True Detective (Season Two)

[jb12780]

Re: True Detective (Season Two)

The ending reminded me of the departed where everyone gets whacked.

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[ASB37]

Re: True Detective (Season Two)

The finale was better than last season's finale, but that is pretty much the only good thing I can say about season 2.

The sound mixing needs to be improved next season, I had to crank the volume all the way up to even hear anything anyone said on the show. The first 4-5 episodes were pretty rough, the last few were definitely an improvement.

If there is a TD season 3, I hope they try and make things a little clearer, and tone down the existential narratives every 5 minutes. Who knew detectives and gangsters were so philosophical. I sort of got the existential rants last season because of the narrative related to the serial killer and all of the stuff about religion and cults, but do we really need philosophical ramblings when dealing with city corruption?

Got old very quick this season. I thought Vince Vaughn did a really solid job, although I know talking to my friends not everyone agrees. Colin was solid too, and those two were pretty much the shining light this season. Rachel McAdams and Riggins were pretty meh to me, didn't really bring much to the table.

[ehh]

Re: True Detective (Season Two)

Yeah, the finale did nothing to save S2 but I knew that going in. There was no way that 90 minutes of anything could save this mess. It was more of the same with a dash of a weak attempt at knocking off The Wire's style.

The ending was rather predictable, I correctly guessed that the three male leads would be killed but McAdams would survive, though it was a lucky guess more than anything I saw in terms of foreshadowing - for a while I thought all four would be killed.

As with a show like The Wire, this season brought the viewer such a massive case of widespread corruption that there was no way the protagonists could "win". Life simply moves on and the circle keeps circling - new underworld leaders, new corrupt government officials, etc. The players change, some last longer than others, but the game remains the same. No small group of subpar cops and a has-been gangster is going to stop the machine. The protagonists were in too deep, there was no happy ending coming. It was easy to see this by Ep 5 or 6. I was reading blog comments and TD's subreddit late last night and I was amazed to see how many people were surprised by the ending - it seemed plain as day to me.

Other thoughts...

• Why the hell was Velcoro driving his own car when he's wanted for murdering two police officers?! I think there was one scene towards the end where he drives through an EZ-Pass and past a police SUV on the highway. You'd think he'd want to be incognito and that there'd be a massive manhunt and checkpoints on major highways. Yet he's driving right along in his own damn car.
• Velcoro's ending was odd to me, when they showed him driving through the woods I figured he'd try to lose the bulky SUV through those windy, narrow roads. I guess not, he decided to drive up a hill, into the friggin woods, to get better cell service I guess? Seems like he was giving up a little easily - I know I can't escape this one SUV so I'll run into the woods (where cell service is almost guaranteed to be worse) to try to get this last voice recording to my son? Meeeeeh.
• Did someone sell out Frank? Not criticizing, just curious. How did the Mexicans find him? Why did they ask for his suit? I know he had the diamonds in his pocket but why would the Mexicans ask for it unless they knew? Makes no sense unless I missed something, he was dead anyway since they had already dug the grave for him. At least give him his dignity and let him be "buried" in a suit. All in all his ending wasn't terrible, though it's funny that a massive corruption that has Caspere, Cessani, Catalyst, the Russians, Blake and probably five other people I'm forgetting about screw him over he ultimately gets killed by Mexicans for not letting them run drugs/hookers/whatever through his clubs. It was just sloppy and poorly executed compared to something like The Wire Spoilers
  Spoiler

  Omar's death.
  
  
• Why are the two Mexican gangsters on-stage at Cessani Jr's ceremony at the end? Would they really want their faces on TV? Also seems weird that Cessani Jr goes from partying playboy to the next mayor in 6-12 months but whatever, not too big of a stretch I suppose.
• The Frank & Jordan dialogue scenes throughout the season are the worst thing I've seen on a respected TV series in a long time. They were horrendous. The writing and content of the dialogue made me shudder. Side note, did Kelly Reilly have botox/plastic surgery? Something about her lips/mouth just seems very weird and unnatural when she's talking but it I've never see it before - not in Flight or any of her other roles.
• The best character in the entire season was Cessani Sr who was barely in the show.
• The final scene with the NYT reporter was a tease IMO, nothing will come of that but it leaves an open ended finish that will allow some viewers to believe that the reporter will take down the entire corrupt ecosystem of the west coast (lol).

