True Detective

[rms]

What are your guys' thoughts thus far?

I'm starting to think Nic did not have the content to fill an entire season with a clear direction and let the Feminist critique challenge his direction from the first season.

I don't think the story was progressed at all last night other than we now know he's gay.

 

[Jimmy... Dead.]

The story is meh. I'm just really enjoying Frank and Ray. VV and CF are delivering, fuck the haters

 

[rms]

I do enjoy both characters, I think people are just hatin' as well.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

The story just isn't as captivating as the first season, although I think this new episode is finally starting to turn the wheel. I really love watching Rachel McAdams character just move in those jeans, but I have a hard time really caring about these characters.

I just read a cool write up on Uproxx or whatever about how this new season is actually tying into the first season with the Yellow King and such.

I think half of my problem is that the Yellow King and all that Lovecraftian influence is so much more interesting to me than this political drug-trafficking stuff. I want more of Rust's hallucinations and philosophical digressions while downing a 12 pack.

 

[Jimmy... Dead.]

Look it's not season 1 and nobody is Rust but there has been some good stuff. From the latest episode I like..

Woodrugh: “I just don’t know how to be out in the world, man.”
Velcoro: “Look out the window, look at me: nobody does.”

and Frank's "sometimes your worst self is your best self."

 

[unknown]

My issue is the season seems to be following the format of the first season. A couple of detectives who do not get along with each other are tasked to solve some bizarre murder. They begin to find out it goes pretty deep. They believe they find the suspect, who is then killed during a shootout. Media and higher ups claim "Case solved" but the detectives know it really isn't. They're gonna be working off the books and doing this on their own time to really solve the murder as some sort of act of personal redemption

 

[rms]

I honestly don't think there's any comparable relationship of any detectives this season to the first.

I think the style of True Detective is how something can be so terrible that it affects the lives of many and the over arching system.

So this one is Gangsters + corrupt Vinci + That hippie commune (i'm assuming)

Cohle's determination of solving the first case is something entirely different than I guess what you're going to suggest is happening to Antigone after the suspension

 

[Jimmy... Dead.]

4chan makes up things Frank might say

http://boards.4chan.org/tv/thread/58775417/itt-we-make-up-things-he-might-say

 

[Einherjar86]

Fourth episode was the best so far, in my opinion (spoilers, obviously).

First, we finally get back to the opening shot of the season - the field with all the posts. The narrative is beginning to crystallize...

Second, the man with the map draws three circles on it to identify three locations of soil contamination; the shot then segues into Francis meeting about buying (I think?) a club. The three circles from the map morph into three circles on the table mat. Furthermore, two of these circles resemble the strange, oval-shaped eye-like things above Francis's bed, causing him to push his coffee cup over them.

(True Detective likes to do this; patterns from certain shots blend into patterns in a following shot. It complements the formal element of a coherent narrative beginning to emerge...)

Third, episode four of the first season ended with an intense shootout. Episode four of the second season ends with an intense shootout.

Fourth, the final shot of episode four of season one ended in a freeze frame (Reggie Ledoux in gas mask); the final shot of episode four of season two ends in a freeze frame. And five...

The final freeze frame depicts the three main characters standing in triangular fashion around the fallen body of their suspect. Their positions mirror the positions of the circles on the map.

 

[unknown]

Media and higher ups claim "Case solved" but the detectives know it really isn't. They're gonna be working off the books and doing this on their own time to really solve the murder as some sort of act of personal redemption

.

To some degree or other

 

[rms]

Twist with Velcoro and Frank is pretty awesome. The parallels of women portrayals in this latest episode are intriguing. I think it really picked up with tonights episode.

Woodrugh's personal plot was kind of soap-opera-y though.

 

[Jimmy... Dead.]

I thought the twist was predictable but I still like it. And that ending makes for the most anticipated episode of the season so far.

I agree the Wooddrugh stuff is a bit over the top but he's doing such a good job acting I dont mind.

and Farrell is fucking awesome.

 

[Einherjar86]

At least the rest of the cast is making up for Vince Vaughn's atrocious acting. I wonder how that actress who plays his wife keeps a straight face.

 

[Jimmy... Dead.]

waaaaaaat cmon it's not that bad

 

[Einherjar86]

Dude, it's bad. It's like if Groot learned a few more words and thought he'd try speaking like Quentin Compson. He's the worst thing about this season.

 

[Jimmy... Dead.]

I don't understand those references so I'm in the clear lol. aaahhh I guess, I'm just sorta pretending he's a super weird fucked up dude that has a complex about his intellect and where he's from.

I don't think the writing is as good this season. I mean I think it's fairly obvious. Maybe it has something to do with the Ligotti stuff? idk

 

[Einherjar86]

I suppose, if I wanted to rationalize it, I would say that his entire character is a performance. That is, his actual character is always performing a tougher, intellectual version of himself in order to compensate for some kind of lack.

The problem is, it's tough to tell whether the character is actually that complex, or whether Vaughn's acting is just that stilted and transparent.

 

[Jimmy... Dead.]

Yeeeeeea and that rationalization totally works I do it for almost every good Brad Pitt movie

 

[Einherjar86]

It works, but the problem is that he gives us nothing to verify it. We never see the guard down, so to speak. If we're granting Vaughn the acting abilities (which I don't think he has, personally), then it's a problem with writing.

On the topic of writing, I think this season has actually been great. The organization of the narrative is very different, but I think the way things have begun to come together in the last two episodes has been really exciting. It definitely took it a bit longer to get going though, which didn't happen in the first season; but I don't think that's a flaw. Also, the theme of ecology and the effects of the anthropocene have carried over from last season.

 

[Jimmy... Dead.]

On the topic of writing, I think this season has actually been great. The organization of the narrative is very different, but I think the way things have begun to come together in the last two episodes has been really exciting. It definitely took it a bit longer to get going though, which didn't happen in the first season; but I don't think that's a flaw. Also, the theme of ecology and the effects of the anthropocene have carried over from last season.

Yea I agree with this. I guess maybe I'm not questioning the writing structure or narrative as much as the one liners and dialogue