The Official Good Television Thread

Biggest problem with season 2 was casting. Watching Vince Vaughn utter Rust Cohle-ish lines in total seriousness was one of the most unintentionally funny things I've ever seen. No fucking clue who ok-ed that decision. Pretty much ruined the whole season for me.

Narrative-wise, it wasn't bad; but as CIG said, it just couldn't compare to the first season.

Only watched the first episode of the season 3 premiere. Service glitched a bit as the second episode was starting, so we decided to watch on demand later tonight. Slow start, but a good start. Definitely getting some season 1 vibes, which isn't a bad thing at all.
 
Following up a season of television that touched on the morbid side of detective work (conjuring elements of beloved films in the genre like Se7en, Zodiac etc) with a season of organized crime television was a bad move. They courted one kind of crowd and then completely flipped everything on them.

For me season 2 was awesome, I prefer the first still but Vaughn didn't bother me whatsoever. I thought he was killer in the role, very believable, imposing, grim, I liked it. Since then, seeing him in Brawl in Cell Block 99 has completely changed how I think about him as an actor.
 
s01 was organized too, the dumb part of s02 was the connection of masculinity and farrell's character arc. it was rushed and overly influenced by execs, just a doo-doo season.
 
I'm also in the "s02 is underrated as hell"-camp.

Caught the double-episode premiere of s03. Very promising, seems like a deliberate return to the tone and structure of s01 but the thematic ground covered so far is very different (the fallibility of memory seems like it's gonna be a big thing).
 
CiG said:
Following up a season of television that touched on the morbid side of detective work (conjuring elements of beloved films in the genre like Se7en, Zodiac etc) with a season of organized crime television was a bad move. They courted one kind of crowd and then completely flipped everything on them.
Click to expand...

Yeah, agree.

CiG said:
For me season 2 was awesome, I prefer the first still but Vaughn didn't bother me whatsoever. I thought he was killer in the role, very believable, imposing, grim, I liked it. Since then, seeing him in Brawl in Cell Block 99 has completely changed how I think about him as an actor.
Click to expand...

I didn't find him imposing or grim, for some reason. He was delivering lines that sounded like they came from a Cormac McCarthy novel, but I didn't detect any change in demeanor, body movement, etc.--anything that would suggest to me he was trying to perform his dialogue (whereas with McConaughey's turn as Rust, you could sense a change in his body language). It's as though Vaughn thought the lines themselves would carry his character, and I didn't find that to be the case. It deserves a re-watch on my part, though; maybe that would change my mind.

But again, I thought the narrative of season two was decent; in fact, it followed a similar arc to that of season one, i.e. crime committed, investigation produces leads resulting in a major shootout (superbly filmed in both seasons), but leads turn out to be false, pushing detectives in a new direction. The other major thing I missed in season two were the horror elements, which were so crucial to season one and so intricately woven into the narrative. It was an excellent blend of southern gothic and cosmic horror that managed to tease the line between both.

rms said:
s01 was organized too, the dumb part of s02 was the connection of masculinity and farrell's character arc. it was rushed and overly influenced by execs, just a doo-doo season.
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The masculinity of season two was a problem--not in and of itself, but in that it felt like an inorganic response to some of the criticisms of season one. Season one definitely had a masculinity problem, but that didn't detract from the show for me (in fact, it contributed to my enjoyment of it--I mean, those were two fucked up cops, for sure they're going to have issues). And then season two tried to address the critical complaints, but did so poorly and unconvincingly. It would have been better to go for broke and simply have two female detectives, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Pizzolatto feels uncomfortable writing an entire season of conversations between two women (not a knock on him, just an observation).
 
Einherjar86 said:
I didn't find him imposing or grim, for some reason. He was delivering lines that sounded like they came from a Cormac McCarthy novel, but I didn't detect any change in demeanor, body movement, etc.--anything that would suggest to me he was trying to perform his dialogue (whereas with McConaughey's turn as Rust, you could sense a change in his body language). It's as though Vaughn thought the lines themselves would carry his character, and I didn't find that to be the case. It deserves a re-watch on my part, though; maybe that would change my mind.
Click to expand...

I love s02 but I'm still kind of with you on this; having other characters like Frank speak Cohle-esque navelgazey dialogue made said dialogue feel less like a specific character trait of Cohle's and more like a trait of Pizzolatto's writing, and yeah Vaughn didn't really sell it like MocConaughey did.

But again, I thought the narrative of season two was decent; in fact, it followed a similar arc to that of season one, i.e. crime committed, investigation produces leads resulting in a major shootout (superbly filmed in both seasons), but leads turn out to be false, pushing detectives in a new direction. The other major thing I missed in season two were the horror elements, which were so crucial to season one and so intricately woven into the narrative. It was an excellent blend of southern gothic and cosmic horror that managed to tease the line between both.
Click to expand...

This is why I think TD is such an excellent anthology show though; because they had the guts to ditch the southern gothic for s02 and go in a totally different direction with almost equal success (by my reckoning), telling this story of monolithic institutional corruption that is more grounded in reality but no less horrifying. It's the best example of neo-noir I've seen on television. My highest hope for s03 is that it ends up equally distinct from the previous seasons.
 
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This might be heresy but the second time I watched season 1 I kinda thought McConaughey was over-acting and that Woody's character was more interesting, challenging and better acted. His imperfections were more blatant which made it harder (and more rewarding once you get there) to sympathize with him, whereas Rust is this immediate appeal character with the edgy smarmy quips etc (if he were a real person there'd be "Rust PWNS so-and-so" Yutube compilations) that literally everybody loves, as viewers.

Something about a character with all their quirks and tragedes worn on their sleeve is just kinda... boring, or played out. Woody brought a much more realistic facade of #FamilyValues and #HyperMasculinity that I found more engaging on a personal level.
 
I want to rewatch season 1 and 2 soon, before I go into season 3 which should have a good amount of episodes by then. Really looking forward to it, because as much as I defend season 2 I think season 1 is obviously superior in every single way and I want that tone back, especially.
 
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