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

nbnt

is responsible for the well-being of this island.
Yeesh this episode was terrible. Ehh. I should've watched Under the Dome season 3 instead, at least that's a so bad it's good kind of tv show, this one is just plain bad.
 
Maybe we are placing season 1 at too high of a standard.

I actually don't think S1 is god-tier television. First half of the season, sure, but too many of the flaws in the writing rise to the surface in the latter half.

A big part of the reason that I am holding it up against S1, however, is because it is so clearly trying to achieve so many things that S1 excelled in: mood, character, and (at least for the leads) dialogue. I'd say thematically, it's trying to go for the same vibes, too (again, S1 faltered later in the season in this regard), but is failing.
 

lamaroo

Unconfirmed Member
sick of the hyperbole too.

those 3 are so fucked.

Yeah this is still no where near as bad as most network programming, the problem is the expectations are actually high for this show, and the average episodes just look that much worse.

That said, I'm not sitting around all week waiting for Sunday night this time around in anticipation. Luckily Rectify is back on too.

Edit: The directing is downright awful at times though. They needed somebody with some really good style and flash for the premiere that the rest of the directors could try to match.
 

btrboyev

Member
Something is up with Kitch's character...the way he found the body...to why he is on this case, the look he and Vince Vaughns characters gave each other(or why they run into each other in the first place). Etc.
 

xezuru

Member
Maybe we are placing season 1 at too high of a standard.

Yes, Season 1 is my all-time top 3.

Doesn't change the fact that at this point I have more engagement, intrigue, and interest in the cheesy schlock that is the Heroes reboot than this show so far, all of its past season baggage included, which is kinda sad.

That said, like I said before, if I wanted a vivid supernaturalesque world S1 gave me, Hannibal has been fantastic in that and also filling the world with bits of the Breaking Bad-esque and I guess TD S1 esque character tension that keeps you glued.

When it comes to the detective fix, I don't fuckin know how to fill that, S2 sure doesn't have anything to talk about at all, I guess I should just go full on Policework and watch The Shield or something.
 
The odd part about Vaughn's character is that he seems to think all of this is being orchestrated to screw him out of his business and money, but isn't it more likely (at least it seems that way) that he's just a small time player in the grand scheme and really just collateral damage in the whole scam?
 
Something is up with Kitch's character...the way he found the body...to why he is on this case, the look he and Vince Vaughns characters gave each other(or why they run into each other in the first place). Etc.
You are reading way too much into it. Frank was pissed during that episode because one of his henchmen got killed and Paul just happened to bump into him. The guy was just not in the mood and he stared down at Paul just because he bumped shoulder.
 
The odd part about Vaughn's character is that he seems to think all of this is being orchestrated to screw him out of his business and money, but isn't it more likely (at least it seems that way) that he's just a small time player in the grand scheme and really just collateral damage in the whole scam?
That was his thought process before random henchman Stan was killed which seems to imply it's someone specifically targeting Frank and his organization.
 
I thought the last episode was better than most before it, and enjoyed it. I do like this show, although it's not up to the same quality of Season 1.

That said, I didn't shit bricks over True Detective Season 1. I thought it was really good, and would highly recommend it, but it was missing that one extra thing that would've propelled it into greatness.

Maybe it was the show's weirdness.
 

jond76

Banned
The odd part about Vaughn's character is that he seems to think all of this is being orchestrated to screw him out of his business and money, but isn't it more likely (at least it seems that way) that he's just a small time player in the grand scheme and really just collateral damage in the whole scam?

I reckon he is a small collateral damage from a bigger scheme, but he still lost his life's savings, so he's on the warpath to get it back. It's an interesting take to see a small timer have the spotlight put on him in the show's narrative. I'm really curious to watch all the threads come together, haters be damned!
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
I don't mind Frank's story, but I didn't think we needed another week of him visiting old operations and trying to muscle his way back in. Didn't we get that last week?
 

holygeesus

Banned
I don't know man there are people in this thread actively trying to make season 1 seem worse than it is in order to prop season 2. Shit's crazy.

We have 80-odd pages of people comparing the show to season 1, so don't you think it is fair to criticise it, seeing as it too had flaws? Season 1 is being actively criticised, not to try and make 2 seem better, but to demonstrate that the guy wasn't a genius in the first place, so the drop in standards, shouldn't be that shocking, especially considering we have lesser actors this time round, who can't carry a flawed product.
 

Moff

Member
Maybe we are placing season 1 at too high of a standard.

I wasn't too happy with the ending, but it was still fantastic TV, I would recommend it to absolutely everyone. it's on a completely different level than season 2.
 

Zoned

Actively hates charity
4 episodes/Half season down and so far only detective work that's been done is finding who sold the Caspere's watch. This is just pathetic piece of writing.
 

Sober

Member
4 episodes/Half season down and so far only detective work that's been done is finding who sold the Caspere's watch. This is just pathetic piece of writing.
There's been quite a bit, it just won't count until the very end though probably.
 

Grinchy

Banned
4 episodes/Half season down and so far only detective work that's been done is finding who sold the Caspere's watch. This is just pathetic piece of writing.

And then the detective didn't even realize it wasn't actually the same watch:

That watch was missing the lettering on the bottom part of the watch face.

Via Reddit:

J9hpdlR.png

lol
 

Lach

Member
Lol awesome.

Exactly what went through my head in this scene.

