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True Detective - McConaughey/Harrelson crime series - S2 starts June 21st

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Content Roundup - Episode 5 - The Secret Fate Of All Life

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Burt said:
Ah, yeah, not much to say at all about the nature of the cult at this point beyond the fact that it "might" exist. I doubt that they'll spend too much time going into specifics though. Most likely it just continues as a framing device much in the way the case has throughout the season.
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The show though does seem particularly obsessed by philosophy; everybody has a view of the world, and they're always sharing it. I'd be surprised if we don't find out what the yellow king thinks he's doing this all for.

Pollux said:
I think that at this point it's pretty obvious that there is a cult or some organization of some kind. As to it's purpose? Couldn't even begin to guess.

I think the "cult" kidnaps people and sacrifices them to their "god" under the leadership of a "priest" the "yellow king". I don't think it has anything specificly to do with molesting kids, and part of the problem is we've only seen two victims, both adult females. However, when Rust asks what happened to some kid in episode 1 or 2, the detectives show him the picture of the modern day murder - this seems to suggest that the cult members do in fact groom the victims from a young age.

Granted, I could be completely misremembering shit and talking out of my ass right now.

I'm thinking it's going to be exactly like that and I'm looking forward to watching them all in one sitting in a few weeks. It's going to be glorious.
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But what of the two kids they found at the house, one apparently dead already a day old, and the other catatonic? I assume they were molested, but even if not... where did they fit into the equation? They just happened to stumble onto an unrelated crime, or were these victims related to the cult somehow?
 
God damn. You go into that episode feeling one thing, and by the end your mind is completely thrown for a loop.

Absolutely amazing series so far.
 
Amir0x said:
But what of the two kids they found at the house, one apparently dead already a day old, and the other catatonic? I assume they were molested, but even if not... where did they fit into the equation? They just happened to stumble onto an unrelated crime, or were these victims related to the cult somehow?
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They could've been there to act as sex slaves indefinitely, or they could've been holding on to them for ritual sacrifice at a later date. Could go either way. Like Rust said, "What happened to Reggie Ledoux was justice, but that doesn't mean I'm ruling out other agencies." It's up in the air at this point, but I doubt their exact purpose will ever be resolved.
 
That was the best episode of the season so far. I can easily tell how good something is by how many times I reach for my phone. I didn't even realize my phone was upstairs until the episode was over.
 
Great episode. I think the
guy that mows the lawn at the school
is definitely involved somehow.

I guess the daughter will
ultimately drive the final nail into their marriage, but I don't know how yet. Maybe one of her teachers or something.
 
Pollux said:
I think that at this point it's pretty obvious that there is a cult or some organization of some kind. As to it's purpose? Couldn't even begin to guess.

I think the "cult" kidnaps people and sacrifices them to their "god" under the leadership of a "priest" the "yellow king". I don't think it has anything specificly to do with molesting kids, and part of the problem is we've only seen two victims, both adult females. However, when Rust asks what happened to some kid in episode 1 or 2, the detectives show him the picture of the modern day murder - this seems to suggest that the cult members do in fact groom the victims from a young age.

Granted, I could be completely misremembering shit and talking out of my ass right now.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure about that. The kids found at Ledoux's didn't seem to be set up for long-term...uh, storage? One of the kids was already dead, and the other was nearly there too, so it seems that those were going to be sacrifices in the near future.

And remember what Ledoux told his cell mate (I can't remember names of side characters for the life of me): he mentions the cult and also says that there's lots of good killing down there. I don't think the cult is fake, but I'm also wondering if it's not some ultra-elite club and not some poor hick cult.

Azula said:
I think it's Revernd Tuttle, the guy that owns the school. He is the guy that shook Rusts hand in the first episode. He has a high up connection to the police as he's the mayors brother I think.

Seems like someone at the top is covering for him. Rust is just obsessed and following each murder case as a civilian. Probably gets fired when he presses against Tuttle and the establishment.
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I'm sticking with my theory that Marty fucks his girlfriend and Rust quits.
 
