True Detective

Started by Punch, January 13, 2014, 07:42:56 AM

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Jeremy Blackman

I want to say this was disappointing, but it was pretty clear early on that this was a subpar season of television. The characters are not very likeable or interesting. I grew extremely tired of Mahershala Ali's performance and his character. At this point I'm not sure I even want to see him in anything else. Stephen Dorff is okay but nothing special. Scoot is the only one who has a compelling performance, but even that was a bit shrill for me.

I guess I kept watching for the mystery, but it's so boring, so slow and dragged out, so plain and unexciting, and you never feel like you're playing along to figure it out. Just waiting for the information to be delivered.

Season 3 is a pale shadow of Season 1.

Which should just remind us how good Season 2 actually was. It tried to do something different, and it mostly succeeded. It didn't have a virtuoso director, but boy did it have some compelling and electric performances, especially Rachel McAdams. All that vitality is just gone in Season 3.

wilberfan

I agree with you.  I actually gave up on Season 3 just as we were (apparently) beginning to get somewhere (episode 5 or 6?).  I just didn't care any more.


Give me another season of Dannemora!   Or at least let Ben Stiller direct another long-form show...

Alethia

I stuck it out, expecting it to really take off at some point or another, but it just kind of stays at a low boil from beginning to end. I guess it's fine? Nothing particularly memorable... Maybe they oughta lay this show to rest.

Jeremy Blackman

Right. Nic Pizzolatto seems very excited about what he did with this season, but it's just meh. I think he loves this type of protagonist... a complicated man who is deeply flawed but also has his own code and possesses a kind of old-fashioned nobility. Personally: yawn. No thanks. I assign a lot of blame with Mahershala Ali, too. His performance is so indulgent and tiring.


Alethia


WorldForgot

SEASON TWO ISH - SPOILERZ ABOUND

Like JB, I found myself really attached to these characters and think that with a stronger director (and singular approach) it would usurp Season One. Alas that was not the case and there's a feeling that its thematic weight wisps by much too light. Its themes of dysfunctional families hit, but a major letdown for me is that Ani's arc works within her story and then isn't woven into Frank's world much - when there's ample potential (apart from the party sequence, which ought to have been as impactful as the season 1 long-take sequence).

Those bits reminded me of Twin Peaks The Return. How Vegas intertwines with One Eyed Jacks. Like, The Return obviously handled it better but the mood works in both. There's even a greek chorus singer at the empty bar here in Lera Lynn.

Revisited this on a whim because I'd only tried the first episode back when it premiered (I was a snobbier student then). Glad I did. Complaints that it feels like Any Other Crime Drama definitely hold true to the direction + edit of its first half - but the season finds its legs. Mostly thanks to the cast, but I didn't mind the writing. I was looking for soliloquies and I got em!

Some highlights from the past that made me laugh:
Quote from: polkablues on August 10, 2015, 07:04:47 PM
SPOILERS

Nicky Pizza is going to continue to get shit on for the gender politics in his work, and he will continue not to understand why.

Quote from: Jeremy Blackman on August 10, 2015, 11:43:12 PM

SPOILERS

The badge thing was indeed dumb; why on earth would he bring that to school while his dad is a murder suspect? Maybe the kid is a psychopath.

Quote from: samsong on August 11, 2015, 03:29:20 AM
the finale gave me blue balls in my heart.