True Detective [HBO] [** Spoilers **]

lizzyman

Interesting episode.

Ray knocking seven shades of shíte out of the shrink was so satisfying to watch

.

Dialogue is still incredibly bad though and I'm sick to the teeth of Frank and the wife fertility/adoption storyline.

Weird seeing Masuka from Dexter and the alcoholic lawyer from Silicon Valley showing up though. Couldn't take either of them seriously at all. Some really poor casting choices.

Effects

Adamcp898 wrote: »

Basically every person in that "shoot-out" died from a headshot.

Wasn't the head the easiest target for the shooter?

Ally Dick

Oh my god. Season 2 has been so disappointing after the masterpiece of Season 1, I can't believe how bad this is. Leaden dialogue, incredibly boring story, irrelevant subplots. It's a total mess. I'm off to watch The Strain now. There's a show that delivers.....

Effects

People slating Season 2, have they forgotten how the show went downhill to the end of season 1? The killer was completely unrealistic and didn't really tie in with the rest of the shows plot. Then there's the terrible shoot out from season 2, yeah, completely unrealistic when compared to the one take with Rust escaping single handed from an estate full of gang members.

errlloyd

Episode 5 was the best so far, and the show is now beginning to build nicely. Haters are gonna hate, but I am enjoying it a lot right now.

GottaGetGatt

That Stare at the end from Ray.Sh!t is about to go down.

TiGeR KiNgS

Episode 5 is good, real good.

But still too much of Vince Vaughan's bad acting & wahwah storyline.

Mechanical Clocktail

The dialogue is really brutal. I'm watching nearly for Farrell alone at this point. Terrific performance - he's transcending the shoddy script and that's saying something.

jones

Serious LA confidential buzz off tonight's episode.. Really enjoying it

TerrorFirmer

I'm pretty skeptical of all these people claiming that it's 'brutal', 'terrible', 'acting is dreadful', 'so boring', etc. Not sure what show these people are watching; but even if I was to take the first season as a yardstick, Season 2 is good, solid TV that thus far, still stands above a lot of the dross currently on TV. Enjoyed it so far, and episode 5 I consider rather excellent. I'm also baffled as to people using the first season as an apparent benchmark in realism sorely lacking in the current season - there was some serious stretches of belief in the first season - it didn't make it any less of a stellar show, as almost everything requires a degree of artistic license - but I'm amazed that what's good for the goose seems entirely ill suited to the gander!

Farrell is definitely the best actor so far, Vaughn is improving though still far away from the expectations I had for him.

Hank Scorpio

Best of a bad bunch so far. I enjoyed it simply because I understood what was going on to a degree. If the next 3 episodes are in the same or higher caliber it has a good chance to redeem itself

Mike Litoris

Mechanical Clocktail wrote: »

The dialogue is really brutal. I'm watching nearly for Farrell alone at this point. Terrific performance - he's transcending the shoddy script and that's saying something.

Vince Vaughan and the various directors are the main problems imo.


As bad as Justin Lin was in the first 2 eps I'd take his direction over the aimless John Crowley. That was brutal tonight despite the story starting to open up. He even made Farrell, who's been the one shining light in the series, look ropey in a couple of major scenes. The look at the end and parts of the plastic surgeon beating scene.


I wonder if Farrell helped him get his shoe in the door for it.

ixoy

Thought that was a pretty big improvement - they even had lighter moments in it, which the show had been lacking.

Would agree that VV is the weakest link - both his story and his acting.

However, for all the praise some here are giving season one, I wonder if we got say Vince Vaughn taking over from Matthew in the first season would we be praising it in the same way? I suspect not because I think we'd see many of the same flaws - navel-gazing philosophy, meandering plot lines with weak resolutions. I'm thinking that the real saving grace was some strong performances and tighter direction but that there's many other flaws people are glossing over.

weemcd

Episode 5 moved things on very nicely. Everyone's tired of the comparison but that really reminded me of season one.

Have to watch again, there was a lot revealed here. Kitch's best episode by far, Farell has been superb throughout, again with his best performance so far.

Expecting a huge sit down probably lasting at least 10 minutes between Vince Vaughan and Farell. This season could end very strongly if they play it right.

The dead detective who liked the rum and taking photographs, his stash of evidence will solve a big part of this. Should Vaughan produce the hard drive and they find out enough about these circles Caapre ran in.

A Primal Nut

Episode 5 was better...a couple of big plot developments.

Still a bit dull overall...find it hard to sit through an hour without getting distracted.

nxbyveromdwjpg

Best episode so far, not that it was amazing but at least it was something.

Vince Vaughn's character.. he answers stuff too quickly, delivers the lines in an unrealistically fast way. There is no way any normal human could come out with the stuff he does without even a millisecond to think about any of it before it comes out of the characters mouth.

Bad, bad, bad.

Apart from him it's picking up though.

2ndcoming

Thought it was a big step in the right direction this week.

I'm a bit surprised at some of the outright slating some people on here have been giving this. At times it hasn't been perfect but it's still head and shoulders above the vast majority of US tv dramas.

For me, the first story was a much easier one to tell, basically two characters and a small supporting cast, X-files-y occult plot that's pretty much guaranteed to hook you early.

This one is building into a far more layered tale imo. That meant the first few episodes did feel a bit all over the shop because so much was being introduced at once but I think the writer is hoping to succeed this time where the first story fell short; he's sacrificed the great opening to achieve a great ending.

Or so I hope, but I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes.

Everythin coming up Milhouse

lizzyman wrote: »

Weird seeing Masuka from Dexter and the alcoholic lawyer from Silicon Valley showing up though. Couldn't take either of them seriously at all. Some really poor casting choices.

