All Evageeks should watch HBO's True Detective

[movieartman]

I am also liking s2 much more than the majority viewership.
I will concede it was slow the first 3 episodes but the end of e4 and this episode kicked things more into high gear.
The Shootout was fantastic.
I think all 4 of the primary cast is doing good jobs, I do like VV and honestly I was looking forward to him the most and I'm shocked I am saying this but... he is restraining himself too much IMO.

[Shinoyami65]

Agreed, things are moving too fast after doing absolutely nothing the last few episodes straight. Clearly the shootout was pointless filler to spice it up mid-season because they know it's getting boring.

I think the mid-season shootout is a pretty clear illustration of the contrast between the two seasons. In season 1 the 'shoot-out' was a clever subversion of the viewer's expectations. In season 2 it's played straight and mostly for excitement value.

[NemZ]

Gendo's Papa pretty much nails it. This season isn't BAD by any stretch, but it's not on par with the last by a long shot. It feels like someone trying to do a homage rather than a sequel, though the acting has been pretty consistently great even with some utterly ridiculous dialog to chew through.

Nic Pizzolatto needs to get it through his head that audiences want twists though, demand to be surprised and thrilled. Even the first season was a letdown in this regard... as soon as the framing device of the interviews was removed it was a downhill slide. Simply going through a plot checklist doesn't cut it anymore, and it's not that we've been 'trained' to want it, but that we demand more effort than he's putting in. The bar has been raised: I want deep characterization AND an engaging, complex plotline AND thrilling surprises AND great dialog AND a bit of eye candy.

[Blue Monday]

I'm loving S2 but I'm so sick of the S1 worship that it's actually having an adverse effect on my appreciation of it. I mean, for fuck's sake, it's like people just want Rust Cohle Mystic Warrior Poet 2.0 when the series was stated to be an anthology from the very beginning.

S1 was sunlight on snow. A beautiful fleeting moment, as GP said, that was "lightning in a bottle"; Cary Fukanaga really brought a strong singular vision to Pizzolatto's obviously treasured script and McConaughey blew everyone away. People can go back and rewatch it whenever but it's time to move on and do something else now, and that something else at the moment is Ray, Ani, Paul and Frank, and it's good shit.

Nic Pizzolatto needs to get it through his head that audiences want twists though...

You should watch some Miss Marple, bro; more plot twists than you can shake a stick at.

[Kazuki_Fuse]

I'm loving S2 but I'm so sick of the S1 worship that it's actually having an adverse effect on my appreciation of it.

Are you me?!? I tried rewatching the first two episodes of S1 and honestly, Rust's diatribes started to grate on my nerves. I'd rather watch the interactions between Ani, Ray and Paul then a camera centered on Mcconaughey while he spews a bunch of nihilistic observation.

[NemZ]

You should watch some Miss Marple, bro; more plot twists than you can shake a stick at.

...maybe. maybe.

[Blue Monday]

Are you me?!?

Call me Ishmael.

Geddit?


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Holy fuck, what an episode. I think tonight's has probably been my favourite by far. Captivated from start to finish with so much suspense and emotion, and that fucking end bit was like something taken straight out of Eyes Wide Shut.

SPOILER: Show

Also, I'm guessing the skinny police lieutenant is the Birdman now after Frank's phone call with that girl. Makes sense why he'd use non-lethal/riot rounds on Ray, then.

[NemZ]

Really? I thought the episode was rather dull in general. Lots of talking at gunpoint, yes, but there's a few episodes to go so you know nobody important is going to die because "rubber bullets lol". The Mexican guys are fucked up, yes, but the party was actually pretty tame. The latter should have stayed a mystery, free to be whatever hellish things you can imagine and then some rather than just a high class hooker party.

Honestly the only things of real interest are 1: did the mayor adopt those jewelry heist kids? and 2: clearly Ani got molested in creepy uncle beardo's hippie van, but then that's been sort of implied for a while now.

[A.T. Fish]

I liked the episode, the whole party sequence was pretty good.

Honestly the only things of real interest are 1: did the mayor adopt those jewelry heist kids?

That's what I thought too, the kids in the photograph look like Chessani's son and daughter. He was probably involved in the diamond heist and adopted them since they were the only witnesses.

