True Detective Thread

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Hesla

They could have completely Axed Vaughn's Wife out of the show. She had no real bearing on anything to move the plot forward. All that wasted time each episode on their dialogue could have been spent filling in some of the holes in the story.

She was also the worst Actor/actress on the show and lead to some of Vaughn's worst moments as well.

She did have the best line of the season when she told Vaughn that he couldn't act. I don't think it was written to be the laugh-out-loud moment it was.

[Displaced Flames fan]

Originally Posted by Hesla

They could have completely Axed Vaughn's Wife out of the show. She had no real bearing on anything to move the plot forward. All that wasted time each episode on their dialogue could have been spent filling in some of the holes in the story.

She was also the worst Actor/actress on the show and lead to some of Vaughn's worst moments as well.

I think she and that dialogue was a conduit to get Frank's desire to be legitimate and more importantly not what his father was in the story.

But yeah, it didn't work real well.

[-TC-]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

This has been a terrible season. Plot so muddied it's almost impossible to follow, very weak acting from Vaughn and Kitch, some of the corniest dialog I've ever heard in a drama, and just an air of pretentiousness around the whole show with how serious it takes itself despite everything. The first season left me wanting more, but this one has me not even caring if they do a third one

I agree the writing was a hot mess, but totally disagree on the acting.

Vaughn proved he's got more depth than I imagined... Farrell and McAdams were outstanding considering what they were given to work with.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Well that was a pile of hot garbage. Really hope they get an entirely different crew to write/direct a third season if they do it, otherwise I won't even bother

[underGRADFlame]

I'm still little disturbed that Caspere was banging his own daughter. Or did i get that wrong?

[mac_82]

So I'm pretty on top of what happened with the Caspere murder, but what happend to Vince Vaughan's $5 mill that was going into the railway? If the jewellery store orphan didn't take it when he killed Caspere, did the Russians take it? That's the one loose end I'm not getting.

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by underGRADFlame

I'm still little disturbed that Caspere was banging his own daughter. Or did i get that wrong?

Adopted daughter I believe. Not that it really makes it better. But since it was a kidnap anyway, he probably groomed her. Maybe a plan from the start.

Also, maybe I got it wrong.

Just finally got to the finale today. I must say, I really liked it, though I was disappointed it ended on a sad note. There were a few times I moved to the edge of my seat, so a job well done.

Also I really liked the juxtaposition of the scenery of three main characters at the end. Didn't go through the last 3 pages before replying so I don't know if it was brought up, but there was some serious imagery there. Picked it up right away. Frank in a dessert, Ray in a forest, and Mesacan't spell it on the ocean. Interesting imagery there. If I take a second look I wonder if there is another layer, something to do with their personalities.

A great finale. The series as a whole gets a bump for it. Still worse than the first, obviously. Still disjointed in parts and the acting wasn't always solid. But a good show. Would recommend.

Maybe the best thing to do is recommend the second one first, then the first one second.

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by getbak

She did have the best line of the season when she told Vaughn that he couldn't act. I don't think it was written to be the laugh-out-loud moment it was.

I noted that too. It was almost like they were taking cues from the audience, only we know that can't possibly be the case.

[underGRADFlame]

Originally Posted by Daradon

Adopted daughter I believe. Not that it really makes it better. But since it was a kidnap anyway, he probably groomed her. Maybe a plan from the start.

Also, maybe I got it wrong.

Just finally got to the finale today. I must say, I really liked it, though I was disappointed it ended on a sad note. There were a few times I moved to the edge of my seat, so a job well done.

Also I really liked the juxtaposition of the scenery of three main characters at the end. Didn't go through the last 3 pages before replying so I don't know if it was brought up, but there was some serious imagery there. Picked it up right away. Frank in a dessert, Ray in a forest, and Mesacan't spell it on the ocean. Interesting imagery there. If I take a second look I wonder if there is another layer, something to do with their personalities.

A great finale. The series as a whole gets a bump for it. Still worse than the first, obviously. Still disjointed in parts and the acting wasn't always solid. But a good show. Would recommend.

Maybe the best thing to do is recommend the second one first, then the first one second.

"* Ray gets to Leonard before the exchange and stands in for him. Holloway and Burris are surprised to see him but willing to deal if he’ll hand over the land documents and hard drive. The crooked chief spills that Caspere was having an affair with the jeweler’s wife — and that Laura was Ben’s illegitimate daughter. The news puts Leonard (sitting nearby) over the edge, and he attacks Holloway with a knife. Pretty soon, guns are being fired, Burris gets wounded in the arm and takes off. Ani swoops in and removes Ray from the premises without either getting caught. When the cops descend upon the situation, both Leonard and Holloway are shot and killed."

from TVline.com

So if Laura was Ben's illegitimate daughter, and Laura got into the "lifestyle" and "working" for Ben.... ewwww.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Two season in a row with some incest going on. Is Nic Pizzolatto trying to tell us something?