He's not a lawyer

fruvai

Effects wrote: »

People slating Season 2, have they forgotten how the show went downhill to the end of season 1? The killer was completely unrealistic and didn't really tie in with the rest of the shows plot. Then there's the terrible shoot out from season 2, yeah, completely unrealistic when compared to the one take with Rust escaping single handed from an estate full of gang members.

I think the "it's not realistic" argument is pretty silly. Why does it have to be realistic? There's a always a certain amount of suspension of disbelief with any kind of story that's told anyway. As long as it's interesting, I'm happy

I'm one of the ones who doesn't like the 2nd season but I don't consider the first to be some kind of work of unparalleled genius - it too had its flaws, but they weren't as abundant or as glaring as the 2nd season's. I think the 1st season started to unravel a little bit for me when the device they used (present day interview to flashback scenes) in the first 5 episodes finished and they resumed to present day where it became a bog standard procedural.I don't think the drop in quality was as dramatic as you've stated though. BTW, what did you find unrealistic about the killer in relation to the plot?

I think McConaughey's charisma had a massive role in the first season's success. He was so compelling that he made some of the stuff that could seem ridiculous in the wrong actor's hands (like the pastor house break-in,nihilistic monologues etc.) sublime. Harrelson was also terrific in the stolid, less showy role.

The escape in the 4th episode of the 1st season is one of the best scenes that's ever been on television. I remember that as soon as that episode was over I went back to watch it another couple of times, it was that exhilarating and powerful. I felt like I was there with him experiencing it.The shootout in Season 2 isn't bad per se (dodgy CGI fire aside) but it just wasn't anything that hasn't been done before.

errlloyd wrote: »

Haters are gonna hate

:rolleyes:

Tipsy McSwagger

So the big property developer

doesn't want to be blackmailed by the stuff on the hard drive, so he gets the broke gangster to go get it for him. Now what's stopping Frank from blackmailing everyone on the hard drive should he acquire it or making a copy for himself? You know since he is a gangster this is something he might do.

Lovely Bloke

He's not a gangster :rolleyes:

Tipsy McSwagger

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

He's not a gangster :rolleyes:

Just a guy with blue balls in his heart.

ROBBO7

Ok in my view TD2 picks up a bit and goes down a bit and then a hit/shootout/crow mask incident comes along to keep everyone interested. Its interesting enough to keep with it though and apart from the following messes hopefully will find its feet now.
Agree 100% with people on VV (and his wife). Their scenes are just awful with the silences/stares particularly annoying. But the biggest annoyance is the singer in the bar that was surely lifted straight out of the Naked Gun. Is she manacled to the stage? When is a waitress going to appear to offer suicide pills? It is an absolute waste of time and everytime a scene involving it appears I want to hulk smash the tv.
Apart from all that Farrell and McAdams and even Kitsch are moving along nicely now. Those posters alluding to James Ellroy novels are bang on. Corruption at the heart of Vinci/LA runs deep and VV trying to find who took his money in tandem with the task force trying to find out who killed Caspere will ensure plenty of thrills now in the last few episodes.

2ndcoming

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

So the big property developer

doesn't want to be blackmailed by the stuff on the hard drive, so he gets the broke gangster to go get it for him. Now what's stopping Frank from blackmailing everyone on the hard drive should he acquire it or making a copy for himself? You know since he is a gangster this is something he might do.

Who do you think is a bigger gangster? Us being Irish, this one should be fairly obvious to us.

hof1982

I thought last nights episode was a step up. Farrell is a class apart compared to everyone else in this.

For me the fundamental difference between last season and this (and yes I accept it is a different story, but comparisons were always going to be made in terms of quality) is the fact that season 1 hooked you into the story from the outset, had characters that you were invested in and rooting for, and also the roles were much more balanced against each other - McConaughey & Harrelson worked incredibly well together, whereas this season seems to be a little forced for me, and I am certainly struggling to find someone to root for in the story (maybe aside from Farrell).

Aisling(",)

While I'm enjoying the series I can see where a lot of the critacism is coming from.
Some of the story progression is a bit ropey but last nights episode gave it some traction and I think it'll be pushing on at a good rate from here.

I'm enjoying all the leads even if I'm tempted to shout Tim Riggins everytime I see Taylor Kitsch.

I'm assuming the mayor's son is running these elite prostitute parties?

Also what are people thinking about the missing mexican / hispanic girl?

It's opened so many avenues now that I can't wait to get answers.

I binge watched the first True Detective so I'm finding it hard now pacing myself each week when I want the next episode.

better episode but still boring in parts.
found it very unbelievable that the lawyer / da would bring back the 3 cops together again, even tho some are not even cops anymore.
especially since Farrell's character was suspected to be a burnout and possibly corrupt.

hidinginthebush

I think my favourite part about last nights episode was where McAdams said something along the lines of "This girl vanished & we didn't solve the case / it wasn't the Mexicans and noone cares". Amen sister!

It was probably the best episode so far. Once again Colin Farrel was the best thing about it.

VisibleGorilla

Improvement with episode 5.

I think I'll go back and binge watch all again just to refresh.

.ak

VV's character would be fine if it didn't have the wooden wife dialogue. God it's painful to watch. Trying to be noire when it isn't really.

Colin Farrell, for me atleast, is carrying the show... but I do like the bike cop's development, seems like he could go absolutely pyscho, and I hope he does.

But yeah, I hate to compare it to the first season, as they're different animals, but the truth is it doesn't compare at all... TD1 is probably one of the best TV series of all time, it's a masterpiece in media terms. TD2 is enjoyable, and has some interesting plots and looks delicious, but it's awful confused and very clumsy.