HBO's True Detective

I have a few episodes to catch up on (just watched Episode 3 last night), so I'm avoiding reading the last few posts on this thread, but I had a few thoughts. I think the first three episodes have been a fine crime drama, if a little difficult to follow in some parts, but it's definitely lacking something the first season had.

Aside from the nihilism of Season 1, I think Season 2 is missing the impending sense of dread that Season 1 drew us in with. Season 1 had us wondering what kind of horrors we might find if/when Rust and Hart found the Yellow King. The long, slow build seemed to feed off the slow pace of life in the deep South and left viewers practically wanting to dab their foreheads with a kerchief as we watched Rust and Hart navigate the Louisiana landscapes.

In Season 2, we have a victim that we know very little about and about whom we've been given no reason to care. There's a complicated land-deal at the heart of this murder, but there doesn't seem to be anything "exotic" about the motive to kill Casper, in the manner of the Yellow King. The long shots and brooding expressions aren't building tension the way they did in Season 1, and the slow pace seems out of place for the setting of Los Angeles County.

 

I have found this season to be very entertaining. Not as good as the first but it's been good.

About the writing, sometimes using big words isn't the best idea. He needs to cut back on some of that shit. I had to look up "louche" the other day (episode 3 I think). I take it Frank's smart but some of that dialogue is just fng out of these guys' league.

 

One of my friends calls this show SVU: Chinatown. Not so much because it's awesome like Chinatown, but it feels like what a stupid network TV version of that movie would have been.

 

I think it's good, even if it pales by comparison.
I don't have a problem with Vaughn, and his vocabulary and purple language seem to fit a thug who aspires to be something he can never really even understand.
Farrell's wrestling with the squalor he was cultivated within while catching glimpses of redemption has been good.
McAdams has been surprisingly good, although her character's story arc has been less interesting than Farrell's.
Kitsch's character and story has been the least interesting.

 

Which is not surprising. She's put the most effort into it. She doesn't get these roles.

Vince Vaughn has Ben Affleck disease. He's a cool dude, and that almost always leads filmmakers to let him coast. Which he has, repeatedly, in his career.

 

Was there any doubt Season 2 would pale in comparison to Season 1? Which of course means Season 3 will be great.

 

I wouldn't be so sure a season 3 will even happen. If the rest of season 2 gets killed as much as the first 5 eps, I'll be interested to see how Nick P reacts to that. Does he tuck and run or does it fire him up enough to hire his old director and make another season?

 

I thought last night's episode was outstanding. Vaughn in the scene with the guy's son is as good as I've ever seen him. Farrell knocked his drug/drinking/jamming scene out of the park. The last sequence at the party was great. I think it's the best episode of the season, even better than the shootout.

 

Agree. Really good episode, start to finish.

 

The music for the party scene was incredible to me, and really added to the surreal, creepy atmosphere. Almost had a dream-like quality to it. So far, the last 20 minutes or so of that episode, and the shootout, have been the only thing that have really matched season one to me. Vaughn's scene with the guy's son was really good too, since it was intercut with Ray unable to connect with "his" boy, who's ride-or-die for Rachel, Monica and Phoebe.

 

Who Is The Killer On ‘True Detective’? Blake, Burris, Or Chessani?

 

Agree on last night's episode. They tightened the scope a bit, which really helped things.