the investigation. Nothing about this show is routine." Subsequent episodes were met with lesser praise by some critics, criticizing the show's reliance upon increasingly implausible red herrings to drive each episode and the withholding of details about each character's background, especially Rosie's, thus making them difficult to relate to or empathize with. The first-season finale was met with negative reviews from some critics. The Los Angeles Times called it "one of the most frustrating finales in TV history," with Alan Sepinwall of HitFix.com calling the end "insulting." Finally, Maureen Ryan of AOL TV said that the finale "killed off any interest I had in ever watching the show again." "[The show] began last spring looking like the smartest, most stylish pilot in years," complained Heather Havrilevsky in The New York Times Magazine. "Fast-forward to the finale, in which we learn that what we've been watching is actually a 26-hour-long episode of Law & Order, and we're only halfway through it." Season 2 The early seasonal episodes received generally favorable reviews from critics, with Metacritic giving it a score of 68/100 based on reviews from 23 critics. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 67% approval rating with an average rating of 7.0/10, based on 30 critic reviews; the website's critics consensus reads, "The Killing second season feels a bit tedious and unsure of where it wants to go, but it succeeds in keeping the audience on its toes, thanks to consistently fantastic acting and some strategic storytelling." Lori Rackl of the Chicago Sun-Times stated: "Few television shows are as addictive as this pensive, wonderfully paced suspenser." The Washington Post'''s Hank Stuever stated: "My own enjoyment of The Killing begins and ends with the gloom so brilliantly conveyed by its pace and performances." Brian Lowry of Variety stated the series remained "compelling," adding that "the writers... are adept at overcoming the stodgy pace by dangling tantalizing clues near each hour's end, creating a strong pull to see what transpires next." HitFix's Alan Sepinwall compared this season to the first and called it "better." He added: "The performances are still good, and now the characterization is a bit better. When you add that to the fine atmosphere... and you view the mystery itself as a kind of necessary evil that allows you to see the parts of the show that do work, then it's not bad." The season finale, "What I Know," received mixed