The Daily Beast: "17 Shows Worth Watching This Summer"

Get out of the sun—there’s recovering zombies, addictive serial-killer mysteries, and the Breaking Bad finale on TV. My take on what not to miss for this cool summer season.

At The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "17 Shows Worth Watching This Summer," in which I round up 17 shows worth watching during the sweltering months to come, from FX's The Bridge and BBC America's Broadchurch to ABC Family's Switched at Birth and CBS's Under The Dome. (Plus, Showtime's Ray Donovan, which SHOULD NOT BE MISSED.)

Summer isn’t the television wasteland that it used to be. While the broadcasters are still figuring out what to do with their real estate during these lazy months (original drama? reality competitions? burn-offs?), cable channels have long known the power of airing high-profile series throughout the heat, and there is quite a lot of original programming to be seen during these next sweltering months.

CBS is launching the event series Under the Dome and attempting to tap into the runaway success of BBC’s The Great British Bake Off (which I reviewed here) with American remake The American Baking Competition. So You Think You Can Dance, The Bachelorette, Masterchef, and America’s Got Talent are all back on their respective networks’ schedules, while many of you will be too busy bingeing on the return of Arrested Development on Netflix to notice much else.

But as far as what shows you should be putting on your TiVo’s Season Pass, here are 17 new or notable returning shows—from the expected (Breaking Bad) and high-profile (FX’s The Bridge) to the more offbeat (Netflix’s The Fall and BBC America’s Broadchurch).

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The Daily Beast: "Denmark's Leading Export: Sofie Gråbøl, Star of Forbrydelsen"

Sofie Gråbøl may not be a household name in the U.S., but around the globe she’s now legendary for her performance as Sarah Lund in the Danish television drama Forbrydelsen. At The Daily Beast, I explore Lund’s appeal and the sensational third season of the original The Killing, which premieres on BBC Four in the U.K. on Saturday.

Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Denmark's Leading Export: Sofie Gråbøl, Star of Forbrydelsen," in which I explore both Sofie Gråbøl and Sarah Lund’s appeal and the gripping tension of Forbrydelsen III.

It is tragic that American viewers have been denied the chance to become obsessed with Forbrydelsen and with the show’s magnetic star, Sofie Gråbøl. The Danish detective drama exemplifies the power of the provocative and globally significant Nordic noir genre, and the show's lead delivers one of television's most haunting performances of the past decade. Gråbøl, 44, has achieved cult status in Britain and abroad for her embodiment of Detective Inspector Sarah Lund, the grim-faced, Faroese sweater-clad cop with a penchant for solving impossible crimes while sacrificing everything else in the process.

Forbrydelsen (literally “The Crime,” but generally translated as The Killing) was the basis for AMC’s short-lived murder-mystery series, which may or may not be resurrected thanks to an assist from Netflix. Outside the United States, however, the original is still going strong, as the enthralling third and likely final season of Forbrydelsen premieres in the United Kingdom this Saturday on BBC Four.

Previous seasons have followed Lund through a devastating sequence of hardships, both personal and professional, the result of outside forces and her own intractable nature. Season 3, which takes place several years since we last saw her, finds the detective’s career on a more solid footing. She has put her past disgrace behind her, and she radiates an unsettling sense of complacency as she prepares to leave the Copenhagen police force for a cushy desk job. “If you lose everything you invest, can you just put everything on the table again the next time?” Gråbøl recently asked in a newspaper interview. “Like most of us when we get older, we tend to think, ‘Let somebody else save the world.’”

But then a young girl is kidnapped—an act of as yet unexplained vengeance—and corpses begin piling up in a grisly (and connected) murder spree. The kidnapping harkens back to the first season, recalling the murder of teenager Nanna Birk Larsen. This time, however, the victim is still alive, and Lund is forced to confront her past mistakes. If she can find the girl and stop the gruesome killings, there’s hope of redemption—or at least amends. An investigation of byzantine complexity leads Lund through the murky waters of the Danish financial sector to the corridors of power, entangling a billionaire financier and his family, an assortment of venal civil servants, and even the Danish prime minister in a web of murder and deceit.

Gråbøl’s Lund isn’t your typical female police detective. In fact, she isn’t a typical female TV character of any kind. She wastes little effort on irrelevancies like her appearance, usually pulling on a Faroe Islands jumper—now iconic thanks to the series—day after day, rather than worrying about her outfit. “It tells of a woman who has so much confidence in herself that she doesn’t have to use her sex to get what she wants,” Gabrol said in an interview last year. “She’s herself.” The knitted sweater is Lund’s uniform, her armor against the world.

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The Daily Beast: "The Rise of Nordic Noir TV"

The Duchess of Cornwall is just one obsessive viewer. Nordic Noir—embodied in Scandinavian dramas like The Killing, The Bridge, and Borgen—have become cult hits in the U.K., and are about to become the go-to formats for American TV pilots. I explore the genre’s appeal, its breakout female characters, and why audiences in the U.S. are unlikely to see many of them in their original form (but it is possible to see them!).

Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "The Rise of Nordic Noir TV," in which I explore why these Scandinavian dramas have become cult hits in the U.K., how they are ripe for American adaptations, and their universal appeal.

While AMC’s The Killing has been dumped in a trunk to die like Rosie Larsen, its progenitor, Denmark’s Forbrydelsen, continues to slay viewers around the globe on the strength of its moody wit and strong-willed protagonist.

Forbrydelsen (in English, The Crime) became a cult hit in the United Kingdom when it aired on BBC Four last year, quickly embedding itself within the cultural zeitgeist. Like The Killing, it revolves around the search for the killer of a teenage girl, tightly drawing together political, familial, and personal concerns within its web. Sales of the chunky Faroese sweater worn by the show’s lead detective, Sarah Lund (Sofie Gråbøl), skyrocketed, with the jumper’s maker, design firm Gundrun & Gundrun, reportedly unable to keep up with the insane demand. Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, was such an obsessive fan of the series—it’s the only show that she and Prince Charles watch together!—that she visited the set of Forbrydelsen’s third season earlier this year, and was delighted to be presented by Gråbøl with a Faroese cardigan in the style of Lund’s. Gråbøl herself turned up in Absolutely Fabulous’s Christmas special, reprising her role as Lund in a dream sequence. She was, of course, wearing The Jumper.

“Even people who haven’t watched [Forbrydelsen] know about The Jumper,” said Radio Times TV editor Alison Graham. “Now, whenever a new Nordic Noir show is about to arrive, I’m always asked by viewers—wryly, of course—about ‘the knitwear.’”

Sweaters aside, Forbrydelsen and its fellow Scandinavian imports—The Bridge, Wallander, and 2012 BAFTA International Programme Award winner Borgen, which have been loosely dubbed “Nordic Noir” by its adherents—have become bona fide hits in the United Kingdom. And Hollywood has responded in turn. The trail originally blazed by Stieg Larsson’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and BBC/PBS’s English-language Wallander has resulted in a hunger for more Scandie drama, with viewers on both sides of the Atlantic gobbling up original-language versions, a trend that has continued on the television side. (Scandinavia could be close to usurping the appeal of white-hot Israel, one of the largest exporters of scripted formats to the U.S., with shows like Homeland and In Treatment. A&E is developing an adaptation of Danish crime thriller Those Who Kill, while The Bridge is a likely contender to score a remake as well.)

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The Daily Beast: "How The Killing Went Wrong"

While the uproar over the U.S. version of The Killing has quieted, the show is still a pale imitation of the Danish series on which it is based.

Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "How The Killing Went Wrong," in which I look at how The Killing has handled itself during its second season, and compare it to the stunning and electrifying original Danish series, Forbrydelsen, on which it is based. (I recently watched all 20 episodes of Forbrydelsen over a few evenings.) The original is a mind-blowing and gut-wrenching work of genius.

It’s not necessary to rehash the anger that followed in the wake of the conclusion last June of the first season of AMC’s mystery drama The Killing, based on Søren Sveistrup’s landmark Danish show Forbrydelsen, which follows the murder of a schoolgirl and its impact on the people whose lives the investigation touches upon. What followed were irate reviews, burnished with the “burning intensity of 10,000 white-hot suns” aimed squarely at writer and adapter Veena Sud; an overwhelming audience backlash; and bewilderment at comments that Sud herself made to the press. (A recent New York Times Magazine feature on the show’s challenges, for which reporter Adam Sternbergh flew to Vancouver to spend a Valentine’s Day dinner with Sud, used only two short quotations from her, perhaps demonstrating that she’s learned to choose her words more carefully.)

We’re only too familiar with the groundswell of scorn against the American version of The Killing, which meandered its way into an incomprehensible muddle after a pitch-perfect pilot episode. (The acting, however, was often brilliant, as Michelle Forbes, Mireille Enos, Brent Sexton, and others turned in searing performances.) Unlike the hate-watching that has accompanied, say, NBC’s Smash, there was a full-on revolt against The Killing that resulted in a loss of more than 30 percent of viewers when the show returned for a second season this spring.

Many wondered just how Sud would untangle the Gordian knot created by the controversial first season finale, miring the plot in yet another complication with a reveal that Stephen Holder (Joel Kinnaman), the partner of mentally unstable police detective Sarah Linden (Enos), appeared to be a crooked cop, planting evidence and betraying Linden. It was one twist too many in an already baroque season overflowing with false leads, red herrings, and convoluted conspiracy theories.

Frustrated by both that cliffhanger and the general lugubrious disarray of the second season, I went back to the source material, devouring the icily calculated 20-episode first season of the Danish original in a few days, in an effort to see where things had gone wrong for The Killing. Forbrydelsen (or “The Crime”), after all, was a huge hit both in Denmark in 2007 and last year in the U.K. It spawned a second season unrelated to the mystery of who killed Nanna Birk Larsen (Rosie Larsen in the U.S. version) and is currently preparing a third go-around with detective Sarah Lund (Sofie Gråbøl).

