True Detective: Season 2 (HBO)

[Phrazbit]

Yeah... I was excited to see Vaughn do something dark. He was GREAT back in the day in a little movie called Clay Pigeons where he plays a psychopath full of charm, but he's struggling here. His best attribute is charm and he got to play a little of that in ONE scene so far with the "fake accident" showdown, but if they're not going to let him loose at all, it's gonna be tough to watch.

Season one had loads of stylized dialogue, what little we've seen so far in this season has gone to Vince and it has not played well. Such as the line about not doing anything out of hunger, even eating. I picture McConaughey saying that and it works, he delivered loads of similar lines last year ("Someone's memory of a town and the memory is fading"). But part of it what made those lines clock was not just his delivery but Woody Harrelson's exasperated reactions. If he delivered that stuff with a smirk and some charm it might work, even without a foil opposite him.

As is, he either isn't delivering them well or he does not have anyone to play off of, as Colin Ferrell's character has been bombed in all their shared scenes.

As a police procedural this season will probably play out as an A+, but the brilliant character study we had in season 1 so far isn't translating over.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Season one had loads of stylized dialogue, what little we've seen so far in this season has gone to Vince and it has not played well. Such as the line about not doing anything out of hunger, even eating. I picture McConaughey saying that and it works, he delivered loads of similar lines last year ("Someone's memory of a town and the memory is fading"). But part of it what made those lines clock was not just his delivery but Woody Harrelson's exasperated reactions. If he delivered that stuff with a smirk and some charm it might work, even without a foil opposite him.

As is, he either isn't delivering them well or he does not have anyone to play off of, as Colin Ferrell's character has been bombed in all their shared scenes.

As a police procedural this season will probably play out as an A+, but the brilliant character study we had in season 1 so far isn't translating over.

agreed on all of the above.

 

[Stout]

Yep, I'm done with this show. I didn't even make it ten minutes into the episode. I'm not the only one the moronic writers alienated with that ridiculously awful writing decision. Maybe if the Vaughn arc was working I'd have stuck around, but I would expect that bad of a schmuck bait ending out of a Syfy channel movie, not from a good HBO show, and certainly not in a follow up to the original--IMO now, the only--True Detective. I just can't get over what a crappy writing job that was.

 

[Cheesebeef]

WEAK!!!!!

Only five minutes in, but Jesus. Weak.

 

[Phrazbit]

I expressed concern earlier in this thread that this season was going to seem very thrown together in comparison to last season's brilliant and nuanced show... and wow, does this show feel thrown together. A bunch of cliches, kicked up a notch and all thrown together in one under cooked stew.

I'll unfortunately keep watching, partly out of morbid curiosity and because I know there are only like 5 episodes left, but this is show is a mess right now.

Spoiler

I'm no cop, doctor or scientist, but I feel like a shotgun blast 3 inches from the sternum would kill you... even if they are riot shells.

 

[cardfaninfl]

I heard there was a deleted scene where Velcoro jumps up and trips over a stuffed animal that looks a lot like a carnivorous fish. As Stout mentioned, the episode they let us know what kind of kink Bezzerides is into is the last episode I watch.

 

[Phrazbit]

Anyone still watching? This show is so half baked. It has some really strong elements but the story is almost incomprehensible, with major plot points held together by the loosest of elements.

Spoiler

We end up with a prime suspect (some random drug dealer) out of the blue, with no lead besides "Fat Drunk guy had a C.I.", which immediately leads into this enormous gun fight were about 10 civilians, all the bad guys AND every cop on the scene except our main characters get killed. It was a well shot scene but it was so poorly built up that I was just sitting there thinking "How the hell did we get here? Should I care about any of the dozens of people that just got killed?"

No doubt we're going to find out the Vinci PD sent them on a virtual suicide mission and that suspect was a patsy.

And poor Vince Vaughn's character keeps bouncing between being interesting and unintentionally funny. His dialog is hilariously inconsistent, vacillating between a pseudo intellectual and foul mouthed goon.

But credit to the acting of our 3 cops, especially Taylor Kitsch, he has been great, and I assumed he'd be terrible. Their strong performances are carrying this show right now.

