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True Detective - Season 2 - We get the Season we deserve - Sundays on HBO
- Thread starter Cornballer
- Start date
CapitalismSucks DonkeyBalls
Banned
Agree on most accounts. The time constraint in writing this season is the most glaring mistake. However, I think we would have had a better product in the same time frame, if all in my OP were involved.
I came into this thread expecting bitching about it not being as good as season 1 but people generally liking it. I wasn't expecting people to say things like worst tv of 2015.
I'm enjoying it so far. Most of the plot threads are interesting to me. I don't get the complaints on Vince Vaughn, he seems decent. It's interesting seeing the character get back into the game, going from what seemed like a decent guy to a shitty guy.
I'm enjoying it so far. Most of the plot threads are interesting to me. I don't get the complaints on Vince Vaughn, he seems decent. It's interesting seeing the character get back into the game, going from what seemed like a decent guy to a shitty guy.
Like the direction more or less but the show is going nowhere really. That shootout felt like "oh it's episode 4 let's just put in some action with little context". Compare this to the shootout in season 1 which took the entire episode to build up and this one falls flat.
Vince Vaughn's has the same expression and tone in all his dialogues and despite the season going halfway through he has barely had any encounters with the rest of the main cast.
Vince Vaughn's has the same expression and tone in all his dialogues and despite the season going halfway through he has barely had any encounters with the rest of the main cast.
Vulcano's assistant
Banned
Replace mystery and serial killers with corruption and politics.
holygeesus
Banned
I agree 100% with you on every point. Vaughn is doing a decent job I think, portraying someone who doesn't want to get back in to the business. His scenes where he attempts to 'shake down' people, are deliberately played the way they are, to portray his reticence, in my opinion. He isn't a bloodthirsty guy who enjoys the violence and threats, and he is just going through the motions.
My prediction for the end of the series:
Kitsch's character is the mole alluded to in the opening song:
The fat cop guy who died was onto him and collecting dirt - he's now conveniently dead.
He has burn marks over his body, he probably set McAdams and Farrell's car on fire while having a past of arson or something. (or his mercenary war crimes as I read elsewhere, apparently I missed that)
Lyrics from the trailer that were written FOR the show:
Maybe Kitsch had a thing with Caspere and is part of the "cult". Could be possible that Kitsch has a split personality disorder.
I dunno, the story is just so all over the place I don't even know what the cult exists for yet except for wearing animal heads and killing people in similar ways.
Anyway my money is on Kitsch being involved in some way with the cult and the songs are about him. Otherwise his entire purpose in the story so far has been pointless. He has to have some central purpose to the story, his contributions so far have been fairly useless.
Kitsch's character is the mole alluded to in the opening song:
The fat cop guy who died was onto him and collecting dirt - he's now conveniently dead.
He has burn marks over his body, he probably set McAdams and Farrell's car on fire while having a past of arson or something. (or his mercenary war crimes as I read elsewhere, apparently I missed that)
Lyrics from the trailer that were written FOR the show:
Maybe Kitsch had a thing with Caspere and is part of the "cult". Could be possible that Kitsch has a split personality disorder.
I dunno, the story is just so all over the place I don't even know what the cult exists for yet except for wearing animal heads and killing people in similar ways.
Anyway my money is on Kitsch being involved in some way with the cult and the songs are about him. Otherwise his entire purpose in the story so far has been pointless. He has to have some central purpose to the story, his contributions so far have been fairly useless.
There has been some really bad editing in this episode, especially in the scene Kitsch and Ferrell inside the car where when the camera shows Ferrell the car is moving and when it shows Kitsch it doesn't.
I also have the feeling they overuse too many 'trademark True Detective' elements like creepy ambiance music in the scene between McAdams and the daughter of the mayor (?) or show too many panorama shots. Also, where was the cinematography this episode? There have been some great scenes with great colors and vibes (Ferrell talking to his kid), but nothing really stood out to me. The scene transitions could be better as well.
As for the content itself: I thought it was good, some great scenes here and there but I have no clue where this show wants to go right now. S1 had the focus on the Yellow King but here it seems like they follow too much stuff all at once. The shoot out had some crazy violence going on; shit was messed up and never expected that
. Sure, this is not the 6-min one shot, but I thought it was decent and authentic.
BTW, what the hell was going on at the very end? Why did they show an still image?
I also have the feeling they overuse too many 'trademark True Detective' elements like creepy ambiance music in the scene between McAdams and the daughter of the mayor (?) or show too many panorama shots. Also, where was the cinematography this episode? There have been some great scenes with great colors and vibes (Ferrell talking to his kid), but nothing really stood out to me. The scene transitions could be better as well.
