HBO's True Detective Season 2 - let's discuss!

[KLin]

Season 2 is a big letdown compared to season 1.

 

[RagingBITCH]

I've only seen one part of one episode...and it was a shootout b/t Colin F, the guy from Battleship against some gang members holding hostages on a bus. The 10 minute clip I watched was pretty good...did I manage to catch the only good footage to watch from Season 2?

 

[zinfamous]

I've only seen one part of one episode...and it was a shootout b/t Colin F, the guy from Battleship against some gang members holding hostages on a bus. The 10 minute clip I watched was pretty good...did I manage to catch the only good footage to watch from Season 2?

No, there's still some good stuff. I think it's a fairly good season overall, but it is so far from the quality of season 1 that I find it difficult to compare them. Too many strings and disjointed plot lines, seemingly flippant motivations with some of the characters.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

aye. worst one so far. the excruciating scene between Vince and his haldol-dosed wife, mercifully cut away to some decent scene between the kid, his fiance and MIL (a rather enjoyed that scene for some reason), then pummel us in the face by going straight back to the same scene with Vince and wife? ugh......


Oh, and this little butt pearl of dialogue:

"It's like blue balls--in the heart."

what the holy fuck?

Yeah, that episode was a major snoozer. At this point I actively dislike True Detective, but I feel invested enough that I will finish it. I am continuing to find it disjointed, confusing, wildly improbable and dull. The latter is probably its most unforgivable quality. The writing is also terrible much of the time. Certainly some of the Matthew McConaughey monologues in the first season were . . . overwritten, but his performance was so strong that for the most part he sold it well. This season's cast just can't, and hearing this crap come out of the mouth of Vince Vaughn of all people is really hard to take.

 

[slayer202]

I'm hoping we get at least a good episode or two when we reach the climax of the show. It's gotta be building to something. Farrell vs Vaughn should be decent at least

 

[Aharami]

a solid 'meh...i have nothing else to do on a Sunday night at 9pm. Might as well watch it"
Im actually enjoying Ballers and The Brink a lot more

 

[Drako]

a solid 'meh...i have nothing else to do on a Sunday night at 9pm. Might as well watch it"
Im actually enjoying Ballers and The Brink a lot more

Same here. Both Ballers and The Brink are better than I thought they would be, which almost makes up for the huge disappointment that is season 2 of TD.

 

[GrumpyMan]

Not watching anymore. The Last Ship is way more entertaining than this, and with better acting...what does that say? In my view anyway..

 

[smackababy]

I don't have any problem with the season so far. I actually like it more than a single boogieman of the first. This isn't a series about the investigation of a murder. It is an investigation about the corruption of a city.

 

[Red Storm]

No doubt season two has some issues of its own doing (the shootout, certain actors not fit for their roles, etc.) but the main problem is that season one set the bar too high. This is all McConaughey's fault.

 

[pyonir]

I think Colin Farrell has been outstanding in the show. Honestly. Rachel McAdams for the most part has been pretty good...I like the character she is in the show. Completely out of the norm for her.

The rest of the cast...? No thanks. Pretty poor. Good actors can sometimes overcome poor writing (or subpar writing at least). Bad acting and bad writing is a recipe for failure.

 

[Charmonium]

I think Colin Farrell has been outstanding in the show. Honestly. Rachel McAdams for the most part has been pretty good...I like the character she is in the show. Completely out of the norm for her.

The rest of the cast...? No thanks. Pretty poor. Good actors can sometimes overcome poor writing (or subpar writing at least). Bad acting and bad writing is a recipe for failure.

Farrell has been excellent - especially in some of those close ups. Of course the music helped but still, I think he nailed those scenes.

I feel a little lost right now but that's probably a good thing since the characters also must feel lost. Even with the god's eye view we have, everything is still murky. And if you start to piece the opening lyrics together with the show as clues - fuuuuuuuu!! It's even more confusing.

The only reason this bothers me is because it makes me feel like I'm missing something - some small hint or clue. So I watch it with closed captioning to make sure I get even the low, fuzzy dialog - like that scene with Antigone in the bar. You could barely make out what he was saying.

The supporting cast has been pretty good so far but they could have been better. I like Vaughn's character's dual nature. Mostly he's very calm but then he can just explode. From stories I've heard, a lot of mafiosi tend to be just like that. Fine with family and relatives but do something seemingly insignificant - something seen as showing a lack of respect - and they go nuclear.

 

[JSt0rm]

Yeah, that episode was a major snoozer. At this point I actively dislike True Detective, but I feel invested enough that I will finish it. I am continuing to find it disjointed, confusing, wildly improbable and dull. The latter is probably its most unforgivable quality. The writing is also terrible much of the time. Certainly some of the Matthew McConaughey monologues in the first season were . . . overwritten, but his performance was so strong that for the most part he sold it well. This season's cast just can't, and hearing this crap come out of the mouth of Vince Vaughn of all people is really hard to take.

I actually didnt mind that dialog. Sure its rough sounding but his character came from a rough place. He was working poor by 15.

Anyways I did enjoy how they played with time in this last ep. I liked the idea of jumping forward a couple months.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Finally caught up on this show and... yeah.... Like, it's not "bad," necessarily, but it has absolutely no business being called "True Detective" anymore. Different cast, different setting, different director, different themes... The only thing tying it to the first season is Nic Pizzolatto, but saying that it has the same creator, therefore it's the same show is a little bit like saying every single Michael Crichton book was just a sequel to The Andromeda Strain. The Andromeda Strain 2: Sphere. The Andromeda Strain 3: Jurassic Park. It's silly.