 

[JerkFace]

Anyone still watching? This show is so half baked. It has some really strong elements but the story is almost incomprehensible, with major plot points held together by the loosest of elements.

Spoiler

We end up with a prime suspect (some random drug dealer) out of the blue, with no lead besides "Fat Drunk guy had a C.I.", which immediately leads into this enormous gun fight were about 10 civilians, all the bad guys AND every cop on the scene except our main characters get killed. It was a well shot scene but it was so poorly built up that I was just sitting there thinking "How the hell did we get here? Should I care about any of the dozens of people that just got killed?"

No doubt we're going to find out the Vinci PD sent them on a virtual suicide mission and that suspect was a patsy.

And poor Vince Vaughn's character keeps bouncing between being interesting and unintentionally funny. His dialog is hilariously inconsistent, vacillating between a pseudo intellectual and foul mouthed goon.

But credit to the acting of our 3 cops, especially Taylor Kitsch, he has been great, and I assumed he'd be terrible. Their strong performances are carrying this show right now.

I am actually enjoying it.

 

[Stout]

Anyone still watching? This show is so half baked. It has some really strong elements but the story is almost incomprehensible, with major plot points held together by the loosest of elements.

Spoiler

We end up with a prime suspect (some random drug dealer) out of the blue, with no lead besides "Fat Drunk guy had a C.I.", which immediately leads into this enormous gun fight were about 10 civilians, all the bad guys AND every cop on the scene except our main characters get killed. It was a well shot scene but it was so poorly built up that I was just sitting there thinking "How the hell did we get here? Should I care about any of the dozens of people that just got killed?"

No doubt we're going to find out the Vinci PD sent them on a virtual suicide mission and that suspect was a patsy.

And poor Vince Vaughn's character keeps bouncing between being interesting and unintentionally funny. His dialog is hilariously inconsistent, vacillating between a pseudo intellectual and foul mouthed goon.

But credit to the acting of our 3 cops, especially Taylor Kitsch, he has been great, and I assumed he'd be terrible. Their strong performances are carrying this show right now.

Sounds like the idiotic writing is continuing, then.

 

[Phrazbit]

I am actually enjoying it.

It's not terrible, I'm entertained. It's just disappointing that it has some very strong elements that are getting brought down by what so far seems like sloppy storytelling

I also wish we had more reason to care about them solving this case, who are our victims? A Corrupt city manager and some gangster who's dirty money got stolen?

 

[Cheesebeef]

I'm totally lost. Spent half this episode wasting time on Tinder because it just wasn't holding me in the least!

 

[cardfaninfl]

Sounds like the idiotic writing is continuing, then.

Storyline jumps, character relationships that assume the audience is aware even though it was never mentioned before, and dialog that makes you think a couple of Freshman English Lit majors got stoned in a coffee house and made up their version of existential revelations.

But the 'Heat' rip-off did have nice cinematography.

 

[Phrazbit]

Storyline jumps, character relationships that assume the audience is aware even though it was never mentioned before, and dialog that makes you think a couple of Freshman English Lit majors got stoned in a coffee house and made up their version of existential revelations.

But the 'Heat' rip-off did have nice cinematography.

Yeah, I know a lot of television that considers itself high art likes to avoid exposition but it would be nice to occasionally know things like... where are we? What is this guy's name? Uhh... who is this crony that just died? Why does Ani's dad know everyone on earth?

 

[Cheesebeef]

Yeah, I know a lot of television that considers itself high art likes to avoid exposition but it would be nice to occasionally know things like... where are we? What is this guy's name? Uhh... who is this crony that just died? Why does Ani's dad know everyone on earth?

so everyone else was just as lost as I was, even though you guys were actually paying attention? man, that's not good. I'm starting to wonder what Season 1 would have been like if it didn't have Mac and Woody in it. Is it possible they and the director elevated the material that much?

 

[Phrazbit]

so everyone else was just as lost as I was, even though you guys were actually paying attention? man, that's not good. I'm starting to wonder what Season 1 would have been like if it didn't have Mac and Woody in it. Is it possible they and the director elevated the material that much?

