Topic: True Detective - HBO Drama

[Red_Irishman]

Amazing how much of a steaming pile of shit this was compared to the first season.

[robertobaggio37]

I might be in minority here but it's nowhere near as bad as it's made up to be. Arguably it's much worse than season 1 but I still enjoyed some bits. Cinematography and music along with Colin Farrell's performance are saving S2 and the headless mothers corpse quote is arguably one of the best things I've heard on TV.

[Zlen]

It was much worse then first season but it was enjoyable enough.
Better then Breaking bad anyway

[Xxavi]

The bad thing about the second season is that you keep hoping that it is going to kick off. The production value is great, some big name actors are involved. Unfortunately, it never kicks off. What you see in the first 1-2 episodes is really representative of the show. Trying hard to be stylish with the scenes in the bar with a girl singing the same song. It's all a bit pointless in the end.

[sideshowme]

it is taking every ounce of self-control i have not to rise to some of that bait

[Lastrador]

Yeah the second season is a mess, and a great reminder of what happens when you try to speedup the writing process. Hopefully HBO learned the lesson.

[RedSince86]

I might be in minority here but it's nowhere near as bad as it's made up to be. Arguably it's much worse than season 1 but I still enjoyed some bits. Cinematography and music along with Colin Farrell's performance are saving S2 and the headless mothers corpse quote is arguably one of the best things I've heard on TV.

The big street shoot out scene was pretty impressive.

But yeah compared to season 1 it really was a letdown.

[SwissV]

Season 1 was the greatest bit of television I have ever watched. Season 2 was always going to be hard to match. It didnt match it but it is still an amazing series. Cant believe the completely negative bullshit on this thread. If the seasons were switched around it would have been wow True Detective just gets better and better but because its not its complete trash? Would really be a shame if they didnt continue the franchise, TV truly would be worse off for it.

[sideshowme]

Season 1 was the greatest bit of television I have ever watched. Season 2 was always going to be hard to match. It didnt match it but it is still an amazing series. Cant believe the completely negative bullshit on this thread. If the seasons were switched around it would have been wow True Detective just gets better and better but because its not its complete trash? Would really be a shame if they didnt continue the franchise, TV truly would be worse off for it.

to be honest, if the seasons had been switched, nobody would have watched the second season - it probably would never have even been made, which would have been a great shame.

but even if the second season had been made - the reaction would not have been "wow, TD just keeps getting better and better", but more likely "where the fuck did that come from?  from vince vaughn's blue balls to this?!?"

[ScouserAtHeart]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/_RfUj09pWfM?fs=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/_RfUj09pWfM?fs=1</a>

Little reminder of Season 1

[Samie]

HBO's CEO gave an update today.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/hbos-new-chief-talks-jon-915930

True Detective Update

After a critically adored freshman run and panned sophomore season, Bloys said that the anthology from creator Nic Pizzolatto "is not dead." With Pizzolatto under an overall deal with HBO through 2018, Bloys remained committed to the franchise. He noted that Pizzolatto does not have an idea for a third season and is busy working on other projects, though it's not imperative for the showrunner to pen the third installment. "We're open to someone else writing it with Nic supervising it; it's a really valuable franchise for us," Bloys said, noting the show's average viewership of 11 million viewers. "It's not dead; I'm just not sure we have the right take for a third season — yet."

[Sibierski Nazário]

Fargo wipes the floor with True Detective as a mini series, it's everything this big budget mess of a show should be.

[BarryCrocker]

Fargo wipes the floor with True Detective as a mini series, it's everything this big budget mess of a show should be.

I'll second that. The great thing about Fargo was the fact that well know actors stepped out of their typical genre an into a fantastic story and great roles.

[Geppvindh's]

Thirded. The second series of Fargo was great as well. Is there a third planned?

[BarryCrocker]

Thirded. The second series of Fargo was great as well. Is there a third planned?

Rumoured for 2017 with Ewan McGregor and Carrie Coon (Ben Affleck's sister in Gone Girl).

[Sibierski Nazário]

Another problem with the 2nd season of True Detective was the casting, who thought that was a good idea to put Vince Vaughn in the show, Vaughan is fucking terrible as an actor.

The first season had Matthew Mccoanhey put in an amazing performance, you go from that to Vince Vaughn my god that's a god awful decision.

Look at Fargo Season 1 you had a character in Lorane Malvo, in season 2 you had Hanzee Dent be the bad ass, Hanzee was not as good as Malvo in the role but the guy who played him did an admirable job.

[CrasherKid79]

Fargo wipes the floor with True Detective as a mini series, it's everything this big budget mess of a show should be.

Are you referring to the terrible 2nd series or the 1st as well?

I personally would take the 1st series of True Detective over most things.

[So… Howard Philips]

Are you referring to the terrible 2nd series or the 1st as well?

I personally would take the 1st series of True Detective over most things.

1st series was excellent, which made the second series seem even worse. The 2nd series was duff in it's own right.