[Gendo'sPapa]

I gotta say I am loving that for all the cliche dark material True Detective season 2 is treading in - child abuse, murder, prostitution, sex orgies, etc - the show is not wallowing in it in the most in your face & tasteless of ways.
I liked the orgy party last night because they didn't embrace the old "It's not TV. It's HBO" cliche. I was waiting for a 5 minute montage of the camera ogling hot, perfect bodied girls engaging in hardcore sex acts. Instead they smartly kept it to Ani's perspective where it was just glimpses.
I've kept waiting for the obligatory scene where Taylor Kitsch viciously beats a gay man half to death out of self-hatred & I've applauded them for not going there. Only two episodes left for them not to mess that up.

It's a solid season. Alas it is messy & suffers when following up a great work of art.

[Blue Monday]

...the whole party sequence was pretty good.

That music really made it something else: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH3HQqEEz6U

[Kazuki_Fuse]

Tonight's thoughts

SPOILER: Show

Ray and Ani hooking up:
Frank burning (literally) the people trying to screw him over:
Paul dying:

Also, the finale is gonna be 90 minutes!

[Blue Monday]

What an absolute nerve-racker! I am so primed for the finale now.

SPOILER: Show

Out of our four main characters, I think Paul's dying is somehow the saddest. All he wanted to do was what was right and be a good man. I couldn't help but bury my face in my hands when Burris stepped out of the shadows behind him, that fuck. He seems to make a habit of doing that. Unfortunately they aren't going to be riot shells this time around.

Also, how Blake says no one knows who murdered Caspere; I wonder if there's any weight to my mid-season hypothesis, or if it's the diamond heist orphans out for revenge...

Also, the finale is gonna be 90 minutes!

Awesome news. The next seven days are going to be a long wait.

[NemZ]

Frank taking his ball and going home I liked, but the rest? Not so much. Good shootout scene I suppose but once again the plot leaves me very meh. Felt like most of this episode was just stalling/setup again since we didn't learn anything about anyone who matters that we didn't already know.

[Blue Monday]

Should anyone be interested, there's a really clear breakdown of the case/story so far over at Slate: http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/08/03/true_detective_season_two_a_guide_to_the_plot_of_this_confusing_season.html

[Trajan]

The story seems decent but I just can't get past how atrocious the dialogue is. Matthew McConaughey can sound credible saying lines like that, but Vaughn and everyone else usually just sound ridiculous. It also helps that Rust was the only guy in S1 who talked like that when S2 has everyone talk like that.

[Blue Monday]

I love Frank/Vaughn's dialogue. It's so hammy and quirky, which is a perfect fit for the character; sometimes it just straight cracks me up, other times it's genuinely thought-provoking. The line about the "little blue balls in my heart of hearts" is a great example (and I'm paraphrasing there). I wish I talked like that. It's a far cry from Rust's jaded, nihilistic ruminations and observations though in my opinion.

[Trajan]

I love Frank/Vaughn's dialogue. It's so hammy and quirky, which is a perfect fit for the character; sometimes it just straight cracks me up, other times it's genuinely thought-provoking. The line about the "little blue balls in my heart of hearts" is a great example (and I'm paraphrasing there). I wish I talked like that. It's a far cry from Rust's jaded, nihilistic ruminations and observations though in my opinion.

Some of it just sounds stupid imo. McConaughey was a talented enough actor to pull it off and it fit with his character. But Vaughn just sounds like a parody spouting lines like "Life dealt me a bad hand, ray, but I worked at it. I got all the cards together until I became the fuckin' dealer. But now we're playin' chess." and "My father once told me a story about how at the height of the cold war, the space race, the Americans were investing millions of dollars into developing a pen that could write in space. The Russians? They used a fucking pencil. That's me, Ray. I'm the fucking pencil. Casper's killers knew this, and now they're trying to erase everything i've ever built." are just ridiculous in any context.

Line like "Spare me the sententious talk. It's picayune and unctious" are just the cherry on top.

[backseatjesus]

Welp, that might be the most underwhelming finale I have seen to a television series.

[A.T. Fish]

SPOILER: Show

I actually liked that they went for "bad guys win", but that bit at the end with Bezzerides holding her son was cheesy as hell. The undelivered message from Ray was great though.