• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

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

A

Anton Sugar

Member
I love Leonard Cohen (been listening to Songs of Love and Hate a ton this past month) but I can see how people aren't feeling the intro song. I don't even think it's a matter of it being a good or bad song, just whether or not it fits. Not sure where I land on it, honestly.
 
L

LegendofDragoonLives

Member
Anton Sugar said:
Weren't Fukunaga and Pizza kinda check-and-balancing each other, though? I mean, I know Pizza wrote it, but it sounded like it was a lot more collaborative than it has been this season.

Plus, Pizza probably isn't gonna steal Ligotti's writing this year, which is where most of Rust's monologues/philosophy dialogue came from.
Click to expand...
He's getting a bit help from what I hear in s2 just not as much as other shows. Doubtful it's less than season 1, which makes the earlier comment nonsensical if you enjoyed season 1.
 
N

nOoblet16

Member
The setting is definitely lacking so far. Vinci is just LA, so many helicopter shots of freeways....bleh.

The partner dynamics from first season is something that I expect to show up later anyway. But I do wonder if we'll get some special stuff like the haunted theme from last season.

Also I went in Blind, I though Vaughn was partnered with Farrell in this one. Three way could work as well but it can also break if they make them all do their own thing most of the time.

Also on a side note, McAdamms' character is so judgemental and her self righteous holier than thou attitude is a type of personality I despise so much. What her father summed up about her was probably all true..and then she calls him a prick. Hah.
 
S

Squalor

Junior Member
LegendofDragoonLives said:
This is the same person who went to his son's school and was ready to pull his pants down and spank him in front of everyone unless he told him a little kid's name. He also beat the shit out and tortured (killed?) a journalist to get information for a crime boss. It's even been hinted that he likely killed the person who raped his ex-wife. But this seems over the top for you? We don't know how much information he revealed or how much his back is covered by the same crime boss he helped out. The same one that was in the room with the mayor of the town during his speech. That was perfectly inline with his character so far in episode 1.

My eyes might suffer from eyerolling so hard at writer tries hard to make something brooding and dark line. Things can be brooding and dark. You don't like that type of style, go watch something else that fits your taste. What blank and utterly meaningless comment. It's like the journalist slogans that we often read that mean absolutely nothing. Both characters in season 1 had plenty of character development, and we loved them throughout. Unless of course you have seen the future and seen how every one of these characters developed throughout season 2.

It has a writer and that's the problem? The best new show on TV that year had the same writer. Do you want to complain for the sake of complaining at this point?
Click to expand...
You're not building your case against how ridiculous the scene was. You're just adding to mine by picking out more of the character's overwrought qualities.

You know what the weakest link of season one was?

The writing.

Acting, directing, and cinematography were all superior to Pizzolatto's writing last year.

There isn't anything wrong with brooding and dark. I never said I disliked them. You roll your eyes all damn day for all I care. I care about character development, which this is severely lacking thus far. Season one lacked it for everyone not named Rust or Marty, but the show was made to be insular. No, the cast is even bigger, and he's getting stretched rather thinly.
 
S

Squalor

Junior Member
nOoblet16 said:
The setting is definitely lacking so far. Vinci is just LA, so many helicopter shots of freeways....bleh.

The partner dynamics from first season is something that I expect to show up later anyway. But I do wonder if we'll get some special stuff like the haunted theme from last season.

Also I went in Blind, I though Vaughn was partnered with Farrell in this one. Three way could work as well but it can also break if they make them all do their own thing most of the time.

Also on a side note, McAdamms' character is so judgemental and her self righteous holier than thou attitude is a type of personality I despise so much. What her father summed up about her was probably all true..and then she calls him a prick. Hah.
Click to expand...
Yeah, New Orleans was like a character last year. It was so alive and organic. They were able to establish that from the first episode.

So far, this is just a Los Angeles I've seen in a million other kinds of media.
 
Robot Pants

Robot Pants

Member
Squalor said:
You're not building your case against how ridiculous the scene was. You're just adding to mine by picking out more of the character's overwrought qualities.

You know what the weakest link of season one was?

The writing.

Acting, directing, and cinematography were all superior to Pizzolatto's writing last year.

