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The Killing (AMC)

Started 1 year ago by elisabethf
Latest reply from metrognome

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elisabethf
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Haven't seen anything about this so I figured I'd start a thread.

"The Killing" on Sunday night on AMC is a murder mystery serial that takes place in Seattle (though it's filmed in Vancouver BC). It's very noirish... constantly raining, depressed-looking characters. Also intriguing as in who murdered the victim? (My money's on the victim's best friend.)

But the writers obviously don't know what they're talking about as far as locale goes. The dialog has a character saying "I picked her up in a bar in Tukwila" as if that says it all about the "her" that got picked up. And this last Sunday's episode managed to top that. The mayor of Seattle remarks about his own high position, "Not bad for a kid from Highland Park! Where you from?" to somebody or other. The other person replies "Pigeon Point. White trash."

In the same episode, the detectives uncover evidence that the victim had been regularly riding a bus from her home in (presumably) Ballard that goes to an exclusively Afro-American neighborhood. Only black people ride this bus! Why would a white person be on this bus?

I guess I am a naive Seattleite for not realizing that it would be a miracle for somebody from Highland Park to be voted mayor, that everyone is Pigeon Point is white trash, and that Seattle has an exclusively Afro-American neighborhood where no white person would ever dare venture.

Comments, anyone?

Posted 1 year ago #
cjboffoli
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I just caught up on the first four episodes and I have to say that I'm perplexed at all of the great reviews the show has been getting. It is not nearly as well-produced as AMC shows like Breaking Bad or Mad Men. The lead actress is excellent. But the plot is glacially paced and the whole political arc is such a cliche. Aside from establishing helicopter shots it seems the entire show is being produced in Vancouver. Of course it has to rain in every scene though. It's Seattle, right? I've lived in this city for six and a half years now and I think I could probably count on one hand the number of torrential, heavy rain storms like the ones they seem to be depicting in every scene.

Posted 1 year ago #
Admiral935
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/

Posted 1 year ago #
westseattledood
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I haven't watched any of this (no TV), but as a Highland Park homeowner I am a little stunned HP even made it into a movie when so many folks in West Seattle don't even know where we are! ;)

It might be kind of interesting to know if any of the writers are Seattleites.

Posted 1 year ago #
cjboffoli
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The show's creator, Veena Sud, is not from Seattle. And it shows in the way she seems to be pulling the names of random places off of maps and assigning wild characteristics to them that don't fit. Here is a bit of what Sud said in a recent interview about the selection of Seattle as the backdrop for the series (which incidentally is based on an original series set in Denmark):

"Part of the compelling nature of the series is the world reflects the internal life of the characters because it’s go brooding and tragic and rainy and still beautiful there. Not like some bummed-out place where you don’t want to be. You want to be there. But part of you knows that it’s a dangerous not quite safe place to be. So I started to do some research and choose different cities, and obviously Seattle in the Northwest was kind of in that wheelhouse. But Seattle specifically vs. other cities because it’s a city of contradictions. It's a city on the edge of civilization. It’s beautiful skies, the frigid Puget Sound that’ll kill you if you fall into it. The most liberal, the most literate city in America. The hunting grounds of the Green River Killer. So there’s black and there’s white and there’s tragedy and there’s beauty in almost everything, just in that one place, that serves as the backdrop. "

Posted 1 year ago #
HelperMonkey
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we gave it a 1/2 hour before we shut it off in disgust. I was looking forward to it, but it was so ridiculous on so many levels (the rain that cjb mentioned in particular - we got a good larf out of that) - also, if you're going to set it in Seattle, FILM IT IN SEATTLE. not just B-roll. Our state needs to step up its game and stop letting all the filming take place in Vancouver BC.

I suppose if you're not from Seattle, these little things wouldn't bother you, and you'd be able to enjoy the show. Not me! :)

Posted 1 year ago #
JoB
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At least the comic riff on Portland is filmed in Portland...

