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True Detective - Season 2 - We get the Season we deserve - Sundays on HBO

I'm about to watch the show.

720x405-4615797431tl15.jpg
 
I'm gonna watch this soon. Like others, I don't have my expectations too high but I still expect it to be a solid show.

Will give impressions later if I feel like it.
 
Colin Farrel was the best thing about the first episode and I'm pretty sure this'll be the case for the rest of the season. Kitsch's and McAdams's characters were pretty whatever. Sometimes it feels like Kitsch is trying to hard/over acting or something.

Episode felt a bit messy to me but maybe I'm just dumb and couldn't entirely keep up. Maybe it's having four main characters? Last scene was way too cheese. I'm not sure if they're trying to make these scenes seem overly dramatic to the point of them being silly on purpose but how can you not watch that last scene and not roll your eyes.

I think overall I felt it was better than I expected and will keep watching. Really hope it ends up being a good one.
 
This is part 2 of a movie. Sequel means more. So more characters for True Detective 2. At least they all converge right away and not wait mid season so it's not bad
Nice to see Ventura. My neighborhood
 

Dresden

Member
Thought this was pretty bad. Everyone involved seems to be aware of how serious and grim and important their lines are, but they just manifest in tedious rehearsals of cop cliches and daddy issues. Farrell and Vaughn in particular feel awful - Farrell's character feels more appropriate for Nicholas Cage hamming it up, and Vaughn, when trying to project authority, looks more like he's trying to remember his lines, his eyes darting around looking for cues.

I think the show jumps between like three characters in five different scenes in the first ten minutes, and keeps moving forward in that fashion, never settling down to lend weight to these hollow caricatures. Like there's nothing that interests me beyond whether Kitsch's character has emotions beyond I LIKE BIKE and I WANT DIE, or whether McAdams gets to use the hilariously sizable armory of ninja knives she's stashed on person and in her house. And Pizzolatto's ponderous dialogue without Mac or Harrelson's delivery and acting fall flat, often in amusing ways. Farrell intones,

i used to want to be an astronaut.
but astornauts don't even go to the moon anymore


and then he goes and creates daddy issues because the show needed more of it, obviously.

The last scene - where the avengers assemble, Ninja Girl and Bike Cop awaiting Drunk Cop as the Ninja Girl's forgettable sidekick gently exits the scene - is also fun, I guess, in a really awful way, the camera panning out aboard a helicopter and showing the region in all its morning light glory because this is the setting and I don't think the viewer saw more of it beyond the occasional cut to an aerial view of a smoke belching factory.
 

neoism

Member
holy shit this was bad

nothing about it worked for me

writing was hilarious

yup as i knew it would be s1 is god teir not even racheals character is likable... :/ will wait out the next month or so and just watch these all at once!

also goddamn the title track is terrible.........
 
Idk... I enjoyed it and was intrigued by all new main characters and the mess they're jumping into.

A lot of the complaints appear to be people expecting similarities to Season 1. Weird...


I liked it! Can't really judge based on the first episode.

The NIck Cave song at the end should have been the main theme, not the Leonard Cohen one.

Ditto. That one or the song that the lady at the bar was singing.
 
yup as i knew it would be s1 is god teir not even racheals character is likable... :/ will wait out the next month or so and just watch these all at once!

also goddamn the title track is terrible.........

what was that first scene with her all about? was she trying to play with his ass or something? pretty weird scene to open with

as for the title track.. yeah.. i'll stick with early leonard cohen if thats any indication of his new album lol .. he is 80 years old tho ill give him a break
 
Sometimes it feels like it wants to be Luck 2.0. Tbh, I liked it best when it was trying to be Luck 2.0. Fits the locale and the story theme this season way better.

So it wasn't just me. When Ritche Coster popped up on screen it felt like I slipped into some amazing dimension where Luck ran for 5 seasons or something. Even the intro gave off that vibe. I can't say it was anywhere near as good a premiere though.


As for TD......ehh. I don't love season 1 nearly as much as most seem to so I don't feel betrayed or whatever, but it's a clear step down in most aspects, especially this "set up" period before the story really gets going. I feel like there's a better True Detective season 2 premiere somewhere in there if a director with a strong voice was allowed to go in and really tear the script down to get rid of the exposition and "trailer lines." I don't immediately dismiss genre elements and character archetypes, but some of it felt needlessly forced here. Like a show that knows the convergence of the principal cast is what everyone wants, but is still obligated to run through bits of backstory for them so we know exactly how tortured everyone is before they meet. I would've proffered a more opaque intro that leaves us asking what everyone's deal is while just diving into the personality clash more immediately. David Morse's father character analyzing Ani, for example. it's like....c'mon son, in the first episode? This is really on the nose.

Anyway, I liked those lens flares. Bike ride looked straight out of Heat.
 

