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[miazakiplz]

Season 1 kept in in suspense many times and wasn't so predictable. This season is so full of cringe moments and my eyes are getting tired of rolling. Half way through the season and nothing happens but people stare at each other, questioning and running in circles.

season 1 had a good story and good acting. this doesn't. the only reason i'm still watching is because i invested the time to watch the first few episodes and i'm clinging on to that 1% chance it somehow turns itself around. from the comments on here it seems i'm not the only one.

who did taylor kitsch suck off to even get this gig? vince vaughn can't act. colin farrell is the only main character that's somewhat interesting and even then it's a pretty similar role to mcconaughey's in season 1.

 

[TTG]

Yeah, I have no idea what's going on in the plot right now.

Well, the investigation has led to the mayor and his family. There's a half dozen or so ways in which it connects, but I guess if you're not paying attention, it doesn't matter so much. That was until the latter half of tonight's episode when a pawned item from the dead guy's house conveniently(obviously too much so) leads to a pimp who is a part of a drug organization as well. So, on one side we're to assume everyone above the detectives will be eager to pin the murder on these guys and on the other, the BS the mayor is throwing at Antigone is getting to her. That's about it.

Taking a guess at possible things to come, I'm assuming the bosses buy the Mexican dealer/pimp ploy that was intentionally set up by the murderer. The detectives balk, at which point the mayor continues to undermine them(Antigone's internal investigation, those photos the now dead drunk detective was taking of biker cop with his Iraq lover etc). That sounds stale, so hopefully they don't go with the obvious route.

 

[StopMakingSense]

Going by the preview

Spoiler

Seems like there's a bit of a time jump? At least a few weeks.

 

[Bebpo]

Man this show totally fell off the wagon with ep3 & ep4. Most of the style is gone, most of the Lynch-isms are gone (outside the beginning of ep3), too much time is wasted on Vaughn shaking down old contacts one by one, the murder mystery is going nowhere and has become completely uninteresting since the high point at the end of ep2 when the snuff/porn house was discovered + hotline miami man.

And then ep4 ends with

Spoiler

a 10 minute pointless shootout against a gang that obviously has absolutely jack shit to do with the murder mystery (only possible interesting thing could be that the Mayor set them up against a meth house hoping they'd all get killed) just to have some big "bang, bang" shooting action. Oh and every.single.agent dies except the 3 with plot armor lol.

Writing is pretty bad, directing is boring since Lin left, show is just going nowhere for the last 2 eps and only 4 eps left. It really better bring it for the 2nd half.

 

[A Serious Man]

What a fucking mess this show is. Nothing about the plot is engaging, all of the characters are tropes "but with a twist!" and the writing is a desperate imitation of season one. I keep watching hoping that it will turn around or come together but hope is fading fast.

 

[Jonm1010]

season 1 had a good story and good acting. this doesn't. the only reason i'm still watching is because i invested the time to watch the first few episodes and i'm clinging on to that 1% chance it somehow turns itself around. from the comments on here it seems i'm not the only one.

who did taylor kitsch suck off to even get this gig? vince vaughn can't act. colin farrell is the only main character that's somewhat interesting and even then it's a pretty similar role to mcconaughey's in season 1.

Vaughn is the only one I am struggling to give a pass.

Everyone else is seemingly doing a good job with subpar material.

Kitsch's material is pretty rough, McAdams isnt much better. Farrell has the best material but even then it has its low points.

I'll say it again but this is just the consequence of trying to write an original 8 hour movie in less then a year. And compounding the problem is the lack of a singular director vision of the material.

 

[kingocfs]

No but can someone actually explain what is the point of kitsch character? You can literally remove him from the show and honestly not much changes.

He's just kind of there. Whenever we're not slogging through his sexual identity crisis he's basically just scenery.

 

[StopMakingSense]

He's just kind of there. Whenever we're not slogging through his sexual identity crisis he's basically just scenery.

Quick! What's his name?

Spoiler

I DONT KNOW

 

[TheKaeptain]

No but can someone actually explain what is the point of kitsch character? You can literally remove him from the show and honestly not much changes.

That dude is fucking dirty.


And I suspect he might be gay.

 

[CassidyIzABeast]

Rachel's character should be fired permanently in the next episode. She walked 15 cops into a death trap.

 

[StopMakingSense]

It's alright guys, we still have Fargo!

 

[Jonm1010]

Going by the preview

Spoiler

Seems like there's a bit of a time jump? At least a few weeks.

Preview spoilers and general thoughts that probably don't need to be spoilered.

Spoiler

Frankly it seems like this season is rehashing a lot of the format of last season. From the mid season action set piece to the time jump, to the trope of solving the case...but not really. The characters themselves are rehashes in a lot of ways of last seasons characters, just with new twists. All broken looking for redemption, even if they don't know it. Religious cults, societal deviance and prostitution all major secondary themes again.