Continue reading at The Daily Beast...

The Daily Beast: "Spring TV Preview: 9 Shows to Watch, 4 Shows to Skip"

With the return of Mad Men and Game of Thrones, spring is officially here.

Over at The Daily Beast, I offer a rundown of what’s worth watching over the next few months, and what you can skip altogether.

You can read my Spring TV Preview intro here, which puts the next few months into perspective, and then head over to the gallery feature to read "9 Shows to Watch, 4 Shows to Skip," which includes such notables as Mad Men, Community, Game of Thrones, VEEP, Girls, Bent, and others... and those you should just skip, like Magic City, Missing, etc.

What shows are you most looking forward to this spring? And which ones are you pretending don't exist at all? Head to the comments section to discuss...

Underworld: Orpheus Descending on the Season Finale of The Killing

I'll admit that I was completely unprepared for the level of vitriol directed at last night's season finale of The Killing ("Orpheus Descending"), written by Veena Sud and Nic Pizzolatto and directed by Brad Anderson.

It wasn't a perfect season finale (it was woefully clunky and odd at times), but I also don't think that the series ender--or the first season itself--are worthy of the amount of gasoline that is being poured on it. For some, it's one match away from becoming an incendiary, because it failed to answer the series' central question: Who killed Rosie Larsen?

Which is where I feel as though I have been watching a completely different series than other viewers. I'm not going to try to convince anybody that they were wrong to hate the finale, because this level of anger doesn't vanish thanks to some talking points. Television is a hugely subjective medium and our personal experiences with shows are just that: personal. What I will say is that what I've most enjoyed about The Killing is the nuanced character study that it's provided: the way that murder rips open everyone, a black hole that threatens to suck in the victim's family, the suspects, anyone who once crossed paths with her. And, as we see here, even the detectives attempting to solve the case.

To me, the heart of the show has been watching a family struggle at the brink of madness, of dissolution, of anguish and rage and grief. The Larsens have provided an unusual throughline for the season, attempting to cope with the death of Rosie, even as their individual lives threatened to further unravel. What set all of this in motion, was of course the murder of teenager Rosie Larsen, whose frozen-in-amber smile hid all manner of secrets, much like Laura Palmer's did on Twin Peaks. (Interestingly, I keep thinking back to showrunner Veena Sud's insistence that she had never seen Twin Peaks, when I mentioned certain similarities between the two shows. I'm not sure which is worse: that she lied about it, or that she hadn't actually ever watched it.)

Yes, in order for The Killing to function as a narrative, Rosie's killer does need to be unmasked, even if justice isn't ultimately served. But that moment needn't have come at the end of the first season, which is what many viewers were expecting and anticipating. If you had stuck with The Killing for this sole reason, then the finale may have been interminable and frustrating. But, as soon as AMC renewed The Killing for a second season, I knew that there wouldn't be any easy answers, nor potentially any answers at all.

Why? Because Rosie's murder is the plot engine that keeps the show humming along, and I would have been amazed to see Sud and AMC shut it down at the end of the first season when it can still generate a whole slew of potentially interesting developments.

Now, I will say there was one thing about the finale that did irk me, as it did many, and that was the seemingly about-face with Joel Kinnaman's Stephen Holder, who was revealed to be in league with an as-yet-unseen puppet master (Leslie Adams?) and had forged the bridge surveillance footage that linked Darren Richmond to the night of Rosie's murder. Until that point, there was a lot of circumstantial evidence (there still is, in fact) that indicated that Richmond was behind the murder: the use of the Orpheus alias, his frequenting of online prostitutes, Aleena's identification of Darren as the man who lured her to the water, Gwen's assertion that Darren came back early that morning soaking wet.

None of which conclusively point to Darren Richmond having killed Rosie Larsen. He wasn't identified by the gas station attendant (he seemed to assume it was a man driving the car) and we now know that Holder faked the photo that placed him on the bridge. Linden knows this too, even as she prepares to finally leave Seattle for her new life in Sonoma, but it's likely too late for Richmond, as Belko strides up to him, gun in his hand, ready to enact some Biblical vengeance. (Didn't he see how this turned out for Stan?)

Which means that Richmond is another red herring, a liar and a cheat who has broken Gwen's heart yet again, but who may not be the killer after all. Holder's boss--whoever that may be--wants Richmond out of the race, and he may have just gotten Richmond removed from his earthly existence as well.

But I'm troubled by Holder's villainy here. Kinnaman infused Holder with street smarts, an armor of sarcasm and hoodies attempting to deflect any insight into his messed up personal life. I'm sure there's a reason WHY Holder did what he did, one that will be revealed next season naturally. Likely Sud and Co. will find a way to make what he did less troubling in the long run, despite the glee that Holder seemed to have in that scene.

After all, he betrayed Linden outright, jeopardized the case, and broke the vows he pledged to serve the city. It's a slap in the face after their goodbye scene and her begrudging admission that he is a good cop, after all. But it also makes it a little more clear why the episode "Missing" aired when it did. Just as these two finally buried the hatchet and opened up to each other, Holder turns around two days later and stabs her in the back.

Which, on an intellectual level, makes sense, but on an emotional level, the realization that Holder is just as crooked as the other baddies in The Killing doesn't quite hit home. In a series that's overflowing with venal politicians and apathetic cops, shouldn't Linden have someone else on the side of the white hats? Or has Holder (and, consequently one imagines, Kinnaman as well) just done a really good job of pulling the wool over our eyes? After all, he has been willing to share information about the investigation from the start, but is he really just nothing more than a dirty cop?

But in an episode where we finally see crusader Darren Richmond for what he is: a serial cheater and an unrepentant john who has a thing for brunettes, shouldn't there be some male character who isn't a letch, a liar, or a pathetic failure in some way? I had grown to care about Holder in a fashion over the course of these thirteen episodes, and it makes me more concerned that his villainy is the real deal and not a red herring to be eliminated at the start of Season Two.

That will have to wait, however. Despite some of the convolution of the episode and the question marks thrown up around the action (Wait, the cops never searched that part of the park for clues? What does Rosie's shoe prove? Won't Holder get caught the second Linden picks up the phone and tells Oakes about the bridge camera outage? Why doesn't Stan tell Mitch about the other house or the stack of cash in the drawer? Why is Sarah suddenly okay with Jack spending time with his dad?), there were moments of beauty and grace here, of the small kind that The Killing has traded in throughout the season's run.

Stan's scene in the break room with Amber Ahmed being one, a tiny fragment in a larger story that saw these two--united by their sense of loss and pain--have a small moment, unaware of the identity of the other. Stan's palpable grief when he's asked how many children he has sank into my very bones; it's a real quandary of a question. How do you honestly answer that, especially when the asker is a stranger? Mitch's departure from the family and the momentos of anguish that her home represents. Michelle Forbes' performance is once again breathtaking here (Forbes didn't lie when she told me she was done with The Killing), as Mitch comes to terms with the fact that she can't stay with her family. Terry's horror when she realizes that Mitch has left her and the kids to pick up the pieces of their lives. (I had actually wondered whether Mitch would take a more permanent exit from her life.)

In a way, she escapes, which is something no other character on the show manages to do in this week's season finale. Sarah and Jack might be on that plane, but it's still parked on the tarmac, and I don't see Sarah remaining in Sonoma, if she even stays on the plane. She's connected to the dead girl and this case, she's haunted by it as much as Richmond is by Lily's death. Her rage at the councilman indicates her own anguish, her own self-anger, her own insecurities. (Why Linden would confront him in that way is beyond me, however.) As for Richmond, he might be innocent of Rosie's murder but he admits to Linden that he's done some terrible, terrible things. Things we'll likely be finding more about next season, for those of us who will continue to watch.

I count myself among that number. While "Orpheus Descending" was far from perfect, it didn't awaken any such holy anger within me. I'm still wondering who killed Rosie Larsen--and, in their own way, so are those who reacted with such hostility to the lack of resolution on that front--and I still do care about these characters enough to want to see what happens next. The original Danish series split its first season into two parts of ten episodes, and that's more or less what Sud and her writing staff attempted to do here. But I didn't for a second think that there wouldn't be another twist, another red herring, another brutal revelation in the final minutes of the season, nor that Linden would catch Rosie's killer. Season Two of the original found Linden attempting to unravel a vast conspiracy, so why shouldn't that apply here as well, as she tries to uncover the real masters who are pulling Holder's and everyone else's strings? Hmmm...

But that's just me. What did you think about the season finale of The Killing? Did it make you want to hurl your television out of your window? Were you puzzled by the levels of outrage unfolding last night on Twitter? Will you watch a second season? Head to the comments section to discuss.

Season Two of The Killing will air next year on AMC.

Poster Boy/Poster Girl: Orpheus Rises on The Killing

Sometimes, the answer is staring at you right in the face. Other times, the truth lies far deeper beneath the surface, submerged inside the trunk of a mayoral campaign car.

On this week's stunning episode of AMC's The Killing ("Beau Soleil"), written by Jeremy Doner and Soo Hugh and directed by Keith Gordon, the truth about Rosie Larsen's killer finally seemed within the grasp of Detectives Linden and Holder, or at the very least the initial prime suspect in the slaying of the teenage girl came back into the frame once more.

Given that there is still one more episode left--likely one overflowing with further twists and turns--it's possible (but not all that probable) that there's still more to the story than we're seeing, another layer that's again deeper down in the murky water. But for now it seems as though the killer may have been unmasked.

