True Detective
 

How is there not a 6 page long thread discussing the brilliance of this show?

Seriously, it's incredible. Last night, episode 4 aired, and it just blew me away.

Matthew McConaughey is having a career year, and this is the highlight. His performance doesn't take away from Woody Harrleson who is also bringing it.

4 episodes left. I know there are still some twists that are gonna blow my mind.

Just wow, what a show. The last scene in yesterday's episode was done in 1 six minute shot!!!!!!

I haven't watched last nights episode yet.. but I'm with you.. it's a great series.

It's great. Watching MM is a bit difficult because he's so gaunt. Must have filmed right after the Dallas Buyers Club.

The show is great. I am really enjoying it.

I posted a few things about it in the general TV thread.

That last sequence was off the hook. And that shot of Reggie Ledoux at the end of the third episode was down right chilling.

I am also enjoying the various "King In Yellow" references.

Right there with you. The writing for this show -- just at a pure dialogue level -- is spectacular.

I missed last night's episode, but really thought "The Locked Room" was maybe the best hour of television I've seen in the last year.

Umm ... because hardly anyone is watching it?

It opened to high numbers for HBO, about 2.3 million viewers ... but promptly lost 30% of those by week two.

For some perspective on that, it's a smaller audience than reruns of Bob's Burgers got on Fox last night up against TWD/Olympics/Downtown Abbey/Beatles Tribute.

Or, for another comparison, it's about the same sized audience as the one drawn by TNA Impact.

Might be the greatest show in the history of shows but with an audience that small, it's hard to expect a whole lot of discussion to ensue.

I like detective shows. This one is better than most because it doesn't feel rushed. They're following leads, slowly building a case and MM/Woody play off each other pretty well.

I would hate it if Woody or MM turns out to be involved in the killings in the end. Doesn't seem like they are but haven't figured out why those two cops are interviewing them 17 years after the case. I suspect they're looking into MM's character and how he handled the case since in the flash forwards he seems to be the one in worse shape of the two.

So far, so good in my book. Best show I have seen out of the US in a while.

After a certain scene in episode 2 I was ready to declare it best series ever no matter what happened beyond that! Really is great though in this day and age I rarely watch shows anymore week to week and wait to watch a whole season at once, so the waiting week to week to know what happens next is klilling me.

It's a great show, McConaughey is killing it every week, Woody is funny, and that nude scene in Episode two... Bah Gawd.

It's a standalone 8 episode deal (and future seasons will apparently be new actors unrelated to the prior story), so I think the whodunit element will really kick in next week or the week after. Like someone said, it would be a copout to me if MM or Woody was involved.

I usually get in on HBO shows late since I don't have HBO myself to watch every week, waiting until seasons are finished, etc, but the buzz on this one is just too much. I haven't heard anything negative about the show from anyone whose TV opinion I trust. I'll be starting it tonight/tomorrow.

Loving this show. This, Dallas Buyers Club and Killer Joe are a hell of a trifecta for McConaughey.

That 6 minute long shot to end the show was one of the best scenes ever put on tv. This show is as good as it gets.

Nothing prepared me for the sheer awesomeness of alexandra daddario's boobies.

Finally watched it... agree about that last scene... oh and AD's boobies. :)

Although Banshee has some fine naked women. ;)

I'm totally enjoying True Detective, but I can't help but wonder if the folks who make the show were shitting their pants watching Hannibal unfold on NBC (likely as they were shooting). True Detective took off on its own direction relatively quickly, but in the beginning there was like a half-dozen (apparently coincidental) glaring similarities.

Yes. This was my first comment on the show in the TV Thread:


One of the strengths of the series is that all of the episodes are written and directed by the same two people, so there is very consistent feel and look to the show. It's one of the better looking and shot shows out there. For all intents and purposes it looks and feels like a film. An 8 hour film on TV. In terms of visuals, I think "Hannibal" may be the only show that equals it. "Hannibal" is beautifully shot.

One criticism of the show is that it's a "man's show." It's a show about men. The female characters aren't all that... present. There is the poor cheated-upon wife. There is the mistress. Those are the only female characters and roles of note. All the other women are pretty much prostitutes, druggies, murder victims, etc.

I like the concept of an anthology show like this one and "American Horror Story". I think it creates tighter stories and more uncertainty as to what will happen, and allows for bigger name actors to do a TV show.

Even my wife was "Ohmygod, those are amazing"

Before episode 4, this was the only real highlight of the show for me. While I enjoyed the acting of the two leads, I just thought it dragged way too much and wasn't very compelling. I literally was falling asleep repeatedly, which doesn't happen to me very often.

But again, after episode 4, I'm all in.

If I was guessing, I'd say he filmed this before Dallas Buyers Club, with the idea of losing the weight. Then did Wolf of Wall street after starting to go back up but still very small. Just a guess though

The music at the end of EP 3 with the Ledoux shoot was just perfect. That partnered with MM's monster speech, amazing!!!

Please share these King in Yellow references. I'm not familiar, but anything to enhance this show must be investigated!

My buddy had a theory he got from IMDB that they were really just 1 person, but that was after the 1st episode and we shot it down pretty quickly.

Fantastic!

So, I have no idea what might happen, but some thoughts...

Why is Marty protecting Rust on the leave of absence story 17 years after the fact? They haven't talked in 8 years. I'm not sure it matters, but it seemed interesting to me.

I think something is gonna happen to Maggie. I have no clue when, or what, but it seems to me her character may find herself as a target, or in the wrong place at the wrong time. I don't feel like present day Marty has a family.

