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

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This show is just...so damn good.

Moody, cerebral, ominous, subtle. Stellar acting; the dudes in charge really seem to know what they're doing here.

My favorite scene from episode 2 - the mirror.
 
Frost_Ace said:
I really want to like this show but I'm not finding it engaging at all, I dunno :(
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Same. It's plodding with intensely dull though well acted characters. It is absolutely gorgeous too look at (ahem) but everything about it just rings hollow to me. It feels like a better shot, better acted, better realized Low Winter Sun to me. Everything is so comically serious and grim and gritty and dark and I just have a hard time taking any of it seriously. I don't know. McConaughey's monologues are almost unbearable to sit though: "The hubris it must take to yank a soul out of non existence, into this, meat. And to force a life into this, thresher. Yeah so my daughter, she uh, she spared me the sin of being a father." If my eyes rolled any harder I'd be having a seizure.

I'm...just not feeling it. At all.
 
I can see why this isn't everyone's thing. It definitely feels more like a visual novel (that's a term David Simon used to describe the Wire, I'm not trying to sound pretentious, lol), than a TV show or Movie.
 
RatskyWatsky said:
Same. It's plodding with intensely dull though well acted characters. It is absolutely gorgeous too look at (ahem) but everything about it just rings hollow to me. It feels like a better shot, better acted, better realized Low Winter Sun to me. Everything is so comically serious and grim and gritty and dark and I just have a hard time taking any of it seriously. I don't know. McConaughey's monologues are almost unbearable to sit though: "The hubris it must take to yank a soul out of non existence, into this, meat. And to force a life into this, thresher. Yeah so my daughter, she uh, she spared me the sin of being a father." If my eyes rolled any harder I'd be having a seizure.

I'm...just not feeling it. At all.
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It's definitely got some very heavy neo-noir trappings. McConaughey's gravel pitch in particular can seem kinda silly at times if you really think about it. I was feeling pretty similar to you at first but the second episode convinced me. And Marty calls out Rust on his nihilistic bullshit a few times, so the writers seem pretty self aware in that regard.
 
RatskyWatsky said:
Same. It's plodding with intensely dull though well acted characters. It is absolutely gorgeous too look at (ahem) but everything about it just rings hollow to me. It feels like a better shot, better acted, better realized Low Winter Sun to me. Everything is so comically serious and grim and gritty and dark and I just have a hard time taking any of it seriously. I don't know. McConaughey's monologues are almost unbearable to sit though: "The hubris it must take to yank a soul out of non existence, into this, meat. And to force a life into this, thresher. Yeah so my daughter, she uh, she spared me the sin of being a father." If my eyes rolled any harder I'd be having a seizure.

I'm...just not feeling it. At all.
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I love it, but I can't really disagree with anything you've written here.
 
RatskyWatsky said:
Same. It's plodding with intensely dull though well acted characters. It is absolutely gorgeous too look at (ahem) but everything about it just rings hollow to me. It feels like a better shot, better acted, better realized Low Winter Sun to me. Everything is so comically serious and grim and gritty and dark and I just have a hard time taking any of it seriously. I don't know. McConaughey's monologues are almost unbearable to sit though: "The hubris it must take to yank a soul out of non existence, into this, meat. And to force a life into this, thresher. Yeah so my daughter, she uh, she spared me the sin of being a father." If my eyes rolled any harder I'd be having a seizure.

I'm...just not feeling it. At all.
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I accepted it as an emotionally awkward, desensitized, intelligent man, creating a coping mechanism. For me it's sad that he honestly believes his own crap rather than it being cringe-worthy. If you go through that scene and what you see is an actor reciting lines I imagine it's pretty bad.
 
DrBo42 said:
I accepted it as an emotionally awkward, desensitized, intelligent man, creating a coping mechanism. For me it's sad that he honestly believes his own crap rather than it being cringe-worthy. If you go through that scene and what you see is an actor reciting lines I imagine it's pretty bad.
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precisely, well said

mcc is so committed to this role, and rust to his own worldview, it ends up soaring as an incredibly captivating character study

if either of these elements fell short, and for you it appears the latter in fact does - than i could see it being almost comical in its absurdity

im absolutely loving it

edit: sorry not yourself, but ratskywatsky
 
The Artful Dodger said:
I can see why this isn't everyone's thing. It definitely feels more like a visual novel (that's a term David Simon used to describe the Wire, I'm not trying to sound pretentious, lol), than a TV show or Movie.
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This is a great way of describing the show. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone I know, but I am definitely enjoying this so far.
 