So what do I think about the latest twist to hit the rain-soaked drama series? Read on...

It's interesting that Darren Richmond is again looking like our prime suspect, given that he seemed the likeliest culprit way back in the pilot episode. After all, it was one of his campaign cars that the corpse of Rosie Larsen was found in and the finger of suspicion seemed to point squarely at him, even as the focus moved to entirely separate lines of inquiry: Rosie's classmates, her teacher Bennet Ahmed, her aunt Terry, even.

But there has been something at the back of my mind since the pilot episode, something deeply unsettling about Darren Richmond and the similarities between Rosie's death and that of his wife's, who we later learn was killed by a drunk driver. Gwen makes the connection and asks Darren what the press will think given the similarities. But what similarities exactly? Lily was killed in an automobile accident, and Rosie died in the trunk of a car in the water. Which is exactly the connection: both women drowned.

While the precise details of Lily's death are still unclear, I believe we will learn that her car went off the bridge into the water and that she drowned. Which means that if Darren is Rosie's killer, his actions seem intended to relive that terrible, pivotal, traumatic moment of his wife's death. He's trying to understand her tragic end by experiencing it, by putting these women through the same experience. Rosie was alive when the car went under, just as likely Lily was still alive as well. Darren is extremely damaged, a borderline personality disorder candidate who can't let go of his dead wife to the point where he needs to feel those same emotions once more.

Gwen now knows that Darren was involved with Rosie, and in a very Twin Peaks-esque twist, Rosie was involved with Beau Soleil, an escort service catering to the well-heeled set of Seattle, including Darren (a client under the pseudonym of Orpheus) and Tom Drexler. The choice of Orpheus is telling as well: in Greek mythology, Orpheus went down into hell to free the soul of his beloved wife Eurydice, who had perished. It seems as though Darren--classically educated as well know he is (remember his command of Cicero)--also has a sick sense of humor, parading his grief in public and using it as a mask for his identity.

I loved that it was another Beau Soleil girl (Alona Tal's Aleena) who makes the positive identification for Holder, luring him to a street corner, where he's able to see Orpheus for himself: on the campaign posters of Darren Richmond. (The juxtaposition of the Seattle poster boy for crusading good and those "Who Killed Rosie Larsen?" posters that comprised AMC's marketing campaign seems to good to be true.) Elsewhere, Linden came face to face with the putative killer, as she realized the emails she was sending Orpheus were arriving right on Darren's home computer. I'm not quite sure how Linden intends to talk her way out of that one, but she's also snooping in Richmond's home without a warrant, so I don't know how admissible that particular piece of evidence is.

Kudos as well to Michelle Forbes and Jamie Anne Allman in their tense scene together this week, as the two sisters nearly came to blows about which of them better knew Rosie. While I had suspected that Terry recruited Rosie to Beau Soleil, the scene at the bar proved that she was completely floored when Linden and Holder made a connection between her niece and the escort service she works for. And her grief--and sense of culpability--flowed nicely into Terry's confrontation with Mitch, a scene that captured the bitterness and enmity between the two sisters, each one to blame in their own way for not seeing what path Rosie was on. While some viewers (and critics) seem to groan at the "lack of action" within the series, it's these small, personal moments--the silences and frustrated looks of blame--that make The Killing for me, seeing how grief and loss can twist a family.

And it was fitting that it's Terry who bails Stan out of jail, given that Mitch seems unwilling to do so. I also marveled at the rage between husband and wife in the jail scene between Stan and Mitch, as the former makes it clear that she is just as much to blame for the mess their currently in, that she pushed him to take action against Bennet. Her hands are just as unclean as his in this situation.

But with one episode remaining, it seems as though we're inching our way closer to justice for Rosie, the girl that no one really seemed to know, a Laura Palmer manque who traded her study books for high heels and casino runs, and whose smile hid a world of hurt. Will Larsen and Holder be able to close the books on Richmond? Is Richmond the killer? And what did you make of Tom Drexler's fishbowl weirdness? And Tahmoh Penikett's appearance as Linden's ex? Head to the comments to discuss and debate.

On the season finale of The Killing ("Orpheus Descending"), a twist in the polls and a death causes grief in the campaign; Sarah and Holder discover the murderer of Rosie Larsen and while doing so, cause a problem; Stan is released from jail and comes home to find no one in the house.

The Daily Beast: "Michelle Forbes' Good Grief" (The Killing)

Michelle Forbes has been a TV mainstay since the mid-'90s when she was on Homicide: Life on the Street—she's appeared on 24, Prison Break, Battlestar Galactica, In Treatment, and True Blood. But her role on the AMC mystery The Killing as the destroyed-by-grief mother of the dead girl at the center of the story has gotten her more attention than ever.

Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "Michelle Forbes' Good Grief," in which I sit down with Forbes (for a nearly four-hour-long lunch, in fact) and talk to her about her career, playing the anguished Mitch Larsen, and why committing to a TV show is like an arranged marriage.

The Killing airs Sundays at 10 pm ET/PT on AMC.

Six Feet Under: What You Have Left on The Killing

"Who you are is five words: 'dead girl in a trunk.'" - Jamie

While The Killing is largely about the investigation into the death of Rosie Larsen, it's as much an investigation into the lives of those left behind, an existential discussion of the way in which death invades our lives and how grief, often the only thing you have left after a loved one dies, can transform into rage. That a loving couple can become squabbling rivals in an argument that no one wins, or how a father's love can become misguided vengeance.

This week's episode of The Killing ("What You Have Left"), written by Nic Pizzolatto and directed by Agnieszka Holland, traces both ends of the spectrum, following Linden and Holder as they attempt to ensnare Bennet Ahmed, Rosie's teacher and currently the prime suspect in her murder, and the Larsen family as they bury Rosie and attempt to make their peace with her passing.

Bennet's alibi is rapidly unraveling this week as Linden and Holder discover some disturbing news about his whereabouts on the night of the dance and the possibility that he and his pregnant wife may have been involved in Rosie's murder. But don't get too excited just yet: it's way too early in the season for our favorite coppers to have nabbed their suspect and the frame is just a little too convenient at the moment.
Here's what we now know about Rosie's whereabouts the night of her death and the timeline of that evening:

-Rosie attended a school dance dressed as a witch. At some point, she changed out of her costume and left for parts as yet unknown, but possibly the residence of her teacher, Bennet Ahmed.

-At some point after the dance, Rosie was seen banging on the door of Bennet's home at approximately ten pm. She was let in, but it now appears that it wasn't Bennet who let her in, but his wife Amber, as Bennet was still at the dance as of 10:20 pm and couldn't have opened the door for her.

-The presence of ammonium hydroxide in Rosie's system is suspicious as well. We know that Bennet had some in his house but was it used to conceal signs of sexual assault and erase DNA from her body... or was Rosie helping to put the flooring together? If Rosie wasn't there to see Bennet, was she there to see Amber? Hmmm...

-Amber went to see her religious sister Grace much later than Bennet told the police. (She doesn't show up there until 1 am.) Grace insinuates that Grace was upset about Bennet, but it's unclear what transpired between them.

-A neighbor with a telescope claims to have seen Bennet and a "smaller-type person" (read: woman) carrying a girl wrapped up in a carpet. But this seems unlikely, and he also claimed it was hard to see what was going on because it was raining. While it seems as though the writers want us to believe that it was Amber who was helping him, I don't see a pregnant woman hefting a dead body, wrapped in a carpet, into car. More likely, the woman was Rosie herself. Particularly as...

-Rosie was pursued through the woods by the lake by an unknown assailant. How she got to the lake is currently unknown, though her body was discovered in the trunk of a submerged car belonging to the Darren Richmond campaign and she was not dead when she went into the water. Which could mean that the killer intended her to suffer, which either displays a form of pathology or a connection to the victim. Additionally, it's worth pointing out that Holder and Linden are as yet unaware of these events, as it's only the audience that saw this scene play out...

The fact that we see Amber clutching a hammer in the darkness when Linden and Holder bang on her door leads me to believe that we're definitely missing some crucial pieces of information from the bigger picture here. Something is not quite adding up with Amber and there are some definite inconsistencies to Bennet's story, as though he's trying to protect someone (Amber being the most likely suspect there), but why does he slip and call his unborn child "he" when he knows it's a girl? Weird.

I don't think for a second that Bennet is the killer, but that doesn't stop Adams from insinuating as much during his debate with Darren... and Darren, being the stand-up guy that he is, refuses to throw Bennet to the wolves without due process. After all, he IS innocent until proven guilty and everyone--from the politicians to the police--are making huge assumptions about his guilt because it's an easy frame: sick teacher takes advantage of his female students. (That Amber is a former student is particularly damning, it seems.) Darren's unwavering support for Bennet--or at least his refusal to condemn the man without a trial--could signal the end of his campaign as Adams is only too willing to use his association with Bennet to his advantage. But while the lights in the studio go out, leaving Darren on his own, I wouldn't count this crusader out just yet...

And then there's Stan, who is only too willing to believe that Bennet murdered his only daughter, thanks to Belko whispering in his ear. I'm not sure just who Belko's source at the school is, but the likeliest person is Holder's confidante (sponsor, perhaps?), a fellow detective who trades some information with Holder in exchange for Bennet's name as the chief suspect in the Larsen case. He tells Holder (who only later finally tells Linden) that Stan was an enforcer for the Polish mob and killed a few guys in his day, before leaving that life behind altogether.

Add together a violent past, mob connections, and a dead daughter who is now six feet underground and you get a ticking timebomb that's ready to blow. And it does at the reception after Rosie's funeral, thanks to Belko. Stan manages to get Bennet alone in his car as they drive off... to parts unknown, though Stan's intent seems clear enough: he wants payback for Rosie's murder. And I don't know that Linden and Holder will get to him in time...