Kastrioti

Persecution Complex
I went into this with the expectation of it not being anywhere close to the level of S1 and that was a good thing. Slow, kind of boring. Not close to giving up on it but I got what I expected which wasn't much.

Though it is hard to top the
"then start asking the right fucking questions"
line S1E1 ended with

Inevitable comparisons with Season 1 will happen, myself included, but we're 1 hour into an 8 hour movie.

Season 1 set the high pretty fucking high, no doubt, but let's see 3 or 4 episodes in how the story and characters intertwine before making judgements based on one gif.

Speaking of which is it safe to assume Taylor Kitsch character, Paul Woodrugh, is
gay based on the blue pill (Viagra) he took in the bathroom?
Trying to see where they go his character.

Season 1 started with two main characters to focus on whereas with Season 2 we got fiveish.

I really like the new intro

Me too. Also thought this was going to be just focused on the LA area but we're going all the way to Central Cali in episode 1.
 
I didn't watch any of S1, put this on since I figure, why not, the seasons are unrelated anyway...man, this is trash so far.

oYoHhcv.jpg


So many eye rolling lines, so many things that seem like they'd be written by a 15 year old trying to be dark. The line about raping Aspen's dad with his mom's headless corpse...groan. None of it seemed real at all, just cliche after cliche. I hope it gets better. I hope S1 is much better, because I plan on watching that too.

On the plus side, the soundtrack and intro were pretty good.
 

BrightLightLava

Unconfirmed Member
Point of clarification:

Was Velcoro going to butt-fuck Aspen's dad with his mom's headless corpse (as in corpse inserted into asshole)? Or was he going to butt-fuck Aspen's dad the traditional way (with Little Velcoro), while Aspen's mom's headless corpse was located on the lawn nearby?

This is a "man chased a cat with a broom in his pajamas" sort of situation for me.
 

TTG

Member
i used to want to be an astronaut.
but astornauts don't even go to the moon anymore


That was good. Did every character have at least one line that bombed?

"The highway, it suits me. I'm no good on the sidelines."

"Never do anything out of hunger. Not even eating."

What's a good one for the girl? Didn't she say something about how maybe her sister should start using again?
 

Pancho

Qurupancho
I thought it was okay, its just the 1st episode, maybe it'll get rolling in later episodes.
You guys should just stop expecting S1 tier quality, TD S1 is the sort of thing that happens once every million years or something.
 
Point of clarification:

Was Velcoro going to rape Aspen's dad with his mom's headless corpse? Or was he going to rape Aspen's dad the traditional way, while Aspen's mom's headless corpse was located on the lawn nearby?

This is a "man chased a cat with a broom in his pajamas" sort of situation for me.

a really good question

i was actually picturing him fucking the dad with the mom's.. neck ?

but i think the latter is maybe what he intended
 
Point of clarification:

Was Velcoro going to rape Aspen's dad with his mom's headless corpse? Or was he going to rape Aspen's dad the traditional way, while Aspen's mom's headless corpse was located on the lawn nearby?

This is a "man chased a cat with a broom in his pajamas" sort of situation for me.

I think he suggested he would stick Aspen's mom's headless corpse up Aspen's dad's ass.
 

TwoDurans

"Never said I wasn't a hypocrite."
I liked it. It has a sense of noir mixed with damaged characters. When the supposed "criminal" of the group is the only one that's not deplorable you know you're in for a good ride.

That said, I absolutely hated the first season. I found it dull, uninspired, and difficult to watch as there were just actors saying lines while staring off camera. I know I'm in the minority there, but it seems I might also be in the minority of those that liked this episode.
 
I thought it was okay, its just the 1st episode, maybe it'll get rolling in later episodes.
You guys should just stop expecting S1 tier quality, TD S1 is the sort of thing that happens once every million years or something.

Yeah, except the crappy ending. Maybe s2 will suck balls but have a good ending?
 
That was good. Did every character have at least one line that bombed?

"The highway, it suits me. I'm no good on the sidelines."

"Never do anything out of hunger. Not even eating."

What's a good one for the girl? Didn't she say something about how maybe her sister should start using again?

"you're so healthy? when you walk its like erasers clapping"

oh wait that was the sister
 

squadr0n

Member
This season has seriously not started off that great. The premise is really simple compared too the 1st season but hopefully will grow.

How is Collin Farrel's character not in jail yet lol.

I guess they couldn't do another series killer this season. I just want more conspiracy thrown in instead of just having a corrupt cop basically working both sides.
 

wenis

Registered for GAF on September 11, 2001.
No idea what the complaints are about this music is. It's some hard as fuck, I gotta drive over to this guys place and fuck his shit up kinda music. Fits the city pretty well.
 