Watch the cult be a bunch of politicians and state leaders and they pull some crazy ass twist at the end that Rust knew all along and has been working undercover for 20 years, thus, a TRUE DETECTIVE YEEEEAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
 
Reading "The King in Yellow":

Along the shore the cloud waves break,
The twin suns sink behind the lake,
The shadows lengthen

In Carcosa.

Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies,
But stranger still is

Lost Carcosa.

Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
Where flap the tatters of the King,
Must die unheard in

Dim Carcosa.

Song of my soul, my voice is dead,
Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in

Lost Carcosa.
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Where many of the references to black stars, Carcosa and the Yellow King are coming from. The article Cornballer posted earlier is really good analyzing this: Link
 
Not going to multi-quote everyone that responded to my "MADE IN ERROR" query or the ensuing discussion, but thanks -- makes sense that it could indicate a cover up and just how deep the list of victims likely runs.
 
When Cohle heads back to the school, it kinda reminded me of the Florida School for Boys and the kind of abuse that went on there. I also remember reading about child abuse and the occult when I was younger and it always freaked me the fuck out.
 
By the way, that vision of reality that Rust describes could be the writer Pizzolatto being sneaky describing how he created the narrative we're experiencing. After all, one way to create what he's apparently made is to visualize the entirety of space and time for these characters (three spatial dimensions, plus time) and then look at it from the outside. As someone outside looking in, he can see (paraphrasing here) the lives of individual things passing through all the space they'll ever occupy.

Are we inside or outside that reality? After all, we're seeing things linearly (what he wants us to see) but also nonlinearly (because the things he's showing us are out of order).

Are we seeing the flattened circle? Or inside it?
 
jvm said:
By the way, that vision of reality that Rust describes could be the writer Pizzolatto being sneaky describing how he created the narrative we're experiencing. After all, one way to create what he's apparently made is to visualize the entirety of space and time for these characters (three spatial dimensions, plus time) and then look at it from the outside. As someone outside looking in, he can see (paraphrasing here) the lives of individual things passing through all the space they'll ever occupy.

Are we inside or outside that reality? After all, we're seeing things linearly (what he wants us to see) but also nonlinearly (because the things he's showing us are out of order).

Are we seeing the flattened circle? Or inside it?
Click to expand...

True Detective's so good it's making you question reality.
 
The Yellow King or King in Yellow is supposed to be a fictional play within a book by the same name right?

When I was looking it up I was reading about how the first act of the play is normal and captivating while the second half drives the audience into madness. I feel like there are a couple parallels here.
 
BannedEpisode said:
The Yellow King or King in Yellow is supposed to be a fictional play within a book by the same name right?

When I was looking it up I was reading about how the first act of the play is normal and captivating while the second half drives the audience into madness. I feel like there are a couple parallels here.
Click to expand...
There's an excellent post over at io9 about it: Link. I daresay it's better than the Think Progress one.
 
Amir0x said:
The show though does seem particularly obsessed by philosophy; everybody has a view of the world, and they're always sharing it. I'd be surprised if we don't find out what the yellow king thinks he's doing this all for.
Click to expand...
From that article earlier:
Why The King in Yellow? I think it's obvious, and I'll go out on a limb and say the season will continue with detectives Cohle and Hart edging closer to the abyss of what Lovecraft termed "cosmic fear," which he defined as:
A certain atmosphere of breathless and unexplainable dread of outer, unknown forces . . . a hint, expressed with a seriousness and portentousness becoming its subject, of that most terrible conception of the human brain—a malign and particular suspension or defeat of those fixed laws of Nature which are our only safeguard against the assaults of chaos and the daemons of unplumbed space.
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In a revealing interview with the The Wall Street Journal, Pizzolatto discusses his love of existential horror and its most prominent authors, from Chambers and Lovecraft to modern masters of the weird Laird Barron and Thomas Ligotti:
Their fictional visions of cosmic despair were articulating the same things as certain nihilist and pessimist philosophers, but with more poetry and art and vision . . . It's important for us to confront the potential of the true abyss. . . .
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ezekial45 said:
He knew exactly why they were bringing him in, which is why he wanted to drink during the interrogation. Brilliant.
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Didn't think about it until just now, but I guess that explains why Marty seems in complete disbelief when the new cops tell him about Rust's drinking problem.
 