Meanwhile, there's Mitch's sister Terry, who seems to be going through something of her own. She lashes out angrily at Belko, reminding him that he's not a member of the family and then proceeds to drink and smoke her way through the remainder of the reception, putting a record on in Rosie's old room. But it's the way that Jasper's father, Michael Ames, not so subtly snubs her when he and his wife arrive to pay their respects that jumped out at me the most. Was Terry sleeping with Jasper's dad? Or Jasper himself? (Remember, he claimed to have a thing for picking up older women at bars.) Just what is the bad blood there exactly? Hmmm...

But, while the episode was filled with new questions stemming from Rosie's murder, it was once again the small moments that stood out, the somber and momentous indications of death and grief: the bitter fight between Mitch and Stan over when Rosie gave him those cufflinks; the sight of Rosie in her selected dress in her coffin, being wheeled upstairs by the undertaker; Tommy squishing the bug underfoot as he contemplates his sister's burial; the fragile beauty Mitch exhibits as she stands at the bottom of the stairs.

What you have left, it seems, is grief and the struggle to continue on without a sense of closure. What's left, for the Larsens, is a Rosie-shaped hole where their daughter should be, and the sense that their lives will never, ever be the same again...

Next week on The Killing ("Vengeance"), the police learn more about Rosie's whereabouts on the night of her death; Mitch begins doubting the investigation.

Super 8: Flock of Butterflies on The Killing

"The girl who made that wasn't the pink-bedroom type." - Sarah Linden

How well do we know anyone? Can we ever truly know our spouses, our children? The Rosie Larsen that we seen illuminated in her bedroom--the pink walls, that butterfly motif--is dramatically at odds with the Rosie who shot the Super 8 video that Bennet Ahmed shares with Linden and Holder: it's a much darker Rosie, a truer Rosie. This isn't a little girl capturing the easiness of carefree youth. She sees the skull beneath the skin, even as we see a flock of butterflies connect with Rosie as one of their own.

In this week's episode of The Killing ("Super 8"), written by Jeremy Doner and directed by Phil Abraham, we begin to see that Rosie may not have been as innocent and wholesome as her parents believe her to be. While her teacher Bennet maintains that their relationship wasn't sexual, that the letters were an "intellectual discourse," the possibility that Rosie may have been involved with him skews our image of the victim.

And then there's Bennet. He maintains his own innocence in Rosie's death and in their relationship, which he says was purely professional. But he also doesn't have an alibi for the night of Rosie's death: he tells the cops that he returned home after the dance and his pregnant wife was staying with her sister as their floors were being refinished. (He claims that the company canceled the installation at the last minute.) Bennet is being very helpful--he gives them the Super 8 film Rosie shot--but is he being a little too helpful? Is he trying to distance himself from the frame? After all, he did have access to the Richmond campaign cars...

And then there's the final act reveal that links Rosie to Bennet once more, courtesy of the ammonium hydroxide found in her system. Rosie's toxology came back without signs of drugs or alcohol in her system but did show the presence of ammonium hydroxide, which could account for the lack of evidence of sexual assault and lack of any fibers, tissue, or blood under her nails if she fought her attacker.

And who just happens to have a stash of ammonium hydroxide laying around? Bennet Ahmed, as the substance is used in flooring installation. So is Bennet a pro, as Linden suggests? Or is it an unhappy coincidence? Did he use the stuff to cover up his crime? Or was Rosie there at the apartment, helping him install the floor? And why did Bennet cancel the appointment for the following day? Curious...

And then there's Bennet's wife Amber, pregnant with his child. Intriguingly, Amber was once one of Bennet's students and she has a strange and slight similarity, in terms of appearance, to Rosie. Amber says that Bennet often wrote her letters, encouraging her to achieve her dreams. But while that's innocent enough--she claims nothing untoward occurred between them--there's something odd about history repeating itself. He married one of his former students, so why couldn't he have designs on Rosie as well?

This week's episode also continued to show the effect that Rosie's death has had on her family. While we don't have Rosie narrating the plot from beyond the grave, a la The Lovely Bones, her presence--or lack thereof--is keenly felt in everything the family does from Denny's pyjama-clad trip to the store t get some milk to Tommy's bed-wetting incident, as he conceals his urine-soaked pyjamas and sheets in the trash. (I loved the scene where Belko found proof of Tommy's incident and, rather than take it to Stan, furtively bed Tommy's bed with fresh sheets and revealed that he had a bed-wetting problem well into his teens.)

Stan had a breakdown in a garage bathroom, leaving Mitch alone in the car as he let his emotions overwhelm him for a brief moment. He's trying so hard to be strong and unyielding that it was only a matter of time before his true feelings bubbled up to the surface and exploded. Between Rosie's death and Belko's offer to take care of Rosie's killer, he can't escape the truth of his altered existence, post-Rosie. Not surprising that he takes Belko up on his offer to talk to his friend at Rosie's school and find out what the police are investigating over there. (Nothing good can come from this.)

Mitch, meanwhile, experiences a terrible sense of frisson when she sees Denny in the bath, his hair dripping onto the floor. It's a reminder of not only Rosie's horrific end but also that scene in the morgue where she and Stan had to identify their daughter's corpse, her hair streaming out underneath her, rivulets of water dripping into a puddle on the floor. Mitch's freak-out is indicative of psychic damage of the highest order, an inability to separate Rosie's death from their quotidian lives: everything has new meaning, new symbolism now.

What is up with Holder? While he claims he won at gambling, there's something shady about that envelope of cash he receives on the street... and which he places in the mailbox of a house. Are those his wife and kids inside? And why won't he go in or say anything to them? Is our copper sidekick a junkie who is supporting his family from afar? Hmmm...

The various storyline threads also came together a bit this week as Darren Richmond and Mitch Larsen crossed paths in the grocery store. While Darren makes it seem as though this was a chance encounter, it's anything but that, an engineered effort to contain the Rosie Larsen story, which is damaging Darren's campaign chances. But Richmond refuses to use Mitch for his own political ends. He understands the depths of grief and despair, from his own experiences with his wife's death. When a cereal box reminds Mitch acutely of her daughter's passing, Darren assures her that it gets better.

Elsewhere in the political sphere, we learn that Yitanes herself had engineered the leak within the campaign, planting a spy within the organization, and had used Darren's communications director, Nathan, to leak details from the campaign from within... and likely sow discontent among Darren's aides. It's Jamie who learns of this from Lesley Adams, whom he believed to be the one pulling the strings. (Interestingly, I thought Jamie may have been an alcoholic from his choice of bottled water at the bar, but here Jamie pukes his guts up after drinking too much with Adams and Abani, claiming that he's not used to drinking.) And Gwen seems to have a few secrets of her own: she slept with the commercial director whom she wants to use for Richmond's latest television ad... and she used to work for Yitanes. Plus, there's her powerful Senator father who has an agenda of his own.

Who to trust? No one it seems. The closer Linden and Holder to unmasking Rosie's killer, the more secrets they kick up... and these two have skeletons of their own to contend with, making The Killing even more twisty and revealing as the episodes go on.

Next week on The Killing ("What You Have Left"), Sarah questions a suspect's family; tensions mount between Richmond and Gwen, his campaign advisor.

End of the Line: A Soundless Echo on The Killing

"You said she didn't suffer."

Rule Number One among homicide detectives: don't make promises you can't keep. Sarah Linden knows this, which is why she doesn't offer the Larsens the false hope that they'll catch whoever slayed their beloved teenage daughter Rosie. (In fact, it's Holder who makes that promise.) But Linden's seemingly innocuous white lie--telling Mitch and Stan that Rosie didn't suffer--was itself intended to assuage the consciences of the grieving parents. When they come face to face with proof to the opposite, it's as much a shock to the system, a jolt of brutal realization, as the news that their daughter was dead.

In this week's episode of The Killing ("A Soundless Echo"), written by Soo Hugh and directed by Jennifer Getzinger, Mitch and Stan grapple with funeral arrangements for Rosie--the minutiae of grief and loss--as the investigators make some shocking new discoveries about Rosie's secret life and that video they discovered, and the Richmond campaign strives to stay in the mayoral race.

The concentric circles of the narrative of The Killing are keenly felt here: the political, the personal, the inner lives of people we think we know. So many secrets swirl around these characters just four episodes into the series' run: Just what did happen to Darren's wife? Who was the "dead girl" that Sarah Linden chased after last time? What is Sterling so afraid of? And over it all hovers the spirit of Rosie Larsen, the hungry ghost whose presence is itself a soundless echo of a life lived.

First things first: the video. It turns out that it wasn't Rosie we were seeing with Jasper and Kris, but her supposed BFF Sterling, who went down to The Cage with Rosie's ex-boyfriend and his friend during the Halloween dance wearing Rosie's witch's costume--which explains the pink wig covered in blood, those bloody handprints (thanks to Sterling's chronic nosebleeds), and the witch's hat down there, but the girl in the homemade video isn't Rosie. Which means that conjectures about how Rosie got from there to the lake are all incorrect: Rosie was never there...

I loved the scene in which Linden and Holder silently fix Kris in their shared gaze, offering not threats or encouragement, just the righteous anger of the silent. Playing a video of Rosie before her death--a Rosie that's full of life and promise for the future--they force him to tell the dead girl that he didn't kill her. But, given what we learn from Jasper, it seems like these two could be out of the frame altogether now. Rosie left the school dance and Sterling headed to the basement with Kris and Jasper. So where did Rosie go?

There's the mystery of the 108 bus, which Holder learns is Rosie's public transit option of choice. And we learn what lies at the end of the line for Rosie: a rendezvous spot with her teacher, Bennet, with whom Rosie appears to have been having a romantic relationship with. But hold that thought for one second...