As for the content itself: I thought it was good, some great scenes here and there but I have no clue where this show wants to go right now. S1 had the focus on the Yellow King but here it seems like they follow too much stuff all at once. The shoot out had some crazy violence going on; shit was messed up and never expected that
the one detective that is part of their team would die
BTW, what the hell was going on at the very end? Why did they show an still image?
Robot Pants
Member
Anton Sugar
Member
I felt this hard in Frank's intimidation scenes. Like, "Shit, VV isn't really being that scary. Let's add some creepy music to this last part."
apocalidiot
Banned
Yeah, this episode was definitely heavy handed in the "creepy music" in a lot of scenes.
Vince Vaughn's "I never lost a tooth" moment was so stupid.... The dialogue can get pretty shitty at certain points
Vince Vaughn's "I never lost a tooth" moment was so stupid.... The dialogue can get pretty shitty at certain points
John Rabbit
Banned
i audibly sucked air through my teeth at "you don't remember those moments....they remember you."
just....wow.
King Tubby
Member
Alright I think I'm done with this season.
Megalosaro
Banned
Watched the first three episodes. This season hasn't been that great. It's lacking the focus, style and dark humor that made season 1 so great. Vaughn and Farrell are trying, but nothing has been that gripping.
Theme song is cool though.
Theme song is cool though.
Jex
Member
Going to get run out of the department because of the mayor thing using the fallout from this shootout and the fact that the dead cop who she tried to get a gun from killed a civilian, shit was so telegraphed.
This shot, in particular, reminded me of a full-motion video game from the SegaCD.
lastflowers
Banned
I'm still not sure whether my intrigue in Vaughn's character will pay off. As the money amounts seem to indicate, his contribution adds up to be a pretty damn small minority party in the entire deal.
I'm intrigued to see how VV's revenge intertwines with the police force, especially if that gun-battle was a trap set by internal forces who have an interest in the deal. I like all three detectives, but there simply hasn't been enough development of any of them. Like someone had mentioned earlier, all main actors are essentially weaker, smaller cogs in a giant Californian subsystem. We've only seen the periphery of that craziness, and in order for this season to be a success, Pizzaman might be intending to tie in this occult stuff more directly. I don't think he has the ability, as True Detective S1 did the same thing last year, yet sputtered as it tied the storylines and themes together. I'd love to see a Eyes-Wide-Shut Illuminati sequence where one of the protagonists uncovers a bit too much and is subsequently snuffed out of existence (an upper-class version of Velcorro dripped in similar imagery).
I'm still not sure whether it's VV's a good actor playing a boring, wannabe gangster, or wannabe actor a playing a boring gangster. I'm hoping its the former for a nice payoff later on, but it's looking more and more like the latter.
I'm intrigued to see how VV's revenge intertwines with the police force, especially if that gun-battle was a trap set by internal forces who have an interest in the deal. I like all three detectives, but there simply hasn't been enough development of any of them. Like someone had mentioned earlier, all main actors are essentially weaker, smaller cogs in a giant Californian subsystem. We've only seen the periphery of that craziness, and in order for this season to be a success, Pizzaman might be intending to tie in this occult stuff more directly. I don't think he has the ability, as True Detective S1 did the same thing last year, yet sputtered as it tied the storylines and themes together. I'd love to see a Eyes-Wide-Shut Illuminati sequence where one of the protagonists uncovers a bit too much and is subsequently snuffed out of existence (an upper-class version of Velcorro dripped in similar imagery).
I'm still not sure whether it's VV's a good actor playing a boring, wannabe gangster, or wannabe actor a playing a boring gangster. I'm hoping its the former for a nice payoff later on, but it's looking more and more like the latter.
Anton Sugar
Member
nortonff
Hi, I'm nortonff. I spend my life going into threads to say that I don't care about the topic of the thread. It's a really good use of my time.
I'm hearing silent film piano music when I watch this.
Robot Pants
Member
Who cares anymore
NotTheGuyYouKill
Member
I think the still shot is fine, cause it's overlooking the carnage and such, but it just feels like a copy of Season 1's visual of LaDoux and just doesn't feel right. That shot felt like it had such menace. This one feelks like an episode of Dragnet. It's missing the DUN DUN at the end.
CapitalismSucks DonkeyBalls
Banned
Dude cop visibly closed his eyes before firing that shot. What a fucking deadeye, haha.
NotTheGuyYouKill
Member
NotTheGuyYouKill
Member
I think Vaughn is good when he's being a dick. He's a shit businessman but when he lets that little veneer drop and you see that he's actually a violent psycho, I think he'd doing a good job.
CapitalismSucks DonkeyBalls
Banned
Here's my theory about Kitsch's character:
Farrell pushes him during an argument and Kitsch falls over, revealing that he was nothing but a standing piece of cardboard the entire time.