 

[kingocfs]

Quick! What's his name?

Rachel's character should be fired permanently in the next episode. She walked 15 cops into a death trap.

After being suspended.

 

[tearsintherain]

No but can someone actually explain what is the point of kitsch character? You can literally remove him from the show and honestly not much changes.

I think his character is supposed to try and address the issue of war fucks with people and changes some in ways that they cannot come back from, but I doubt it'll ever really go all the way there in any interesting ways since its far too easy to misinterpret as an attack on soldiers.

 

[TTG]

Rachel's character should be fired permanently in the next episode. She walked 15 cops into a death trap.

What was she doing just running after an SUV filled with crazy dudes wielding automatic weapons?

 

[Jonm1010]

I think his character is supposed to try and address the issue of war fucks with people and changes some in ways that they cannot come back from, but I doubt it'll ever really go all the way there in any interesting ways since its far too easy to misinterpret as an attack on soldiers.

Frankly I get the impression they are angling it toward whatever happened to him before the war is what fucked him up. Probably some crazy pray the gay away shit mixed with some heavy physical and mental abuse.

 

[JasonV]

Rachel's character should be fired permanently in the next episode. She walked 15 cops into a death trap.

Didn't one the senior cops complain about her being over cautious? Then she says better to be safe than sorry or something like that. Seems she did everything she was suppose to be, I don't know if anyone could have predicted the cartel hardware.

 

[Jonm1010]

What was she doing just running after an SUV filled with crazy dudes wielding automatic weapons?

I don't understand others love because I thought that whole scene was ridiculously awful from a directors standpoint. Like comically bad. Topped off with an immersion breaking bad CG explosion.

They should of begged Lin to at least come back and direct this episode. This was the one episode his direction really could of given this season a jolt of energy.

 

[TTG]

Frankly I get the impression they are angling it toward whatever happened to him before the war is what fucked him up. Probably some crazy pray the gay away shit mixed with some heavy physical and mental abuse.

It's his mom, how did you not get that vibe earlier?

 

[TheKaeptain]

Guys, the cops from the city said she had too many men. They still got wrecked. Not her fault.

 

[Jonm1010]

It's his mom, how did you not get that vibe earlier?

Oh I get she is a part of it. It just seems It obviously goes deeper then that...I think

Edit: the whole scar conversation with his GF and "they" told me to do this and that with Farrell in the car. Implies it is larger then just his Mom.

 

[brianmcdoogle]

I actually think McAdams is doing the best on the show at the moment. She has weaker material than Farrell, and yet she's on his par. For anyone paying attention to the last decade, Farrell is a great actor and doing well as expected. Kitsch, like his character, just seems lost in the story thus far, and it's hard to place blame on his performance or anything as a result. Vaughn has had plenty of screen time and potentially interesting scenes and has floundered in them. Riley isn't given much to do and might be wasted (I think I've seen her only in Flight so it's hard to judge on one performance or two).

My memory of the first season is a bit fuzzy, but I want to say I like the supporting actors/cast more this season.


Oh! oh! oh!

I totally forgot to mention this, but HBO Now was being crappy when I watched this, so the episode took me an hour and a half to watch, and it stopped several times to buffer. As a result, the dad (I forget the name of the actor and character) of McAdams in the hippie commune looks into the camera a few times because it so happened to pause twice during his scenes, and both were him looking at the camera. It felt really odd.

 

[RoyaleDuke]

So far, I like this season but I miss the Lovecraftian elements of the first season. I MEAN DAMN that first season.

I really hope this picks up because overall it's kind of disappointing and I went in with a one hundred percent open mind since it sounded like it would be different but similar. So far it's just kind of...ehhh.

It's his mom, how did you not get that vibe earlier?

Yeah, I got some super heavy incest vibes from her in that one scene.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

I liked this episode. The whole 'land deal at the heart of a conspiracy" thing is giving me Chinatown vibes, but to be honest I did not like that action sequence. After the methhead shootout and shootout in the projects scenes in S1 this came across much more like something out of Sons of Anarchy.

 

[Intheflorsh]

Aw, they killed frumpy detective man, the only character I liked.

Holy shit is the Vaughn stuff getting old. One scene of him shaking down his old partners would have been plenty for the entire season.

 

[TheKaeptain]

Just to be sure they went to Fresno to check on the land right?

 

[kirblar]

Just to be sure they went to Fresno to check on the land right?

Yeah, the useless land is for the rail line.

 

[TTG]

Guys, the cops from the city said she had too many men. They still got wrecked. Not her fault.

Not the way the mayor is gonna spin it!

I don't understand others love because I thought that whole scene was ridiculously awful from a directors standpoint. Like comically bad. Topped off with an immersion breaking bad CG explosion.