There isn't anything wrong with brooding and dark. I never said I disliked them. You roll your eyes all damn day for all I care. I care about character development, which this is severely lacking thus far. Season one lacked it for everyone not named Rust or Marty, but the show was made to be insular. No, the cast is even bigger, and he's getting stretched rather thinly.
Click to expand...
Jesus. It's been one episode. One hour long episode dealing with four characters and establishing the plot. He did great outlying plenty of character development in the first episode.
 
S

see5harp

Member
nOoblet16 said:
The setting is definitely lacking so far. Vinci is just LA, so many helicopter shots of freeways....bleh.

The partner dynamics from first season is something that I expect to show up later anyway. But I do wonder if we'll get some special stuff like the haunted theme from last season.

Also I went in Blind, I though Vaughn was partnered with Farrell in this one. Three way could work as well but it can also break if they make them all do their own thing most of the time.

Also on a side note, McAdamms' character is so judgemental and her self righteous holier than thou attitude is a type of personality I despise so much. What her father summed up about her was probably all true..and then she calls him a prick. Hah.
Click to expand...

In my opinion Vinci is more like some city like City of Industry or such which is 30 minutes on the interstate from LA proper. The obvious comparison is City of Bell, which actually did go through the crazy corruption stuff very recently.

and yea, I did actually enjoy the episode for the most part.
 
T

thenexus6

Member
Just watched it, opening is a let down compared to season one. The visuals are nice but the song is bad.

As for the episode I thought it was fine, interested to see where its going. Season one will take some beating though. The atmosphere and acting in season one was so good.
 
S

see5harp

Member
The strange thing to me was recognizing obvious nods to current events like the high speed rail project and the big City of Bell scandal and then trying to figure out when exactly this takes place. With the web cam stuff it honestly seems like a show taking place right now or at least in the last 10 years.

EDIT: I guess it might not be obvious that much of the show does NOT actually take place in LA. It is distinctly separate from LA which is why I think they deliberately took some of those night shots where you see LA looming in the background. The crazy freeways and overpasses shot seemed like it was Anaheim.
 
J

jonezer4

Member
Squalor said:
Pizzolatto is trying so hard to make this so brooding and dark and oppressive, and it just turned into an overwrought affair filled with exposition with no meaningful character development.
Click to expand...

I think the show deserves a fair amount of the criticism it's garnered, but no meaningful character development? Come on.

We're one hour into an 8 hour story (is that right?) and you're complaining about a lack of character development? That's the equivalent of complaining the protagonist in a movie has no character development after 15 minutes. You just met him. The character can't develop until you've established what they were like before, which is what the first hour of a series is there to do.
 
S

see5harp

Member
Dennis said:
I am fine with very dark and bleak characters but the first episode was pretty hamfisted with the characterizations.
Click to expand...

I agree with that statement.

"Did you get that in the war"

"No, it was from before that" (says nothing goes for headlight off motorcycle ride down PCH)

I still found that the conclusion the episode, while very predictable, was a nice way to tie all of the characters together for the season ahead. I also think that the zoom out shot was beautiful.
 
M

MidnightCowboy

Member
After thinking about it, my favorite character was Frank's wife. She seems to have her shit together, which is refreshing when so many characters don't. Almost seemed like she should be the crime boss and not Frank.
 
T

TheKaeptain

Banned
see5harp said:
The strange thing to me was recognizing obvious nods to current events like the high speed rail project and the big City of Bell scandal and then trying to figure out when exactly this takes place. With the web cam stuff it honestly seems like a show taking place right now or at least in the last 10 years.

EDIT: I guess it might not be obvious that much of the show does NOT actually take place in LA. It is distinctly separate from LA which is why I think they deliberately took some of those night shots where you see LA looming in the background. The crazy freeways and overpasses shot seemed like it was Anaheim.
Click to expand...

IRL People don't really understand the LA landscape. They don't know about about LA proper, Greater LA area, and other things like that.

It's kind of obvious that this isn't LA proper.
 
F

FantasticMrFoxdie

Mumber
Finally saw the episode.

It was decent. Im worried there are going to be too many characters to follow as opposed to the 2 main from last season. I see the potential though. Still cautiously optimistic



Also, Lol at Antigone's dad and his new age feel goodery.
fH3g4zn.gif
 
N

nahlakhai

Member
TheKaeptain said:
IRL People don't really understand the LA landscape. They don't know about about LA proper, Greater LA area, and other things like that.

It's kind of obvious that this isn't LA proper.
Click to expand...