My favourite scene so far, the dinner scene in the first episode. Just fantastic...

Excellent show and an excellent pair of boobies.

"The King in Yellow" is a book of short stories by Robert W. Chambers from 1895. Some of the short stories in that book are about a mysterious play called "The King in Yellow." In the stories about it, there are only hints at the content of the play but when a character reads it he or she is driven insane with visions of a King in Yellow. The play talks about a mysterious city called Carcosa. You never really know what the play is about. It's only hinted at.

Permeating each of the short stories is the dread of un-seeable and un-knowable terror. By reading “The King in Yellow,” a person glimpses some unspeakable truth behind existence, one that the human mind can’t process. It really feels, for all intents and purposes, that McConaughey's character is already there.

"The King In Yellow" was referenced by H.P. Lovecraft in some of his writings and his become a part of the whole Cthulhu Mythos.

If you're an Amazon Prime member and have a Kindle, I believe original "King In Yellow" book is a free download. At least it was.

Great show. I think the secret they are hiding is a Sophie's choice type thing. I think rust is prepared and has experience with choosing between 2 evils, woody not so much.

Thanks for the tip on this. Picked it up yesterday.

I'm glad you guys were talking about this show. It's fucking brilliant.

The 80's version of The Twilight Zone had a really good episode (for that rendition of the show) where people were going absolutely insane in a small town, and the reason turned out to be that a guy had found out the reason for life. It was so simple he could tell you in just one short sentence. But after hearing it, people went completely mad.

I may have to check out The King in Yellow.

Holy shit, that was a fantastic hour of television.

WOW, i don't know enough English to accurately describe how good that episode was.

I want to know what happened to Ginger the biker guy? Is he still tied up in a ditch somewhere?

I thought Rust threw him into the car with Harrelson's character as they made their getaway.

I mean on last night's episode. When Cohle and Hart were walking to the meth cooking hideout, Cohle said he put the biker guy in a ditch, tied up. Did they take him out when the rest of the police force arrived? Did he get arrested? Did he just go free?

That's a good point, because I don't think the whole Cohle hooks up with the biker gang via Ginger and then robs the drug house, was part of the "official" report.

They mentioned getting the info from a confidential informant (presumably Ginger), so maybe they just told him to shut up about the rest of it, say he tipped them off and that's it. Ginger ends up doing a bit of time, but nothing like he would have if the whole drug house thing was known. Or maybe he was just let go.

I have also really enjoyed this show. I think I need to rewatch the last episode to make sure I got everything. Is it correct that the show revealed that Rust had disappeared for eight years and that he had shown up recently amongst the onlookers at the new crimescenes? Also, what was the significance of the creepy twig sculptures/bundles that Rust found at the old school at the end of the episode? Is that supposed to implicate the pastor who is the governor's brother?

Also, my guess is that they just let Ginger go.

I think Marty's family has a lot more to do with this. Remember when his daughter's (the one who became the goth girl) room was shown with the scene with the toys in her bedroom? Seems like that served no purpose unless it is going to come up later. Rust was also building those ghost like creatures from the flooded out school with his beer cans during the interrogation. It can't be as simple as it being Rust so I am going to go with Marty's daughter involved in some way.

It's almost like rust is a Lutheran type satanist and he is angry with Televangelist types. I think he views evil like that 4th dimension time thing, it just is, no more or less than good.

So what's in the storage?

What a fantastic fucking show.

3 left.

I freaking forgot about the storage unit

I don't think they actually think Rust is the perp, considering how much information they shared with him, including their suspicious about him, yet just let him walk out the door.

Didn't know episode 5 was out. Oh man.

Outstanding episode..

0 actual evidence right now, they can't really do anything. It's all suspicion at this point. And we can be pretty sure Rust isn't the killer.

One of the cops big points is he was steering the investigation where he wants it. Well, we saw how they came up with the evidence, and that pretty much eliminates that theory for the cops.

At this point, I'm guessing Marty and Rust have actually been in contact for the last 8 years. I'm thinking they know they got the wrong guy, and Marty is well aware of Rust's activities during his disappearance.

Some sort of undercover work/investigation has been going on. Not sure about any details obviously, as this show is capable of going in any direction.

Knowing Rust, probably nothing haha, he might just be fucking with the cops!

Ya, there's something just not right about Marty's present day life. I don't have a clue what, but something is there.

I'm hearing the "Rust is still undercover" theory a lot. If there is some massive ring of satanic child killings going on and Rust has been undercover trying to crack it for 8 years, that means he's close to several of the major players involved.

Why would he just sit idly by and let the killings continue for 8 years? He had no problem w/ Marty blasting Ledoux then fixing a nice cover-up. Why wouldn't Rust kill off some of the folks involved with whatever is happening and hope that that would break the ring?

I can't see Rust just standing pat as more people get killed simply because he's working undercover. And if he's been undercover for 8 years, that means he's made enough progress to know some the key folks involved and would have acted accordingly by now.

Anyway, I'm sure the show will go in an entirely different direction, but I don't see Rust being undercover as much of a possibility.

I'm not sold on undercover, but still investigating off-book? I could see that. The cops did also mention the reverend? dying from "mixed medications" in 2010 with an implication that someone may have tampered with them.

I too think that Marty's family is going to come back into play here - "All the signs were right in front of me, I just wasn't looking" - his daughter's drawing and doll-play, turning into Captain of the Varsity Slut team. Wouldn't surprise me if the Father-in-law was part of it - no one with bags that big under his eyes isn't evil haha.