True detective. New hbo thang.

[Nine Bob Note]

It's a fucking mess but I'm enjoying it, though I did give in and binge read the Wiki after the last episode for a catch up on what the fuck is going on. Still many questions...

Far too many characters for a six episode run. Why is the arsehole cop who isn't JF still allowed to work for JF, given he doesn't follow orders, and why is evidence stock-piled in his house and considered his private property? Why is there an ice rink in the arctic circle, and why is it owned by Dervla Kirwan? Is she in charge of the mining company too? And what are they mining? How cold is it supposed to be, because the entire cast seemingly treat the location like they've elves in a Santa movie.

I expect all of my questions to be answered in the remaining 100 minutes or so

 

[belboid]

because what else they got? because no one cares, they know where it is when they really need it. ATP money, fair question. Dunno. Silver. -8 in the day, -20 at night.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

The latest episode dropped a day early; maybe cos of the soup bowl taking over the telly in AmerryKKKa.

It's a pretty poor episode with some very lazy writing.

John Hawkes has been wasted; he is such a good actor and Hank is the most rounded character in the show; and we are supposed to dislike him.

I'm not sure if I am meant to like anyone, and if so, who? Peter maybe; he does all the detecting again in this episode. Maybe he is the True Detective of the title. Navarro's friend with benefits seems ok.

Anyways - it seems the town has a riot squad; where do they hang out usually? That was the biggest question I was left with this week, other than where's the plot gone?

One more left. I don't expect a classic ending at this point. The cliche guage is in the red too.

 

[SpookyFrank]

The latest episode dropped a day early; maybe cos of the soup bowl taking over the telly in AmerryKKKa.

It's a pretty poor episode with some very lazy writing.

John Hawkes has been wasted; he is such a good actor and Hank is the most rounded character in the show; and we are supposed to dislike him.

I'm not sure if I am meant to like anyone, and if so, who? Peter maybe; he does all the detecting again in this episode. Maybe he is the True Detective of the title. Navarro's friend with benefits seems ok.

Anyways - it seems the town has a riot squad; where do they hang out usually? That was the biggest question I was left with this week, other than where's the plot gone?

One more left. I don't expect a classic ending at this point. The cliche guage is in the red too.

Peter's neglect of his family rules him out as a sympathetic character.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

Peter's neglect of his family rules him out as a sympathetic character.

He's too busy doing all the detecting! Typical man!

 

[Voley]

Dunno what you're all moaning about. This season's fucking great. Really enjoying it. Has sent a genuine shiver down my spine a couple of times.

"She's awake."

 

[Smokeandsteam]

The latest episode dropped a day early; maybe cos of the soup bowl taking over the telly in AmerryKKKa.

It's a pretty poor episode with some very lazy writing.

John Hawkes has been wasted; he is such a good actor and Hank is the most rounded character in the show; and we are supposed to dislike him.

I'm not sure if I am meant to like anyone, and if so, who? Peter maybe; he does all the detecting again in this episode. Maybe he is the True Detective of the title. Navarro's friend with benefits seems ok.

Anyways - it seems the town has a riot squad; where do they hang out usually? That was the biggest question I was left with this week, other than where's the plot gone?

One more left. I don't expect a classic ending at this point. The cliche guage is in the red too.

A few observations:

1. The sequeway from the (entriely risible proposition) of Hank mournfully playing his guitar and singing the blues into an actual version of the song will long live with me for its sheer awfulness.
2. Will the half full bottle of kitchen cleaner that Navarro gave Peter be enough to 'clean things up'?
3. Jodie Foster's step daugher seems to be arrested and dearrested every episode without any regard for things like erm the actual law.
4. Heroin addicts should move to Night Country where the head of the police will happily supply you.
5. It's head spinning that the stated meta narrative is consistently undermined by Peter doing all of the actual detective work, with Jodie Foster being reduced to being horrible and constantly saying 'ask the question'...