The quality we're getting with this show shows what you can get when the cast, director, and writer working within a confined story that they know they can finish.

I love this show. And I love what this means for whatever David Chase, Matthew Weiner, and everyone else does next.
 
Been thinking about these conspiracy theories of the police being in on the murders. Makes me think of Cohle/Hart's boss. That guy always seemed very dismissive of Cohle, and seemed to be in a hurry to hand the case off to that task force. Not to mention he seemed kind of relieved after they killed Reggie. Not sure if this is just normal behavior or if he's also possibly in on it.
 
Talon said:
In a revealing interview with the The Wall Street Journal, Pizzolatto discusses his love of existential horror and its most prominent authors, from Chambers and Lovecraft to modern masters of the weird Laird Barron and Thomas Ligotti
Click to expand...
Thanks for this. Always good to find some new authors to check out.
 
So what do y'all think: any chance of seeing some actual supernatural shit in this season, outside of hallucinations?

I say, "No" considering the conceit, but the show keeps zagging when I think it's going to zig.
 
Helmholtz said:
Been thinking about these conspiracy theories of the police being in on the murders. Makes me think of Cohle/Hart's boss. (1) That guy always seemed very dismissive of Cohle, (2) and seemed to be in a hurry to hand the case off to that task force. (3) Not to mention he seemed kind of relieved after they killed Reggie. Not sure if this is just normal behavior or if he's also possibly in on it.
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1. Rust is a pretty abrasive guy to be around who doesn't kiss ass, so naturally his boss is going to be a little apprehensive. Plus, if I'm remembering correctly, a lot of his record was restricted, which could lead some of his coworkers into thinking he is IA.

I'm basing my responses for 2 + 3 off my in-depth knowledge of how police units work (The Wire).

2. He'd much rather pass the case off to another agency and get his unsolved crime rate drop a little bit.

3. Same as 2 pretty much. With their prime suspect dead after an apparent shootout, I'm guessing they can file the case under the 'solved' category.
 
I guess once Rust found out that the real killer was still out there he went way off the reservation and has spent the last ten years off the grid investigating it on his own. Whenever we see his storage unit it will be everything he has dug up over the years.
 
PhoncipleBone said:
I guess once Rust found out that the real killer was still out there he went way off the reservation and has spent the last ten years off the grid investigating it on his own. Whenever we see his storage unit it will be everything he has dug up over the years.
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what if they're trophies of all the people he has killed related to this cult :o

;)
 
This show.
This fucking show. I wish I had the self control to watch te last three episodes upcoming episodes in a marathon. But I know I'll end up watching as they air :/
 
PhoncipleBone said:
I guess once Rust found out that the real killer was still out there he went way off the reservation and has spent the last ten years off the grid investigating it on his own. Whenever we see his storage unit it will be everything he has dug up over the years.
Click to expand...

^^^This

plus I do think that Rust fucks Marty's wife, I can't think of anything else that would break their partnership, between the secret they share and the fact they seem to like each other it would take something dramatic to break that up. However, in spite of that I also think the two are trying to solve the case in the present.

The thing that bugs me though if tuttle is Dead by 2010 I have no idea who the Yellow King is now. I had him pegged as the guy in charge. Plus I buy into the theory that the cult has connections to the local schools. What better way to identify children whose parents wouldn't make a big fuss if they just disappeared or were found dead than to be the teachers of the kids?
 
It seems like the question now becomes how does Rust solve the murders and clear his name, in three hours. Three episodes wouldn't seem enough to clear everything up really tightly but maybe I'm wrong. An ambiguous ending would totally suck either way though.
 
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