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Thread: True Detective (Season 2)

  1. #76
    A Platypus Grouchy's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting number8 (view post)
    I really liked the choice to use a Bernard Herrmann style score for the orgy scene.
    Totally. It elevated that whole sequence (which is kind of old fashioned in its construction as well) into something haunting and beautiful. Great idea.

    I don't know if it was my low expectations at this point, but I enjoyed this episode a lot.

  2. #77
    Piss off, ghost! number8's Avatar
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    It's... competent. The Velcoro/Semyon breakfast table standoff is good, but I can't help thinking it'd be a lot better if Colin Farrell was playing against someone stronger than Vince Vaughn. I did love the Scorsese style edit from the gun to the camera flashbulbs. I jumped a little.

    But man, the terrible lines just kept on coming.

    "The contract... It's full of signatures!"

    No fucking shit, Riggins.
    Quote Quoting Donald Glover
    I was actually just reading about Matt Damon and he’s like, ‘There’s a culture of outrage.’ I’m like, ‘Well, they have a reason to be outraged.’ I think it’s a lot of dudes just being scared. They’re like, ‘What if I did something and I didn’t realize it?’ I’m like, ‘Deal with it.’
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  3. #78
    A Platypus Grouchy's Avatar
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    Hahahah poor Taylor Kitsch.

    I think the storyline would be better if it focused on Velcoro and Semyon's relationship only and got rid of the two other cops. I liked the orgy scene as a set piece, but... who didn't see that rape flashback coming at some point? The character work with McAdams and Kitsch is just too basic and on the nose.

  4. #79
    I try to imagine this season without movie stars, and I start thinking you'd just have a straight-up bad show. The tone wouldn't be able to carry it. The weight brought by the actors is letting Pizzolatto get away with a lot of horrendous writing.

    But then, we wouldn't have all this cringe-y stuff being mis-written for Vince Vaughn either, so I guess there's a trade-off.

    The orgy sequence was well-executed.
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  5. #80
    Ain't that just the way EyesWideOpen's Avatar
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    Great season. Even better than the first.
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  6. #81
    Administrator Ezee E's Avatar
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    Who should've had Vince Vaughn's role?

    Or is the problem in the writing?

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  7. #82
    Quote Quoting Ezee E (view post)
    Who should've had Vince Vaughn's role?
    Bryan Cranston? #JustFinishedBreakingBad

  8. #83
    Screenwriter Lazlo's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Ezee E (view post)
    Who should've had Vince Vaughn's role?

    Or is the problem in the writing?
    Vaughn is fine, it's definitely the writing.
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  9. #84
    Shocking Seductive Spiral Thirdmango's Avatar
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    I had a really hard time following this season even with watching all four of the last episodes in a row. I liked moments of this season but overall it's a big fail for me.

  10. #85
    Piss off, ghost! number8's Avatar
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    Finally mustered up enough will to finish it this morning after giving it up after episode 6.

    The last two episodes were just nonsense. Before this I was just giving shit to the dialogue, because I guess I was holding out hope that the plot would all come together at the end, but that didn't happen. Ray and Antigone's relationship developed out of nowhere for no discernable reason, her backstory reveal is complete trite, Pizza Latte's idea of tying loose ends was just death, and everything happens exactly as you'd expect it to... It's just a mess.
    Quote Quoting Donald Glover
    I was actually just reading about Matt Damon and he’s like, ‘There’s a culture of outrage.’ I’m like, ‘Well, they have a reason to be outraged.’ I think it’s a lot of dudes just being scared. They’re like, ‘What if I did something and I didn’t realize it?’ I’m like, ‘Deal with it.’
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  11. #86
    Super Moderator dreamdead's Avatar
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    I'm curious how much of the first season's charm really is in the performances and family dynamics. The second season promises similar tension in the first episode, but Antigone's father and sister issues don't ever really develop, and Ray's ex-wife is so much a narrative device that she's rendered void. The coupling between those two in the last two episodes seems so rote.

    If anything, it's Vaughn and his wife that have the most interesting relationship, but they're trapped by the most overbearing dialogue. Sadly, I liked Vaughn's final sequence in the desert, but the hallucinations needed to be set up in some way to be anything more substantial.

    It'll be interesting to see if the criticism leads to someone else getting more control away from Pizzolatto, or if quality actors begin refusing to star in it unless they have more assurances.
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  12. #87
    Bark! Go away Russ's Avatar
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    I've seen all the season 2 episodes except the last one.

    The fact that I've had all kinds of opportunities to see it, but still haven't made the effort (and frankly, I don't know if I ever will), makes for a pretty damning indictment.

  13. #88
    What is best in life? D_Davis's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting EyesWideOpen (view post)
    Great season. Even better than the first.
    Hehe.

    There's always one.

  14. #89
    Piss off, ghost! number8's Avatar
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    http://www.scpr.org/programs/the-fra...l-opportunity/

    HBO President of Programming takes the blame for S2's failure, says he was wrong in asking Pizza Latte to write another season on a regular yearly TV schedule.