Thank God, there's only one more to go.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

Four writers on that episode too....

 

[belboid]

The latest episode dropped a day early; maybe cos of the soup bowl taking over the telly in AmerryKKKa.

It's a pretty poor episode with some very lazy writing.

John Hawkes has been wasted; he is such a good actor and Hank is the most rounded character in the show; and we are supposed to dislike him.

I'm not sure if I am meant to like anyone, and if so, who? Peter maybe; he does all the detecting again in this episode. Maybe he is the True Detective of the title. Navarro's friend with benefits seems ok.

Anyways - it seems the town has a riot squad; where do they hang out usually? That was the biggest question I was left with this week, other than where's the plot gone?

One more left. I don't expect a classic ending at this point. The cliche guage is in the red too.

Hank the most rounded character??? up until this episode he was the flattest and most cartoonish. An utter waste of the wonderful Hawkes.

The riot squad were state troopers, sp presumably from all over the state. As has been made clear, state troopers and 'proper' cops dont get along too well. And the plot is moving along, we are about to find out what Anne Kowtok had discovered was poisoning the water and drove everyone mad.

None of which is to deny the fact that it's been a really badly written series with a few good ideas, very badly executed.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

Hank the most rounded character??? up until this episode he was the flattest and most cartoonish. An utter waste of the wonderful Hawkes.

Comparatively.

I felt sorry for him standing out there at the airport with his stuffed teddy and his failed life as a musician, a parent, a cop and now a sugar daddy. He painted a room blue for love. That might be the nicest thing anyone in this show has done for another person. I haven't felt a thing for a single other character in the whole show, or understood what motivates any of their actions. The bad fella gets my sympathy here; but I think that is down to Hawkes on screen, not Hank on paper.

 

[T & P]

We need to talk about the final episode…

FWIW, it was a lot better than the previous three, and IMO ended the story far more satisfyingly than I had expected.

I still think the season was a mess and a massive disappointment after a fantastically good first episode, but at at least this went some way towards rescuing it. I certainly prefer it to S2.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

It was really shit.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

Apparently the viewing figures for this way surpass any previous season of the show and another season has been greenlit with Issa López at the helm.

Nic Pizzolatto on the other hand has been distancing himself from season 4 via numerous unfriendly posts on X. Which seems pretty petty given he is exec-producer. Perhaps he is in mood because he hasn't written a sentence that touches the quality of season one since it aired.

I thought this season's opening two episodes were really strong, and that it went downhill fast after that. It really dragged for a 6 episode show and the finale was a huge slog. The resolve was fine and could have been great, but it was poorly executed and really dull. Jodie Foster didn't work for me, while Kali Reis did. The rest of the cast was hit and miss. The cleaning ladies rocked, but it was too late in the day for them to matter much. The various storylines were all over the place and the red herrings swimming upstream from Season 1 were not at all required for this show.

 

[nagapie]

I've only seen series 1. Not sure what to do about the rest as apparently both season 2 and 4 are crap.
Can you watch season 3 without having seen 2?
What would those of you who've seen it all recommend?

 

[The39thStep]

I've only seen series 1. Not sure what to do about the rest as apparently both season 2 and 4 are crap.
Can you watch season 3 without having seen 2?
What would those of you who've seen it all recommend?

Yes you can watch them in any order as they are stand alone seasons. Season 1 set an incredibly high bar so I wouldn't say that season 2 or 3 or 4 are crap they are just different and are never going to match season 1 . I rewtached season 2 recently after giving up on it years ago because it wasn't more of season 1 and it was enjoyable imv.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

Season 2 had some great performances, and some really impressive set pieces. It wasn't a disaster, just slow and murky and more of a cop show. I enjoyed Season 3 but can't actually remember much other than one scene with a massive bar brawl. I don't remember the story at all.