First, the discovery of just what was at the end of the line is interesting for several reasons. While it gives the police a connection between Rosie and Bennet--the two were spotted together there on multiple occasions--there's another connection being forged here. The basketball program is one of Darren Richmond's anti-gang intitiatives and the presence of those Darren Richmond for Mayor posters in the locker room serve a bigger purpose: they establish a connection between Rosie Larsen and the Richmond campaign. However insubstantial it might seem, however flimsy and paper-thin, it's the first sign that Rosie and Darren may have moved in a similar circle, or that his campaign aides may have crossed paths with the dead girl.

And then there's Bennet. As soon as he sat down with Mitch in the hallway, I knew that his relationship with Rosie was more than just professional. Hell, even Holder suspects this in the pilot episode, implying that Bennet may have been attracted to Rosie. But before our imaginations run wild, let's explore the fact that Bennet and Rosie didn't have a sexual relationship. Sure, it seems as though the writers want to point us towards the possibility that they did, but that's what makes me leery.

Yes, Rosie "wanted the world," and Linden discovers Bennet's letters to Rosie concealed in her globe, letters that mention Rosie being "an old soul" wise beyond her years. While this seems pretty incriminating, it doesn't mean that their relationship was sexual. The fact that Bennet is so gentle with Mitch, so willing to share with her about her daughter's gift for learning, makes me believe that he wasn't sexually involved with her, as he'd be more likely to distance himself from her family than become entangled with her grieving mother. He makes a gift of Rosie's favorite novel (oddly not named here), discussing the "soundless echo" mentioned within. Was he in love with her? Were they just friends? What was she doing in such a rough neighborhood? And was that where she went the night of her death?

This week, we also caught a glimpse into the hidden lives of the Larsens, learning some key details about the behaviors and actions before Rosie's death. While Mitch is still in a deep state of shock, an emotionally numb zombie staggering through the day, it's Stan who seems to be reacting to the loss in interesting ways. We learn that he had purchased a house for his family before Rosie died but he'll have to sell it now amid everything that's happened. While Stan has seemed a more or less "good guy," there's darkness in him and clues to a past that may not have been as tranquil as he would have us believe.

Just what did Belko mean about taking care of Darren Richmond? And what was Stan's role in, uh, taking care of things for local mobster Janek he meets up with after many years of estrangement? What did "old times" involve exactly? Could it be that Stan was a mob enforcer? And what if Rosie's murder is in fact payback for something he did in his "past life"? Hmmm... Stan, meanwhile, does take the cash that's offered to him by Janek, placing it in a ledger in his office desk. Interesting that he doesn't put it in the bank or pay off some of his bills. So what does he want with the cash exactly?

Mitch, meanwhile, asks some tough questions of the priest who is overseeing Rosie's funeral arrangements. Where was God when Rosie's lungs were filling with water, as she tried to claw her way out of that trunk? The cold comfort offered here is just that, and Mitch can't stomach the sanctimonious religious treacle that's being offered here perfunctorally. Why isn't Rosie with HER, after all? What sort of deity can do such a thing to a mother? She looks at Christ on the cross and sees her daughter reflected back at her, the bound wrists, the bloody eyes, echoed back from the crucifix.

Her quest for answers leads her to Rosie's school, where she experiences a true moment of communion with Sterling, a beautiful scene that radiated loss, connection, and love. And then leads her on a collision course with Bennet, as described above. The questions that Mitch has knocking about inside of her require some form of answer. The questions the cops keep asking--do you recognize this key? what about these shoes? was Rosie seeing an adult?--need context. The moment she spends with Bennet connect her to a Rosie who isn't dead, but who had her whole life ahead of her. A girl who thought about books and not coffins, who dreamed of the future and not of burial.

Rosie's death has kicked everything out of orbit, from the Larsens' life to the political aspirations of Darren Richmond. This week, Gwen sought assistance from her father, Senator Eaton (played, of course, by Alan Dale), urging him to arrange a meeting between Darren and local hotshot Drexler, whose antics are lapped up by Seattle's well-heeled set but who seems like little more than an unlikable kid who struck it rich and uses his money to lord it over everyone around him. While Darren doesn't want to cut any deals with Drexler, he reluctantly takes a $50,000 check from him, using it to pay for a new billboard and cover other campaign costs. (He's unaware that it was Gwen that made the meet possible, even as she's chided by her father for sleeping with her candidate.)

It certainly seems as though Gwen is on the up-and-up, but then again so is Jamie, who we learn is secretly working for Darren. In a very Damages-like twist, Jamie is spying on Lesley Adams for Darren, ingratiating himself to the incumbent and hoping to learn who in the Richmond campaign is the saboteur. After all, as Darren and Jamie both acknowledge, if Jamie wanted to screw over Darren, he would have been smarter about it. Which begs the question: if it's not Jamie, just who is leaking information? Hmmm... (And I'm chuffed that it means Jamie is sticking around, as his deviousness and ambition make for good character qualities in a political thriller.)

And then there's Sarah Linden herself. She blows off trying out wedding cake samples with Rick for examining Rosie's room one last time. Is she getting too close to this case? Is she stuck in a repeating pattern once more? She's drawn to that drawing from the pilot episode again, its eerie sketch of trees, the silent scene less pleasant and more disturbing, another soundless echo of another dead girl...

Next week on The Killing ("Super 8"), Richmond and his team plan an anti-crime commercial; Stan turns to a work colleague for help in finding Rosie's killer.

The Devil's Due: A Hole in the Wall on The Killing

"Assumptions are your enemy, detective." - Sarah Linden

What were Rosie Larsen's final minutes on earth like? As the trunk of the car filled with water and the darkness closed in around her, Rosie fought for life, attempting to claw her way out of her watery grave. Her mother Mitch (Michelle Forbes, whose performance just becomes more and more emotionally wrenching each week) attempts to experience those final moments, slipping underneath the surface of the water in her bathtub, her eyes open, her heart pounding. It's a moment of attempted rapport between mother and dead child, a heartbreaking effort to know, to understand, to vicariously put herself into Rosie's end in those murky waters.

Continuing last week's strong start for The Killing, this week's episode ("El Diablo"), written by Dawn Prestwich and Nicole Yorkin and directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton, found Linden and Holder attempting to unravel the mystery of The Cage, the Larsens grappled with life without their daughter, and the Richmond campaign discovered the leak within their rank. Or did they? Hmmm...

This week's episode was another edge-of-your-seat thrill ride, another televisual page-turner, in which we received some more clues about what happened to Rosie and some brutally unexpected twists. Throughout it all, the specter of "El Diablo" lurked just underneath the surface, while that bloody palm print and the grisly scene in the school basement proved impossible to shake.

So what did I think of "El Diablo"? Let's discuss...

At the end of last week's two-hour premiere, Holder discovered The Cage in the basement of the Fort Washington high school that Rosie attended. The episode begins just a few minutes later, the grungy subterranean room now crawling with the forensics team. Amid the drugs and the blood, the gruesomeness of the scene, there's a purple metallic streamer hanging in the corner, its curlicue shape echoing both the dangling tendril of Linden's hair and the windchime in Rosie's bedroom.

But it's the hole in the wall that Linden discovers that gives the detectives their first lead, taking them to the home of school custodian Lynden Johnson Rosales. Unfortunately, after stabbing Linden in the arm, he exits through a nearby window and ends up in critical condition. However, he's able to identify just who Rosie was with in the basement, Kris... whom he refers to as "El Diablo."

What we learn later is just who else was down in the Cage, thanks to an incriminating video on Jasper's phone, seized in class by their teacher, Bennet. What it depicts: Jasper and Kris taking turns with Rosie as they film their sexual three-way on Halloween night. Bennet turns the phone over to the police, even as Kris begins to break, angrily confronting Jasper at school, saying "they know, they know!" While it's the devil's mask that allowed Kris to mingle with his former classmates at the school dance, the video depicts Jasper wearing the mask as he, uh, has his way with Rosie, her pink wig bobbing sadly.

It's a reveal that makes sense, given what the detectives already know. Linden believes that Rosie would only have gone down to the Cage with someone she trusted and not Kris; she would have gone down there with Jasper, though. The video evidence puts all three at the scene, but there are still several questions remaining: What caused the blood on the wall? Was it Rosie's? And how did she get from the school basement to the woods, where we know that she was killed? Interesting...

Meanwhile, Linden had to break the cause of death to the Larsens. Stan is furious about the front page newspaper story linking Rosie's death to the Richmond campaign and demands to know if the police have made an arrest. While Linden is perfunctory, she does also express compassion for their grief-striven parents. When Mitch asks if Rosie suffered, Linden doesn't hesitate to lie, telling Rosie's parents that their beloved daughter didn't suffer, that she was unconscious when the car went into the water. It's a white lie, designed to spare their feelings and not make this experience even more difficult for the two of them, but it's a lie nonetheless. And it's this lie that leads Mitch to try and experience what it would be like to drown. What she doesn't know is that Rosie broke off her fingernails trying to get out of that trunk, that her final moments were filled with anguish, terror, and pain.

Holder, meanwhile, is proving to be even more shifty than I previously thought. Just who was he talking to on the phone at the hospital? He quickly hangs up when Linden approaches and seems flustered when she asks what's going on. Meanwhile, we learn that he's kept some of his narcotics squad tricks up his sleeve. The pot he offered Rosie's classmates last week--and a teen runaway here--are in fact "narc scent." (Or as Holder describes it, "It smells like weed, it tastes like weed, but it's not weed.") Which does clear up some of the swirling uncertainty around Holder, but makes me question what he's hiding. Just how deep into the narcotics world did Holder get? Hmmm...