[CrasherKid79]

1st series was excellent, which made the second series seem even worse. The 2nd series was duff in it's own right.

Didn't even get past episode 3 it was so bad. A strong 3rd season though and it will be back on track. I didn't like the 2nd season of The Wire but it recovered and is generally considered the best show of all time.

[sideshowme]

Fargo wipes the floor with True Detective as a mini series, it's everything this big budget mess of a show should be.

the second series of fargo is among the best things i've ever seen on TV, but the first was messy and nowhere near as good - and certainly not as good as the first run of TD.

the less said about season 2 of TD, the better

[Redcap]

the second series of fargo is among the best things i've ever seen on TV, but the first was messy and nowhere near as good - and certainly not as good as the first run of TD.

the less said about season 2 of TD, the better

I actually liked season 1 of Fargo more.

I think True Detective lost its way in the final episode of season one.

[sideshowme]

I actually liked season 1 of Fargo more.

I think True Detective lost its way in the final episode of season one.

takes all sorts, i guess . season 1 of fargo was good, and had its sublime moments, but it just didn't hang together well enough for me.  the second season was sublime from start to finish.

i can see why people feel that way about the finale of TD season 1, but i've long since come to terms with the fact that no TV show, however good, ever has a properly satisfying ending, so it was fine by me as these things go.

[Redcap]

takes all sorts, i guess . season 1 of fargo was good, and had its sublime moments, but it just didn't hang together well enough for me.  the second season was sublime from start to finish.

i can see why people feel that way about the finale of TD season 1, but i've long since come to terms with the fact that no TV show, however good, ever has a properly satisfying ending, so it was fine by me as these things go.

You sorta contradicted your first line in your second line

Anyway I disagree with your second line. I think a lot of stories have third act problems but some of them get it right. Those ones are often (although not always) some of the best shows.

Parks and Rec finished perfectly. Arrested Development. The West Wing (albeit with a crap season 5 in between). The Sopranos. Six Feet Under.

Anyway, my problem with True Detective was that it was worse than a bad ending. It was an ending that betrayed what came before it. It was an oddly forced happy ending with strangely religious overtones, whereas the a huge part of the appeal of the first three episodes was that it was nihilist as hell.

It almost reminded me of the ending of The End of the Affair, by Graham Greene, which for the first 3/4 was probably one of my favourite novels.

[Something Worse]

Dream True Detective Season 3 pairings, anyone?

Nic Cage and John Cusack as Cameron Poe and Vince Larkin, hunting down Garland Greene in Utah.

[sideshowme]

You sorta contradicted your first line in your second line

not really.  once the bar for a sublime ending has been sufficiently lowered, fargo s02 more than meets it

Anyway I disagree with your second line. I think a lot of stories have third act problems but some of them get it right. Those ones are often (although not always) some of the best shows.

Parks and Rec finished perfectly. Arrested Development. The West Wing (albeit with a crap season 5 in between). The Sopranos. Six Feet Under.

i've never seen 'the west wing', but all the others were flawed endings.  of course, all were fine once you realise that writing a decent ending for a long-running TV series is obviously very hard and lower expectations accordingly - but all disappointing nonetheless. 'the sopranos' was at least clever with its approach (avoiding the problem altogether).

Anyway, my problem with True Detective was that it was worse than a bad ending. It was an ending that betrayed what came before it. It was an oddly forced happy ending with strangely religious overtones, whereas the a huge part of the appeal of the first three episodes was that it was nihilist as hell.

It almost reminded me of the ending of The End of the Affair, by Graham Greene, which for the first 3/4 was probably one of my favourite novels.

i know that that was one of the main criticisms of the ending, but i don't think it was a betrayal - we do expect characters to evolve, obviously, and a thinker like cohle moving from nihilism to a kind of "there are more things in heaven and earth, horatio..." philosophy was OK by me.  it was an ending, not the best way it could have ended, but it was what it was.

my main concern with it was the inescapable sense that pizzolatto meant for both protagonists to die (it was all pointing that way), and changed his mind under some outside pressure to keep the team alive for possible spin-off series.

[Redcap]

my main concern with it was the inescapable sense that pizzolatto meant for both protagonists to die (it was all pointing that way), and changed his mind under some outside pressure to keep the team alive for possible spin-off series.

I agree, and I think that's why I thought it was a betrayal. I think there was a much darker ending that was logical for Rust and Marty and instead it veered off in a strangely optimistic direction in pretty much the last 25 minutes of the last episode. The happy ending was not earned, for me.

[Gegenpresser]

Anyway, my problem with True Detective was that it was worse than a bad ending. It was an ending that betrayed what came before it. It was an oddly forced happy ending with strangely religious overtones, whereas the a huge part of the appeal of the first three episodes was that it was nihilist as hell.