And this season can't come close to Season 1. Intrigue and mystery? Fuck that, let's have lots of tired exposition that doesn't actually say anything and hope people don't realize that there's only 3 minutes of actual plot development in any given episode. Colin Farrell and Rachel McAdams are doing a good job in spite of the dreary script, but that's not nearly enough to overcome the tedium. And yet I'll keep watching, because, fuck it, only a few episodes left at this point.

 

[zinfamous]

I think Colin Farrell has been outstanding in the show. Honestly. Rachel McAdams for the most part has been pretty good...I like the character she is in the show. Completely out of the norm for her.

The rest of the cast...? No thanks. Pretty poor. Good actors can sometimes overcome poor writing (or subpar writing at least). Bad acting and bad writing is a recipe for failure.

pretty much. Farrell has been fantastic and I'm pleasantly surprised--was hoping to surprised--with McAdams. I like her character, though I feel it is written rather thin so far.

I like the kid for the most part, but that entire plot involving his mom/past/girlfriend/self-hating gayness seems to be nothing more than a distraction.

 

[zinfamous]

No doubt season two has some issues of its own doing (the shootout, certain actors not fit for their roles, etc.) but the main problem is that season one set the bar too high. This is all McConaughey's fault.

could be. You know, he and Harrelson have producer titles for this season.

I wonder if he's actively gumming things up in the process: "You bastards will never be as good as I was! Let's cast this goober-bro in a central role and I'm going to have my 8 year old edit a few episodes. Screw y'all!"

 

[zinfamous]

I don't have any problem with the season so far. I actually like it more than a single boogieman of the first. This isn't a series about the investigation of a murder. It is an investigation about the corruption of a city.

I agree--and mentioned early on this thread that the city of Vinci is a primary character. However, I think that leaves for a bit of unnecessary plotting and digressions and relatively meaningless characters in the end...which is very tough to pull off.

I absolutely love subversive content, and I spent the entire first season drooling over that poetry. I was even with Vince Vaughn, more or less, up until this episode--I though the monologue about the kid the previous episode was a decent bit of dialogue, but horribly delivered. ...but blue balls of the heart. I think Pizzolato doesn't have enough of a portfolio yet to command general trust in the audience.

I wonder if he ends up being a one-hit wonder. I still think this season is quite good in many ways--it captures a certain mood and drowns you in it unlike anything I have seen in a very long time...sort of reminds me of The Night Porter--but there's nothing wrong with a straight plot and simple yet compelling characters that actually have chemistry together.

 

[Charmonium]

I wonder if he ends up being a one-hit wonder. I still think this season is quite good in many ways--it captures a certain mood and drowns you in it unlike anything I have seen in a very long time...sort of reminds me of The Night Porter--but there's nothing wrong with a straight plot and simple yet compelling characters that actually have chemistry together.

I'm a sucker for ambiance as much as anyone. There are shows I've watched that weren't especially good but loved just for that. Rubicon is the series I keep giving as an example of that. The show didn't really go anywhere but it did it beautifully. It was of course canceled after one season.

Rectify is a show like that. Not a lot happens and feels a little like watching grass grow, but it's done so beautifully you don't really care.

This show has a certain 'feel' to it but I don't know if I'd put it in the same category. It's got that dark, brooding vibe that I like but they really don't seem to pull off nearly as well.

 

[smackababy]

I think the issue is that we, the audience, are being left in the dark as much as the main group. As characters discover they've been fucked over, we discover it. As character's lives and and secrets are revealed, we are revealed to it as well.

I think the mood created in the show is great. The characters and the vibe they give off is great. The city is shown to be living, and a good character. The first season really only focused on the detectives, but not things around them.

But, then again, quite a lot of people have said they are having trouble following the show, so I just assume their opinion on how good it is is shit.

 

[PingviN]

I'm not even sure what the plot is anymore.

 

[JSt0rm]

I'm not even sure what the plot is anymore.

It's about ethics in gaming journalism.

 

[Charmonium]

I'm not even sure what the plot is anymore.

Think of it like going on a 3 day bender with your weird uncle who has PTSD from being a cop during the last bad LA riots. He thinks he's going to die any minute so he tries to impart to you his lifetime of wisdom in basically meaningless aphorisms that only make any sense at all because you're as drunk as he is. Oh, and maybe once a day he dives under a table screaming because he thought he smelled tear gas.

It's a little like that.

 

[pyonir]

I like the kid for the most part, but that entire plot involving his mom/past/girlfriend/self-hating gayness seems to be nothing more than a distraction.

Yeah, i agree with you there. That dude isn't a 'bad' actor at all...he's been good in other roles (Savages comes to mind). Just that whole plot line is garbage.

 

[TallBill]

Think of it like going on a 3 day bender with your weird uncle who has PTSD from being a cop during the last bad LA riots. He thinks he's going to die any minute so he tries to impart to you his lifetime of wisdom in basically meaningless aphorisms that only make any sense at all because you're as drunk as he is. Oh, and maybe once a day he dives under a table screaming because he thought he smelled tear gas.

It's a little like that.

Weird..... today we got to see a cop with PTSD from the LA riots downing quite a few beers.... what else do you know?

 

[KLin]

Best episode so far. The music in the house scene was very instense.

oh and "we'll get the girl to call you...maybe" lol