On the campaign end of things, Darren Richmond has a tense scene with the incumbent mayor (a scene that was in the original pilot, but which was shifted here, likely for time), but he also has other issues on his mind besides the rivalry with the mayor. There's the damage done from the link to Rosie's death and the campaign car and the fact that someone within his camp leaked news of Yaitanes' endorsement to the press... and all signs--namely, a super-incriminating email--point to Jamie. Richmond's sense of betrayal is palpable here, but it's actually Gwen who confronts Jamie about the leak, and Jamie denies it, pretty convincingly.

I don't think Jamie did it, despite what the email might say and he makes his exit from the campaign ("Screw you! Screw both of you!") with a good deal of enmity. He's not someone you want on your bad side, really... especially with the election in just 23 days. (Hey, just in time for the Season Two finale, in fact, if the narrative calendar holds true!)

Darren does get his endorsement from Yaitanes, even as Jamie is seen slinking away with his stuff in a cardboard box. Which makes me wonder: who benefits from the leak? And who benefits from Jamie exiting the campaign? I don't trust Gwen at all, in fact. While she's Darren's girlfriend, she's also Jamie's rival as well, and it's a little too perfect that the leak was discovered in Jamie's email account. How very pat.

(Aside: just what is the connection between this case and Darren's wife's death? Just how DID she die exactly? And what are the similarities between her demise and Rosie's?)

I love the small moments in this show, both humorous and heartbreaking: Linden referring to Holder as Justin Bieber and his retort that he and her son share the some of the same characteristics; Tommy setting a place at the table for Rosie; the nicotine gum that Linden frustratingly chews at the end of the day, the way she sadly looks over the ingredients in a bag of junk food; and the outgoing answering machine message that Mitch listens to over and over again, hearing the life that's in her daughter's voice, even as its very message is--in the context of her death--so troubling. ("We don't know where we are.")

All in all, another sensational installment that had me riveted. The horrific reveal of that cell phone video--Jasper and Kris grinning as they share Rosie--was a brutal way to end the installment and sets up a series of new questions for next week. Just how much does Rosie's friend Sterling know? Why did she run out of class like that? And what secrets is she keeping?

What did you think about this week's episode? Who has entered the frame now as the most likely suspect? Head to the comments section to discuss, analyze the clues, and debate.

Next week on The Killing "A Soundless Echo," the Larsens plan their daughter's funeral; Rosie's friend Sterling unveils surprises about her life.

Butterfly Effect: The Series Premiere of The Killing

In my review of AMC's addictive new mystery drama The Killing, I compared the new series, which premiered last night with a two-hour episode, both to Twin Peaks in some of its underpinnings (save the presence of the supernatural) and to the work of mystery novelist Ruth Rendell.

The comparison to Rendell--whose family, like Forbrydelsen, the series on which The Killing is based, hails from Denmark--is quite apt in certain respects. While some of Rendell's novels--particularly her Inspector Wexford installments--deal with crime investigation, the majority of them either delve into the pathology of the killer, exploring just what makes a person kill, or the way in which crime, particularly murder, affects everyone both before and after the perpetration of the crime. Of all crimes, murder is the one with the largest emotional fallout: not just to the victims but everyone the victim leaves behind; their secrets and those of the dead are forcibly brought out into the light. There is no such thing as privacy in a murder investigation, no secret unearthed, no feeling unrecorded.

In The Killing's first two episodes ("Pilot" and "The Cage"), written by Veena Sud (the first was directed by Patty Jenkins, the second by Ed Bianchi), we see the detritus left behind by the disappearance--make that death--of teenager Rosie Larsen: a butterfly collage on the wall, a pink sweater in a desolate field, a blood-stained wig in a dumpster, a name scratched into a high school bathroom mirror. These are the pieces that we leave behind, flotsam and jetsam clues for someone to piece together. But Rosie's family has their own emblems to hold onto, sources of guilt or horror: the ripped fingernails of the victim, a missed chance to say goodbye, the puddle made by her dripping hair, the way a broken vase can set off a indicting conversation about blame.

The discovery of Rosie's body, found in the trunk of a car belonging to the Richmond campaign, a car that was sunk at the bottom of a lake, has its own butterfly effect: the injustice of such a crime has ripples that affect everyone even tangentially influenced by Rosie Larsen: the girl's family, grieving for their slain daughter, her teenage friends, the police detective trapped in Seattle by the case, and a political campaign seemingly shocked that they've become entangled in a murder investigation.

That paper mosaic butterfly in Rosie's room, its double echoing, painfully, on the dead girl's neck, says so much about Rosie's life, her dreams, her loves, her optimism and buoyant spirit. But Rosie Larsen is dead. She will never again play with her little brothers, never kiss her father good-bye, never attend another dance. Her passing is keenly felt by everyone, their reactions raging from numbness to rage, from palpable loss to the desire to make sense of it somehow. (Even if that means, in the case of Terry, to blame the girl's mother for not calling her daughter all weekend.)

For Sarah Linden (Mireille Enos), there's an inherent sadness in seeing that paper butterfly on Rosie's wall, even as the siren song of personal happiness beckons to her in Sonoma. The dreary, rain-slicked streets and fields of Seattle seem miles away from a wedding and a future in Sonoma. Juggling her engagement to Rick (Callum Keith Rennie), her sullen teenage son Jack, and her desire to move on from this cold city, Linden is instantly connected with the teenage girl. While every fiber of her being is telling her to leave, to get on that flight, the universe is conspiring to keep her in Seattle.

(Enos' physical slightness here serves her character well. There's an aura of bruised vulnerability surrounding her, even as she stares upwards at the faces of men far taller than her. She's tiny but a giant in her own right and Enos plays her, her ponytail swinging as she walks, as a woman in a man's world who is still very much a woman, even one who "shops at Ross.")

It's Linden's intuition that leads her to discover Rosie's body in the trunk of the car, a gruesome and heartbreaking reveal made all the more disturbing when the audience learns that Rosie ripped off her own fingernails attempting to free herself as the trunk filled up with water. Linden's insight, her quiet nature, make her perfectly suited for this investigation, even as she's saddled with a new partner in unorthodox ex-narcotics squad member Stephen Holder (Joel Kinnaman), a shifty copper who has more in common with Linden's young son than he does with her. (Witness the vending machine food conversation, a favorite from the first two episodes.)

But Holder's instincts are just as solid as Linden's, even if they require some, uh, distinct methodologies. He tempts two teenage girls with pot and an invitation to party, only to turn around and use the information they provide him with a the first real clue they receive since the discovery of Rosie's corpse, locating "The Cage" in the high school's basement, a sordid and squalid hideaway with a bed on the floor and blood on the walls.

Was Rosie held here after the dance? Just what happened here and whose blood is that on the walls, a grisly handprint in crimson? And if something did befall Rosie here, how did she get from the school to the lake, where she met her fate?

Questions abound here and that's only natural in a murder investigation. The connection between Councilman Darren Richmond (Billy Campbell) and Rosie remains tantalizingly unclear. Why was she found in one of the campaign's cars? Did the killer mean for Rosie to never be found... or did they want the body found in order to cast suspicion on Richmond himself? Curious, that. Meanwhile, the good councilman has a leak within his office and all signs point to one of his deputies: ambitious Jamie (Eric Ladin) and smooth-as-silk Gwen (Kristin Lehman). Did one of them leak the Yitanes endorsement? Who tipped the press off about the connection to the vehicle? And just what did happen to Darren's dead wife Lily? And what "trips" has he been taking? Why is Gwen so willing to out herself as Darren's lover and provide him with an alibi?

Even as the investigation circles the political world, The Killing charts several other spheres, delving into the domestic front as Rosie's grief-striven mother Mitch (Michelle Forbes) and father Stanley (Brent Sexton) have to tell her brothers about their sister's death. In my advance review, I praised Forbes' searing performance, which reminded me of Grace Zabriskie's in Twin Peaks. Watching the first episode for what must be the fifth or sixth time, it doesn't lose any of its emotional impact. Raw and filled with unimaginable loss, it's a staggering performance that gives me chills each and every time I see it. Sexton's quivering lip and stammer as he tells his son that they're going to be okay is so overflowing with loss and love that it's impossible not to see the breaking heart inside his barrel chest.

And then there's the scholastic world that Rosie inhabited. Just what is Rosie's friend Sterling (Kacey Rohl) so terrified of? Her nose bleeds when she's questioned by her teacher about Rosie's whereabouts and she jumps inside her skin when she's confronted by Stanley. Why is she so ill at ease and scared all of the time? What's the connection between Rosie and bad boy Jasper (Richard Harmon) and druggie burnout Kris (Gharrett Paon)? Just what bad things has Jasper done in the past? And what is Jasper's wealthy father Michael Ames (Barclay Hope) concealing from the police about his errant son? Harmon's Jasper seems to be the prime suspect here: a brooding, spoilt rich kid who seems to only care about servicing his desires and wreaking havoc in his wake.

These two episodes provide a strong foundation for the future episodes to come, establishing the world and the various players in this investigation, showing us the personal cost to everyone and the quest for justice that lies ahead for our intrepid detectives. Holder makes a terrible error when he tells Rosie's parents that they will catch whoever did this to Rosie. Linden knows from personal experience that you can't make promises you can't keep. But Holder's effort to offer Mitch and Stanley a champion for Rosie might just make them villains if they can't deliver their daughter's killer. Even as Linden puts everything on the line--her role as fiancee, as mother--for this case, there's the feeling that unmasking this killer may prove far more difficult and deadly than Holder realizes.