[Daradon]

I ran out of 'ewwww's' in the Subway thread.

Though a couple were 'I'm going to hell' ewww's.

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Two season in a row with some incest going on. Is Nic Pizzolatto trying to tell us something?

Nowhere near Game of Thrones. Two examples of incest in the very first episode.

Though, people did do that historically to keep bloodlines pure. Fantasy fiction pulls off real life medieval and renaissance for inspiration.

[Yamer]

Definitely need to re-watch the season now that it has wrapped. As someone mentioned that will probably be very rewarding...like re-reading a book once you have the gist of what the hell is going on.

Of course it's not as good as the first season. That would have been an incredibly tall order. Season 1 was an amalgamation of everything good colliding into 8 episodes of excellent acting, superb writing, intriguing dialogue, and suspenseful action.

After being a bit put off by Vaughn early in the season, I thought he really showed a depth many of us probably didn't believe he had. Yes, some of the dialogue between him and his wife were cheesy, but that can be attributed to the hyper-noir atmosphere the show-runners injected into this year's story. I thought Kelly Reilly was just fine in her role, not getting the complaints about her talent (although I have a theory that relates to the same folks lambasting Anna Gunn for her Emmy winning role in Breaking Bad).

Farrell and McAdams go without saying. Tremendous performances, but I think we all knew they were capable of it. We only got glimpses and allusions into the McAdams character, which was sufficient to explain most of her, but Velcoro was a slap in the face of tragedy.

Kitsch's character seemed mildly inconsequential, although his end ended up serving a larger purpose for the story and the audience.

The story was incredibly convoluted, however. I'm still super confused about almost all of it, so a re-watch is essential. The conclusion fit well into the world and characters they created this go around, so even though I felt slightly jilted that Ray and Semyon ended the way they did (especially when they panned to Ray's phone and the failed upload) it made sense and didn't seem out of place.

This season was destined to suffer as it was on the heels of some of the most brilliant television I have ever seen in Season 1, but it also didn't do itself a lot of favors with the cliches, conventions, and complexity. Even so, I'm looking forward to see what they can do in Season 3.

[Fuzz]

One thing that jumped out at me was what happened to the men. The brother from the jewellery store, Frank, Ray, Paul... all the women get out of it. Not sure if that was purposeful or not.

[Daradon]

I believe my initial fear going into the season was one of the failings. Too many characters. Especially for a single season. If your multiple season, with rich source content like GoT, then maybe you can get away with it, but this didn't work. To much to do all at once. Characters weren't properly fleshed out. One of the things that drove season one, was the duality of the two main characters. This season it felt like the tried to one up it by making it more complicated and having more characters. It didn't work. I never does.

One of the very first lessons you learn in drama is don't introduce more characters unless you absolutely have to. They would have done well to follow this rule. When Woodrugh died, I wasn't sad. I even said, 'well he WAS the most boring character.'

[Itse]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

Further to my post above...I basically didn't know any of this stuff and if takes 4,000 words to explain the plot of an otherwise lackluster TV show, you've completely effed up.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/...ng_season.html

I wouldn't call that a plot, more like throwing around a bunch of stuff.

A mess from beginning to end.

[dsavillian]

If season 1 was a 10 out of 10 (which it was), season 2 was a 7 out of 10 and will get better after the 2nd watch.


It could have been better as a whole, but I really enjoyed the last 2 episodes.

I look forward to Season 3.

[Daradon]

Do you think there will be a season three?

I think there was enough critical disclaim, they pack it in. Not that it was bad, just that it jumped the shark. And I'm not going by my opinion here, I'd be down for a season three. Just that with all the shows HBO is doing, and many on the way, I think they take a hint from the critics and pack it in while it's hot.

[nik-]

Season 3 has already been ordered.

edit: actually maybe it hasn't, I thought I'd read that it had already been ordered. Either way, they'll do a three and give it another shot.

[flamefan74]

Originally Posted by Daradon

I believe my initial fear going into the season was one of the failings. Too many characters. Especially for a single season. If your multiple season, with rich source content like GoT, then maybe you can get away with it, but this didn't work. To much to do all at once. Characters weren't properly fleshed out. One of the things that drove season one, was the duality of the two main characters. This season it felt like the tried to one up it by making it more complicated and having more characters. It didn't work. I never does.

Exactly. This season could have worked by either a) using less characters or b) adding more episodes.