~Kinggi~

Banned
Having been on complete blackout and little interest to enter this hating it from the start cause whats-his-name isnt directing i have to say this was a great first episode. Looking forward to the rest.
 
This season has seriously not started off that great. The premise is really simple compared too the 1st season but hopefully will grow.

How is Collin Farrel's character not in jail yet lol.

I guess they couldn't do another series killer this season. I just want more conspiracy thrown in instead of just having a corrupt cop basically working both sides.

I was wondering this when he visited Aspen's house. Like...the dude is easily identifiable, how would he just get away with that?
 

Jonm1010

Banned
I didn't hate the first episode. I thought it was alright and builds a workable foundation.

My biggest criticism is that piz seems to be stuck between sticking to his initial vision of a true anthology series that only loosely ties the theme of detective and making a spiritual successor to the first season.

What I mean is in some ways you can see he is clearly deviating from last season in terms of supernatural element and location and format. But then in other ways it is just the same outline with things ratcheted up more like a typical sequel. Such as the broken down character angle needing redemption(waayyy more on the nose this time), bringing people together around a mysterious murder, deviant behavior of suspects, sex scenes, religion themes the gritty tone, the monologues. Mostly for a show penned as being about the detectives and not the case, this season almost feels like a retread of the first season in that department. Just with more characters going through the the Rust Cole process of seeking redemption. Only now ratcheted up more.

And heck maybe the issue is Piz just has a certain way he tells stories and making that dramatic shift isn't possible.

It's hard to put into words but this opening just feels alright but a bit "off."
 
That scene where Collin Farell tells his partner what a 207 is felt really out of place. I could see it on network TV, but not here with these characters and caliber of the talent.
 

megamerican

Member
Maybe it was lowered expectations but I had a good time with this episode. Farell's delivery of the Ass pen line is probably my favorite moment of the entire series. Normally a fan of McAdams, but she is either miscast or horribly written, I can't really tell which yet. I find it hilarious she has a tiny apartment and she devotes that much space to storing knives and a wooden doll she uses for stabbing.
 
Todd VanDerWerff said:
It's so in love with its own self-seriousness that it forgets to tell a story, and by the midpoint of the episode, it had me rolling with its frequently glowering performances and pointlessly weighty dialogue.

I dunno, seems pretty spot on to me.
 

Rhaknar

The Steam equivalent of the drunk friend who keeps offering to pay your tab all night.
This sure is getting blasted on twitter, damn. Still want to see it bad :p
 

golem

Member
I was wondering this when he visited Aspen's house. Like...the dude is easily identifiable, how would he just get away with that?

This is a show where beating up the writer of a apparently pretty major newspaper will convince him to stop writing a multipart corruption article (that in the real world would probably have been already completed and approved by the editor) makes sense.
 

neoism

Member
I didn't watch any of S1, put this on since I figure, why not, the seasons are unrelated anyway...man, this is trash so far.

oYoHhcv.jpg


So many eye rolling lines, so many things that seem like they'd be written by a 15 year old trying to be dark. The line about raping Aspen's dad with his mom's headless corpse...groan. None of it seemed real at all, just cliche after cliche. I hope it gets better. I hope S1 is much better, because I plan on watching that too.

On the plus side, the soundtrack and intro were pretty good.
1307234092928672.gif

dude.... what the fuuuuuuuuuu.... season is fucking amazing watch it now in one sitting...
 

wenis

Registered for GAF on September 11, 2001.
Thought the premier was fine. Didn't love it but I also didn't love the first season at first, it took me a bit to get into the characters and the world.



That's some pro level nitpicking.
That's what it reads like. Everyone wants to take this show down after 1 episode. Seems kinda petty. I know they got the first three episodes, but to do a hit job like this out the gate just sounds petty when I read this stuff. The episode was decent, just like the first episode of the first season. That took time to build just as well. If you want the same ol shit go watch the first season again I guess. Television more than any medium needs time to establish and build. It's why we're so fortunate networks continue to take risks on long form media like this. Give the right opportunities like this.
 

Pancho

Qurupancho
This sure is getting blasted on twitter, damn. Still want to see it bad :p
Do it! Judging an entire show just because of the first episode is a silly thing, give it a chance!
Personally, S1 didnt grab me at first. It really hooked me past the mid point.
 

Draconian

Member
I liked it alright. It was pretty much just a setup episode introducing the characters and only introducing the major story arc of the season at the very end. I like the cast for the most part, but I'm still not quite sold on Vince Vaughn.
 
People forget how slow S1E1 was after it hooked them a few episodes later.
To be fair, "Start asking the right fucking questions" was a perfect way to end S1E1.

But yeah, I enjoyed this episode. And it's not like I have a plethora of quality TV to go running to to replace it, lmao. Besides Hannibal, Halt and Catch Fire and Penny Dreadful, what else is out there?
 
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