Posted 1 year ago #
DP
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'dood, I'm inspired to think that a humble pooch from Highland Park could grow up to be on the Internets.

If re-elected Governor of King County, I promise a TV in every Highland Park home, free trailer removal for the people of Pigeon Point, and a jobs training program for the fallen women of Tukwila.

–Rod

Posted 1 year ago #
JanS
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geez, DP, did you have to? His picture gives me the willies...

Posted 1 year ago #
odroku
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Why so serious?

Posted 1 year ago #
desertdweller
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The Killing is a shot-for-shot remake of a Danish T.V. show called Forbrydelsen. The original Danish show is slow-paced at the beginning but gets better the more one watches it. I believe Forbrydelsen is on its third season and is so popular that the BBC has slapped sub-titles on it and is showing it in the UK.

I watched the first double episode of the American version and found it to be pretty good. I'm willing to suspend my disbelief about Seattle's landscape for a good TV show!

Posted 1 year ago #
elisabethf
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Great responses, folks, thanks!

Posted 1 year ago #
Jiggers
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How do they do those excellent rain scenes?

Posted 1 year ago #
cjboffoli
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Jiggers: First, you need really big raindrops as light rain doesn't read very well on film. Most productions use a devices called rain bars which get rigged up over the sets. They're either connected to a hard water line or, if on location without a piped source, a water truck. Rain bars come in a number of sizes big and small, depending on how much rain you want. Some of the Hollywood studios use rain bars that are so big they actually generate their own micro-climates while in use. The grips tend to hate them because it means they have to deal with both the high-voltage cables for lights and massive quantities of cold water – two things you usually try to avoid mixing.

Posted 1 year ago #
JimmyG
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It's a fictional TV show people, don't take it so personally.

Posted 1 year ago #
elisabethf
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It's not the rain scenes that get me, it's, as Christopher says above, "pulling the names of random places off of maps and assigning wild characteristics to them that don't fit."

Maybe it takes an outsider to see our fair city as brooding and tragic and rainy. Go rent "Trouble in Mind" from Netflix! Not so much rain, though in that movie Seattle is dubbed "Rain City," but plenty broody. At least they actually filmed that one in Seattle.

Oh well, I am enjoying the show when not jolted by Tukwila tramps and Pigeon Point white trash and dangerous black hood references. I guess I'd be a Junction jezebel.

Posted 1 year ago #
metrognome
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I agree with cjb's take on this series; I also don't think it's cast very well. I do like the lead actress, but am not impressed with her partner or her boyfriend. It's darkness also kind of reminds me of the Kenneth Branagh 'Wallander' series on PBS. I will probably continue watching it only because we are entering the dead zone for new episodes of most of my favorite shows and in the hopes that desertdweller's assessment will come true.

As far as the racial issues, I've been here long enough to remember the racial divisions in the 70's when what is portrayed in the series was more likely to exist. There were a lot of white folks who wouldn't go into the CD or certain other neighborhoods at night and there were areas where the mere presence of a black man with an Afro would result in a patrol car rolling up pretty quickly. I think these overt situations still occur to a minor degree today but not to the level the series indicates. There are routes in the Metro system that reflect the ridership in the series. How's that for being obtuse?

Another interesting (notice I didn't say good) movie that was actually shot in Seattle is 'McQ', one of John Wayne's last films. The famous Bullitt-like chase scene is almost as laugable as his hairpiece because it couldn't possibly have happened in the order shown. For info (spoiler alert -- pretty much gives away the entire plot but not the actual ending): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McQ

hmmm ... Junction Jezebel ... that has possibilities. Too bad Almost Live isn't still in production.

Posted 1 year ago #
metrognome
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shoulda thought to check YouTube before I logged off ... here's the McQ chase scene, annotated for folks who didn't live here in the mid-70's:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvluHfTVrdU

I'm not sure how accurate the annotation is and the comments don't always help figure out the details, but still fun. The multiple identical delivery trucks are important because the one he starts out following contains the stolen drugs.

