audience along on the moodiness of Seattle and stellar cast, in an elaborate cover-up of second-rate story construction. AMC prematurely greenlighted this for Season 2. Good riddance. It should go the way of "Rubicon" -- another series of slow build, small payoff.… Expand

I gave this show 0 (zero) cos it's plagiarism of Twin Peaks.

Ok my taste is bad, but so as this show is. I'm not offended by those who say it's great show and that i have no taste since this i don't like, cos they have no arguments, just empty words :You are a looser, Troll or whatever. Plus this Laura Palmer is ugly. I don't know why here is so many posts defending this show, i guess they are paid by producers or company AMC that show this series. This already exist in China and their name is "50 cents commentators". Clearly this is plagiarism and it's not debatable, it's fact that any one that sees TP know what this is, so you who defend this TV show you need to defend for couple months more cos it has only one season. Till sponsors and ADs need mass viewers and show us their products that we "desperately" need to buy. Well i wouldn't buy anything that advertise on this show.

This show is lame, without excitement, good music or any acting. It will be ended soon, don't worry. It's too stupid even for America's TV. I watched 3 episodes and i'm not amused not for a second. I have do admit, second season of TP is lame and pointless too. But 1st season is what will last forever, and of course OST.

Long live Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch… Expand