That was my first thought. I couldnt tell if the pill he took, was like a pill to settle his nerves because he was apart of her disappearance. Or like it was a viagra, because he couldnt fuck her without it. This wouldnt be a true detective thread without rampant speculation.
Thought it odd he needed a blue pill and dude with mcadams at beginning appeared to last all of 40 seconds
I told niggas Collin Farrel is coming back for that throne! I'm giving Kitch two more episodes for him to impress me, not sold on him yet.
It was viagra Not a whole lot of testosterone flowing in this show. Woodrow cant get it up, velcorro has given up on poon, and whatever Vaughns characters name is cant get his wife pregnant
I loved it. I'm not going to compare it to last season, I'm going to compare it to the rest of shows on tv. Absolutely has my attention after that episode.
Let me preface this by saying that I'm still all in, but I thought it dragged a little too much and was too scattered. Think they've should discovered the body at the beginning and then began to delve into the characters. But I already like Farrell's story with his kid and hopefully Vaughn's is worthwhile. Not sure about Kitsch and McAdams just yet. Hopefully they bring these loose strands together sooner rather than later. Side note: the landscape shots just don't do it for me (with the exception of industrial plants lit up at night). S1 did well with these shots because backwoods Louisiana is creepy as fuck and it played into the theme, but it just doesn't work here, or at least so far.
I still love them, but it definitely makes it seem like they're trying too hard. I think once we get more of a feel for the season it might add more. Reminds me of Los Santos though. Somewhat relatedly, I think the opening song is fire.
I really liked it, and I really liked the landscape shots. Nice mix of the terminals/industrial sets and the coastline shots. Gave a nice fucked up vibe.
Totally agree with this, also that one scene with colin farrell and the mask telling the junkie to hush was contrived as shit. Like we get it you need things for the promo. I loved that scene with colin farrell in the bar with vaughn though, the setting, the mood, and the song, was what i think of when i think of true detective.
Farrell fucking dude up and the talk to the kid was hilarious. Buttfuck your dad with your mom's headless corpse haha
I guess the problem that I had is that they didn't play into the story because we don't know the story yet. They were shot well but like you said, came off as trying too hard because they didn't quite fit.
But seriously colin calls asking for that dudes address. Drives there. Tells pops hes a cop and beats the shit out of him.. its 100% tracable back to him unless daddy-o is now too scared to call 911
I like Colin's relationship with his son and how he keeps a recording of what's going on in his mind. I hope this angle isn't lost as the plot progresses. What I find funny is that Colin's frumpy ginger son is identical to McConaughey's kid in Tropic Thunder. "You can't pick 'em"
Thought it was a great, great season premiere, but I went in understanding that it would be incredibly disjointed and hard to follow, because that's the nature of his writing (what we've seen of it). It's going to be an extremely complex storyline, just like season 1.
Enjoyed it. Was a little bit hard to follow in the beginning as they switched between all the story lines, but I think it comes together a little better towards the end. Looking forward to seeing how it plays out. Are they only doing 8 episodes again like last year?
I call this the "Wire season 2 premiere feeling." It's like, who the fuck are these people and why should I care about them
"if you ever bully again I'll butt fuck your dad with your moms headless corpse on this fucking lawn". Hahahahahaha. That's a new one.
All while watching another premier tonight of the brink with Pablo schrieber who played nick sobotka in the wire s2.... Full circle.
I really like the big wide zoom out camera shots. Gives this show a stylish signature. The one continuous shot of Farrell fucking the dad up then getting in the car and speeding off was awesome
Also, I've come to accept that the sheer spread of TD is going to force me to watch every ep twice, if I have any hope of grasping all the important details.
I had to do this with the first season. I didn't feel like I was able to fully comprehend all the small details until I saw it a second time. It's definitely a show where if you're not paying full attention you'll be confused as fuck.
Which is why watching with your girlfriend while she fucks around on her instagram the entire time is a non starter for me. I sent her upstairs to watch The E network or whatever while I enjoyed TD in the main livingroom.