Here's the trailer (recognize the actor playing the pimp?) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX0GsD2K8tc

McQueen's Stang was much cooler. Wait ... McQ ... McQueen ... hmmm.

Sorry for threadjacking ... back to The Killing ...

Posted 1 year ago #
Admiral935
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The Killing is a classic Noir flick directed by none other than some guy named Kubrick staring Sterling Hayden. WhateverAMC<sharkjumpers,hahahaha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQXokRldBUo

Posted 1 year ago #
redblack
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helper monkey: didn't we recently vote on funding the state's film commission? maybe in the last decade?

the city hall scenes feature shots of downtown, from downtown, in roughly the right location. not sure if they are projected, or if some of those scenes were filmed here. i'm guessing the former.

city of contradictions, indeed. denizens complain about the wettest, coolest april on record in one thread - then complain about seattle's portrayal as a cold version of vietnam in another.

know why it's not "cast very well?" it was cast and shot in canada. they just don't have the star wattage of america's cast and casting companies.

another thing canadian-shot shows and movies lack:

product placement and endorsement.

at the risk of being called a fanboy, i like the series well enough to while away an hour a week with it. someone above said something about suspending disbelief and getting immersed in the story, which i think is compelling enough. yes, it has a slow pace. it's a series. like twin peaks. and breaking bad. and dexter.

i'm from lesser seattle, so i'm not sure how i feel about the rest of america thinking that vancouver is seattle. maybe we shouldn't put our fair (unfair?) city out there. you know, keep the riff-raff - like veena sud - away.

Posted 1 year ago #
cjboffoli
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redblack: The actors are most likely shot on a stage with green screens outside of the windows. The static or moving images of Seattle are composited in later in post. It is really astounding what they can do with backgrounds these days: http://www.vimeo.com/8337356

While it's true that Canada lacks the star wattage we have here in the States, don't forget that many of our stars are Canadian (Mike Myers, Jim Carrey, Dan Akroyd, John Candy, Ellen Page, Pamela Anderson, Keanu Reeves, Michael J. Fox, Anna Paquin, Martin Short, William Shatner..... just to name a few).

A lack of stars doesn't seem to be stopping them. They just borrow them from us. Vancouver has become the third largest film and television market in North America. They do more than $1.5 billion in production business annually. They have the trained labor and specialized facilities to have forty simultaneous productions going on in the city if they need to. The Canadian government gives a 30% rebate for labor costs, a strong incentive to shoot there. There are provincial tax credits that apply too. So you've gotta give them credit for the production mecca that Vancouver has become. It's pretty impressive for a country that totally lacks a discernible national cuisine :-)

Posted 1 year ago #
Jiggers
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I find murder mysteries kind of drab. Anyone remember the TV series Millenium which was also filmed in the Seattle area?

Posted 1 year ago #
chrisma
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It's pretty impressive for a country that totally lacks a discernible national cuisine :-)

I thought TimBits were the national cuisine of Canada.

Posted 1 year ago #
dhg
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Millenium: was that the one with the young girl sitting on the edge of a ruined space needle? That was filmed in Vancouver and I recall seeing the peculiar sci-fi vehicles they used in the shots all parked along Yale Town.

My favorite Seattle movie: House of Games. David Mamet. Lindsey Crouse. The lobby of 1001 4th ave gets used.

Posted 1 year ago #
Jiggers
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I thought Disclosure( filmed in Seattle) was good.

Posted 1 year ago #
redblack
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let's not forget american heart.

ahh, the zoo tavern... "juan got an AM radio."

Posted 1 year ago #
anonyme
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I just watched the entire first season of Twin Peaks for the first time in years. I was (and still am) a HUGE TP fan. As surreal as TP was, I think it captured the essence of the Pacific Northwest rather well. One thing that came to mind while watching is how much Snohomish and North Bend have changed since then. They're now Seattle sleeper communities, with huge condo developments. The owls are definitely no longer what they seem.

