True Detective - Season 3

[JayBee74]

Has anyone seen the two-hour opener?

I canceled HBO on my cable service but was thinking about getting a one-month free trial Amazon HBO subscription to check a few episodes out.

[areobee401]

Enjoyed the first episode quite a bit. Mahershala Ali was fantastic as the lead, was real surprised by Stephen Dorff’s performance as his partner. The tone of the show felt much more like season one than two. Got strong West Memphis Three vibes. Unsure if that was used as a reference for the story or not.

Will watch the second episode either tonight or tomorrow tonight.

[Novicain13]

Just caught up on the episodes. I am enjoying the season so far.


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[Armor and Sword]

So far it is good albeit very slow. Like a really slow burn. I hope the pacing picks up just a tad.

The acting has been fantastic and it feels like it is building to a major payoff.

This is a great rebound from the disastrous and forgettable season 2


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[pietasterp]

Quote: Originally Posted by Armor and Sword

So far it is good albeit very slow. Like a really slow burn. I hope the pacing picks up just a tad. The acting has been fantastic and it feels like it is building to a major payoff.

I agree that it's been good but slow, but I feel like a lot of the reason people are liking it so far is that it almost seems identical to season 1.

Which brings us to:

Quote: Originally Posted by Armor and Sword

This is a great rebound from the disastrous and forgettable season 2

While I agree that season 2 was a mess, I think a lot of the reason people didn't like it is that it was such a departure from season 1. I think season 1 was good through 4 episodes, but the last half of the series really petered out badly in my opinion. Once they came back to modern times, it became a very weak and lame cop procedural and the ending was just a crappy, schlocky, B-level horror movie. At least season 2 built to a crescendo by the end, even if it was a bit unfocused and hard to follow.

I suppose I liked season 2 more than most, and while it was by no means the best season of TV I've ever seen, it kept my attention through the end. At least it was something different. I feel like all the criticism of season 2 (for basically not being season 1) has caused this current season to basically be a re-tread/re-boot/re-do of season 1, which while good, is not as daring/interesting as it could be. I mean, everything right down to the varying time periods, southern gothic setting with pseudo-occult overtones, and general look & feel of the whole thing just screams season 1 with different lead actors.

Having said all that, it's still interesting enough for me to want to continue watching, so I guess that's automatically better than 90% of what's out there right now.

[slickdtc]

Heads up: episode 5 is available to stream on HBO apps. Early because of Super Bowl Sunday.

I still haven’t caught Ep4! Trying to coordinate time to watch with my wife. But reallllly like where this is going. I just rewatched S1, so continuing those vibes was perfect for me.

I don’t know if the story of any of these seasons is that good, but the acting in S1 and so far in S3 is what has set them far apart from S2. The second season felt like an obligation. S1 and S3 feel like an obsession.

[pietasterp]

I dunno, I feel like at the end of the day, True Detective is just a really fancy, long, and drawn-out police procedural. Sure the acting is good, but to me, that's not a replacement for an actual plot. Look at what's happened this season - which is now over halfway over - as far as plot:

Spoiler

A girl and her brother go missing
A man is (likely falsely) accused and is killed
The case is reopened a decade later

When you strip away everything else, that's essentially the plot. I mean, I'm gonna keep watching, but this isn't genius-level television or anything in my opinion. Now, maybe the argument can be made that all the fancy accoutrements are the point of 'True Detective', and I suppose that's a reasonable argument. But I get a little weary of how lauded Season 1 & 3 are, when in actuality there's nothing really all that interesting happening.

[JayBee74]

Season One was great (IMO).