All in all, there's a strong undercurrent here of dread and loss, one that doesn't let go from the opening moments (including that haunting credit sequence) to the very end of the second episode, when Linden surveys the gruesome scene inside the cage. There's something very wrong about those bloodstains on the wall and the juxtaposition of the witch's hat that Rosie wore at the dance, a sign of the horrors to come. A sign that very bad things are on the horizon...

What did you think of The Killing? Are you caught up in the investigation and the mystery surrounding Rosie's death? And, most importantly, will you watch again next week? Head to the comments section to discuss.

Next week on The Killing ("El Diablo"), Councilman Richmond suspects a leak within his team; Sarah tracks down a witness and is led to a suspect.

The Skull Beneath the Skin: An Advance Review of the First Three Episodes of AMC's The Killing

Of John Webster (who wrote "The Duchess of Malta"), poet T.S. Eliot said that he was "much possessed by death" and "saw the skull beneath the skin."

Eliot's quotation would equally apply to the writing team--overseen by executive producer Veena Sud (Cold Case)--of AMC's newest drama, taut and suspenseful murder mystery The Killing (based on hit Danish drama Forbrydelsen, or "The Crime"), which launches this Sunday. In exploring the disappearance (and, yes, death) of a Seattle teenager, the detectives in this slow-burn but addictive series are themselves seeing what lies beneath the surface of the seemingly placid individuals they encounter in the course of their investigation.

"Who Killed Rosie Larsen?" is the question hovering over the action here, but it's matters of mortality that link each of the characters in this whip-smart and absorbing drama. While this is first and foremost a whodunit, what's being dramatized here isn't just the murder investigation, but the emotional impact of a young girl's death and the ways in which murder--more than any crime--rip away any semblance of privacy from the victims and those around them.

That includes the dead girl herself, a Laura Palmer-esque teenager concealing a secret life from her family, and her parents, loving-but-brittle mother Mitch Larsen (Michelle Forbes) and gruff Stanley (Brent Sexton). The two took their sons camping for the weekend, leaving Rosie on her own and never thought twice about the fact that they didn't hear from her all weekend long. An oversight? A damning mistake that will remain with them for the rest of their lives?

Detective Sarah Linden (Big Love's always phenomenal Mireille Enos) is herself haunted by the case, which she lands just as she's got one foot out the door. Linden is meant to be trading the rainy gloom of Seattle (itself a co-star in the show) for Sonoma, moving her young son and planning a wedding in three weeks to her fiancee Rick (Callum Keith Rennie of Battlestar Galactica). No other actress does haunted quite like Enos, whose wounded baby doll face conceals all manner of secrets of her own. Does she want to leave her job? Does she love Rick? In staying on to solve this murder is she trading personal happiness for professional duty?

It's clear that Sarah has a emotional connection to Rosie Larsen; witness the way she sadly surveys the detritus Rosie leaves behind in her wake, the little girl's room with its butterfly motif on the way, emblems in their own way of a short life lived. But is Sarah forging ahead with the investigation because she can't let go of the dead girl... or of her own life in Seattle? Does she feel something deeper for the victim here than she does for the living, breathing man who intends to marry her?

Linden is saddled with a new partner working his first murder investigation, ex-narcotics squad member Stephen Holder (Joel Kinnaman), whose methodologies couldn't be more removed from Sarah's by-the-book mentality. Holder's a slick grifter when it comes to the lowlifes, sexed-up teens, and druggies that they encounter in the process of their inquiries, but he's got no sense of compassion or subtlety when it comes to questioning those who might be at all prickly about his bluntness. But where Linden manages to put people at ease, Holden thrives at knocking people off-balance. And he has no qualms about bending the law to do so, engaging in some shady tactics that do pay off in their own way.

Across town, while Rosie's family awaits word of their daughter's fate and Linden and Holden uncover clues to Rosie's disappearance, Darren Richmond (Billy Campbell) pursues his mayoral campaign while several skeletons knock together in his closet. There's a dead wife, the nature of her demise tantalizingly unclear, and there's a unexpected connection between his campaign and Rosie's death, as well as rumblings that someone close to him is leaking information to the press and possibly the incumbent mayor as well.

But Richmond has surrounded himself by those he trusts: Jamie Dempsey (Mad Men's Eric Ladin), a consummate strategist and campaign golden boy, and Gwen Eaton (Drive's Kristin Lehman), Darren's well-heeled campaign adviser and lover. Did one of them betray him? And just how far are they willing to go in order to sabotage his campaign? Or is Darren Richmond, white knight politician, not as squeaky-clean as he appears? Do we relish seeing a good man pulled down off of his pedestal... or is someone looking to drag him through the muck?

These are just some of the questions that swirl around the characters in the initial installments, which depict the early stages of the investigation as Linden and Holden begin to mine Rosie's life for possible suspects and spread their inquires further afield. The show creates several overlapping, concentric spheres of society around which the action moves; one could draw a Venn diagram depicting these areas of inquiry: the domestic sphere of Rosie's family; the teen demi-monde of high school; the political campaign; the police. Throughout the series, I'm expecting that we see these spheres overlap in new and unexpected ways as the detectives uncover just what happened to Rosie.

It's impossible not to get caught up in the action of these early episodes, each clue that Linden and Holden uncover explodes a new series of questions. A devil's mask becomes a crucial piece of evidence, a home-made video, a hole in the wall; each clue is just another link in a never-ending chain, twisting its way around the lives of these individuals. Their lives, all of them, have become about death in their own ways.

Enos' performance is a standout as she grapples with the investigation and the internal tug-of-war happening within her heart. As incandescent as ever, she has an easy femininity to her, a rare vulnerability that's at odds with her profession. Is she good at her job because she cares too much? Campbell manages to be magnetic and sympathetic, while also tugging the rug out from underneath us. Is he a good man? Ladin and Lehman sparkle in their unspoken rivalry and the eternal game of one-up-manship taking place between them. ("The knives of jealousy," wrote crime novelist Ruth Rendell, "are honed on details.")

But the moment that gets me every time is when Forbes' Mitch learns the fate of daughter Rosie over the telephone. Her breakdown, on the floor of the kitchen, listening to a scene unfold but being unable to see it with her own eyes is the stuff of legend, recalling a similar moment in the pilot of Twin Peaks, where Grace Zabriskie's Sarah Palmer has to listen to Sheriff Truman (Michael Ontkean) tell her husband (Ray Wise) that the body of their daughter has been discovered. Gut-wrenching in its emotional truth, it's an explosive scene whose shrapnel is keenly felt, her mother's cry of loss and grief becoming an overwhelming keening.

As I mentioned in my feature on The Killing over at The Daily Beast, this gripping and brutal drama has a very different take on murder and victimization than most American crime dramas. The handling of the corpse is a breathtaking and heartbreaking moment, courtesy of director Patty Jenkins (Monster), rather than the "murder porn" that shows like CSI and Criminal Minds have become.

We see firsthand the damage done to Rosie, to her family, and to everyone around her. The fear, the humiliation, the grief, the rage, the unbearable weight of it is depicted in a sensitive and intelligent fashion. But the mystery of who did this to her, of what drives people to kill, gives this drama a sharp undercurrent, a nerve-jangling tension that drives the plot of The Killing forward.

Ultimately, The Killing is a rare beast: spellbinding, introspective, and addictive, all at once. It should not, for any reason, be missed.

The Killing premieres Sunday evening at 9 pm ET/PT (with a special two-hour debut) on AMC.

The Daily Beast: AMC's New Killer Drama, The Killing

Every now and then comes along a supremely smart, compulsively addictive serialized drama series that hooks you from the very first moments.

Welcome to The Killing, AMC's newest drama offering, which begins on Sunday evening (look for a review of the first three episodes before then) and is based on the hit Danish series Forbrydelsen.

Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, in which I talk to executive producer Veena Sud and cast members Mireille Enos (Big Love) and Billy Campbell (The 4400) and explore the show's thematic similarities to another addictive mystery, Twin Peaks, and compare it to the disturbing trend of "murder porn" in most American television crime procedurals.

The Killing premieres with a special two-hour launch on Sunday at 9 pm ET/PT on AMC. You do not want to miss out on this remarkable new series!

The Daily Beast: "15 Reasons to Watch TV This Spring"

Yes, spring is finally here (or thereabouts, anyway), and that brings warmer weather and, very fortunately, a slew of new and returning television series.

Over at The Daily Beast, you can check out my latest feature, "15 Reasons to Watch TV This Spring," which includes a look at such series as Mildred Pierce, Game of Thrones, The Borgias, The Kennedys, Camelot, The Killing, Body of Proof, Upstairs Downstairs, and returning series such as Nurse Jackie, The United States of Tara, Treme, Doctor Who, Top Chef: Masters, Secret Diary of a Call Girl and the NBC premiere of the final season of Friday Night Lights.

What are you most excited about that arrives on the airwaves between now and May? Head to the comments section to discuss.

Press Release: AMC Announces Launch Date for The Killing

AMC ANNOUNCES NEXT ORIGINAL SERIES, “THE KILLING”
TO PREMIERE SUNDAY, APRIL 3rd AT 10PM/ET

From Writer and Executive Producer Veena Sud

Starring Mireille Enos, Billy Campbell, Joel Kinnaman,
Michelle Forbes and Brent Sexton

Pasadena, CA – January 7, 2010 – AMC announced today, from the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, California, the premiere of AMC’s next original series, “The Killing,” on Sunday, April 3rd at 10pm ET/PT. From writer, executive producer and series’ showrunner Veena Sud (“Cold Case”), “The Killing” is based on the wildly successful Danish television series “Forbrydelsen.” It tells the story of the murder of a young girl in Seattle and the subsequent police investigation. Season one consists of thirteen, one-hour episodes.