Love cunty TV critics getting all bent out of shape because the entire season didn't all come together for them in an hour. Episode did a fine job of introducing each of the main characters, and major themes, and if they're going to complain about it being disjointed, maybe they've forgotten entirely how it was to watch the first season on the initial run. Great opening episode. I'm not even sure what I'm watching yet, but I like it. 'True Detective' Season 2 Premiere Falls As Flat As A Circle After more than a year of casting rumors, memes and hashtag wish lists and confusion over the plot, "True Detective" Season 2 finally premiered on Sunday night. The first episode of the new season, which is completely separate from Season 1, introduced audiences to a new round of characters, a fictional city and an entirely new mystery. Each week, The Huffington Post Entertainment editors Matthew Jacobs and Erin Whitney will gab about their thoughts on the season. First up, a bit of a bummer with Sunday's premiere: Spoiler alert for "True Detective" Season 2, Episode 1, "The Western Book of the Dead." Erin Whitney: So, Matt, after all the hype building up to "True Detective" Season 2 -- and there was a lot of it -- the first episode has arrived and we can finally start to discuss it. I will say, I was doubtful about the casting at first, primarily with Vince Vaughn in a darker role, but the first trailer sold me. Dark, brooding, moody -- everything I loved about Season 1, and was excited to find in Season 2. But alas, after watching Sunday's premiere, I'm sad to say I was incredibly underwhelmed, not to mention pretty confused. It was one thing to simply feel underread, but enjoyably mystified by Rust Cohle's existential musings last year, but I had little idea what was going on during this season's premiere. Even after rewinding a few scenes to try and figure out who's who and what's what, frankly, I didn't feel much incentive to care. What was your reaction? Matthew Jacobs: Oh, how I long to disagree with you. The only thing I knew before watching "True Detective" last year was that Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson were at the center. When I finished the first episode, I was stunned. I wanted more, and I wanted it right then and there. I loved it so much that I was very forgiving of the contentious finale. I was expecting at least a tinge of that in Season 2. But if I weren't paid to write about pop culture, I would have little impetus to keep watching. The episode felt cobbled together from Season 1 tropes -- how many sweeping overhead shots of a California freeway can a person stand? -- with characters who talked like Shakespearean outtakes but offered little in the way of intriguing plot. A brooding Colin Farrell beating up the parent of a child who bullied his son? Snooze. Taylor Kitsch on some sort of windblown suicide bender? No thanks. It seems like the absence of Cary Fukunaga, who directed every episode last year, may be more detrimental than I'd anticipated. Erin: You hit all of the points perfectly. I'm still mourning Fukunaga's departure, and not just his style as a director specifically, but the harmony of his eye with Nic Pizzolatto's writing. Together, those two created a dark and eerie atmosphere that hooked me in regardless of the central mystery. With this first episode, it feels like director Justin Lin is struggling to capture the depths of the script and the inhumanity of the California crime world the season seeks to explore. Instead we're left with repetitive, stylized overhead shots that make me as sleepy and bored as I'd feel in the passenger seat on the 405 freeway. And, of course, I realize we're both finding disappointment through comparison to Season 1, which in itself is a bit unfair. But even distancing this season from Pizzolatto's previous achievement, I at least expected to meet characters that defied the general stereotypes of the distraught, rage-fueled alcoholic cop. Farrell's Ray Velcoro seems to be a tragically misunderstood father until he proves he's actually an awful one with a drinking problem. Kitsch's Paul Woodrugh rides his motorcycle as some sort of anger-management therapy. Rachel McAdams' Ani Bezzerides seems pretty cold and pissed off. I love that each of these characters are lost souls struggling to find purpose, but it's difficult to actually feel anything while watching them. They felt less palpable and dimensional than Rust's Lone Star can cutouts from last year. But this is just the first episode, so there's still hope. Matt: There is hope, but my biggest gripe is how unfocused and overcrowded the opener felt. You and I don't mind spending time in gloomy, grisly worlds -- we both love "The Leftovers," after all -- but if I were to judge Season 2 based on the premiere, it doesn't seem like the show has much of a hook. It's self-serious in all sorts of uninteresting ways. "City manager disappears right before a major transportation deal" isn't an alluring logline, but at least give us characters with identities instead of flat descriptors like "angry cop" and "destructive loner." As of now, it feels like the logline is more like "Watch while tough folks with ambiguously bad pasts and rough family situations wallow about." And that final shot, where the central quartet comes together for the first time? That should have marked a bold