Incandenza said:
It's definitely got some very heavy neo-noir trappings. McConaughey's gravel pitch in particular can seem kinda silly at times if you really think about it. I was feeling pretty similar to you at first but the second episode convinced me. And Marty calls out Rust on his nihilistic bullshit a few times, so the writers seem pretty self aware in that regard.
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And thus, for me at least, it works. This isn't the writers preaching to us with Rust as the vessel. Anyone who sees it that way will inevitably be irritated.
 
RatskyWatsky said:
Same. It's plodding with intensely dull though well acted characters. It is absolutely gorgeous too look at (ahem) but everything about it just rings hollow to me. It feels like a better shot, better acted, better realized Low Winter Sun to me. Everything is so comically serious and grim and gritty and dark and I just have a hard time taking any of it seriously. I don't know. McConaughey's monologues are almost unbearable to sit though: "The hubris it must take to yank a soul out of non existence, into this, meat. And to force a life into this, thresher. Yeah so my daughter, she uh, she spared me the sin of being a father." If my eyes rolled any harder I'd be having a seizure.

I'm...just not feeling it. At all.
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Agreed, I liked the second episode enough to continue though. To me it feels like a bad book to tv transition, proof that having just one person to write the scripts is not always a positive thing. I hope that if HBO renews it Pizzolato will hire some writers to help him out.
 
Finally watched the second episode. Loved it. Have to say, this is probably the most excited I've been for a new HBO series in a long time. Even more so than Boardwalk Empire (and I love Boardwalk Empire). Can't wait to see how the rest of this season plays out.

Has HBO officially ordered a second season yet?
 
Can anyone recommend any other shows similar to this in terms of characters and style? I need more material like this in my life.
 
I think I'm done. Watched episode 1 and part of 2, and I have no interest in the story or Harrelson's character. The only thing that made me watch this much is McConaughey's character. The nihilistic stuff rings true precisely because it's over dramatic and "staged." I know people that talk like that.

I may go back and watch it if everybody thinks it is amazing by the time it ends.
 
RatskyWatsky said:
Same. It's plodding with intensely dull though well acted characters. It is absolutely gorgeous too look at (ahem) but everything about it just rings hollow to me. It feels like a better shot, better acted, better realized Low Winter Sun to me. Everything is so comically serious and grim and gritty and dark and I just have a hard time taking any of it seriously. I don't know. McConaughey's monologues are almost unbearable to sit though: "The hubris it must take to yank a soul out of non existence, into this, meat. And to force a life into this, thresher. Yeah so my daughter, she uh, she spared me the sin of being a father." If my eyes rolled any harder I'd be having a seizure.

I'm...just not feeling it. At all.
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I laughed at least twice in the 2nd episode when Marty smelled his fingers in the car, and when Cohle raised his hand after being told to shut up and the captain responded with "Well you're a smartass with your mouth shut." The latter scene was like straight out of Justified. It definitely is dark and grim, but it's not comically so like Low Winter Sun was. There's been a tiny bit of dry comedy in the first 2 eps.

I don't have an issue with the monologues either, the content or choice of words. Fits the somber, slow pacing and is meant to make Rust even more of an outlier than his temperament already makes him. I get that it's not everyone's thing though.
 
Second episode rounded Rust out as a character for me. Really well written.

Was worried he would be a cliche but the more of his past that is disclosed the more his actions and attitude makes sense.
 
i don't think the over-wrought monologues are meant to be taken at face value as convincing. the show seems to be less 'isn't it so badass to speak like this, right on rusty' and more 'thinking and interacting with the world like this is fucked up, now let's try and explore what would lead someone to that place', which i think they've done quite vividly so far, thanks largely to the acting talent of mcgounaghey. harrelson's contempt for them makes me feel like it's deliberately messing around with the tropes of the genre; asking what does it mean for the stock character like this to plausibly exist.

i'm not surprised the show is turning people off though, even with the pandering with the ridiculous nudity and reveal endings it's a hard, uncomfortable watch where the purpose is that these people have none.
 
