Product Details

• Actors: Mireille Enos, Joel Kinnaman, Jamie Anne Allman, Brent Sexton, Brendan Sexton III
• Directors: Agnieszka Holland, Brad Anderson, Daniel Attias, Ed Bianchi, Gwyneth Horder-Payton
• Format: AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 4
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• DVD Release Date: March 13, 2012
• Run Time: 587 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B004X1VUNI
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,734 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Killing: Season One" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Following a shocking murder, the lives of the police, suspects and victim's family are intricately woven together in this "spellbinding" (TV Guide) series starring Mireille Enos and Joel Kinnaman, This engrossing series has earned huge acclaim, as well as a Golden Globe® nomination and multiple Emmy® nominations in its first season!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Savvy And Smart Mystery For Adults--Reminiscent Of "Twin Peaks" Minus The Extravagant Quirkiness, May 20, 2011

By 

K. Harris "Film aficionado" (Albuquerque, NM) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Killing: Season One (DVD)

AMC, having established itself a leader in smart and sophisticated counter-programming (Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, Rubicon), serves up another winner with "The Killing"--an adaptation of a successful Danish television series. I, personally, look at the show as the thematic cousin to "Twin Peaks" albeit with a completely different tone and vibe. Both shows center around the murder of a girl, both even feature the tagline "Who Killed.....(Rosie Larsen and Laura Palmer, respectively)," and both chart three similar storylines. We see the investigation progress, we see the painful aftermath on the girl's family and friends, and we see how the murder may be tied to local politicians and bigwigs. That, of course, is where the similarities cease. "The Killing" is a deadly serious and contemplative drama set in Seattle--not at all encumbered with the quirky eccentricities that defined that other Washington State township. It is an intense and quiet show with a slow build--those eager for easy answers and constant action may need to look elsewhere. The pace of "The Killing" is more akin to the unraveling of a fine novel.

Through successive episodes, the path to identifying the murderer becomes increasingly muddy. Steely and determined Mireille Enos play the intrepid lead investigator haunted by past mistakes. She is unable to move on with her own life and, in fact, sacrifices potential happiness in her dogged pursuit of justice. Her replacement (only he can't replace her when she won't leave!) is the offbeat Joel Kinnaman. Both humorous and strangely intense, the two forge an uneasy relationship that provides a lot of conflict, drama, and unexpected laughs. On another front, the always terrific Michelle Forbes and Brendan Sexton III play the deceased girl's parents. Forbes is magnetic going through the stages of grief and Sexton is a powder keg of repressed emotion. And lastly, there is the political component that weaves around the central mystery in surprising ways. Billy Campbell plays a mayoral candidate whose closeness to the investigation causes some major issues on the campaign trail.

Of course, this brief synopsis really does no justice to the intricacies of the actual story--but serves as a simple introduction. Every episode is structured as one day in the investigation, but the show really does a fine job balancing the three concurrent plot components. Well written and intelligent, the show is not your typical police procedural. This one relies on in-depth characterizations and complex plotting. Again, if you are looking for light hearted or breezy fare--this would not be it. This requires and rewards patience and attention--and that's something I appreciate in the land of formulaic television.

Check this out as a slow burn mystery. I especially recommend it for the performances. While everyone is quite good, I have to single out Forbes and Sexton. Forbes puts it all onto the line in raw naked emotion--I can't think of a recent TV performance quite so harrowing. And Sexton is more understated, complex, and internal--but no less effective or believable. Great job to them. An intriguing show for adults, if that sounds like a recommendation--it certainly is. KGHarris, 5/11.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best of its kind, August 14, 2011

By 

Lori A. Ross - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Killing: Season One (DVD)

I tend to not watch things that I see advertisements for on every channel unless I was already planning to. It's more out of principal. The millionth time I see something advertised, it starts to annoy me. But I was bored one Sunday night and after seeing about five advertisements telling me that The Killing was probably about the greatest show ever, I decided it was worth giving it a shot.

I came to a conclusion: the reason everyone is going on about how awesome this show is, is because it's the best crime drama (a genre I'm usually not a fan of) that I have ever seen.

The story is broken into a few different major stories that intertwine around a central event: the murder of Rosie Larsen.

The most heart wrenching scenes are the ones with Rosie's family on the day her body is discovered, and in the aftermath of her death. The family scenes are painful to watch. The characters of her parents and siblings feel real and sympathetic enough that you will feel for them and their loss from beginning to end. There is no way to watch the Larsen family try to go about and rebuild their lives without the occasional (or constant) tears.

Then there's the campaign in the middle of the murder investigation. Whether or not anyone in the campaign is involved in Rosie's murder is up for debate throughout and the question isn't totally answered by the end of the season.

The officers of the case - Holder and Linden - are some of the most interesting and human detectives on television. One's an ex drug addict who continuously does questionable things for what he seems to believe is for the good of the case, and the other is a woman who wants nothing more than to retire and move with her son and fiancé.

The story unfolds slowly, dragging the viewer along for the shocking and sometimes painful journey. It's a fascinating story that the viewer (if they're anything like me) will be thinking about long after it's over.

The series finale is one of the greatest I have ever seen. I cannot wait for the second season after seeing it. After watching the season finale, I have even more questions and even more I cannot stop thinking and speculating about.
The Killing is full of suspense and drama and encourages audience speculation and participation. It's a show that keeps the audience on their toes.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Performances, November 15, 2011

By 

KatherineM - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Killing: Season One (DVD)

I watched the show from beginning to end. I started with zero preconceptions, it was just on AMC at a time when I normally watch AMC. It is far from a perfect show, but it is a great show. The political side story was very weak, you can fast forward through all of that and miss nothing at all if you get bored. People have objected to how the story went off on false leads and tangents, I simply regarded those as the nature of trying to solve a case with few leads.

At a certain point of the series, however, I quit listening to all the 'I want a clue-of-the-week with a bad guy and nicely-tied up conclusion at the end of the season' very vocal critics, and sat back to just enjoy the performances. If you enjoy superb acting, and a brilliant character study to see the ripple effects of a murder, this is a great show (other than the political side story).

Linden and Holder are in particular excellent as a complete pair of opposite detectives. I started out the series thinking Enos had it all together and Holder was incompetent, but then as the series progressed I came to the conclusion that Linden was a pretty troubled volcano beneath her calm surface, and Holder ultimately might be the stronger and more honest one emotionally, even with a troubled past. Enos and Kinnaman are simply brilliant in their portrayals and I hope this season the focus will be even more on them. They are worth watching the show just for their performances.

I too was angry when they didn't resolve the murder at the end of the season as I expected. However it was a 24 hour anger. It's just a TV show, and it was a season end not a series end. I'm surprised at how people are acting with a degree of bitterness as if their significant had other committed adultery on them. Maybe that's a testament to how engrossing the characters in the show became to everyone.