I think the difference is the material was clearly something Pizzolatto had spent years developing. All those little details about the Bayou and all the colorful extra characters, and, most importantly, the character and philosophy of Rust Cohle.

This season on the other hand... looks like something he probably wrote in 3 months (maybe weeks) after HBO said "Get us a sequel! Here is even MORE money!!!"

 

[cardfaninfl]

"Blue balls of the heart." Click. Done. This show could go on to be an Emmy Award winning production, or just more disjoined scenes to make multiple references to *****. I'll never know.

 

[Phrazbit]

Okay, a lot of the loose ends are getting tied and the seeming randomness of the locations we've seen are becoming coherent.

I'm actually interested in where the case is going... which is a huge plus.

Its not season 1, it won't be season 1, but the last episode gave some promise that this may turn into a quality story.

 

[JerkFace]

I am very much enjoying the second season. It is not as amazing as the first, but once you get over that, it is pretty damn good.

 

[slinslin]

I am very much enjoying the second season. It is not as amazing as the first, but once you get over that, it is pretty damn good.

Agreed although I am curious if there is enough time left in the last 2 episodes for the "surprise" solution to everything.

People upset with season 2 seem to simply have romantic feelings about season 1 being so much better along with an expectation set by season 1 that future seasons would follow the mystery crime style.
Season 1 was based on cthulhu with the king in yellow, while season 2 setting is more real world crime material.

Dont get me wrong season 1 was better but season 2 is very good also, just different.

 

[Phrazbit]

I really wanted to like it, I talked myself into it getting better after episode 5, but there have been too many moments that I felt were either rushed, incoherent or just dumb.

Stumbling up to that mansion door during the party right as the bad guys are wrapping up their big land deal was like something out of a Saturday morning cartoon. And speaking of cartoons, Woodrugh's mother is one of the most over the top characters I've ever seen on a show that takes itself seriously. Vince Vaughn continues to be a severe miscast.

What the show really needed was a reason to care about the mystery. Who really gave a rip about Frank's dirty money and the death of some corrupt politician? It wasn't until later that we finally found some mildly sympathetic victims in these high price hookers.

An easy solution would have been to start of the series with the 20+ year old jewelery store robbery which spawned the entire mess and where the two kids were orphaned. Then jump right to where it started. Don't even mention the robbery again until it came up later (like episode 5 or something). You'd have a sympathetic set of victims, you'd have a great scene with the robbery, you'd have the back drop of the LA Riots engaging people in the setting... Its a 5 minute scene that would have made the show immeasurably better. As is there just hasn't been a reason to care about any of these people or the crime for like 90% of the show.

 

[Phrazbit]

Wow... just wow...

One of the most brutal seasons of television I've stuck through. That ending was a convoluted mess of dumb coincidences, bad payoffs and a bunch of characters who were never ever worth caring about.

 

[JerkFace]

Wow... just wow...

One of the most brutal seasons of television I've stuck through. That ending was a convoluted mess of dumb coincidences, bad payoffs and a bunch of characters who were never ever worth caring about.

I couldn't disagree more.

 

[Cheesebeef]

okay... I get Ghost Dad/Ghost Wife/Ghost Caspere... but where the hell did Ghost Do The Right Thing Gang come from?!

and does Velcoro's son just tote around his dad's badge in a glass case everywhere he goes?

 

[Phrazbit]

okay... I get Ghost Dad/Ghost Wife/Ghost Caspere... but where the hell did Ghost Do The Right Thing Gang come from?!

and does Velcoro's son just tote around his dad's badge in a glass case everywhere he goes?

I think it was acting as his marker in whatever game they were playing.

What got me the most was the laughable way they cracked the case. Velcoro taps into his apparently photographic memory to recall that the chick they've surmised was the daughter from the bank robbery walked buy some guy like 6 months ago as he and Ani were wondering around that studio lot. Then POOF, seconds later we see them strolling in his house right as he has set off to exact revenge.

Also, kudos to those Mexican gangsters. LA is no small town and their ability to track down Frank while he was in between ditching his car and escaping to the docks was uncanny.