Maybe they hit a traffic light
What am I saying cars never stop to traffic lights in television/films.
Anton Sugar
Member
Why has this not been mentioned again? I mean, isn't it pretty fucking weird to be not-killed by a giant shotgun-wielding crow?
Robot Pants
Member
No he's god awful. Watch the opening scene of episode four again. So. Bad.
CapitalismSucks DonkeyBalls
Banned
Season 1 had an incestuous mentally handicapped burn victim killing little kids. No one gives a shit about a dude in a bird costume.
Soyongdori
Member
Birdman will either kill or save season 2. I'm hoping for the latter.
StopMakingSense
Member
Also Dan in Deadwood.
NotTheGuyYouKill
Member
Pizzaman sucks cause he didn't bring Birdman back. Like, what if instead of this ridiculous shootout, we got the following:
Team of cops go after their suspect in the dead of night. Break in. There's Birdman, standing over a gunned down gangbanger. Cue Birdman's escape and their hunt for him/her through the dank and dirty streets in the rain. Birdman leads the cops into gangster territory, cue a violent shootout where he escapes in the chaos. The Vinci PD just close the case by saying the banger did it and then fuck over the three leads by saying they led the cops into an ambush.
Freedom = $1.05
Banned
Someone said earlier that Viggo Mortensen was supposed in talks for the Frank role. I don't know if that was wishful thinking or if those rumors have any validity to it but he would've sold Frank a lot better than VV has. He can do both charming and intimidating all the same, shit Eastern Promises and A History of Violence more than prove that. And given the way that Frank has been written, even the loony philosophical shit he mutters every so often would come off much more natural out of Viggo's mouth
At this point i'm convinced that VV was miscast. Everyone else seems fine, even TK with his oscillating sexual feelings works better for me than anything VV is doing on this show
At this point i'm convinced that VV was miscast. Everyone else seems fine, even TK with his oscillating sexual feelings works better for me than anything VV is doing on this show
holygeesus
Banned
Did you not watch season 1? It is jam packed with similar gems.
CapitalismSucks DonkeyBalls
Banned
I mentioned it as part of my dream team scenario. He was never offered the role as far as I know. Too bad, he would have brought actual menace to the role.
Jex
Member
I honestly think Vince Vaughn had a far more...consistent performance this episode than in previous weeks. I still don't think it's very good but he's got to be facing an uphill battle with some of the dialogue that he's forced to spout. The real problem with his character (whose name I can't remember, or perhaps never learnt) is that it's going nowhere.
Every scene is covering ground we've already seen explored in previous scenes or previous episodes. It's all just some variation of "Vince is over his head! Vince is having difficulties at home! Vince is shaking some guy down". It's all the same scene, over and over and over again. It's repetitive and extremely boring. No wonder we don't care about this character. It's static.
Every scene is covering ground we've already seen explored in previous scenes or previous episodes. It's all just some variation of "Vince is over his head! Vince is having difficulties at home! Vince is shaking some guy down". It's all the same scene, over and over and over again. It's repetitive and extremely boring. No wonder we don't care about this character. It's static.
Yeah. The thing with Vince is: I think he has the look of a smug criminal who has his hands in many different boxes. But the way he is portrayed with stuff like that.. and it doesn't help that a lot of his dialogue sounds way too sophisticated for someone in his position.
He sounds way too much like a poet at times when being 'street-smart' would have worked out better for him I think. The Wire showed you can express opinions that way without using a too flowery language and delivery.
!
NotTheGuyYouKill
Member
Vaughn is normally a pretty charming guy, but he's very animated.
The role is requiring him to be as still as a statue.
Misterinenja
Member
Exactly.
Usually delivered by a charismatic actor portraying well-written, interesting character.
Splash Wave
Member
Right, and then such lines are usually mocked/checked by Woody Harrelson. Anyone making excuses for Season 2 by making the first sound worse in hindsight is very misguided.
StopMakingSense
Member
Going by the previews:
No need to spoiler speculation of stuff aired, but yeah, SOMETHING has to be up with him. So far his role is completely superfluous. So far all he's done in any meaningful way is find a body in basically one of the easiest places to find a body in California.
I do wonder how long of a time jump it is. The shootout is like the worst police shootout in US history, and they were the leads on it. That's like congressional hearings level of fuckup, no matter how "at fault" any of them were.
No need to spoiler speculation of stuff aired, but yeah, SOMETHING has to be up with him. So far his role is completely superfluous. So far all he's done in any meaningful way is find a body in basically one of the easiest places to find a body in California.
Freedom = $1.05
Banned
it can't be too long because the land deal appears to be coming along. I'd say that based on how much the story is tied to the land deal that it's at most a year but probably less than that