True Detective

Miguex_sl said:

Set designer for this show shops in my store. Told us last week this season isn't going to be anywhere near as good as last year. Still will give it a shot.

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Maybe he was just pissed he did not get to craft little wooden pyramids once more...

Set designers are kinda weird. He could be just pissing on the lack of detail he couldn't play with, not the story archs.

Story and characters is what drew me into their world. The sets helped by distracting you from potential bad guys if anything. I wasn't one of those looking for a huge twist though. With this many mainstream actors I highly doubt we'll see that many significant internal character changes. There simply isn't enough time in 10 hours to pull it off. The time lapses from season 1 could actually be considered different characters they were so batshit crazy but with that menttality you don't have to plan to make the snip stand on it's own. Really clever and I don't see them repeating that mechanic, but I'll still watch season 2 and be entertained since there isn't much to watch in the summer anyway.

I felt like they never really lived up to the promise of this scene:

Yeah, I'm pretty sure my heart actually skipped a beat on that scene.

Lets face it, putting somebody like mm in season one as the star has completely monkeyed with our expectations on what this should be. The mysticism was just added flavor to go with the louisianna backdrop. Take those things away and this show is just a season long cop procedural that does the one case with 9 red herring cliffhangers thing. I like those kinds of shows, but they are common now. Will watch, but there are no high expectations here. plus vince vaughn's face makes me want to punch it in/change the channel

idk, i think if you guys rewatch it you will see that the occult thing was always backdrop, never the focus of the show. Many people chose to focus on particular items taken out of context when in reality it was about a crazy motherfucker doing some crazy shit and the cops who chased him down.I loved the lore it brought to the table but I never for a second imagined that Rust was going to turn the corner of that maze and be facing down one of The Old Ones. It was a pretty straight up crime show with tremendous acting, writing, directing, whatever the fuck else makes shows good.

Will there be more saving kids, I wonder? Was a powerful scene.

chaos_sl said:

idk, i think if you guys rewatch it you will see that the occult thing was always backdrop, never the focus of the show. Many people chose to focus on particular items taken out of context when in reality it was about a crazy motherfucker doing some crazy shit and the cops who chased him down.I loved the lore it brought to the table but I never for a second imagined that Rust was going to turn the corner of that maze and be facing down one of The Old Ones. It was a pretty straight up crime show with tremendous acting, writing, directing, whatever the fuck else makes shows good.

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If you take the pseudo-mysticism of Rust and the overall overwhelming evil incarnate theme from the bad guys/cult away then it isn't the same show, not even close. And this season probably isn't going to have either of those things. It can still be a competent and enjoyable show but anyone who thinks those things aren't a huge part of why season one was what it was is kidding themselves. If you go back and watch season one now knowing how it ends and that most of that stuff is just ambiance it loses a lot of its resonance, at least with me.

chaos_sl said:

idk, i think if you guys rewatch it you will see that the occult thing was always backdrop, never the focus of the show. Many people chose to focus on particular items taken out of context when in reality it was about a crazy motherfucker doing some crazy shit and the cops who chased him down.I loved the lore it brought to the table but I never for a second imagined that Rust was going to turn the corner of that maze and be facing down one of The Old Ones. It was a pretty straight up crime show with tremendous acting, writing, directing, whatever the fuck else makes shows good.

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I disagree. We aren't talking about grasping at straws, there was a heavy focus on strange stuff, both by the show's protaganists and the show's cinematography. Sure the daughter and the dolls was a red herring, but it was clearly deliberate.

I don't think that something else can't take it's place, I don't think it's not possible to tell a compelling detective story with a different narrative framing, but to suggest that the occult was "just a backdrop" is way off base. It was the core tone of the show.

Well, I agree and disagree. Atmosphere, tone, whatever is not the show. The first season had a unique current of nihilism running throughout it. And it even did have a legit, for real cult. But it wasn't what some people wanted it to be. At no point in the show did I think "There is a satanic Cthulhu cult out here in Louisiana and MAGIC IS REAL" and anyone who did was cherry picking items out of the show to focus on. The story was pretty much straight up cop show. With lesser actors we would all be sitting around bitching about how they used all the buddy cop tropes and how stupid that was, but Woody and Matty Boy killed it so instead the first season is lauded as some of the best tv ever. The Yellow King shit didn't make it the best, it just prolonged the mystery long enough that we got to see the actors do their thing. As you say, it can be done again and it doesn't have to be occult shit to be good.

You've been Astrocreep'd

BrutulTM_sl said:

Jesus fucking Christ. These guys made a great TV show. Why don't you fucking wait until you see a couple episodes of a show made by the guys that made an a great show before you start crying that it's not going to be exactly like last season based on a trailer?

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what the fuck? i said i was going to watch, i simply dont expect it to be as good as season one. colin ferrell is good, but he isnt MM good. he makes schlock movies with some very good exceptions. vince vaughn can eat a dick. dont care about the chicks, we get no mystical backdrop. just a cop procedural in a big city. been there done that. the first season was good enough to give season 2 a chance. sue me if you dont like the fact i have reservations about it.

I also think the mystery helped for season 1, you never really got much out of Russ and about his past. In the season 2 trailer it seems like the characters are trying to show you why they have problems

BrutulTM_sl said:

Jesus fucking Christ. These guys made a great TV show. Why don't you fucking wait until you see a couple episodes of a show made by the guys that made an a great show before you start crying that it's not going to be exactly like last season based on a trailer?

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Well it was definitely a great show, but if I hadn't been at first intrigued by the AWESOME tone and then fully hooked by Alexandra Daddario's tits I definitely would not have liked it that much.

Seriously though, I think the show had a weak finish. I tuned in every week to see how the pessimist archon that was Rust Cohle was going to unravel the secret truth of the universe or go insane trying. The show beat you over the head with cosmic horror and in the end Cohle blacked out and changed his mind "hey guys! forget all that pessimist philosophy shit, my bad."

I think the anti-twist at the end was enough for people to be reasonably skeptical that the first season may have been a flash-in-the-pan moment of greatness caused by: 1) a cast with amazing chemistry 2)god-tier cinematography/musical score and 3) a cavalcade of perfect tits.

I will give season 2 a fair shake, but I would argue that having sky high expectations for it would not be that fair at all.

Brando_sl said:

As far as the setting, the outlying areas of LA can be as hillbilly and fucked up (with a latin twist) as almost any rural area I've ever been to. Lancaster, Palmdale, Riverside, the IE, etc. If this is set in the heart of LA or the Valley then I can see the location being a let down. Fucking Twin Peaks is only about a 90 minute drive from my house, it doesn't take long to get out to wierdville. Lancaster is probably the meth production capital of the state.

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Yeah, I'm pretty sure the setting is more San Bernardino County than LA.

The show couldn't top Woody straight up executing the pedo kidnapper and Rust quickly and calmly staging the cover up, intertwined with present day interview scenes of both of them lying their asses off. Ditto the undercover episode.

If the ending didn't live up to that... it's okay.