True Detective

[thespus]

I think the writer is an expert at creating a surreal allure within the confines of a normal murder-mystery (this one a bit seeming a more straightforward plot than the last) which allows the viewer to believe something creepy is around every corner, adding to the viability of a show heavy on dialogue surrounding character struggles. He's self-indulgent at times, but largely it's brilliant.

 

[ccfctommy]

OK have never seen series 1, so watching series 2 first.

Starting to get into this now. Decent ending this week...

 

[ccfctommy]

Spoiler

So Taylor Lautner's character is gay? Or was that just me. I think Colin Farrell survives somehow...

 

[SF_]

Spoiler

So Taylor Lautner's character is gay? Or was that just me. I think Colin Farrell survives somehow...

Spoiler

Aye, when he couldn't get it up for that tidy, Latino piece in the first episode I thought it might be something darker but him watching the rent boys pretty much confirms it. Not sure what part it has to play in the overall story line though but i'm sure we will find out about his past which seems a bit sketchy... the burns on his shoulder etc...

My initial instinct in the first episode was that he was involved in the rape of Colin Farrell's wife but looks like I was way off with that

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

I don't think we need spoiler tags. Once a new episode airs you enter the thread at your own risk.

 

[RavenBish]

Surely he's dead right, I'm not all high and mighty about artistic license and 'oh...AS IF' when it comes to ambiguous 'deaths' that seemed pretty unambiguous - HOWEVER, he got shotgunned in the fucking stomach from point blank range, they're hardly going to open the next episode with 'well, thank god he was wearing a vest and it hit his lucky Saint Christopher'. I don't for a minute think they could've killed the most interesting piece of the puzzle off after episode 2, in fact, I'd rather a stupid explanation than 'YEP, we did it, because you liked that Red Wedding thing right? That whole anyone can die at anytime stuff'.

BUT. Shotgun. Two Blasts. Close range. Stomach.

Ani's story I quite like because of how the weirdo community might fit into it all, there's already been that tenuous link between the victim and hippy psycho-babble. Taylor Kitsch's dude though? No idea, not seeing the point there other than I thought his chick was gonna provide the dirty talk sexy moments for the series, I hope she's back at some point. Tim Riggins is noticeably less hunky than his Friday Night Lights days too, what's gone off there?!

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

Could easily have been rock salt shells. I don't think we saw much (any?) blood.

 

[SF_]

Vince Vaughan, credit where it's due.

 

[Captain Scumbag]

Caught up.

I can do without Vince Vaughn opening an episode with a 5 MINUTE monologue about rats and papier mâché. I can do without sophomoric homages to Lynch (if I want Lynchian weirdness and LA noir, I'll just watch Mulholland Drive, thank you). I can do without the sort of bad, overly-writerly dialogue any decent script editor would put multiple red lines through. I can do without the overhead criss-crossing roads visual motif appearing 238 times per episode. But…

The real meat and veg – the story – is holding my attention. We now have three official detectives (Ani, Paul and Ray) and one unofficial (Frank) investigating the murder, and all four are embroiled in things that seem much more complex. Ani and Paul are working for State, who want dirt for their investigation into corruption in Vinci. Velcoro is a stooge for the Vinci powers-that-be who just want the case to go away but also a stooge for Frank (who actually wants it solved). In addition, Frank seems to have problems with various powerful groups – the Russians, Catalyst, a possible rival/successor moving in on his turf – which we presently only understand in very sketchy form. It's a delightfully messy clusterfuck of corruption, competing interests and hidden agendas. Throw in incestuous mothers, closet homosexuality, hippie cults, birdman assassins, mysterious references to "Black Mountain" (Blackwater?) and Rick Springfield (!) as a psychiatrist… it's certainly not boring. Overwrought and a bit silly, maybe. But not boring.

I've done a 180 on McAdams. I don't think she's done anything differently since the first episode, so the adjustment is probably mine – me moving past the Time Traveller's Wank associations or something. But, yeah, I'm really liking her in this now. Still not convinced by Vaughn or Kitsch.