Maybe it's that I just finished The Killing but I felt the Bezzerides went full crazy Linden during the suspension talk with her Boss and her Partner....

Overall I'm still enjoying the show a lot!
 

KAP151

Member
Okay, so we are almost half way into this season...

Both my wife and I were huge fans of season 1 and as far as acting goes, its been pretty faultless so far (particularly impressed with Vince Vaughn), but holy shit is this storyline jumbled.

It jumps so sporadically. I feel like Ive missed an episode or two, even though I haven't. Maybe im just not taking it all in, but im really not digging it. I know a lot seems to rest on this Casper guy - but thats ll I have got from 4 episodes so far.
 
Season one was a masterpiece, this is garbage. If season one wasn't one of my favorite TV shows in recent memory I would have stopped watching already. Only one moment in the show had real impact, when you think a certain major character just got killed, but they couldn't even get that right. I kept my expectations in check for this show but it's not just inferior to season one it's actually outright bad TV.
 

mre

Golden Domers are chickenshit!!
And then the detective didn't even realize it wasn't actually the same watch:



lol
Oh, shit. If that was intentional and not just a fuck up by the prop master, there better be some heads rolling on the show for that massive of a screw up.
 

Apt101

Member
Ok,so I started watching season 2 and couldn't even finish ep02, wtf is this??
So,boring........ Does it get better?

It picks up the pace some, but whether or not one will find the story telling entertaining or progressing at an acceptable pace is going to be subjective. I think it's good, not great. And just barely into the realm of good.
 

nilbog21

Banned
Last episode the only thing I could think about is wether the writing is terrible or if it's the acting...

I kept an open mind about Vince vahng but his intimidation scenes are too much.. His scenes are laughably bad
 
Maybe we are placing season 1 at too high of a standard.

I don't think so. Even in retrospect and after re-watching the season again, I still come away from it thinking it's some of the best television I've ever seen.

It's main strength is consistency. In tone, in filming, in acting, and pacing. It is a quintessential slowburner but it actually moves in a forward direction. Season 2 is schizophrenic in nearly ever regard from tone, style, and acting. It's not a slowburner, it's a stalled car of a story that tries to mask its failures in grittiness and over-wrought dialogue.

Season 1 wasn't lightning in a bottle. It was just the result of a writer who wasn't full of himself yet and a director with a clear vision who matched the material to a tee.
 

Squalor

Junior Member
It's just retreading the we-solved-the-case-oh-wait-it-was-a-cover-up-which-we-realize-after-a-time-skip plot from last season.
 

lamaroo

Unconfirmed Member
He misguided the other cops on purpose leading to the massacre. This is how he disrupts the investigation and protects himself. Given that he is Birdman.

Yeah but they found Caspere's prints on the watch, and bad Mexican dude went through a lot of trouble killing police and civilians if he were innocent.
 

KevinG

Member
I think, and hope, that the convoluted nature of the first half will make sense in the broad context of the season's second half filling in the gaps.

Or, we just got a "good" second season compared to an "amazing" first season.

I look at it this way: Brave is not a bad movie, I'd say it's good, but standing in the shadow of Pixar's masterpieces, even "good" feels extremely disappointing.

I'm trying to take this season as its own beast, and so far I am enjoying the ride, hoping they're going somewhere with the vagueness of it all.
 

.la1n

Member
I thought the show would have really hooked me at this point but it's just not doing it. Season 1 already had me at this point. I do really enjoy Colin's character but it's about the only saving grace so far. I really hope something happens in the next episode to ramp things up.
 

mre

Golden Domers are chickenshit!!
I think, and hope, that the convoluted nature of the first half will make sense in the broad context of the season's second half filling in the gaps.

Or, we just got a "good" second season compared to an "amazing" first season.

I look at it this way: Brave is not a bad movie, I'd say it's good, but standing in the shadow of Pixar's masterpieces, even "good" feels extremely disappointing.

I'm trying to take this season as its own beast, and so far I am enjoying the ride, hoping they're going somewhere with the vagueness of it all.
I think some of the criticisms so far of the writing and the directing really started to come into focus in this last episode. Look, I'm not a film critic and I'm not going to pretend to understand everything that goes into making the "art" of film and television. But even I could tell that too many of the scenes this season seem short and fast, and the characters aren't given enough time to come to life through the material. This episode in particular it seemed like we were zipped along through so many scenes served as no more than an exposition or plot dump for information that may or may not become important later on.
 
Remember in Season 1 when Rust and Marty were smart enough not to walk straight up to Reggie Ledoux's pad, but instead snuck with such care that they even found his boobie traps?

Little details made those characters and I think the audience respected them for it. S2 is full of screw-up drunks who aren't particularly likable.
 
Okay, so we are almost half way into this season...

Both my wife and I were huge fans of season 1 and as far as acting goes, its been pretty faultless so far (particularly impressed with Vince Vaughn), but holy shit is this storyline jumbled.

You're impressed with Vince Vaughn?

I mean, I'm impressed with his dental hygiene (no cavities!) but he's taking bad scripts and finding a way to make them worse every single week. He's almost objectively terrible on this show.
 

Squalor

Junior Member
Remember in Season 1 when Rust and Marty were smart enough not to walk straight up to Reggie Ledoux's pad, but instead snuck with such care that they even found his boobie traps?

Little details made those characters and I think the audience respected them for it. S2 is full of screw-up drunks who aren't particularly likable.
Characters don't need to be likable. They just need to be well written.
 
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