The girl Woody goes to see, is that the girl he's talking about in the bar with his buddies.
also, the tits she has. OMG PERFECT SIZE. lmao
 
1390393306174ysozo.png
 
I think the show is great so far, it was pretty much what I was hoping it would be. I look forward to delving further into Rust's character.

That being said, that one shot where
Woody's daughters had set up that mock crime scene with their Barbie dolls
was probably one of the dumbest things I've ever seen in any HBO show, ever and really didn't add anything to the story, imo. What kind of little girls own that many
Ken dolls
anyways?
 
Draconian said:
Can someone sum up The King in Yellow stuff you guys were talking about a few pages ago?
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The King in Yellow is a very old collection of short stories written at the end of the 19th century. They're mostly strange tales loosely connected by settings and/or a link to a fictional play called of the same name which drives people who read it insane. Some of the stuff in Dora's diary are references to the contents of the fictional play.
 
Zozobra said:
I think the show is great so far, it was pretty much what I was hoping it would be. I look forward to delving further into Rust's character.

That being said, that one shot where
Woody's daughters had set up that mock crime scene with their Barbie dolls
was probably one of the dumbest things I've ever seen in any HBO show, ever and really didn't add anything to the story, imo. What kind of little girls own that many
Ken dolls
anyways?
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You didn't notice
that it looked disturbingly like something out of a porno?
 
This show is amazing. Loved the second episode and excited to see where it goes from here with the discovery of the church.

That handcuff scene. Lawd all mighty!
 
ElectricBlue187 said:
I think the unreliable nature of Rust's perspective means he will sometimes not remark on the strange shit he sees if he's thinking it's just a hallucination
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In that regard I'm curious as to whether the flashbacks can be trusted or that they're recollections of events, Vs the events themselves.

Cornballer said:
Someone on another forum noted that in the making of video they pointed out that they had to keep birds of prey (owls & hawks) on set sometimes because the local birds made too much noise for them to shoot in certain locations. Not sure if it's related at all (probably not?) but I thought it was an amusing anecdote.
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Yeah I wonder whether the owl was there in large part to keep the other wildlife at bay.

duckroll said:
Nic Pizzolatto did say that it's not 100% set in stone though. The idea is that every season would be a new setting, a new mystery, and someone doing some sort of detective work, but if the actors want to continue, he can write the stories that way too. He said he could write Cohle forever, but it's up to the actors.

Or maybe they could do something like what American Horror Story does, where there are recurring cast members playing completely different roles.
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With MM blowing up the way he is at present I think it's probably unlikely that he'd come back Vs making some serious movie money. However there are plenty of actors out there who are probably up for doing a single season of a high intensity drama.

The main drain in terms of the production is largely self imposed really given Pizzolatto wrote everything and they employed just the one director throughout. From a consistency of vision perspective that works well, but it's always going to be super demanding. It would make more sense to build up a team of writers and directors for future seasons rather than trying to go it alone.

ConfusingJazz said:
When I heard "King in Yellow," my ears perked up. I secretly hope they go down that road.
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Yeah its kind of curious. I'm wondering how they're going to play it.

Also found out that there are some audiobook recordings on youtube, as the book is out of copyright and in the public domain now: -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJDZWIfGmp8


RatskyWatsky said:
Same. It's plodding with intensely dull though well acted characters. It is absolutely gorgeous too look at (ahem) but everything about it just rings hollow to me. It feels like a better shot, better acted, better realized Low Winter Sun to me. Everything is so comically serious and grim and gritty and dark and I just have a hard time taking any of it seriously. I don't know. McConaughey's monologues are almost unbearable to sit though: "The hubris it must take to yank a soul out of non existence, into this, meat. And to force a life into this, thresher. Yeah so my daughter, she uh, she spared me the sin of being a father." If my eyes rolled any harder I'd be having a seizure.

I'm...just not feeling it. At all.
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I think you're mistaking Cohle's monologues for truth bombs from the writer, where as what they are, are a reflection of the mindset of the character, a man who by his own acknowledgement in the first episode has lost his way in the world but lacks the strength of will to just end himself. The man is fundamentally broken, and is simply filling his time in between now and his eventual demise by focusing on the one thing he is good at, namely detective work. If you've never encountered anyone like that yet in your life you've lived a charmed one in truth.
 