They should of begged Lin to at least come back and direct this episode. This was the one episode his direction really could of given this season a jolt of energy.

I didn't think it was ridiculously awful. They could have settled for popping a few bystanders pouring out of the bus, but to put an out of nowhere protest in the middle of it wasn't good. The rest was fine. There was tension as they were walking up, but the auto fire from the window was still sudden. It wasn't terribly edited like we see a lot of action is nowadays. Army vet was indispensable without overplaying it. It was alright.

 

[TheKaeptain]

Yeah, the useless land is for the rail line.

That was not the right part of the county! The westside doesn't look like that.

 

[miazakiplz]

I think his character is supposed to try and address the issue of war fucks with people and changes some in ways that they cannot come back from, but I doubt it'll ever really go all the way there in any interesting ways since its far too easy to misinterpret as an attack on soldiers.

something is telling me that this series is going to go full heavy rain and that it was him that shot farrell and started the fire in season 3. probably linked to some religious boys only homo club that gave him those burns in the first place.

 

[jond76]

Still digging it. As I watched this episode I felt myself wishing the episode would go on longer so I could see more. That's a success to me.

McAdams down to her knife, the stress on her face. Great stuff.

I also notice a lot of people here asking for clarification about things that are clearly spelled out. Yall need to put down your phones during the show. Haha

 

[nick nacc]

I just want to let the record show that it is episode 4 and I still don't know anyone's name but Casper.

 

[StopMakingSense]

That was not the right part of the county! The westside doesn't look like that.

I love how there's this completely unexplored idea of the huge amount of hours they are apparently spending driving together, since these locations are so far flung.

"Hey you going to Fresno? Sure! Hop in!"

 

[Grizzlyjin]

Decent enough episode. I thought the shootout was pretty tense once the chase started.

I don't really have the energy to dog pile on the show. There are some weak spots, and it feels like it is trying a little too hard to come off gritty and "HBO" but I still want to see where they are going with it.

It feels like they're improving with every episode. Only problem is we're at the halfway point, I totally understand people wanting to jump ship.

Still time to get a writer's room going for Season 3? That would probably be a huge help.

 

[Sean]

We're now halfway through the season and it's been a stinker so far. Doesn't feel like the story is building towards anything interesting. All of the character development has been pretty terrible - Taylor Kitsch in this episode was basically like "Damn, I woke up gay again!"

Probably the most boring episode yet until that shootout in the final minutes, but even that was kinda bad and sloppily done imo:
- Mexican drug dealers with unlimited ammo and no need to reload
- The named cop (Dixon is it?) stupidly screaming out "what the fuck" as he's moving between cover, gets headshotted
- Awful CG explosion
- Explosion could be heard and seen from blocks away, tons of automatic gunfire, yet there's dozens of protestors still hanging around the area getting run over GTA style and serving as cannon fodder
- Ani recklessly chasing that SUV on foot while being shot at but then just chilling behind the dumpster as she witnesses the same guy murder like 50 innocents with an AK-47.
- Random cop next to Ani missing one of the shooters and killing an innocent civilian that was like several feet away. (Plus that civilian was running directly TOWARDS the shooter instead of running away from the gunfire, lol).
- Ambulance and police showing up the second the shootout is over, so cliche.
- Every single cop dying except the three main leads who have plot armor.

Eh... I'll continue watching but don't think this season is salvageable.

 

[Soyongdori]

The best episode yet.

 

[TheKaeptain]

I love how there's this completely unexplored idea of the huge amount of hours they are apparently spending driving together.

"Hey you going to Fresno? Sure! Hop in!"

They weren't even on the 99 or the 5. I should know I drive that way every other weekend.

 

[Intheflorsh]

I thought the action scene was well made, not as bravura as the long take from last season but well staged and tense. The plot armor for the three leads was incredibly apparent though, what are the chances that everybody died except for them.

 

[squicken]

Rachel's character should be fired permanently in the next episode. She walked 15 cops into a death trap.

That's what I kind of thought as they slowly strolled down the middle of the road for a bit on approach. Even if she can fall back on being set up and ordered to bring the guy in, it was still just awful execution

 

[Jonm1010]

Not the way the mayor is gonna spin it!




I didn't think it was ridiculously awful. They could have settled for popping a few bystanders pouring out of the bus, but to put an out of nowhere protest in the middle of it wasn't good. The rest was fine. There was tension as they were walking up, but the auto fire from the window was still sudden. It wasn't terribly edited like we see a lot of action is nowadays. Army vet was indispensable without overplaying it. It was alright.