My gut feeling is that the story might work better without Paul. I understand why Pizzolatto might have wanted to get away from the partners thing that was so integral to series 1, but I wonder whether the story would work better if the focus was on an Ani and Ray partnership. The duality of their relationship – growing to like and trust each other more as they work the case, yet essentially on different sides and lying to each other – would be a really good focal point for what I like about the show, which is all the aforementioned stuff about corruption, competing interests and hidden agendas. I'm not sure, at present, how Paul fits in. He seems a much more peripheral character. This may change.

One line summary: still finding more to like than dislike.

 

[Cheese & Biscuits]

So worth watching then? I wasn't going to bother but I may download it all when it's finished for my commute.

 

[Pagnell]

Absolutely loved the first series, but I admit I'm struggling a little with this 2nd one in comparison. I will see it through though as it's still very good in parts.

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

Well that escalated quickly.

 

[JustinQPR]

That ending was some brutal shit, man.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[thespus]

The 5th episode was good, though I think it would have served better as a 4th episode (more below). This season still hasn't intrigued me as much as the first, but now that the larger scale story-line is more apparent and the character motivations are established, I am very excited for the final episodes. A few scattered thoughts as I'm still between minds for a comprehensive write-up:

1) Paul's character (admittedly Kitsch's acting has improved the last two episodes) still seems unnecessary. Unless there is a twist to come which makes his unclear war background important to the main story, I think the show would have been better had he been omitted and the focus was on Ray and Ani. I love the anthology format, but an eight episode series is not the place for an intense character study of four protagonists/antiheroes.

2) Farrell and McAdams are brilliant as Ray and Anti. If it wasn't for the needless exposition (and other writing flaws beyond their control), they'd be lauded in a similar fashion to Harrelson and McConaughey.

3) I love that all of the protagonists, including Frank and Paul, seem to be "losers" tasked with being the heroes caught as bystanders in a war between two corrupt factions, but their minor(relative) problems are what compels their respective characters to join this task force. I don't mind the emphasis on the character back-stories, but I think Pizzalotto is guilty of telling vs. showing when it comes to the corruption plot. A better balance between a character study and a traditional mystery/thriller could have been struck.

4) Birdman, which shotgunned Ray, was clearly someone who didn't want Ray to find the harddrive with (I presume) contains blackmail evidence used by Tony Chessani from these "parties up north" but did have interest in keeping him on the case since he was working for the crooked Vinci city officials. I suspect Birdman may have been Blake, Frank's associate whom we learned is secretly working with the Russian mobsters in this human trafficking/prostitution ring. I suspect the Russian boss was behind Caspere's disappearance. I initially suspected Frank was involved in Ray's being shot, due to an overwhelming suspicion Frank and Ray's relationship wasn't as straightforward as we initially were led to believe, but now it's evident Frank's manipulation of Ray was related to his wife's assault.

5) Ultimately, if some of the exposition is reduced and the content of the first four episodes was fit into three, I think this fifth episode would have been a phenomenal episode four and this season would be received with more critical acclaim.

 

[The East Terrace]

Hopefully starting to pick up now but it just hasn't grabbed me in the way S1 did. I'll stick with it and can't judge it till it's all done and dusted but so far it's been just a notch too slow.

 

[SF_]

Really enjoying this second season, i'm not drawing any comparisons to the first as I think the whole point of it is to be something different entirely and I think they've done that.

My only gripe with it really is that the script is a bit full of itself at times and that in most scenes someone attempts to reel out a bloody proverb.

 

[Captain Scumbag]

Good god, this Colin Farrell performance deserves to be in a better show. Outstanding in episode 6 just now.

 

[SF_]

Don't really get the slating that the finale has been given, it was a good ending (not a brilliant one) to a great show, the best show or season of a show i've seen since True Detective 1.