This show is great. I love Marty's complete contempt for Rust. The look of disgust he gave when Rust was sick in the car had me rolling.
 
I don't know if it's unsurprising or shocking that the complaints from detractors are Rust's character when all the praise from the supporters are all glowing toward that same thing. Maybe those who don't like it are misinterpreting it? Like said above they aren't supposed to be cold hard truths the writer is doling out at you. They're supposed be deranged nihilistic crazy shit said by a dude that has kind of lost his mind.

To me it's the best part of the show and everything else isn't even close. MM is nailing it.
 
Maybesew said:
Hannibal. Season 2 about to start
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They're not really similar at all, from what I've seen out of two Hannibal episodes, aside from the obvious deer antlers. Although Hannibal is entertaining in its own right, and beautiful, I wouldn't really compare the two.

I'd say Rectify is similar in pace, and the main character speaks in a similar way to Rust. Forming well spoken sentences that look great in a novel, but don't work real well in a conversation.
 
lamaroo said:
I'd say Rectify is similar in pace, and the main character speaks in a similar way to Rust. Forming well spoken sentences that look great in a novel, but don't work real well in a conversation.
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yeah i'd agree with this, despite it being different in setup and slightly more optimistic tonally. rectify has similarly brilliant photography too.
 
lamaroo said:
I'd say Rectify is similar in pace, and the main character speaks in a similar way to Rust. Forming well spoken sentences that look great in a novel, but don't work real well in a conversation.
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Rectify was great. Definitely one of last years TV highlights. Really looking forward to that coming back.
 
I understand that McConaughey's words are not necessarily the personal views of the writer - that Pizzolatto isn't using the show as a soap box by which to spout out his own obnoxious beliefs (he's no Ryan Murphy). The problem (well, one of them) that I have is that the writing for that character feels too...um...obvious? Maybe transparent is the word I'm looking for? Every time he opens his mouth and spouts out one of those dreadful monologues, it feels as though the writers are shouting to us "Look at all the crazy things this guy believes in! See how he's just so damn complex and disturbed?! Isn't this gripping and edgy television?! BE FASCINATED BY THIS FASCINATING CHARACTER!!" It just rings false to me.

Net_Wrecker said:
I laughed at least twice in the 2nd episode when Marty smelled his fingers in the car, and when Cohle raised his hand after being told to shut up and the captain responded with "Well you're a smartass with your mouth shut." The latter scene was like straight out of Justified. It definitely is dark and grim, but it's not comically so like Low Winter Sun was. There's been a tiny bit of dry comedy in the first 2 eps.
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I'm not sure if you watched all of Low Winter Sun (totally understandable if you didn't) but the amount of comedy increased after the first few episodes (by a bit), so it wasn't 100% serious all the time. Still, a couple of amusing moments here and there doesn't change the fact that both shows are by and large far too serious for their own good.

-Pyromaniac- said:
I don't know if it's unsurprising or shocking that the complaints from detractors are Rust's character when all the praise from the supporters are all glowing toward that same thing. Maybe those who don't like it are misinterpreting it?
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Or what if the people who do like it are the ones misinterpreting it? :O DUN DUN DUN!!
 
RatskyWatsky said:
I'm not sure if you watched all of Low Winter Sun (totally understandable if you didn't) but the amount of comedy increased after the first few episodes (by a bit), so it wasn't 100% serious all the time. Still, a couple of amusing moments here and there doesn't change the fact that both shows are by and large far too serious for their own good.
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I finished Low Winter Sun, and it just wasn't executed as well IMO. In truth, I don't have any issues with (sometimes overly) serious shows, I just need to find it compelling. True Detective holds my attention because I like the tone of the show as a whole. Low Winter Sun had no style to it. It was just a boilerplate grim cop drama. The Killing season 3, for Holder alone, was more interesting.

As for Rust being "transparent," I can see where you're coming from. But like I posted in the thread after the pilot ep, I don't think it's supposed to be a naturalistic character. It feels like he's very deliberately written to sound the way he sounds, made to stand out even more when Marty shoots him a glare or openly calls him out on his weirdness. Dude has an eyeball mirror, lives in a house with no furniture, has acid trip hallucinations, etc. It's not all necessarily realistic. I think if Pizzolatto wanted to write him more subtly, he would've.
 
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