Its more like south-east of proper LA Carson, Industry, Vernon, etc where Vaughn and Farrel's characters operate.

McAdams is Ventura, so more north-west of proper LA. And CHP guy looked like he was patrolling the Pacific Coast Highway, west of LA.

I swear when McAdams' character and her partner were in the car it looked like they were in the Central Valley, right after you come down from the grapevine on I-5.
 
F

Fried Food

Banned
So I'm half way through the first ep of season 2 and man this is just not good. I feel there there are way too many characters for the writers to handle, and I just don't really care about any of them. I don't really know what is going on either. Compared to the first season this is almost like an entirely different show. I hope they are going somewhere with this and it's not just a plain bad season of TV. Super disappointing.
 
T

TheKaeptain

Banned
nahlakhai said:
Its more like south-east of proper LA Carson, Industry, Vernon, etc where Vaughn and Farrel's characters operate.

McAdams is Ventura, so more north-west of proper LA. And CHP guy looked like he was patrolling the Pacific Coast Highway, west of LA.

I swear when McAdams' character and her partner were in the car it looked like they were in the Central Valley, right after you come down from the grapevine on I-5.
Click to expand...

I drive through the I-5 every other weekend. Looks like it was shot right after the 99 and i5 split.
 
D

D4Danger

Unconfirmed Member
I think I've come around to it on a second watch. I feel like maybe I just wasn't paying attention because of the awful dialogue sprinkled throughout but it does do a pretty good job of setting up a murder mystery. we'll see.
 
S

see5harp

Member
Fried Food said:
So I'm half way through the first ep of season 2 and man this is just not good. I feel there there are way too many characters for the writers to handle, and I just don't really care about any of them. I don't really know what is going on either. Compared to the first season this is almost like an entirely different show. I hope they are going somewhere with this and it's not just a plain bad season of TV. Super disappointing.
Click to expand...

I do think the ensemble is huge this time around but I think it's pretty easy to get what's going on so far.
 
Chiggs

Chiggs

Gold Member
Fjordson said:
I like Pizzaman's writing ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Not that he's batting 1000, but the over the top shit is part of what I'm here for.
Click to expand...

Well, how can you blame Season 2's critics? I mean, Rust's monologues in Season 1 were so subtle. They certainly weren't over the top or anything. Just natural, flowing dialogue.

True Detective Season 1: Absolute Perfection (especially the ending).
 
F

Fried Food

Banned
Fried Food said:
So I'm half way through the first ep of season 2 and man this is just not good. I feel there there are way too many characters for the writers to handle, and I just don't really care about any of them. I don't really know what is going on either. Compared to the first season this is almost like an entirely different show. I hope they are going somewhere with this and it's not just a plain bad season of TV. Super disappointing.
Click to expand...

Ok so I finished the rest of the episode and ended up going back and rewatching parts of it again. I'm more on board with the season now. I still think they might be biting off more than they can chew with all the characters. Probably not surprisingly, I like Farrell's character the best so far.
 
I

Iceman

Member
Fried Food said:
Probably not surprisingly, I like Farrell's character the best so far.
Click to expand...

That might be because he had just so much more to do than the others... And that Vaughn did not do very much with the scenes he had. I did have the impression that he (Vince) was directed to be subdued with his portrayal -particularly for an act 1 portrayal of a ex-mobster trying to act the legitimate businessman, at least until the wheels come off.
 
F

Faddy

Banned
There are a lot of procreation issues going on.

We have the guy who can't get it up, did he get the blow job or at least try to see if it would get him hard
Farrell has a complex relationship with obviously not his kid and surprisingly seems completely off women
Vince Vaughn couldn't shut up about legacy. He really wants kids but his wife can't have them. Strange for a guy to talk openly about jerking it in a cup.
Then Rachel McAdams had a marriage that ended childless (I assume because she didn't want kids) and in her first scene her sex partner was taken aback because she was only going to let him put it in her pooper

I thought the overall episode was good although the music seemed off in places, over ominous where there was silence in the first season. It came off corny. I liked Farrell and McAdam and their characters are in full True Detective mode. Absurd and over the top in their portrayal that make them stand out from the background cast.

Standing out is my concern with Vaughn. He is hard to pin down, a gangster turned straight? He has a lot of subtle interaction with people and they are all different. Out of all the things that he did in the episode the most surprising was smashing the glass against the wall.

