True Detective - McConaughey/Harrelson crime series - S2 starts June 21st

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Content round up: Who Goes There

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Loved the ending of the episode, cant say im truly loving the series though, the pace is tremendously slow at times, feels like the wire in some aspects which is why im continuing to watch, the show takes a hell of alot of time to create character and tension. My only worry is unlike the wire we are half way through the season and the pace has only just picked up in the latter half of this episode, I hope it continues in this vain.
 
Grifter said:
Only took two days to get to the "what everyone loves is overrated" phase. The consumption cycle keeps on accelerating.
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She's not wrong though. The more episodes of this show I watch the less enthused I become with it. I was pretty much bored for most of episode 4.
 
I don't actually think everything she wrote there was completely off base. The shot itself was great and I enjoyed a bit of tense action. I'm not sure the episode as a whole was something great. It was a sidestep to further explore the Rust character. Sure we got the stuff about Marty and his wfie breaking up, and they established that Marty and Rust aren't exactly telling 100% truth to the investigators but besides that the bulk of the episode was really to expand on the Rust character. The Wire comparisons are again stupid. The reason why I know Stop Making Sense is the greatest concert film of all time is because we've had 30 years to soak it all in. How about let a season or show play out. The hyperbole IS annoying.
 
see5harp said:
I don't actually think everything she wrote there was completely off base. The shot itself was great and I enjoyed a bit of tense action. I'm not sure the episode as a whole was something great. It was a sidestep to further explore the Rust character. Sure we got the stuff about Marty and his wfie breaking up, and they established that Marty and Rust aren't exactly telling 100% truth to the investigators but besides that the bulk of the episode was really to expand on the Rust character. The Wire comparisons are again stupid. The reason why I know Stop Making Sense is the greatest concert film of all time is because we've had 30 years to soak it all in. How about let a season or show play out. The hyperbole IS annoying.
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Except she said the shot was overrated, not the rest of the show; I think the show is a tad overrated myself, but I don't feel the need to tell everyone that's my feelings on it (I feel the same about the Sopranos, but mentioned it in passing off-topic somewhere yesterday and that was it.)

Her argument for the shot being overrated is the subject matter taking place as opposed to the shot itself, and that The Wire did something relatively similar (which isn't actually relatively similar).
 
Wilbur said:
Except she said the shot was overrated, not the rest of the show; I think the show is a tad overrated myself, but I don't feel the need to tell everyone that's my feelings on it (I feel the same about the Sopranos, but mentioned it in passing off-topic somewhere yesterday and that was it.)

Her argument for the shot being overrated is the subject matter taking place as opposed to the shot itself, and that The Wire did something relatively similar (which isn't actually relatively similar).
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Personally, I remember seeing "that' scene in The Wire and feeling a lot more affected. I appreciate the shot in True Detective from a technical standpoint for the same reasons I loved Children of Men, Johnnie To movies, etc. Like I said, I don't necessarily agree with everything she said but people saying the shot was "revelatory" for film and television must not watch a lot of TV or movies. This is the show I look forward to every week and obviously it's exciting to hype about it but fall back a second.
 
I know some take issue with the episode not doing much to advanced the main plot, but I don't really mind, seeing the character development/information we got out of it. No different from BB's "The Fly", one of my favorite episodes of that series.

EDIT: Also, this:

But while the pairing isn’t entirely new, it is nonetheless sublime. In interviews, Pizzolatto has declared that he has no interest in serial killers, that the situation that gives rise to True Detective is just that: a situation, an excuse to bounce his leads off one another—the clear-eyed zealot and the self-deluding everyman—under extreme pressure. (Call it a “sit-dram.”) Yes, there are times, particularly in the first couple episodes, when Pizzolatto lays McConaughey’s dialogue on a little thick, with the “paraphilic love maps” and “smell[ing] the psychosphere” and so on. (To whit: this, among many other comparable parodies.) But this is language that takes delight in itself, for itself. If you cannot appreciate Cohle’s describing the illusion of selfhood as “a jury-rig of presumption and dumb will” in episode three, well, this may not be the show for you.
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Soul_Pie said:
Anyone notice Rust check his pulse just as he gets out of the car as they're about to start the robbery? He did it earlier in the season after Marty and him fight in the locker room as well. I wonder why he does that. I just love these little details and the idiosyncrasies of the characters.
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I'll have to rewatch the first couple episodes, but I believe Hart has a habit of checking the change slot of payphones after he uses them.
Makes me laugh because I had a similar habit before the explosion of cell phones. :p
 
This show kinda reminds me of Twin Peaks, where the murder was actually supposed to be the least important aspect of the show and (originally) was intended to fade away.
 
