True Detective

S1/2 connection: maybe they migrated after Katrina like Larry David's house guests.

Reddit thread pointing out the no-doubt-entirely-coincidental similarities between TD2 & James Elroy's 'The Big Nowhere':
www.reddit.com/r/TrueDetective/comments/3bjuba/season_2_has_anyone_read_the_big_nowhere/

Even with a few extra months, it does seem like he was probably both rushed and also trying to adjust to all the acclaim and criticism the first season received. To be both the object of such love and scorn, in the public eye no less, is always intense. 

I think what's the most disappointing, and it isn't just unique to True Detective (although the show is certainly victim to it), is how many anthology series have yet to really feel like they are doing something different with the format. Not to say that's necessarily a bad thing (I genuinely liked American Horror Story: Asylum, even if it pulled a lot tricks from the same bag), but here, I wonder what it would have been like if Pizzolatto had decided to step back, give a rough outline to another writer or writers, and see where they would have gone. Here it feels likes he's trying way too hard to prove himself. 

I finally binged through the first three episodes today, and came here to mention just how much James Ellroy influence I've been picking up on. I know a few other people mentioned this over in the AVC reviews. In addition to The Big Nowhere, a lot of L.A. Confidential is also coming through. As a big Ellroy fan, I think it's actually giving me more of an appreciation of the season so far. While I can definitely see how others may not appreciate the overly stylized (and occasionally bad) dialog, I think I can understand what they're at least trying to going for. While the first season definitely had its pulp influences, this one so far is leaning into them heavily. It's incredibly pulpy. And I kind of like it because of that ridiculousness, not despite it. So I can see how the show is trying to differentiate itself from season one. It's replaced it's pulp americana/existentialist philosophy with a kind of pulp/noir James Ellroy story of corruption. I'm interested to see where it goes. However, I think my favorite turn the show could take would be for a season to not focus on cops at all; I like the idea of them telling a noir detective story focusing on people you wouldn't expect (ex: Brick was super cool and was a stylized noir set in a high school).

Stray observations:

I love the scenes in the dive bar. Lera Lynn totally works for me, and that Conway Twitty dream sequence was amazing. 

I think the shot of the transit of Venus in front of the sun in the titles is really cool.

The scene of Velcoro searching the Hollywood "fuck pad" was really crazy. The old timey music, the hidden room, soundproofing on the walls, sex swing, the weird animal masks... I didn't even notice one was missing at first. When the tension was ratcheted up, and all of a sudden someone with a creepy bird mask shows up with a sawed off shotgun, I was on the edge of my seat. Again, it felt like an Ellroy scene in the best possible way.

Vince Vaughn still has a way to go to win me over. And I was one of the people who was kind of intrigued by his casting. I really hope he starts bringing it in the remaining episodes. I do really like Rachel McAdams, though. Colin Farrell is as fun as I had expected him to be. I'm kind of as bored with Taylor Kitsch as most people are. However, some of that I feel is because I kind of know his whole character's story, as it's lifted pretty directly from The Big Nowhere (where it's fleshed out in a much more interesting way; it's so similar that I actually think I know a spoiler that's coming up).

I do really enjoy the way the crooked bureaucracy of the various agencies are all scheming in the background and compromising the investigation. It was great when Velcoro asked them if they actually wanted him to find the killer. 

Welcome to the internet in the 10s. Enjoy your stay.

Episode 4 is by far is the best of season 2 though.

The drama in the AV Club comments is astounding, and also reaches a crescendo for episode 4. Some will tell even you episode 4 is the worst. I and most others say it is the best! For the first time I saw this season running fast. Colin Farrell goes off the booze and perks up, looks alive. Taylor Kitsch actually acts, in an affecting way. Rachel McAdams finally pulls out her blade. Vince Vaughn, well, no change.

I will no longer compare it the Aquarius. Though there are similarities....

There's a field trip up to some farming fields, as in Chinatown. No scary floods, but somebody may be dumping something to push the farmers off their land. Very similar there.

Avocados lack water, for the Tom Selleck connection.

I wondered that, but was too lazy to look it up.

I thought it was an interesting decision to begin a raid on an easily defensible target by casually walking down the middle of the street in broad daylight wearing bulletproof vests.

My dad's single major complaint is that he has absolutely no idea what's going on and can't follow the show at all. Now, he has this trouble with a lot of things - flashbacks tend to confuse him, as do too many characters introduced at once - but he followed the first season just fine and loved it.

Honestly, even I have trouble figuring out what the fuck is going on, and when I'm confused, I get bored.

This episode made me realise what this season's worst stylistic tic is:

Far too many scenes (especially this week) end with a character saying a line that's meant to be incredibly portentous (but is just a cliche soundbite), then the characters... pause. Sometimes there's a cut to a medium-long shot. The pause goes on just long enough to make me wish the actors were about to turn to camera and do this...



That's the problem here: S1 was pulpy and full of Deep Significant Lines, but it never acted like these were so damn Significant that they warranted underlining. And there was the counterbalance of Woody taking the piss, whereas there's no such character here.

I'm loving all the ZAZ movie shoutouts. Because again, that shootout was right out of a Naked Gun movie. Just more and more insane bystanders, all getting brutally shot down for no reason. I was waiting for a Gay Pride Parade to show up and get mowed down too.

Someone's noting the variations on the Leonard Cohen lyrics in each episode:
cohencentric.com/2015/07/02/the-nevermind-variations-mysterious-changes-in-true-detectives-theme-song-by-leonard-cohen/

Only up to date for the first couple of episodes; In footnote 3, the first set of 'unused lyrics' were the ones used this week.

Really digging that Elroy comparison, it definitely makes me like this season a bit more (although I'm already enjoying it). I actually went to go look for The Big Nowhere today but they didn't have it at the book store I went to.

I have a theory about this season and its dialogue. It's no better or worse than S1, S1 just had better actors. Matthew McConaughey sold the dialogue so hard and we bought it, only for Harrelson to point out Rust's absurdity with his "WTF?" reactions. We laughed at how ridiculous it was but still took meaning from it. Now Season 2 doesn't have actors good enough to sell the dialogue, but there's also no one there to disarm the comments, so we're just left with a bunch of corny dialogue. I love it though, it's so overwrought. Should I be laughing? I don't know, but I am. "Never lost a tooth, never even had a fucking cavity." had me rolling. I actually watched that line again right after and just kept laughing for a solid minute. Episode 4 was constant zingers.

Seriously though, I wonder if Pizzolatto is pulling a Starship Troopers in that he's written something like a satire of his own style or the genre but then pitched it to everyone in a totally serious manner, so we get a bunch of actors acting dead serious in what is almost a comedy. At least, I hope that's the game he's playing.

Not really buying the time skip. Just seemed like a way to get them out of the corner they'd backed themselves into by killing 600 civilians last episode.
To me the only thing really working are Farrell and McAdams' storylines. A season just focusing on their dynamic of being two outsiders from different poles would have worked like Harrelson and McConaughey's did in S1. I also do perk up whenever the mayor shows up too: he's such an unrepentant sleazebag it's fun to watch. But the large mystery lost me long ago, and Vaughn and Kitsch are dragging the show down.