    I became too much of a network executive at that point. We had huge success. “Gee, I’d love to repeat that next year.”

    Well, you know what? I set him up. To deliver, in a very short time frame, something that became very challenging to deliver. That’s not what that show is. He had to reinvent the wheel, so to speak. Find his muse. And so I think that’s what I learned from it. Don’t do that anymore.
    We're probably not going to see Season 3 for a while now.
    Quote Quoting Donald Glover
    I was actually just reading about Matt Damon and he’s like, ‘There’s a culture of outrage.’ I’m like, ‘Well, they have a reason to be outraged.’ I think it’s a lot of dudes just being scared. They’re like, ‘What if I did something and I didn’t realize it?’ I’m like, ‘Deal with it.’
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  15. #90
    What is best in life? D_Davis's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Russ (view post)
    I've seen all the season 2 episodes except the last one.

    The fact that I've had all kinds of opportunities to see it, but still haven't made the effort (and frankly, I don't know if I ever will), makes for a pretty damning indictment.
    I subscribed to HBO Go just for True Detective, and haven't watched a single episode of season 2.

  16. #91
    Quote Quoting number8 (view post)
    HBO President of Programming takes the blame for S2's failure, says he was wrong in asking Pizza Latte to write another season on a regular yearly TV schedule.
    So, he basically concedes that it was as terrible as most thought it was.

    The entire season definitely felt like it had a hurried "first draft" feel to it. Still think Pizzolatto probably needs a staff or producer to reel him in on his worst impulses.
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  17. #92
    Piss off, ghost! number8's Avatar
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    The scheduling also probably contributed to the inability to get a single director to shoot the whole thing. I think Lombardo's instinct is right. If you want a repeat of S1, just let Pizzolatto go away and whenever he comes back with a solid idea, you develop it like a singular miniseries, which is what they did in S1. This should never be regular programming.
    Quote Quoting Donald Glover
    I was actually just reading about Matt Damon and he’s like, ‘There’s a culture of outrage.’ I’m like, ‘Well, they have a reason to be outraged.’ I think it’s a lot of dudes just being scared. They’re like, ‘What if I did something and I didn’t realize it?’ I’m like, ‘Deal with it.’
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  18. #93
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    What you're suggesting is an HBO model that loosely follows the British model --- "hey, it's been 3 calendar years between seasons, but nobody cares!" I love that model because it often leads to quality work, but I don't think the US is there yet.

    Pizzolatto isn't a writers-room TV guy and yet, right now, LA demands that everybody fit into that mold.

  19. #94
    Since 1929 Morris Schæffer's Avatar
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    Episodes 5 and 6 were generally quite strong, the best so far. I think i'm finally on board till the end. Dig the location of LA a lot, getting faint gta v vibes. I'm finding myself moved by these character's lives and their shit that's unrelated to the core narrative. Farrell is really engaging.

    @number8: i dig vaughn's character and do not feel that during that table showdown farrell needed to act against a stronger, more formidable force. I like that Semyon isn't your typical tough as nuts gangster, a word he hates. He seems genuinely perturbed about doing nasty stuff to folks but is trying to just survive while keeping a shred of decency.
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  20. #95
    Piss off, ghost! number8's Avatar
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    I meant stronger as in a better actor.
    Quote Quoting Donald Glover
    I was actually just reading about Matt Damon and he’s like, ‘There’s a culture of outrage.’ I’m like, ‘Well, they have a reason to be outraged.’ I think it’s a lot of dudes just being scared. They’re like, ‘What if I did something and I didn’t realize it?’ I’m like, ‘Deal with it.’
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  21. #96
    True Detective is probably done.

    That news comes courtesy of Vulture, which quotes an interview with new HBO programming head Casey Bloys saying that another season of the show is highly unlikely.
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  22. #97
    In the belly of a whale Henry Gale's Avatar
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    Is it weird that despite the fact (or maybe because) I only made it three(?) episodes into the second series, I kind of wish they kept it around as a possibility? Just treat it like Curb, ("Come back if/when you're up to it."), give it to a writer other than Pizzolatto, or at the very least give him a few years to recharge that part of his creative mind for that world instead of a ticking window of a few months again.

    Just seems like too much potential gone to waste with such a beautifully crafted televisual style and worldview with that title.
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  23. #98
    Piss off, ghost! number8's Avatar
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    I mean, that is the situation. He still has an open exclusive contract with HBO for a few more years. If he wants to do it they'll do it.
    Quote Quoting Donald Glover
    I was actually just reading about Matt Damon and he’s like, ‘There’s a culture of outrage.’ I’m like, ‘Well, they have a reason to be outraged.’ I think it’s a lot of dudes just being scared. They’re like, ‘What if I did something and I didn’t realize it?’ I’m like, ‘Deal with it.’
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