It's written as a Nietzschean parable (the Nietzsche name-dropping being a clue to that). Nihilism is presented as a problem to be overcome by a truth-seeking individual reconciling his own inescapable impulse to find value in his existence with a metaphysically meaningless reality. This also ties in with the Lovecraftian motif of a hero defiantly facing a manifestation of the universe's ultimate indifference. Cohle is Zarathustra, basically. Still corny in its own way, but I don't think it was a cop-out.

[Samie]

TrueDetective season 3 has been revived: http://share.ew.com/u4bYpyV

After two years off the air and plenty of speculation about its future, HBO’s True Detective is making some progress behind the scenes toward a new season.

EW has exclusively learned that creator Nic Pizzolatto has penned at least the first two episodes for a potential third edition of the acclaimed anthology crime drama.

We have also learned that Emmy-winning writer-producer David Milch — the mind behind dramas such as Deadwood and NYPD Blue — is coming on board to work with Pizzolatto.

[JoeCole]

Good news. Season 1 is a masterpiece, and I know it's a rare opinion but I actually quite liked Season 2.

[Red_Irishman]

Season 1 was so good. Season 2 was an absolute car crash.

[Djozer]

Good news. Season 1 is a masterpiece, and I know it's a rare opinion but I actually quite liked Season 2.

Me too mate, seems we're in the minority though! I thought Colin Farrell was very good, which I wasn't expecting, and generally enjoyed it, though it got a bit confusing at times. It definitely suffered by comparison to Season 1, which was utterly fantastic and possibly my favourite piece of television since The Wire. Rust Cohle is, for me, one of the all time great TV characters.

I have high hopes for the third season. David Milch getting involved could be a very good thing.

[cptrios]

The ending of Season 1 and most of Season 2 (car crash is right...I didn't hate everything about it, and in fact liked some things quite a bit, but it was more flaw than show) proved that Pizzolato probably needs someone else to steady the reins a bit. And Milch is both interesting and weird enough (John From Cincinnati anyone?) to keep things in the same spirit.

[Redcap]

The ending of Season 1 and most of Season 2 (car crash is right...I didn't hate everything about it, and in fact liked some things quite a bit, but it was more flaw than show) proved that Pizzolato probably needs someone else to steady the reins a bit. And Milch is both interesting and weird enough (John From Cincinnati anyone?) to keep things in the same spirit.

Agreed.

Good news for all.

The only question is whether Pizzolato is in fact a one trick pony, that no amount of genius can save. He certainly hasn't moved away from True Detective in all the time it's been canned, that's for sure.

[Redman0151]

Farrell was great, but the rest was bleh in S2.

But more TV like that deserves the chance to be made, so good news. Fingers crossed it goes back to more occultish style stuff

[classycarra]

Farrell was great, but the rest was bleh in S2.

But more TV like that deserves the chance to be made, so good news. Fingers crossed it goes back to more occultish style stuff

Agreed.

Still, for all the panning it got (and deserved) - even season 2 was far better than Fargo. Couldn't get through three (maybe four) episodes of that shite.

Hopefully this brings out the best of Milch - because Deadwood had really built up incredibly just in time to be cut - and obviously the first season of TD was an amazing standalone mini-series, perhaps the best ever.

[Yiannis]

David Milch's addition is great indeed. Might be the show's only hope for a good revival actually.

Fargo's both seasons were very good. TD's 2nd was a fucking joke and not even comparable with the former. Too bad for the 2/3s of the main cast that took part and the laughable dialogue that dragged it down despite their best efforts.

[Pistolero]

even season 2 was far better than Fargo.

nah

[Ray K]

Agreed.

Still, for all the panning it got (and deserved) - even season 2 was far better than Fargo. Couldn't get through three (maybe four) episodes of that shite.

This is a particularly terrible opinion.

[classycarra]

Can any of you guys tell me anything good about Fargo?

It was unoriginal, unfunny, poorly paced, poorly acted, unsympathetic, uninteresting, predictable and just miserably unaffectionate.

If it wasn't attached to a great film by name and lip service (the silly accents are fine in a film, but played out and unoriginal twenty years later) it wouldn't have lasted a season. It had no single upside for me


TD second season had some of these problems, and was largely poorly written at times, but at least I could get through that

[jackh]

Can any of you guys tell me anything good about Fargo?

It was unoriginal, unfunny, poorly paced, poorly acted, unsympathetic, uninteresting, predictable and just miserably unaffectionate.

If it wasn't attached to a great film by name and lip service (the silly accents are fine in a film, but played out and unoriginal twenty years later) it wouldn't have lasted a season. It had no single upside for me

---> http://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum/index.php?topic=313397.0

TD second season had some of these problems, and was largely poorly written at times, but at least I could get through that

I gave up on season two of True Detective (or True Detective 2, or whatever it should be called), despite - like many - believing the first instalment to have been one of the best things I've watched to date.  I found it to be the majority of those words you've used above.

I'm open to a third instalment through - I'd actually go as far as to say keenly so - so I'll look forward to some news/updates.