The Killing drinking game
In the first season of The Killing (the American version), the detectives question a school janitor who has the keys to what looks like the crime scene. We assume that the janitor character is Filipino because (a) His name is “Lyndon Johnson Rosales”, (b) His mother speaks to the detectives in Tagalog, and (c) There are lots of Filipinos who immigrated to Seattle where the series takes place.
However when the janitor is questioned, he makes reference to “El Diablo” (the devil) where a Pinoy would say “Demonyo” or “Ang devil”. Perhaps he has been hanging out with Spanish-speaking Americans. Or maybe the writers assumed—like the old Mac OS did—that Spanish is widely spoken in the Philippines.
We watched half of the first season of The Killing before we decided that the detectives annoy us and their police department is the most inept on television. What are they going to do, run down everyone in Washington as a suspect? Hey, don’t Edward Twilight’s vampire family and Jake Werewolf Abs’s clan live in that state? Why haven’t they been investigated?!
Detectives: Please get rid of that hideous sweater and that fugly hoodie.
If you like drinking games, The Killing will get you trashed. Every time the police are certain they’ve found their killer, take a shot. Every time they’re wrong, take a shot. Every time the lead detective misses her flight to California, take a shot. Every time her teenage son does something to get her attention, take a shot. This show should have a lot of liquor ads, they’d make a killing. Hah.
One look at Billy Campbell (He plays a city councilman running for mayor) and we knew he would be arrested at some point…because he is so handsome. Look at that!
So we watched the second half of the first season at six times normal speed and spoiler spoiler, etc. We’ve been assured that season two ends satisfyingly, but we have to build up our tolerance before we try again.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
July 6th, 2012 at 08:22
Have you seen The Newsroom? Quite interesting if you can tolerate speech like dialogue.
July 6th, 2012 at 08:49
JZ, if your definition of ‘satisfying end’ includes some strange coincidence of characters happening to be where they were, then yeah…it was satisfying.
Be advised to steel yourself with stupid decisions on all fronts: be it the Seattle mayoral campaign, the Seattle PD, and even the Larsens. Also be prepared to feel emotionally manipulated at the very end of the second season.
The new seasons for Doctor Who, Walking Dead, and the final episodes of Fringe can’t arrive any sooner.
BTW, another recommended TV series would be BBC’s The Hour. It took me a while to figure out that McNulty from The Wire was their news anchor in that 60s period piece.
July 6th, 2012 at 17:00
I’ve been meaning to watch The Killing but I just started Dexter so I’ll finish that first. I watch too much TV. BTW, I was so thrilled when I read Fringe in your comment volume-addict =) I love that show but it doesn’t seem to have a fan base in the Philippines. None of my friends watch it.
July 6th, 2012 at 19:27
Wooh, what a relief. I though I was the only one who felt this way. I didn’t get to follow the series from episode 1, so as I watched later episodes I had this “WTF is happening” vibe. Its very slow-paced (I felt the blood in my brain congeal while watching). When I couldn’t tolerate anymore I changed the channel. It’s not the type of series that will hook you in just by watching any random episode. I’ll stay with Suits for now.
July 7th, 2012 at 01:15
@#1: I’ve enjoyed Aaron Sorkin’s work in the past. I was a big fan of The West Wing for a while there too. Somehow though, this new show can be hit-or-miss. I like the way the older actors like Sam Waterston delivering their lines and hanging on to their every word. The younger actors, like Alison Pill seem to come from the Gilmore Girls school of line delivery. There’s no room for the dialogue to breathe. Maybe I willfully ignored that in his past shows, maybe my preference for more conversational pace has really sunk in.
I think that’s one of the things I appreciate about The Killing though. All the actors know how to let each line not feel like conversational filler. Much as I enjoyed the dialogue, especially the zingers that Holder and Linden exchange, it’s the dragged out plot that Show-runner Veena Sud has been taking a lot of flak for. I agree with much of the the criticism on that end.
@#3: What drew me in to Fringe at first were the comparable ‘monster/mystery of the week’ episodes that were throwbacks to classic X-Files. Once the craziness of interdimensional personalities came to play, that’s when the show really got me. It’s fantastic to see the actors play slightly different versions of their characters and be consistent about them to the smallest detail. It’s also a treat to see the range that John Noble has, whether it’s his everyday lament over doing what he had to in order to save his son or the bits of eccentricity tying corpses’ textures to delicious food that Walter would be craving.
July 7th, 2012 at 20:01
I like it. It’s more realistic than the other crime dramas. The acting’s great. The leads remind me of Scully and Mulder (well, at least their chemistry reminds me of them). Holder even rhymes with Mulder.
July 8th, 2012 at 03:50
watch the original Danish version. Heaaaps better.
Also – this week’s podcast of This American Life has a story with Filipinos on it. :D Actually, there’s 2. Awesome stuff.