True Detective Season 2 was really really Bad, but it was still better than any post-Jimmy season of Boardwalk Empire.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
True Detective - Season 2 - We get the Season we deserve - Sundays on HBO
- Thread starter Cornballer
- Start date
True Detective Season 2 was really really Bad, but it was still better than any post-Jimmy season of Boardwalk Empire.
Then it would have been harder for him to try to stop the bleeding with the diamonds. I think a lot of people didn't notice this additionally really dumb point:
is that what he was doing? I thought they were trying to suggest they got blown in there or something (because they were in his suit pocket) which made even less sense since he was stabbed
I think it was a really crappy visual metaphor... His diamonds killed him.
I didn't even notice it was supposed to be diamonds in the wound on first watch, just thought it was bad FX.
Night Hunter
Banned
Should have ended at the scene where
As it was, fuck man that shit was heavily depressing
Ray drives to the school, gets out of the car, you see the other car pulling up, then he sees his boy and then they kill him and Frank gets away.
As it was, fuck man that shit was heavily depressing
I liked this season more than season one, and I'm okay with being in the vast minority on that one. I felt like this cast, the scenario, pretty much everything was ticking boxes off in my head for what I wanted, and I felt (and feel) crazy for it, since it's abundantly clear that few wanted what this turned out to be.
Hopefully a season 3 will come along and be more like what most wanted :\
Hopefully a season 3 will come along and be more like what most wanted :\
LittleMonkeyFella
Banned
Did anyone else find it darkly accurate that the cops shot the black cop
Freedom = $1.05
Banned
there was a bit of dark humor to that.
also, this grantland quote pretty much nails how i felt about this season and its finale:
B
bomb
Unconfirmed Member
The finale was beautifully shot even if it was massively predicable. The cell phone close up was incrediblely cheesy though.
You sir, are crazy.
Future PhaZe
Member
actually I was pretty fucking mad that the baddies won yes
Season 2 was kinda' shit. Not horrible, but certainly not good. The hyperbole on both sides is expected, although I strain to find anything brilliant about any particular aspect of this season.
McAdams and Ferrell were serviceable. But holy fuck...Vaughn certainly retains enough cache to have twisted Pizza's shit dialogue into something more interesting. And yet, he served the crap with a crap-eating sneer. He might still have some talent in there, but little of that was ever on display here. I'd say that applies to almost every aspect of this production: I'm sure there was plenty of talent on set, but what the fuck?!
I don't watch a great deal of tv, but it's certainly the most disappointed I've ever been after declaring myself a fan of a particular series.
I'd love to have Fukunaga return. Pizza won't be enough for me to give a Season 3 a go, if it happens. I don' t think it will, personally.
McAdams and Ferrell were serviceable. But holy fuck...Vaughn certainly retains enough cache to have twisted Pizza's shit dialogue into something more interesting. And yet, he served the crap with a crap-eating sneer. He might still have some talent in there, but little of that was ever on display here. I'd say that applies to almost every aspect of this production: I'm sure there was plenty of talent on set, but what the fuck?!
I don't watch a great deal of tv, but it's certainly the most disappointed I've ever been after declaring myself a fan of a particular series.
I'd love to have Fukunaga return. Pizza won't be enough for me to give a Season 3 a go, if it happens. I don' t think it will, personally.
I'm hoping season 3 is totally different than the first two, for better or worse.
sir_kevith
Member
I definitely agree Boardwalk is the worst of the bunch from that list but I think it was way more competent. Season 3 was probably the worst Boardwalk season but it had a decent bad guy in Rosetti.
I really liked the Nucky vs. Narcisse plotline in Season 4.
Then Season 5 was compromised and it's unfortunate that they wasted so much time through the series with made up characters and ridiculous romances and shit. Still enjoyed it a lot more than TD season 2 though.
SuperInuit
Member
Reading through impressions, I am so glad I ducked out after episode 5.
Messypandas
Member
I felt nothing after the finale. Not empty, just indifferent. Just pointlessly nihilistic. The start of the season - imo - showed such promise too.
I really wanted Velcoro to live, him and Bezzerides were the only characters that kept me watching. Sucks. But I knew he wouldn't make it anyways since he had killed that innocent guy and most writers don't let characters with flaws like that go on to be happy. Like others said, Frank's desert scene was well done, I think it's his only well written part/performance the entire season. Overall very meh. The seasons plot delivery was so convoluted, the whole thing was a name memory game.
AlphaSnake
...and that, kids, was the first time I sucked a dick for crack
Shit ending to a shit season.
I actually thought Vaughn had the best ending of all. Ray could've done more to kill them and lose them, imo.
I actually thought Vaughn had the best ending of all. Ray could've done more to kill them and lose them, imo.
Freewheelin'
Member
But BE S3/4 are better than S2.
SUPARSTARX
Member
wtf did I just watch...
I lol'd in the office
Messypandas
Member
He also died in the brightest setting possible, a sun soaked desert vs his beginning in the dark basement of his childhood. I think that was an intentional contrast. Haven't figured out what Velcoro's death was suppose to signify with the trees.
At first I laughed at it, but from the cops' perspective it was a random guy with a gun who was shooting a random hooded kid on top of him. I'm sure they had no idea he was a police chief, at the time.
And as a whole, I actually wouldn't be surprised if Pizzolatto actually didn't write this. Is there any chance he just outlined the framework for what this story was supposed to be, then handed it off to other writers while he works on Season 3?
Freedom = $1.05
Banned
wasnt the dream he had of his father telling him that he would die in a green area with tall trees or something? Then there's the fact that Ani's dad told him he has a green aura.
Just makes sense that he would die in the woods.
Ah, that would make sense then. I forgot about the aura part, hah.