“The Killing” ties together three distinct stories around a single murder including the detectives assigned to the case, the victim’s grieving family and the suspects. Set in Seattle, the story also explores local politics as it follows politicians connected to the case. As the series unfolds, it becomes clear that there are no accidents; everyone has a secret, and while the characters think they’ve moved on, their past isn’t done with them.

Online at AMCtv.com, fans can access the series' trailer, an exclusive behind-the-scenes video, first-look photos, and read the latest news and information about the series through an updated blog. Users can also participate in a community talk forum. Then, throughout the month of April, “The Killing’s” site expands to include games, downloads, and cast and character profiles. Following the premiere, each week AMCtv.com will feature new episodic and behind-the-scenes videos, exclusive Q&As with the cast and crew, trivia games, and more. The site also introduces a customized feature entitled, “Rosie’s Room,” which is an exclusive interactive experience that allows users to enter and explore the bedroom of the teenage murder victim Rosie Larsen to learn more about her life and uncover clues about what may have led to her untimely death.

“The Killing” stars Mireille Enos (“Big Love”) as Sarah Linden, the lead homicide detective that investigates the death of Rosie Larsen; Billy Campbell (“Once and Again”) as Darren Richmond, Seattle’s City Council President, running for Mayor; Joel Kinnaman (Snabba Cash) as Stephen Holder, an ex-narc cop who joins the homicide division in the investigation to find Rosie’s killer; Michelle Forbes (“True Blood”) as Rosie’s mother, Mitch Larsen; and Brent Sexton (W., In the Valley of Elah) as Rosie’s father, Stan Larsen.

Filmed in Vancouver, “The Killing” is produced by Fox Television Studios and executive produced by Mikkel Bondesen (“Burn Notice”) for Fuse Entertainment. Fuse’s Kristen Campo co-produces. AMC’s Joel Stillerman, senior vice president of original programming, production and digital content, Susie Fitzgerald, senior vice president of scripted development and current programming and Jason Fisher, senior vice president of production oversee production of the series for the network.

Midseason TV Preview: 16 Shows to Watch This Winter

Winter is coming...

Well, not that winter, not just yet. While we continue the long slog until April when HBO launches its adaptation of Game of Thrones, there's quite a lot of new and returning television series to keep us entertained in the meantime.

Over at The Daily Beast, I offer "16 Shows to Watch This Winter," a round-up that includes such series as Episodes, Shameless, Big Love, Downton Abbey, Parks and Recreation, Portlandia, Off the Map, The Chicago Code, Lights Out, Archer, Justified, The Killing, Body of Proof, and others.

In other words: quite a fair bit coming up.

Which of these new and returning shows are you most excited about? Head to the comments section to discuss.

The Daily Beast: "AMC: Television's Hottest Network"

Mad Men. Breaking Bad. Rubicon.

Those titles are intimately familiar to any television devotee and cabler AMC, the home to those groundbreaking series, is about to launch their fourth original series this weekend with The Walking Dead.

Over at The Daily Beast, I examine AMC's success, speaking to the channel's top executives--president/general manager Charlie Collier and SVP of original programming Joel Stillerman--as they dive headfirst into the horror genre with Sunday's The Walking Dead.

The piece, entitled "AMC: Television's Hottest Network," contains a discussion with Collier and Stillerman covering AMC's brand, their programming decisions, and the future and challenges for the basic cable network as well as topics such as the fate of Rubicon, next year's crime drama The Killing, and much more.

Channel Surfing: AMC Finds The Killing, Lotus Caves for Syfy and Bryan Fuller, More Office Rumors, FNL Launch Date, and More

Welcome to your Thursday morning television briefing.

AMC has given a series order to pilot The Killing, which hails from writer/executive producer Veena Sud and Fox Television Studios and is based on Danish television series Forbrydelsen, ordering thirteen episodes which will air sometime in 2011. Series, which will star Big Love's Mireille Enos, revolves around the murder of a young girl and a police investigation that connects several seemingly separate story threads. "We are thrilled to be moving forward with this stunning piece of television," said Joel Stillerman, AMC's senior vp of original programming, production and digital content, in a statement. "It is a crime drama, but it is also a gripping character based story that pulls you in and doesn't let go. The storytelling is completely compelling, and the show is visually breathtaking." In addition to Enos, the project--which will be renamed, sadly--also stars Billy Campbell, Michelle Forbes, Joel Kinnaman, and Brent Sexton, among others. (Hollywood Reporter)

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello is reporting that Syfy is teaming up with Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller to develop a drama series based on John Christopher's novel, "The Lotus Caves." Fuller and Jim Grey will write the pilot script for The Lotus Caves, which--like the novel before it--will revolve around a group of "rebellious lunar colonists [who] dare to take a peek beyond their borders and discover a bunch of brainiac aliens living in the caves of the title." (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

Could Portia de Rossi or Tony Hale be headed to The Office? New York Post's Jarett Wieselman looks at an unconfirmed report that says that Danny McBride will be dropping by Scranton this season but not as the replacement for Steve Carell's Michael Scott, who will instead be replaced by someone who once starred on Arrested Development. Wieselman then goes on to say that the most obvious suspects, should we believe the report, are Tony Hale, Jeffrey Tambor, and Portia de Rossi. (New York Post's PopWrap)

The date you're waiting for: the fifth and final season of Friday Night Lights will kick off on DirecTV on October 27th, according to Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello. No word on when Season Five will turn up on NBC, though it's likely to air next summer on the Peacock. (Entertainment Weekly's Ausiello Files)

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan has an interview with Sons of Anarchy's Ron Perlman, who plays Clay Morrow on the gritty FX biker drama. "None of us really know where we go from week to week," Perlman told Ryan. "And there's something really exciting about that. I feel if Kurt needed for us to know where we needed to go from week to week, he would tell us if it was going to affect something in our playing of it. The hallmark of his writing is -- he writes in a way that's very vivid and the only thing you ever need to worry about is the moment that you're in. The kidnapping of the child is the event that drives at least the first few episodes. Of course, it's all hands on deck. Whatever is going on in [the characters'] personal relationships is shelved for the moment while we address ourselves to the matter at hand. But beyond that I really can't say. But my guess is -- and I'm like an audience member, in terms of [not knowing] where the show is going to be later in the season -- Kurt is too smart to introduce something without it, at some point, resolving itself. He doesn't feel like he's in any hurry to put all the cards out. That's my guess." (Chicago Tribune's The Watcher)

Vulture has an interview with former Lost star Michael Emerson about the release of the DVD and the twelve-minute epilogue entitled, "The New Man in Charge." "I was so pleased with it," said Emerson of Lost's finale. "Instead of employing some narrative device or science-fiction device or time-travel device, [the writers] humanized the whole affair and brought it back to characters and souls, and so I thought it was really a fine solution and one that I’m onboard with. And I’m especially delighted with the way they wrapped up the Benjamin Linus [story]." Asked about some of the negative reactions to the series finale, Emerson said, "It surprised me a bit because a lot of people who were unhappy had been misunderstanding the show for a long time, so why were they still watching it if they’d mixed up what they were seeing? But I guess that’s the deal: It works magically for all sorts of people at all different levels of understanding." As for the epilogue, he described it as a sort of "dessert" to be enjoyed after the main course. (Vulture)

USA Today's Whitney Matheson also has an interview with Emerson about the finale and the epilogue. Asked whether the epilogue was truly the end, Emerson said, "Yeah, they've always made that clear. I think we can take them at their word. These writers will never revisit the material, or at least not soon. And you'll never get the cast together in one place again. But as some people have noted, you might get a couple of cast members together to do something that takes off on a tangent." (USA Today's Pop Candy)

It looks like Jennifer Lopez won't be taking a spot at the judges table on American Idol after all. Citing a report by People, The Hollywood Reporter has a look at why talks with Lopez fell through: "Her demands got out of hand," an unnamed source told People. "Fox had just had enough." (The Hollywood Reporter)

Which brings us to this gem: Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd offers seven reasons why there has been such a delay in FOX announcing replacements for the outbound American Idol judges. (Hollywood Reporter's The Live Feed)

20th Century Fox Television has signed a three-year overall deal with Family Guy writers Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild, under which they will remain aboard the FOX animated comedy while also developing new projects for the studio. (Variety)

Entertainment Weekly's Lynette Rice reports that CBS will debut its new daytime talk show The Talk, developed by Sara Gilbert, on Monday, October 18th. Series features six female hosts with kids, including Julie Chen, Sara Gilbert, Sharon Osbourne, Holly Robinson Peete, Leah Remini, and Marissa Jaret Winokur. (Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider)

E4 has released the first photo of the cast of Season Five of Skins, featuring an entirely new cast of characters. (E4)

Syfy is planning holiday-themed episodes of its series Warehouse 13 and Eureka and has tapped Judd Hirsch and Paul Blackthorne to drop by Warehouse 13, while Chris Parnell and Matt Frewer will be stopping by Eureka this winter. (via press release)

Jay Mohr is set to guest star in the fourth episode of NBC's new legal drama Outlaw, where he will play Henry Ashford, whom Jimmy Smits' Cyrus Garza will face off with in court in a case involving a mother who accidentally kills her baby after locking it in a car, according to TV Guide Magazine's Will Keck. "NBC is keeping mum as to whether Cyrus or Jay's character, Henry Ashford, will be representing the bad mother," writes Keck. "The network says it will be a weekly guessing game as to which side of the law Outlaw Smits attaches himself." (TV Guide Magazine)

Nick Cannon will remain the chairman of TeenNick through January 2012 under an extension of the deal Cannon has with the Nickelodeon cable network. (Variety)

Stay tuned.