Opinions and such, but she's wrong
in my opinion.

Edit: I don't understand how anyone could be bored during that episode.
 
The "6 minute tracking shot" talking point is definitely getting overrated because it's starting to become the only thing people want to talk about with regards to the episode. The scene is pretty great, but not because it was a one take tracking shot. It was great because it kept the viewer with Cohle throughout his ordeal, and it allows the audience to connect with Cohle's emotions throughout the period without using much dialogue at all. For a character study series, it's a pretty important sequence. But if all people want to talk about is how it was done, it does get tiring and starts to detract from the intended purpose of the scene I think.
 
Cornballer said:
- Alyssa Rosenberg: Why The ‘True Detective’ Shot That Has Everyone Talking Is Overrated
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She's getting paid to write this?

duckroll said:
The "6 minute tracking shot" talking point is definitely getting overrated because it's starting to become the only thing people want to talk about with regards to the episode. The scene is pretty great, but not because it was a one take tracking shot. It was great because it kept the viewer with Cohle throughout his ordeal, and it allows the audience to connect with Cohle's emotions throughout the period without using much dialogue at all. For a character study series, it's a pretty important sequence. But if all people want to talk about is how it was done, it does get tiring and starts to detract from the intended purpose of the scene I think.
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That's the equivalent of saying people who watch movies can't actually understand movies, if you know what I mean. People are talking about it because of its context, not just the scene itself. Give the viewer some credit.
(although people on the internet 'talking' are usually less informed about pretty much everything, so that might confuse things)
 
duckroll said:
The "6 minute tracking shot" talking point is definitely getting overrated because it's starting to become the only thing people want to talk about with regards to the episode. The scene is pretty great, but not because it was a one take tracking shot. It was great because it kept the viewer with Cohle throughout his ordeal, and it allows the audience to connect with Cohle's emotions throughout the period without using much dialogue at all. For a character study series, it's a pretty important sequence. But if all people want to talk about is how it was done, it does get tiring and starts to detract from the intended purpose of the scene I think.
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People are simply praising it. and I am certain that fans of the show aren't overlooking the rest of the episode. The same people have been also praising the first three episodes, which is fairly slow compared to the last one.

I just don't see why hailing something as an achievement immediately puts it in the 'overrated' category.
 
Anton Sugar said:
EDIT: Also, this:
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i hope everyone has read some of Pizzolatto's interviews, everyone should. I think procedurals (and maybe just tv shows in general) have more or less trained tv viewers to care more about the criminal actions and eventual justice being deal Law and Order:SVU style than the characters. People who want movement on the case or expect the focus to be exploring Ledoux and the murder(s) are going to be disappointed.

This was a character study from the beginning. Its about Rust and Marty and how they interact with each other and within different situations. You can go back in this thread and see some of the confusion and disappointment that things weren't going as they expected them too; why is so much time spent on Rusts monologues? Why am I suppose to care about Marty's home life, its so cliche...so on and so on. What some viewers are missing is that that's what the show is all about. Its not about the murders. That's the backdrop. This episode wasn't a fucking side story, if anything it was the meatiest episode yet because we saw the other side of Rust which had only been discussed up to this point.
 
dead souls said:
She's not wrong though. The more episodes of this show I watch the less enthused I become with it. I was pretty much bored for most of episode 4.
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you're trying too hard buddy. please tell everyone about how you think vampire diaries is a much more engaging show

also can someone explain to me why everyone keeps comparing this show to the Wire?

edit: IMO We should refrain from linking and giving clicks to critics who review individual episodes of TV shows.
 
Cornballer said:
- Alyssa Rosenberg: Why The ‘True Detective’ Shot That Has Everyone Talking Is Overrated
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Bleh. I feel like some people didn't even really "watch" this scene. "Surprisingly sophisticated weaponry?" Really? Where exactly do we see that? Some uzi's, a baseball bat and a brick through a window? A lot of people have referred to this sequence as a "shootout," but it really isn't a shootout at all. There is an inciting incidence of shooting in the first house, but then there isn't really any shooting in the main action of the scene at all after that. It's Rust trying to avoid detection and get the hell out of the situation while trying to manage a confused biker. It's not about the "showdown" at all, that is completely and utterly ancillary to the scene. It's about Rust trying to get out of this epically fucked situation.

What makes the entire sequence impressive is the mounting tension that explodes, but then keeps building until the escape. Doubly impressive because we know Rust survives the ordeal. What is so tense isn't whether he will survive, but how. What will he do to get out of this situation? What fucked up thing will he have to do?