To me, the most alarming issue with this season was that it completely lacked captivation. There was such little drama and tension (unless you were mid-shootout and wondering if Character A would survive the latest GTA-style shootout), there was nothing that really drew me in as a viewer. I didn't care about any of the characters. I can't remember a single dialogue scene that stood out to me. There was no plot twist or double-cross or "oh ****!" moment. There were no great characters which is rare for an HBO show. When you're missing all of that, the lack of originality stands out even more. Great writing, characters and drama can mask the lack of originality because you'll enjoy the ride even if you've been on a similar one before. That's why this season was a complete swing-and-a-miss. It's harsh, but I'm having a hard time finding a single element that this season did well. I'm going to start a re-watch of S1 this week for comparison's sake.

[JayBee74]

Re: True Detective (Season Two)

The ending reminded me of the departed where everyone gets whacked.

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Hmmmm....The Departed was the last thing that I thought of while watching this.

My favorite part of hate watching this season was the overwrought dialogue. A husband and wife couldn't even have breakfast without expounding upon the meaning of life. No one ever had a normal conversation.

S2 was a disaster. A decent, but nonsensical, finale doesn't erase 6.5 bad episodes. It doesn't work like that.

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Mostly in agreement, except for the "decent" finale part.

They needed an extra half hour to get some more Vince-Girlfriend excruciating dialogue in. I kept thinking "shoot her already". But no, she's there in Frank's hallucination, and still there at the end, talking unconvincingly about a restless baby. Her performance was wooden throughout.

Once Osip went down like a wet paper bag I knew there was going to be some body count. It was too easy and too early in the episode. Speaking of easy, how about Ray and Ani solving the mystery in NO TIME AT ALL. I guess they do their best work against the forces of a police manhunt.

And Ray going back to seeing his kid? Smart move Velcoro.

[jb12780]

Re: True Detective (Season Two)

The only reason why I thought departed was of the main characters meeting their demise.

As for Valcoro, if you're a wanted man why drive your own car and visit your kid when there's a good chance the cops are sitting on the school?

As someone else mentioned, how did the Mexicans get to Frank?

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[JayBee74]

Re: True Detective (Season Two)

As someone else mentioned, how did the Mexicans get to Frank?

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Did the two guys from the bakery who Frank gave money to give him up? If so, they didn't want another $500K?

Why did they ask for his suit? I know he had the diamonds in his pocket but why would the Mexicans ask for it unless they knew?

I erased the episode immediately. Did anyone see the Mexicans remove the diamonds from Frank's suit?

The only reason why I thought departed was of the main characters meeting their demise.

I know, I was having a little fun, comparing the two quality-wise.

[jb12780]

Re: True Detective (Season Two)

I'll have to watch again, but it looked like there was something shiny in Frank's stab wound, but force from a stabbing wouldn't strong enough to crush diamonds.

Unless they got lodged in wound when he fell. I didn't see them reach in his pocket and go for the stones.

This is turning into Snatch finding out what happened with the diamonds.

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[dsallupinyaarea]

Re: True Detective (Season Two)

I have to say, I did enjoy Vince's wife telling him, "You can't act for ****." I like to think that was the director winking at us.

[jb12780]

Re: True Detective (Season Two)

Also, you figure Velcoro as a cop would no not to drive on an interstate trying to get rid of a tail. He made no attempt to get rid of the cops before he was in the woods. Very poor.

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[Burns11]

Re: True Detective (Season Two)

Two questions:

1. Did you watch it DVRed like I did?

2. In the beginning when Frank was arguing with his wife if she would meet him in Venezuela or travel together, did you fast forward?

I sure as hell did, man what an excruciating chunk of dialogue that went on waaaay too long.

[jb12780]

Re: True Detective (Season Two)

Two questions:

1. Did you watch it DVRed like I did?

2. In the beginning when Frank was arguing with his wife if she would meet him in Venezuela or travel together, did you fast forward?

I sure as hell did, man what an excruciating chunk of dialogue that went on waaaay too long.

1. Watched it live.

2. It was a struggle to stay awake during that scene.

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[ehh]

Re: True Detective (Season Two)

Two questions:

1. Did you watch it DVRed like I did?

2. In the beginning when Frank was arguing with his wife if she would meet him in Venezuela or travel together, did you fast forward?

I sure as hell did, man what an excruciating chunk of dialogue that went on waaaay too long.

That was another issue, not only was the dialogue terrible but it was way too long in most scenes, especially every one involving Vince and Jordan.