Will we see more flashback stuff or was that whole part ending with "I welcome judgment" Pizzaman talking directly to critics about their critiques of season 1 and his changes for season 2.
 
S

see5harp

Member
I do think there's just a ton of stuff here. Like instead of just introduce the characters they went farther and decided to explain their back stories, families, and histories along with setting everything up. Seemed incredibly condensed like the last season of game of thrones. One thing that I think the first season did well was allow enough silence between all of the dialogue and the pacing seemed to fit the setting. I am optimistic that it was just the first episode although I am disappointed that justin Lin had to use one of his episodes for that stuff.
 
L

LegendofDragoonLives

Member
Squalor said:
You're not building your case against how ridiculous the scene was. You're just adding to mine by picking out more of the character's overwrought qualities.

You know what the weakest link of season one was?

The writing.

Acting, directing, and cinematography were all superior to Pizzolatto's writing last year.

There isn't anything wrong with brooding and dark. I never said I disliked them. You roll your eyes all damn day for all I care. I care about character development, which this is severely lacking thus far. Season one lacked it for everyone not named Rust or Marty, but the show was made to be insular. No, the cast is even bigger, and he's getting stretched rather thinly.
Click to expand...
No, I'm not. I explained why he did what he did and is completely in character with what we saw so far in episode one. Season one did not need a lot of character development for the other characters. The focus was mostly on those two and took their point of view throughout the season. What kind of a complaint is that? Not every show needs several characters to have character development. Rather what the story asks, and it worked brilliantly.

And complaining about character development in episode 1 is absolutely insane. It's laughable and makes you sound like you're trying too hard to be some armchair tv critic. I've never seen anyone complain about something so silly. Most people enjoyed the writing in season one but keep pretending to be a critic. Keep fighting the good fight.

Robot Pants said:
Jesus. It's been one episode. One hour long episode dealing with four characters and establishing the plot. He did great outlying plenty of character development in the first episode.
Click to expand...
No, you're wrong. We need characters to have character development in the premiere despite having four main characters introduced and the tone of the series being set!!
 
Robot Pants

Robot Pants

Member
Chiggs said:
Well, how can you blame Season 2's critics? I mean, Rust's monologues in Season 1 were so subtle. They certainly weren't over the top or anything. Just natural, flowing dialogue.

True Detective Season 1: Absolute Perfection (especially the ending).
Click to expand...
This post is a 10
 
S

SuperInuit

Member
I really, really enjoyed S1, and was cautious with S2. On seeing the pilot, I want to see where it's going with the Lynchian stuff and to see if they can top the butt fuck line. So I'm in for both good and bad reasons. For gods sake, someone really needs to tell Pizzaman about levity, or at the very least black comedy.
 
P

Pyroclastic

Banned
how on earth did they manage to pick one of the bad leonard cohen songs? If you were to pick them all out of a hat the odds of doing so would be astronomical
 
F

Freeza Under The Shower

Member
I felt it was neat. It took some adjusting from S1, sure, particularly because directing and so on is so different now, but other than that it's fine.
I liked the final shot, which maybe shows my preference, but going from night to day in one was a good touch, imo. Just because the carrot (the tree murder in S1) hasn't been presented yet, doesn't mean it's instantly 'the worst' or something. There's also no hindsight, so no artificial way of creating mystery or conflict.

Also, for those (not? meet me somewhere *beep*) wondering where they recognized the bar lady from: Yara Martinez, who features in Jane the Virgin as the doctor who starts the whole thing (it would take a while to explain).

the intro didn't do anything for me though. I'm not a lyrics guy.
 
Revolutionary

Revolutionary

Member
I'm already feeling this season a lot. Took me a few episodes to get into the first (though I suspect it was partially due to the setting).

And this season's intro is really amazing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Emio - The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club | Review Thread
Analysis Review
39
2K
Thick Thighs Save Lives replied
‘The Last Of Us’: Isabela Merced Cast As Dina In Season 2 Of HBO Series
2 3
109
14K
DrFigs replied
True Detective Season 4 to star Jodie Foster
3 4 5 6 7
310
25K
Billbofet replied
‘The Last of Us’ Season 1 Finale Scores 8.2 Million Viewers, Reaching Series High
News 2 3
141
8K
Zephyrus0 replied
Coming to Game Pass: Neon White, Flock, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2, and More
39
2K
Punished Miku replied
Top Bottom