The fact that it's a single shot is kind of an added bonus to the staging and escalation of the scene, but to me isn't the single thing that makes the scene work. I didn't even realize it was a single shot until coming online post-episode. I was so engrossed in the drama unfolding before the camera that I didn't process it while it was happening, but the fact that it is a single take sticking with Rust's perspective absolutely adds to the heightened anxiety of the scene, where you are just waiting for something to go wrong in the same way the camera is just waiting to cut to a different shot. It's the notion of being unable to blink or holding your breath that Gravity also utilized so well.

It's the epitome of the marriage between technical and drama.

That article reeks of unearned dismissiveness, asking questions that were either answered explicitly in the episode or are completely irrelevant.
 
I don't mind the slow pace at all. Probably because I'm way more interested in Rust and Marty as characters than I am in the murder mystery, which seems like a fairly straightforward Hannibal-lite plot.

nilbog21 said:
also can someone explain to me why everyone keeps comparing this show to the Wire?
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Cop shows on HBO, duh
 
Everyone is still mourning breaking bad and need a show where they can post "WHAT" "OMG" every minute as it airs live

this show perfectly fills that gap.
 
It started in this thread because someone said that True Detective was better than both Sopranos and The Wire. I have no idea why paid writers are saying that stuff. It is fun to rank stuff and argue on the internet. I get that.

EDIT: Just be happy people in here aren't posting candid pics of David Simon and talking about what McNulty is doing now with his career like the Christina Aguilera stans on this board. POP GAF be weird.
 
- Warming Glow with a look at 10 other impressive tracking shots from TV and film (spoilers for other media)


nilbog21 said:
edit: IMO We should refrain from linking and giving clicks to critics who review individual episodes of TV shows.
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No one is forcing you to click on or read anything. My strategy in threads like this one is to track down articles that might interest people. If you don't have the time or inclination to digest any of them, of course that isn't a problem. I doubt anyone reads all of it, but I prefer to put everything on the table and allow people to pick and choose what they want.
 
Cornballer said:
- Warming Glow with a look at 10 other impressive tracking shots from TV and film (spoilers for other media)


No one is forcing you to click on or read anything. My strategy in threads like this one is to track down articles that might interest people. If you don't have the time or inclination to digest any of them, of course that isn't a problem. I doubt anyone reads all of it, but I prefer to put everything on the table and allow people to pick and choose what they want.
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Ofcourse Children of Men is in there. I also loved the tracking shot in Oldboy. That scene was amazing.
 
Cornballer said:
- Warming Glow with a look at 10 other impressive tracking shots from TV and film (spoilers for other media)


No one is forcing you to click on or read anything. My strategy in threads like this one is to track down articles that might interest people. If you don't have the time or inclination to digest any of them, of course that isn't a problem. I doubt anyone reads all of it, but I prefer to put everything on the table and allow people to pick and choose what they want.
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Damn you for creating an environment where we can converse about shows! Next time be a bit more selfish!
 
ivysaur12 said:
Sometimes Alyssa Rosenberg writes really interesting articles. This is not one of those times.
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Lots of people are talking about the 6-minute shot. Not enough people are talking about how the set-up lets us "see" Rust's history, both through artifacts (the scars/bulletholes/emergency box) and through him jumping back into his former life for a day instead of resorting to a 4th timeline flashback. I found that piece of narrative workmanship awesome in retrospect.
 
Is McConaughey's hair naturally like that? I always thought it was curly. Regardless, Rust is such a cool looking character. Can't imagine him being played by anyone else.
 
kirblar said:
Lots of people are talking about the 6-minute shot. Not enough people are talking about how the set-up lets us "see" Rust's history, both through artifacts (the scars/bulletholes/emergency box) and through him jumping back into his former life for a day instead of resorting to a 4th timeline flashback. I found that piece of narrative workmanship awesome in retrospect.
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Yeah, it's really a revealing portion of the show. It shows him in many ways more comfortable in that "undercover persona" than he is being a cop.
 
kirblar said:
Lots of people are talking about the 6-minute shot. Not enough people are talking about how the set-up lets us "see" Rust's history, both through artifacts (the scars/bulletholes/emergency box) and through him jumping back into his former life for a day instead of resorting to a 4th timeline flashback. I found that piece of narrative workmanship awesome in retrospect.
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couldn't agree more. Thats why I'm a little put off when someone says they didn't progress the story (catching the killer) this past episode. Its like the point went over people's heads
 
One of my favorite scenes from last episode was Maggie calling out Rust on his BS:

"At the end of the day you duck under rationalization same as any of them."

BOOM!
 
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