The Killing was supposed to be a hit. What could go wrong in an adaptation of an acclaimed Danish cop drama following a murder investigation in painstaking detail, starring Mireille Enos — who stole scenes as a pair of polygamist Mormon twins on Big Love – and airing on AMC, basic cable’s best bet for Quality Programming?

The first few episodes were satisfyingly dark and slow. We experienced the grief of murdered teenager Rosie Larsen’s family in agonizing relief, as though it were our own. If it felt like it was taking a while to get into the heads of even the show’s central characters — Enos’ Sarah Linden and her replacement/partner, Stephen Holder (Joel Kinnaman) — we trusted that the delay would pay off in realistically gradual revelations.

But then things started to fall apart. It isn’t that we didn’t learn more about many of the characters; the problem was that, in a transparent attempt to add extra twists and turns to the plot, nothing we discovered seemed to hang together. Rosie’s dad, Stan (Brent Sexton), is a warm and caring father — and a guy with secret mob troubles capable of beating a teacher (Brandon Jay McLaren) who’s a suspect in the killing within an inch of his life, in a fit of rage. The teacher, meanwhile, is an inspirational figure who not only happens to write Rosie overly personal letters and be married to a former student but is also involved in a completely separate scheme to save a young Muslim girl from an arranged marriage and female genital mutilation. Stan has somehow gone decades without realizing that his dopey friend Belko (Brendan Sexton III) is basically Norman Bates. Initially squeaky-clean Seattle mayoral candidate Darren Richmond (Billy Campbell) turns out to be pretty twisted — although perhaps not messed up enough, the final moments of The Killing‘s Season 1 finale suggest, to be the murderer. Rosie herself comes together as a faded copy of Twin Peaks‘ purposely surreal Laura Palmer, a smart, popular high schooler who has found her way into the world of casinos and high-priced call girls. … Read More