True Detective (Season 2)

[number8]

I didn't want to nitpick so I didn't mention it before, but the opening of Episode 2 with the paper mache monologue almost put me to sleep. Maybe with a 400% more magnetic actor it could work, but with Vince Vaughn's limited ability, to stage that long of a scene with the two characters stationary in bed, not even looking at each other. I was so baffled. Justin Lin had never been that boring, so I assume Pizza Latte wrote it that way and insisted on it.

[Grouchy]

You guys really hate it so much? I don't know, the first season was already better at this stage, true, but I'm intrigued by the storyline and nowhere near thinking about quitting it.

Also, rock salt bullets = rubber bullets. I won!

[Ezee E]

I didn't want to nitpick so I didn't mention it before, but the opening of Episode 2 with the paper mache monologue almost put me to sleep. Maybe with a 400% more magnetic actor it could work, but with Vince Vaughn's limited ability, to stage that long of a scene with the two characters stationary in bed, not even looking at each other. I was so baffled. Justin Lin had never been that boring, so I assume Pizza Latte wrote it that way and insisted on it.

Yeah, my brother went, "Move on!"

[dreamdead]

I. Just... don't know. The big climax here in episode 4 is appreciated, but there's no real payoff structurally for it. No sense of stakes have truly been established, and the supporting characters who die leave absolutely no mark. The first season established the stakes so much earlier and more effectively.

We're watching this season and I'm holding out hope it never turns the corner into quality so that major changes can be applied for an inevitable third season. Farrell remains the only actor who's developed a connection.

[Irish]

The big climax here in episode 4 is appreciated, but there's no real payoff structurally for it. No sense of stakes have truly been established, and the supporting characters who die leave absolutely no mark. The first season established the stakes so much earlier and more effectively.

Yeah, this. The action finale was fun, I guess? But there aren't any stakes. There's no urgency to the central mystery at all. Instead they run the same scenes about how their personal lives are fucked up, mostly based on some sort of sexual dysfunction. Like, every character has an emotional wound around sex. That might have been interesting if it played more subtly.

I like the characters a little bit more but the show is bland.

[DavidSeven]

The climax reminded me of the "Shotgun Ed" scene from LA Confidential where Guy Pearce gets in a violent shootout with the three minorities who end up being red herrings for the central murder case. Of course, that scene was set up a lot better and was significant for developing Pearce's character.

The True Detective shootout was well-executed from a staging standpoint, but it did sort of have a "so what" feel to it, right? Based on already seeing the Bird-man killer, we knew the gang-bangers were patsies. Portraying them as psycho maniacs didn't help in giving any layer to the scene. Intellectually, it would have been more interesting if they maybe weren't so demonic. Anyway, it was still certainly a stirring scene so I won't bash on it too much. It could lead to something interesting.

I still enjoy it because it's hard to find serialized crime drama done in this tone. But yeah, not entirely convinced now that Pizzolatto was the main reason Season 1 succeeded.

[number8]

Yeah. Gotta agree. Just because it had a Michael Mann shoot out at the end does not change the fact that the episode was boring as shit. It's like watching Law & Order on quaaludes.

[Grouchy]

Law & Order on quaaludes.

Hahahah I like the show but that's a pretty good description.

[Benny Profane]

I've seen better action scenes in porno movies. That was brutal.

[number8]

Best episode so far, but... "Blue balls of the heart"? What is this dialogue this season.

[Grouchy]

Hahahah there are plenty of instances of completely ludicrous dialogue in this. It's like what was originally a Rust Cohle character trait is now the hottest game in town.

[dreamdead]

My problem with this show is that Nic Pizzolatto’s chosen to focus on two seemingly disparate subjects, both of which are interesting in their own right, but when pressed together don’t cohere in any way. That is, they’re independently valuable but depriving the other of possessing actual weight and dramatic continuity.

The Vince Vaughn and Kelly Reilly material is finally starting to gain coherence and actual dimension, so that while individual lines are cringe-worthy, at least Reilly is being given something to do rather than look melancholy and wear cleavage-baring dresses. Their scenes together are finally working.

The Farrell and McAdams material is also starting to gather momentum, and the show wouldn’t be bad if it could escape the sophomoric material that Kitsch is trapped with. As someone who never watched Friday Night Lights, I can’t discern whether Kitsch is struggling or if there’s just no logical human entrance into the character (I believe the latter at this time). The lost cash at the mother's trailer was the nadir of an already insipid character.

The problem is that these storylines aren’t yet naturally linked and seem to be operating on such different wavelengths that I don’t think even marathoning the episodes after the fact would enable them to operate seamlessly on a narrative level.

[Grouchy]

I can't think of a more unsafe hiding place for a large sum of money than an alcoholic's closet. That scene was beyond stupid.

[number8]

I have no problem declaring it the worst scene so far. It went on and on forever with nothing interesting going on in it whatsoever.

"I'm your mother."
"STUPID WHORE."
"I'm your mother."
"TRASH WHORE."
"I'm your mother."
"COOZE."
"Wel ur gay so..."
"Nooooooo!!! it's not trueeee!"
"Son no come back I love you"

[number8]

Just to change tone, though, Colin Farrell in the scene where he finds out was fantastic.

[Grouchy]

Just to change tone, though, Colin Farrell in the scene where he finds out was fantastic.

Seriously. I dunno if everyone agrees, but he's the only character so far to engage me as an audience.

I mean, I don't really give a shit if Kitsch is gay or if McAdams's active sex life is too much for police department standards, but I'm interested in Velcoro's fight for his son and I want to know if he shot the wrong guy.

[number8]

I found both Velcoro and Semyon boring until the reveal. Like dreamdead said, I don't know why these couldn't come out earlier. It's the kind of thing that should be the hook. Making it the twist made it seem like that's all Pizza Latte got on these two and he had to stretch it out with a fakeout death.

[DavidSeven]

I think the show is being carried mostly by tone and McAdams/Farrell's talent right now. Kitsch is doing what he can with an extremely limited character. I'm interested to see how the Velcoro and Frank thing plays out, if only because it might be the first interesting thing Vaughn has to play off this season.

The scenes between Frank and his wife are pretty painful to sit through. First, it's really hard to get past the horrendous dialogue where it feels like Rust Cohle is talking to himself in the form of husband and wife. Also, I'm not sure what kind of direction the actors are getting, but the scenes just come across as so consciously bizarre even though they're having regular conversations.

[number8]

I really liked the choice to use a Bernard Herrmann style score for the orgy scene.

[D_Davis]

Are there any supernatural aspects in this seasons like in the first?

[number8]

No.

[transmogrifier]

I don't remember any supernatural aspects in the first season. The last 2 episodes are depressingly literal (and boring)

[number8]

There was never anything overtly supernatural, but Rust was seeing otherworldly hallucinations that gave the show a supernatural vibe, which doesn't exist this season because that stuff was exclusively more about the Rust Coehle character than the show.

[Benny Profane]

"You know me. You just didn't think you did."

Velcoro needed the mustache to pull off this line. Also, that guy didn't look like the father of a red head.

[number8]

Also, that guy didn't look like the father of a red head.

Velcoro commented on that ("You don't even look like him"). May or may not be anything. Would be funny if he kills the guy and it's the wrong guy again.