Posted 1 year ago #
yarncore
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You'd be surprised at what people who actually live in Seattle think about some of the areas, though. For instance one of my coworkers went to some store in White Center a few weeks ago to pick something particular up (I'm not sure what) and MULTIPLE people who live in Seattle and at least two who have lived here for many years were like "OH EM GEE! White Center is so scary and dangerous, you should never got there by yourself or in the evening time!!"

And it wasn't too long ago that I felt like a big minority in the CD. I don't really feel that way anymore, but I can see where people might get random info from people who lived here at some point.

The show sounds a little lame, though. And references to Pigeon Point and Highland Park are just odd.

Posted 1 year ago #
Jiggers
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Matthew Broderick in War Games.

Posted 1 year ago #
yarncore
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P.S. I've been to some bars in Tukwila, and I think I know what they are talking about. (No offense to those from Tukwila)

Posted 1 year ago #
Lindsey
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If you're looking for your city to be accurately portrayed in a film or television show, I think you'll be disappointed every time.

My favorite source of Seattle references, filmed in Seattle, would be Sir Mix A Lot's video for "My Posse's on Broadway." I plan on making a West Seattle version this summer. My posse's on Fauntleroy!

Posted 1 year ago #
redblack
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yarncore: seattle's "bad neighborhoods" look like queen anne compared to some neighborhoods in indianapolis and chicago. the only places in seattle where i've ever felt threatened were downtown and pioneer square - by drunken white kids or insane homeless people.

i've never felt threatened in the CD, rainier valley, white center, columbia city, or any of the other 'hoods with bad reputations... let alone pigeon point.

anyway, how about this gem?

Posted 1 year ago #
yarncore
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I'm not saying I think they're bad. I totally rolled my eyes at the people freaking out about White Center - I love it there! The only place I've ever felt really threatened was at the bus stop on the corner of 3rd and Pike in front of Wallgreens at night by myself. THAT ISH IS FRIGHTENING.

I enjoyed the portrayal of Seattle in the movie Singles. I love that movie.

Posted 1 year ago #
yarncore
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OH, and Lindsey, I really want to see your video for "My Posse's on Fauntleroy" because that sounds off the hook!

Posted 1 year ago #
cjboffoli
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chrisma: TimBits (introduced in 1976) are nothing but a Canadian copy of Dunkin Donuts Munchkins (introduced in 1972). But those Canucks sure do love their Tim Horton's though, don't they? I suppose if I ever hear someone utter the phrase "Let's go out tonight for some Canadian food" I'll know Tim Horton's is probably what they mean.

Posted 1 year ago #
redblack
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yarncore: for the record, i was agreeing with you.

and, yeah, walking pike and/or pine between 2nd and 3rd - almost any time of day - puts my hackles up. insane homeless people and anything-for-a-buck drug addicts.

cjb: one word: poutine.

so it's actually three foods put together by people who are bored and cold, looking for a layer of winter fat for their arteries. it's still canadian. :)

Posted 1 year ago #
Cait
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I shall hear no ill talk of Canada... not while my Canucks are still in the playoffs.

Posted 1 year ago #
cjboffoli
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redblack: A single dish does not a cuisine make. You could even throw in Montreal style bagels, crepes and Molson Brador beer. But that's still not much. Isn't it strange though that a country bigger than Australia doesn't have a more assertive cuisine?

Just think of the diversity of American food: from apple pie to hot dogs and hamburgers, to Chicago deep dish pizza, Philly cheesesteaks, Maine lobster, southern fried chicken, Louisiana gumbo and po boys, Tex-Mex, Kansas City BBQ, California sourdough bread, San Diego fish tacos, Chicago deep dish pizza, Maryland blue crabs, Virginia ham, Key Lime Pie...and the its goes on.

Our neighbors to the North could really step it up.

Posted 1 year ago #
bigmark
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Hear, hear, Cait. Go Canucks Go!!!

