Rosie Larsen Made Me Do It....

About a year ago at this time, I became very engaged in an AMC Network original show (which turned out to be a remake and re-imagination of a Danish series of the same name) titled, ‘The Killing’. One of my favorite films of all time is ‘American Psycho’, and one of favorite cable shows is ‘Dexter’, so clearly I have a thing for killers in fiction and true crime alike. Action and suspense are huge draws for me, but I very much enjoy the psychology of the killers when they are inevitably found, which is something that keeps me away from SVU and NCIS and all the other police procedurals. They ALWAYS solve the crime, and somehow in 44 minutes. This show was a slam dunk for me to get into. AMC hit the ground running with a marketing campaign simply with the tag line ‘Who Killed Rosie Larsen?’ Effin’ A. right? Mystery, suspense, murder, rainy Seattle as the back drop, and Rosie is (of course) a slutty high school knockout, who everyone believes is pure as the fallen snow. The plot was interesting and engaging, the writing (from what I could tell) was decent and the acting was adequate, not detrimental in any way to the plot, and there were an appropriate amount of twists and turns that even M. Night Shyamalan would have been impressed. So why did this series get bashed in the media after the series finale? SPOILER ALERT: Seattle homicide does not solve the crime, and it is not exactly crystal clear who in fact did kill Rosie. They come awfully close, but long story short, the person who the audience is lead to believe did it has connections and powerful friends. We, the audience, ‘kinda sorta’ learn who killed Rosie, so there is a degree of payoff, but the resolution is not wrapped in a neat little bow. Should it even matter if the fake Seattle PD doesn’t solve it? Apparently, every television critic that I read thought so. I could not have disagreed more.

A quick note about AMC. AMC is probably my favorite cable network for original programming. I am not the first and certainly won’t be the last television viewer to say that, but with the initial success of ‘Mad Men’, followed by two of my favorites, ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘The Walking Dead’, AMC is the rare network that hits more than it misses. The network is batting about .750. Back to Rosie Larsen.

AMC launched this mysterious story of Rosie Larsen and committed to finance a second season shortly after the first couple of episodes aired before wrapping up the story lines. The writers didn’t really do that with much efficiency, and I think everyone can agree on that. I think that once they got renewed, it allowed the writers to leave those loose ends out there to bring viewers back and tell a deeper, more detailed story. So why all this fuss over ‘The Killing’ and Rosie Larsen? Because Season 2 premieres tonight on AMC and after some deep thought, I decided that it would be worth it to throw 13 hours of my time over the next few months to see where this is going.

I generally dislike critics for the exact reason that they en masse negatively reviewed ‘The Killing’. I watch television and films for the entertainment value, no other reason. I do not care about the things the critics care about (cinematography, acting ability, every story line wrapping up neatly, etc.). At work, I jokingly refer to my attitude about television and movies as ‘The Sucker Punch Argument’. Allow me to explain.

I had mentioned to one of my lunch pals a few month ago that I had watched the movie ‘Sucker Punch’ over the previous weekend, and she blurted out ‘Oh my God, how awful was that movie?!?!? How quickly did you turn it off?’ I think her head nearly exploded when I said that it was decent. This is also the same person who looks down her nose at me since I prefer non-fiction books to fiction. Quick summary since I know hardly anyone has seen this movie: a teenage girl kills her step-father in self-defense and is committed to a mental hospital, where she meets four other teenage girls, and plots her escape by making up elaborate scenarios in her active imagination involving her and her four new friends trying to figure a way out. Lots of CGI and action, little in the way of plot after its established why she was institutionalized.

The argument: no, it’s not a great movie or any type of ‘achievement in filmmaking’ (which is officially what the Best Picture Oscar is called, and the pretentiousness just makes me want to throw up), and yes, it caters more to a male audience than female (one strike against my friend). The plot is thin and simplistic at best, however it has a decent, if not quite rewarding ending. So with all that going against it, I still gave it 3.5 stars (out of 5) because, if nothing else, it was entertaining to me and a fun ride. Hot chicks firing semi-automatic hand guns, sword fighting, flying helicopters and just generally kicking ass? Sign me up. Would I watch it again? No. Would I recommend it to someone I know with similar taste in movies? Yes. Can I understand that ‘Sucker Punch’ is not going to appeal to everyone and it will never win any Oscars? Certainly. The point is, all that matters is my personal taste. (Note: The finales of Lost and Seinfeld are great examples of personal taste. They were widely criticized, especially Seinfeld, however, I thoroughly enjoyed both endings.) Critics give their personal opinions, and I just happen to disagree with them because my agenda is different, because I am making judgments based on different criteria. And they are mostly wrong on a consistent basis.

I am always discussing movies, music and TV shows with my friends and family. My thoughts and reviews for the next year are going to be based on one thing and one thing only: entertainment value. I have a friend who has told me on multiple occasions that he would rather watch a 6-3 football game than a shootout where the score is 45-42. That is so ludicrous to me, the only things that comes close is ludicrous speed, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, or Sucker Punch winning the Oscar for ‘Achievement in Filmmaking’. Note: that is the last time I will ever write those words in that phrase.



For some perspective, here are some of my favorite shows and movies in no particular order and regardless of genre, and I will keep it brief: Dexter, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld (can’t have one without the other), Arrested Development, 24, Lost, The Office, Breaking Bad (the best show currently on cable), Family Guy, Louie, The League, Malcolm in the Middle, Married…with Children, Damages (one of the most underrated and consistently good shows I have ever seen), American Psycho, Zoolander, Dodgeball (Ben Stiller’s best two roles, by far), Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek, Team America: World Police, Star Wars, The Godfather (I and II), The Jerk, Dirty Work, Fletch.

As one can see, I have a wide array of interests from serial killers, vigilantes, heart-broken puppeteers, and meth chemists to normal working-class people, crime families, male models, slackers, losers, cartoons, CTU employees and riches-to-rags families. Oh yeah, and marionettes and space cowboys.

More perspective: some extremely popular shows and movies that I have never seen: 30 Rock, Sex and The City (excusable-I’m a dude), Community (inexcusable), Mad Men, Twin Peaks, CSI (any version), NCIS, SVU, American Idol, Desperate Housewives, Law & Order, The X-Files, Field of Dreams (inexcusable considering I’m a dude and love baseball), the middle two Die Hard movies, Jurassic Park (all of them), Twilight (excusable). I have tried ‘The Wire’ and just could not get into it.

Last piece of perspective. Here is what is currently on my DVR: Family Guy, The Killing, House of Lies (tremendous Showtime show), Game of Thrones, Fringe, The Colbert Report, Alcatraz, Archer, Eurotrip, and the season finale of Dexter.

On the docket for the leadoff spot is the show that got me thinking about how much I love the entertainment value of television shows and movies, and how much I dislike the critics who critique them (sometimes I agree with them, but more often than not, they are wrong), The Killing, season 2 premiere. I also want to try movies and shows out of my wheel house and see if they take. On to the fun…