User Reviews

Even though the main crime/plot for Season 4 was not as good as the rest of the series, this last episode was PHENOMENAL.

As the crime investigation wraps up, the strain on the friendship between Linden and Holder becomes unbearable. They are not willing to betray each other, though, despite the pressure, suspicion and pain.

Years pass before they even see each other again. When Sarah finally returns to visit Seattle, her confession and apology to Holder are profound.

It takes a lot of courage and forgiveness, but they acknowledge how much they mean to each other. They are soul mates.

The pluses Mireille Enos has to be one of the most watchable actresses ever. Her quiet portrayal of a policewoman with a lot of suppressed emotional baggage was beyond brilliant. She also looked as if she was not wearing makeup.

The absence of background music for most of the series, especially when the characters were speaking was another plus. What music was used was kept very low and in the background. This, along with the silent pauses in conversation greatly enhances the suspense, and this whole series had suspense to spare. After the frenetic bustling about of series like the West Wing, where shouting conversations always take place as the characters walk rapidly down a corridor as extras carrying files scurry back and forth in the background, and no one ever uses sentences longer than five words delivered at machine gun speed, the slower pace was refreshing.

The negatives: I may not have been paying attention, but I did find a lot of the plot was either unexplained, not followed up, or preposterous. e.g. in Season 3 why was a suspect who had not been on trial and found guilty locked in the next cell to someone on death row! Come on! That would never happen. The Gimme a break reaction kicked into overdrive all too often.

The finale with the Mayor coming up with a "Here's what we're gonna do" solution to save the Deportment's face and reputation showed that nothing had really changed. The crusader who was going to do things the right way had faced reality and accepted that the right way often involved compromise. Admitting that the pied piper killer was one of their own policemen would have had such serious repercussions that the city would likely never had recovered. I just wasn't sure that the creepy pornographer man who was blamed had actually killed anyone.

Again, this might be inattention due to late night bingeing, but where was the mother of Holder's daughter at the finale when suddenly the two smoking buddies decided to give romance a try? That was a major plot misstep and certainly would not have happened in a European production. Far better from them to have gone their separate ways with Sara looking longingly after Holder and realising that she had left it too late. I felt like shouting at the screen "Get away from her Holder, she's TROUBLE". Perhaps the producers were setting up the possibility of a fifth season as the dysfunctional Sara and occasionally relapsing former addict teamed up romantically.

The third season was a masterpiece and was deserving a 10. That last one (and 4th) was not that good. There were too many holes in the story, the main one concerning Skinner's death. The police found his body a month after his death in a lake, where a lot of young girls bodies were discovered. How the City was able to put all these murders on someone else, while his body was found in a car just besides? That's not realistic. More bizarre is the fact that Stanbury's mansion was not under surveillance after the murder of all the family. And again, a month after the shooting, the house was never cleaned up. It's also unbelievable. And the appearance of Linden's mother is not well displayed in that last season. The writers should have found a way to make this encounter more useful for the rest of the plot. It wasn't the case. Anyway, it's at least nice to discover at the end that Holder is in fact a good father. On 44 episodes, there were about 50 percent of them that were real great.

I've watched every season of The Killing including binge-watching the fourth series of six episodes this past week. I also watched the Danish series before watching the first and second series and have to say the Danes did it better. But I do love Joel Kinnaman's Holder character and he is what kept me coming back for more.

What disturbed me about the fourth series was its violence, bad language and the fact NONE of the characters were even slightly likable (except Sarah's son Jack). Not a good thing when the so-called good cops are almost as bad as the criminals. However, just like in real life nothing is black and white and I appreciate that even if I didn't like it. The ending was also off-putting and felt tacked on. I take it from the ending there will be no more series, which I think is probably a good thing.

The plot for season four was reasonably good but I just couldn't get past the darkness that engulfed the entire cast. And some of it just was not believable. Why on earth would Sarah - a seasoned crime detective - go back to the scene of the crime and throw the guy's phone in the lake??? Does not make sense. And how convenient having the guy's wife at the lake house to see her do it. And the military academy teenager's bedroom was covered in defaced posters of semi-naked women and hismother doesn't even seem to notice nor care? Give me a break. Plus I cannot understand why Holder's partner sticks with him after his abuseof his sister in front of her and then swearing in front of his sister's kids. He apologizes to Callie's mother at the end but not to his sister. Both him and Sarah were way too dark this season. OK, they were covering up Sarah's crime and it weighed heavily on their consciences but it was too heavily done. I am glad that they wrapped up this series on six episodes because I couldn't have coped with more.

I'm not going to put down the series here. It has provided me with great entertainment from the beginning. The first half hour as Kyle and the boys were dealt with was quite engaging, although Sarah's actions continue to be so over the top. Holder finally says what I've been thinking for some time: "You care more about dead people than living ones." Of course, there's some of that in him, but he has much more control. When she pulls a gun on him so he won't betray the Colonel, this is really where she falls off the bench. No matter the reason, those kids were evil. I'm glad there is no more show because I can't imagine there could be a working relationship. Bring in the God Machine. Bring back the Mayor from the first case (I wondered what happened to him. He went over to the dark side). And then the final scene is so patently sappy. For them to go off with all their experiences and learning from all their pain would have been so much better. Anyway, that's my take on things. I thought this was an excellent venture into something I didn't know existed.

Eden is about the Stansbury murders being resolved and the resolution to Skinner's body being found at the lake house, among his victims.

I have mixed feelings towards this episode, much like the entire season. I don't enjoy the plot regarding the Sansbury murders and the military school, which is intensified here. Though I love everything else throughout the season and Linden and Holder's relationship coming to a boiling point. Reddick gets his woman, only to have Mayor Richmond make a reappearance and squash it. I like the ending with Linden coming back to see Holder, though a bit of stretch. I love a lot of the episode, though too much that I do not and some I find hard to watch.