To each their own I guess. It just came off very sloppy, illogical, cartoonish(with the CG blood and CG explosion) and without any unique or memorable qualities to it. Like others have said it came off like a typical cop drama shoot out. And frankly it sort of abandoned the tone this season had been aiming for. Not to mention the convenient everyone dies but the main characters ending to it.

Of course it doesn't help it is immediately compared to last seasons major action set piece which was incredible.

 

[Klocker]

We're now halfway through the season and it's been a stinker so far. Doesn't feel like the story is building towards anything interesting. All of the character development has been pretty terrible - Taylor Kitsch in this episode was basically like "Damn, I woke up gay again!"

Probably the most boring episode yet until that shootout in the final minutes, but even that was kinda bad and sloppily done imo:
- Mexican drug dealers with unlimited ammo and no need to reload
- The named cop (Dixon is it?) stupidly screaming out "what the fuck" as he's moving between cover, gets headshotted
- Awful CG explosion
- Explosion could be heard and seen from blocks away, tons of automatic gunfire, yet there's dozens of protestors still hanging around the area getting run over GTA style and serving as cannon fodder
- Ani recklessly chasing that SUV on foot while being shot at but then just chilling behind the dumpster as she witnesses the same guy murder like 50 innocents with an AK-47.
- Random cop next to Ani missing one of the shooters and killing an innocent civilian that was like several feet away. (Plus that civilian was running directly TOWARDS the shooter instead of running away from the gunfire, lol).
- Ambulance and police showing up the second the shootout is over, so cliche.
- Every single cop dying except the three main leads who have plot armor.

Eh... I'll continue watching but don't think this season is salvageable.

Wow I hate this ep even more now

 

[ron_bato]

Rachel's character should be fired permanently in the next episode. She walked 15 cops into a death trap.

This is what I'm thinking too. That was as rinky-dink of an operation as there could have been.

 

[StopMakingSense]

They weren't even on the 99 or the 5. I should know I drive that way every other weekend.

THEY ARE DRIVING SO MUCH. I just wanted Velcoro to get out of the car at that valley all stiff and have to stretch out or some shit.

 

[Soyongdori]

Rachel's character should be fired permanently in the next episode. She walked 15 cops into a death trap.

She is

Spoiler

demoted to patrol officer based on the preview

.

 

[dead souls]

What a dreadful episode.

75% complete tedium, 25% laughably over the top shootout.

 

[GtwoK]

I just want to let the record show that it is episode 4 and I still don't know anyone's name but Casper.

Yeah, pretty much this. I'm having a hard time following any of the plot.

Literally, all I can tell you about the plot is "They are trying to find Casper", and "Casper had Vince Vaughn's money, so now Vince has to make it back by brining up past deals he was involved in"

No idea who any of the characters are, what they are doing, how they are attempting to find Casper, who the hell Casper even is, or any of the side plots.

It's keeping me watching, but I can't follow along.

 

[Jonm1010]

We're now halfway through the season and it's been a stinker so far. Doesn't feel like the story is building towards anything interesting. All of the character development has been pretty terrible - Taylor Kitsch in this episode was basically like "Damn, I woke up gay again!"

Probably the most boring episode yet until that shootout in the final minutes, but even that was kinda bad and sloppily done imo:
- Mexican drug dealers with unlimited ammo and no need to reload
- The named cop (Dixon is it?) stupidly screaming out "what the fuck" as he's moving between cover, gets headshotted
- Awful CG explosion
- Explosion could be heard and seen from blocks away, tons of automatic gunfire, yet there's dozens of protestors still hanging around the area getting run over GTA style and serving as cannon fodder
- Ani recklessly chasing that SUV on foot while being shot at but then just chilling behind the dumpster as she witnesses the same guy murder like 50 innocents with an AK-47.
- Random cop next to Ani missing one of the shooters and killing an innocent civilian that was like several feet away. (Plus that civilian was running directly TOWARDS the shooter instead of running away from the gunfire, lol).
- Ambulance and police showing up the second the shootout is over, so cliche.
- Every single cop dying except the three main leads who have plot armor.

Eh... I'll continue watching but don't think this season is salvageable.

Thanks. Details a lot of the specific problems I had with the shoot out scene.

 

[Chance Hale]

Didn't think the explosion looked bad at all, and the gore certainly didn't have the usual CG appearance that I associate with most modern action films and the like. Dixon sprawled out on the ground was upsetting and the cop next to Ami getting half of his face sprayed off was appropriately disgusting.

And the gun fire was coming from literally every direction, where would you run?

 

[dead souls]

Thanks. Details a lot of the specific problems I had with the shoot out scene.

Yep, that was a great post.

 

[TheKaeptain]

THEY ARE DRIVING SO MUCH. I just wanted Velcoro to get out of the car at that valley all stiff and have to stretch out or some shit.

lol Watch them drive to Lodi in the next episode.

Spoiler

I actually like this season.