On another note, this article nails it in general...

http://www.vox.com/2015/8/10/9125723/true-detective-finale-recap-season-2

[JayBee74]

Re: True Detective (Season Two)

Two questions:

1. Did you watch it DVRed like I did?

2. In the beginning when Frank was arguing with his wife if she would meet him in Venezuela or travel together, did you fast forward?

I sure as hell did, man what an excruciating chunk of dialogue that went on waaaay too long.

I hung in there, but it wasn't easy.

[pietasterp]

Re: True Detective (Season Two)

The sound mixing needs to be improved next season, I had to crank the volume all the way up to even hear anything anyone said on the show. The first 4-5 episodes were pretty rough, the last few were definitely an improvement.

Couldn't possibly agree with this more...I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought this - it's friggin' hard to hear anything they're saying in most of the scenes. I had my volume at 80/100, and I still couldn't understand some of what they were saying. I thought I was getting old prematurely or something...

As with a show like The Wire, this season brought the viewer such a massive case of widespread corruption that there was no way the protagonists could "win". Life simply moves on and the circle keeps circling - new underworld leaders, new corrupt government officials, etc. The players change, some last longer than others, but the game remains the same. No small group of subpar cops and a has-been gangster is going to stop the machine. The protagonists were in too deep, there was no happy ending coming. It was easy to see this by Ep 5 or 6. I was reading blog comments and TD's subreddit late last night and I was amazed to see how many people were surprised by the ending - it seemed plain as day to me.

I don't know that I was surprised by the ending, but it definitely held my attention seeing how it would all play out. I thought it was a pretty good payoff to the season.

It's interesting how "The Wire" comparisons keep coming up, because I feel like season 2 of The Wire was really hated as well when it came out, but with time it was looked upon a little more favorably. Maybe this season of "True Detective" will have the same fate. Or maybe not.

[*]Did someone sell out Frank? Not criticizing, just curious. How did the Mexicans find him?

They didn't say, but I assumed that bakery guys sold him out, since they sort of gave each other a look after Frank leaves and they linger on them for a bit afterwards.

I have to say, I did enjoy Vince's wife telling him, "You can't act for ****." I like to think that was the director winking at us.

I thought Vaughn was good in general. Anyway, he wasn't discernibly better/worse than anyone else on the show.

My favorite part of hate watching this season was the overwrought dialogue. A husband and wife couldn't even have breakfast without expounding upon the meaning of life. No one ever had a normal conversation.

S2 was a disaster. A decent, but nonsensical, finale doesn't erase 6.5 bad episodes. It doesn't work like that.

I guess what I don't get is how season 2's dialogue was overwrought and ridiculous (which it was), but season 1 is somehow a masterpiece. If anything, the pointless Rust Cohle musings were much more pretentious than almost anything this season. Obviously you can't argue opinions, but it seems to me that season 2 did nothing more pretentious or ridiculous than season 1, other than having a more (perhaps too) complicated storyline and many more moving parts. I feel like people just went into this season wanting to hate it, and then watched it with that opinion in mind. Which is fine, but at the end of the day, I think it was no better or worse than season 1. Anyway, it was interesting enough for me to continue watching throughout, and still better than just about anything else on during that time. I was entertained.

[ASB37]

Re: True Detective (Season Two)

I guess what I don't get is how season 2's dialogue was overwrought and ridiculous (which it was), but season 1 is somehow a masterpiece. If anything, the pointless Rust Cohle musings were much more pretentious than almost anything this season. Obviously you can't argue opinions, but it seems to me that season 2 did nothing more pretentious or ridiculous than season 1, other than having a more (perhaps too) complicated storyline and many more moving parts. I feel like people just went into this season wanting to hate it, and then watched it with that opinion in mind. Which is fine, but at the end of the day, I think it was no better or worse than season 1. Anyway, it was interesting enough for me to continue watching throughout, and still better than just about anything else on during that time. I was entertained.

I get this argument, but something about S1 allowed for more of the rambling thoughts. Rust looked and acted like a guy who would go on such rants. Vince Vaugn waxing poetic to his wife didn't feel the same to me. Same thing with Velcoro rambling into his phone making recordings to his fat apathetic kid about life. I get that it was supposed to be this father-son bonding thing but it just didn't fit seeing this dirty beaten down cop tell his son, who seemed like he could care less about anything the entire season, about the meaning of life.

VV and his wife's talks were even worse. I don't remember how long Rust Cole's musings went on for in S1 but when VV and his wife talked, you could pretty much tune out for the next 10-15 minutes while they went on forever with no end in sight.