culmination, or something remotely resembling a cliffhanger, and instead the camera panning across their faces felt like a parody. Erin: I couldn't have put it better myself. That final panning shot of all three characters meeting was in the initial trailer HBO released and was one of the things that got me excited for the season. Unlikely detectives uniting to solve a disturbing crime by pulling from the dark remnants of their past is exactly what Pizzolatto was all about. Yet, like I wrote above, none of the characters so far feel a fraction as original as Rust Cohle or Marty Hart. And when they finally met in Sunday's episode, you could almost feel their own lack of enthusiasm for what's to come. Overall, the writing, the direction and even the slow-brewing plot, so far, feel unfinished and just as lost as Ray, Ani and Paul each appear to be. While watching the premiere, I couldn't help but think Pizzolatto was rushed into piecing together this season, and with the intention of distancing it as far as possible from Season 1. While I appreciate the anthology aspect of this series and that Season 2 is embracing a whole new story, it's still missing the awe-inspiring confidence of its predecessor. We were all wowed by Rust and Marty's story because it was so richly embedded in literature, philosophy and the psychology behind the season's crimes, and it felt certain of it's direction from the start. Now, though, these three lost detectives, and the truth behind the dead city manager, fall as flat as Rust's metaphorical circle. Matt: And yet, I'll cut the show some slack because, after all, it is only the first episode. I haven't watched the other two episodes that HBO provided to press because last year's red herring-laden season felt better suited for weekly marination. Clearing the bar set by an Emmy-winning mega-hit is tough, but here's hoping the next installment is focused and provides a more lucid window into the macabre Los Angeles area the show is attempting to depict. It's obvious from the incessant aerial shots that the whole "the city is a character" mantra applies, but without the otherworldliness -- and specificity -- of the Louisiana bayous, that come across as vacant. Paint a better picture of why the location matters, and convince us to care for the suicidal (Kitsch), irascible (Farrell), weary (McAdams) characters at the center, and we'll be in business. If not, the new season's consciousness will be a tragic misstep in the "True Detective" evolution. "True Detective" airs on Sundays at 9:00 p.m ET on HBO.
I really enjoyed the Premiere. A friend of mine, who I trust when it comes to TV (yet has somehow not yet watched the first season) had a conversation with me today which made things hit home a bit. He is through Ep 4 of the first season, and, while he thinks the show is good, he's not fully hooked as of yet. Granted, it just so happens Ep 5 is where the hook really set in with most of us, but that fact tends to lead me to believing this season will be another slow burn. Fuck the reviews after only 3 episodes.
Whole episode was really just character introduction. Pretty rough episode, but it could go a lot of places and that's not a bad thing. I still have high hopes, but episode 1 was not good.
It was hard to understand at times. The dialog was occasionally a little confusing. I think the stylization was appropriate and welcomed in order to tie the two seasons together. Colin Farrell's character was tough to take in terms of his demons and actions. Vince Vaughn was much tamer and appeared weaker than I would have thought. I definitely enjoyed, but it is clear the story has not developed yet to comment on it, and the characters didn't capture me like last year at this time.
not going to make a judgement good or bad based on one episode, looked like it was just supposed to give us a slight glimpse into each character and then tie them together. Did really have to pay attention to pick up on who the guy in the car was early, as well as the missing girl etc. but that's True Detective style I feel like
Enjoyed the episode. Enjoyed my friend's sister in fishnets being a cam girl more. Shit was hilarious. Edit: And I still haven't watched season 1, so as a completely fresh view of the series, I didn't find it so disjointed that it turned me off to the show or anything.
Enjoyed the first episode. It did jump around alot but just setting up the Universe. Only thing I was dissapointed in was the song during the opening credits.
I don't think it was that hard to follow. They just didn't give us a ton of backstory, but what they gave us was easy enough to follow.
And the opening sequence is pretty good considering they had to follow a near perfect opening from S1. Leonard Cohen's voice fits into this universe.
It's easier to have backstory when its a narrative between two people that know each other and they talk about their past experiences together in the present like season 1. This is completely different, and considering they wanted to use 4 main characters, only two of which have any connection to each other, it went pretty well imo.
I'm for sure sticking with it, but that episode was boring. There's nothing wrong with something being slow or well-paced, but that felt like the director just crammed a bunch of David Lynch films the week before they started shooting and tried to regurgitate that style.