And cjb, I'm not sure how proud you ought to be about American cuisine, given that American food is pretty much synonymous with fast food / junk food in the rest of the world.

Posted 1 year ago #
austin
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Maybe Canada doesn't have as many region specific foods as the US due to our population being something like 10x theirs.

Posted 1 year ago #
cjboffoli
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big mark: Actually, I'm incredibly proud of American cuisine and its tremendous diversity and creativity as I'm just as conversant with the cuisine of Thomas Keller and Grant Achatz as I am with Ronald McDonald and the Colonel. But I wonder where you are perceiving a sense of shame over American fast food abroad. It is surely a misperception as I've seen plenty of McDonalds restaurants packed with foreign patrons, from France to the Middle East. And they absolutely love their KFC in Beijing as well as they do in Bangkok.

austin: You might be on to something if raw population numbers could be directly correlated with cuisine creativity. But I'd argue that cultural diversity is actually a more significant predictor of a greater breath of food choices. Despite Canada's lower overall population numbers, I'd argue that cities like Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto might even be more culturally diverse than comparable American cities. In fact, more than half of Toronto's population is foreign born. That's even more diverse than the greater New York area. And yet Toronto's overall cuisine is about as stimulating as dry toast.

There are probably other cultural metrics at work. Maybe the same metrics would explain why the US has also won the majority of Nobel Prizes ever awarded, not to mention the most Olympic medals.

Posted 1 year ago #
librarian
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Speaking of Seattle movies, I always laugh at the scene where Tom Hanks and his son get in a canoe (or kayak? its been awhile) at their Lake Union houseboat and end up at Alki.

Posted 1 year ago #
Jiggers
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What's funnier is when Frasier was on, they were suuposed to be living in downtown Seattle I think, but if you looked at the backdrop of their apartment, not one building resembled a downtown Seattle building. Talk about fake.

Posted 1 year ago #
redblack
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no, jiggers. the skyline was a real likeness. the thing about it was that the view was impossible: frasier would have had to live on about the 15th floor of a highrise - 2 blocks north of the space needle.

doesn't change the fact that it was shot in LA, though.

Posted 1 year ago #
Jiggers
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Ok..I watched the latest episode of The Killing on Sunday and they made it rain thru the whole show. Is that how the whole series is going to be? Talk about overblown.

Posted 1 year ago #
SarahScoot
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The show is done in a modern-day film noir style, which means it is dark, dreary, and dramatic. That's the style of the show. It does not mean the creators/writers/directors/producers actually think it constantly rains in Seattle. Nothing to take personally or get upset over.
Anyway, I enjoy the show greatly... and I'm pretty sure that the last episode's airport scene was actually shot at SeaTac. If so, I'm quite impressed.

Posted 1 year ago #
Halyn
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dhg: I know the topic has moved on, but just 'cause it's driving me crazy...Millennium had Lance Henrikson IIRC, and was sort of an X-files spin-off...kinda. I don't remember much about it, though I do remember being one of the five people who watched it when it came out.

The show with the girl sitting on the Space Needle was Dark Angel, one of my favorite scifi tv shows ever.

Posted 1 year ago #
cjboffoli
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I'm at a loss to justify why I continue to waste time watching this show. It just seems to devolve with each successive episode. With the astonishing success of Mad Men and Breaking Bad, I wanted AMC to strike gold again with this show. I was really rooting for this to work. But it increasingly feels like one a rain-soaked episode of Law and Order that they've watered down into a series. At this point I'm way beyond caring who killed the girl.

Posted 11 months ago #
metrognome
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cjb -- I was actually thinking about restarting this thread because it seems like it is finally getting interesting, although the murder seems to have taken a back seat to all the subplots. And the constant drenching downpours are getting a little boring. Only 2 episodes left and the promos seem to promise a little more action. I think it could have been boiled down to about half the episodes.

Posted 11 months ago #
librarian
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I want my 13 hours back. Anyone else?

Posted 11 months ago #