Amid viewers' woes ‘Killing’ set to continue

When AMC’s detective thriller “The Killing” returns tomorrow at 8 p.m. for a two-hour premier, three things are guaranteed to happen: One, it’ll still be raining in the drab Seattle landscape. Two, Detective Sarah Linden (Mireille Enos) will have gotten off a plane that would be on its way to sunny California where her fiancé would be waiting for her (an exhaustive storyline throughout last season). And three, we still won’t know the answer to the question that framed the first season: “Who Killed Rosie Larson?”

To the chagrin of many critics — and Twitter followers — the creators of “The Killing” left us with more questions than answers as the first season came to an end. Many, many — did I say many? — people were upset and a huge backlash ensued. Some vowed to never watch the series again. And I still cannot fathom why.

The major point that sparked the so-called controversy was a particular cliffhanger where we find that Detective Linden has been betrayed by her partner Stephen Holder (Joel Kinnamen) after he presented her with false evidence to convict Councilman Darren Richmond (Billy Campbell). At the last minute, we see Holder speaking with an unknown collaborator, revealing that the Councilman, although suspicious, probably had nothing to do with Rosie’s murder. In turn, this put the Councilman in a predicament, as we last saw him with the barrel of a gun in his face after Larson family friend Belko went to avenge Rosie’s death.

I thought it was a great way to leave things. It was a classic cliffhanger that left me pining for season two. That’s what television is for, isn’t it? — to snatch up your attention and leave you wanting more?

I guess I was in the minority. Apparently, viewers were so caught up in the whodunit that they couldn’t appreciate great storytelling. Because that is what “The Killing” is all about — telling the story behind the murder, not just revealing who did it as quickly as possible. We want to know the why, not just the who.

A common theme among AMC’s dramas (“The Walking Dead,” “Mad Men” — to name a couple) is that the creators do a great job at keeping our attention by providing passionate characters within their scripts, along with passionate actors to portray those characters — no matter how bizarre the character may be made out to be (Bryan Cranston’s Walter White from “Breaking Bad” is a perfect example).

With “The Killing,” rather than simply working the case week to week, the show focuses on the people surrounding the case — parents, the city, school teachers, and even the detectives themselves. There are so many characters surrounding the case, and yet they all stand out as individuals and not as just another suspect to be checked off the list. We see the emotional obstacle course each person goes through in order to cope with what has happened, and we remember them because each character is unique and played with such passionate force.

The creators of “The Killing” also know how to pace the show. It’s well done in the sense that the creators have given us one 24-hour day of the case per episode, making for 12 consecutive days of the case to match with 12 weekly episodes — I hope they continue this tactic for the upcoming season. There is no passage of time, therefore we are seeing what everyone else is seeing — which makes us view everyone as a suspect.

Unfortunately, at this point, the question of “Who Killed Rosie Larson?” seems to be on the back burner. “Will viewers return, despite not getting what they wanted in the finale?” is the ultimate question. We’ll just have to wait and see on both accounts, as both creators and critics — never have all the answers.