 

[Smokeandsteam]

I thought this season's opening two episodes were really strong, and that it went downhill fast after that. It really dragged for a 6 episode show and the finale was a huge slog. The resolve was fine and could have been great, but it was poorly executed and really dull. Jodie Foster didn't work for me, while Kali Reis did. The rest of the cast was hit and miss. The cleaning ladies rocked, but it was too late in the day for them to matter much. The various storylines were all over the place and the red herrings swimming upstream from Season 1 were not at all required for this show.

Interesting that we learnt that the victims did in fact 'freeze' to death, despite us being told early on by a vet (as you do) that they had not. Also, good to see police torture and cover ups given a progressive sheen. All you need is the 'right perp'! As predicted the references to S1 and supernatural elements turned out to be superfluous junk filler.

Not sure what happened to Chistopher Eccleston, he just disappeared, as did presumably the investigation into the death of Hank? And given the explanation where was Dervla Kirwan?

The final episode was Wind River ripped off and done badly. It felt like a cobbled together mess as red herrings “melted away” and a risible bad corporations and bad men explanation staggered into view. None of the previous 5 episodes had really delved into this or properly explored those themes.

Straight to video garbage, now apparently part of the twitter culture war….spare me.

 

[Steel Icarus]

I've found this sillier and crappier the longer it's gone on. Nobody talks or behaves in a sensible or realistic way.

 

[Yata]

i was thinking we needed a character to counter and maybe even slag off the spiritual stuff like rust cohle does at the preacher event thing in s1

 

[Nine Bob Note]

No, no more characters. Did we ever learn who JF's husband/partner was? Or how their child died? Who her stepdaughter's mother was, or why she hates everything (pardon my ignorance) 'native Alaskan'? These questions may have been answered, but I didn't pick up on them amongst the frozen sea of swirly iconography and crazy people whose delusions were presented as fact on screen.

One thing I have got from reviews of this season is that lots of people are liking season two more than they did at the time. Is it actually worth going back and watching? Season three was awful - I tried watching it, but I hate flashbacks at the best of times, so this just took the piss for me. I do need something else to watch instead of Silent Witness.

 

[Steel Icarus]

No, no more characters. Did we ever learn who JF's husband/partner was? Or how their child died?

He was trapped in the plot device.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

I read that this began as an original fim project by Issa López and had nothing to do with True Detective until it got infront of HBO execs.

There were so many good themes and threads which were started and then went nowhere. It seems crazy that the finale had to divert away from them all to conclude with an out of nowhere answer.

I'm still not convinced any detective work actually took place. They hacked a couple of phones, did some googling and behaved badly. It could have been called Bad Lieutenant: Night Country.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

It also reminded me of a Malcolm McDowell starring b-flick called The Barber from 2002.

 

[Oriole]

I'm not sure if I am meant to like anyone, and if so, who? Peter maybe; he does all the detecting again in this episode. Maybe he is the True Detective of the title. Navarro's friend with benefits seems ok.

None of the main characters were likable, I liked Qavvik (the FWB). I also liked Leah and felt angry on her behalf in pretty much every scene with Denvers, the stepmum from hell.

 

[Smokeandsteam]

No, no more characters. Did we ever learn who JF's husband/partner was? Or how their child died? Who her stepdaughter's mother was, or why she hates everything (pardon my ignorance) 'native Alaskan'? These questions may have been answered, but I didn't pick up on them amongst the frozen sea of swirly iconography and crazy people whose delusions were presented as fact on screen.

One thing I have got from reviews of this season is that lots of people are liking season two more than they did at the time. Is it actually worth going back and watching? Season three was awful - I tried watching it, but I hate flashbacks at the best of times, so this just took the piss for me. I do need something else to watch instead of Silent Witness.

Season two takes a while to hit its stride but once it does it's well worth watching. Far, far superior to the cobbled together nonsense of season 4.

 

[krtek a houby]

This was interesting, we just watched it on flight home. Great cast, strange tale and engaging enough.