NotTheGuyYouKill
Member
That's deep. Shades of Carcosa.
Messypandas
Member
When she said something like "you stopped walking back there" I was praying they wouldn't pan to the fucking body. We didn't need to see that. It would have been so much better without it. And without that goofy ragdoll collapse he did.
I imagine it will be. I mean, season 2 is off any rails that people supposed would be there for it -- a lot of people look at season 1 and say "Hey, I liked that, and if S2 is like that, then it will be good." I think that's where a lot of the poorly-informed criticism comes for S2 (I haven't seen much of that here -- most people have perfectly good reasons that I've read here for why they don't like S2). Love it or hate it, S2 is nothing like S1, and I imagine a S3 would be nothing like either that comes before it.
I agree that going back to a single director would be a good idea, yet I kind of felt like that varying directors was more often than not in the service of S2 -- it's a very dreamy, fragmented series, thanks to many leads, many different subplots, a purposeful lack of focus, and having multiple directors adds to that in my opinion. As an experiment, I like it, but I also want others to like True Detective because it's awesome, so doing what more people will enjoy is the best thing to do.
NotTheGuyYouKill
Member
I dunno, I liked that. Frank's ending was definitely one of the best scenes this season. It's a scene that deserves a better lead up to it than we got.
Vampirolol
Member
If only it wasn't cut like 3 times. We all knew he was dying, just let me see what happens, THEN show me what Velcoro is doing.
StopMakingSense
Member
I hate to harp on the driving thing... But Ray gets spotted in LA, so he drives 4-5 hours (I'm being very generous and allowing him to be driving to Sequoia, not any farther, though those trees seemed more like Redwoods than Sequoias, either way) to Sequoia Forest / Sierra Nevada mountains?
I know the San Gabriel / Santa Monica mountains locations are generic as hell but that would be way more realistic.
I know the San Gabriel / Santa Monica mountains locations are generic as hell but that would be way more realistic.
The finale hate seems a little overblown to me (a lot of people here are literally just listing things that happened and going "BAD!" without saying anything about them), and personally I think the season improved relatively in its last 3 episodes compared to the first four.
That said, I'd still say overall the season isn't worth watching.
Messypandas
Member
I liked everything leading up to. And then its pretty obvious hes dead when he starts walking right and his lady is there. And then she mentions that his body is lying on the floor behind him... and then he looks at it... and then his ghost body collapses. Just wtf man lol. Let the ghost body continue walking until his agonal breathes end.
There was no reason for that especially. His spirit/soul/whatever should have just kept on walking, wandering the earth. Lonely. Forever.When she said something like "you stopped walking back there" I was praying they wouldn't pan to the fucking body. We didn't need to see that. It would have been so much better without it. And without that goofy ragdoll collapse he did.
NotTheGuyYouKill
Member
This season is the definition of squandered potential
Really I thought the Vince Vaughn death was the most well done...
What irks me is why the show was even focused on him as a character in the 1st place.
Its like the show was set up/conceived as Velcoro/Frank - guys trying to do right but sucked into the criminal underworld.
Then we add gay cop and lady cop. Neither of them actually do much. Hell it would of been much more interesting to focus on Dixon and his attempt to get back on the inside.
What irks me is why the show was even focused on him as a character in the 1st place.
Its like the show was set up/conceived as Velcoro/Frank - guys trying to do right but sucked into the criminal underworld.
Then we add gay cop and lady cop. Neither of them actually do much. Hell it would of been much more interesting to focus on Dixon and his attempt to get back on the inside.
NotTheGuyYouKill
Member
Did I mishear it or did the black cop refer to Paul as a faggot? I didn't rewind but I did a double take
That was the White cop.
Count of Monte Sawed-Off
un33dab@dpu$$y
I liked it. There were some problems, like the whole Frank character seemed pretty pointless and dragged the show down in some seems. But he also had some good moments. Maybe it helps if you pretty much marathon the season, but I thought it was pretty good. But I seem to have different tastes than a lot around here, I think season 2 of the Wire is one of the best seasons, trailing only behind the 4th.
It was Burris (white Lieutenant) when Velcoro called Woodrugh's phone.
RepairmanJack
Member
Well, that sucked. I was actually higher on the season as a whole than most people because it was still sort of filling that dark noir-ish mystery hole for me. The last episode I thought was really good and probably the closest to that feeling the entire season and it got my hopes up too much for the finale. This finale didn't fee all out horrible, but damn it just seemed dumb. Just....dumb. Birdman turning into a cartoon style villain, the race to send an email, the horrible conversation between Frank and his wife, everything just seemed so stupid.
Only scene I enjoyed the entire episode was Franks meeting in the dessert and him walking. Everything else was just.....bleh.
Only scene I enjoyed the entire episode was Franks meeting in the dessert and him walking. Everything else was just.....bleh.
That... actually makes sense. Terribly executed if that is what they were going for though. Fukunaga would have nailed it
It was Burris, not Holloway. Not sure what surprised you about that scene though. He was telling Velcro he shouldn't care because Paul is gay which fits right into the culture portrayed. Remember when Paul's first act upon meeting the crew was to rail against "faggots"?
The sad part is he later killed Velcro
Cornballer
Member
I haven't seen anything aside from the brief HBO Connect Q&A from a couple days ago.
To be clear he was in the middle of Death Valley. He wasn't making it home alive.
Even if he had given up his jacket and the diamonds he would have wandered the desert naked and humiliated until he died. He was too proud for that, hence getting stabbed.
I don't think they were going for the diamonds killing him - the massive blood loss and knife in his side probably played a much larger role than the diamonds. To me it was more of a) he got to die with his "fortune" b) look all the good it does him.