HBO's True Detective - Part 2

[Marvolo]

I'm excited for the finale which is a 180 degree turn around from where I was prior to this episode. It being a 90 minute episode is pretty exciting too. HBO has had some 90 minute miniseries episodes, but I don't remember them ever having a 90 minute episode of a regular series. Tho I guess they might be viewing each of these seasons as miniseries. Regardless of the why of it, I'm happy it's an extended episode. Makes me think it's gonna be filled to the brim with character bits and closure that they couldn't cut.

I hope Ani and Velcoro stick it to these dirtbags. Even if they end up in a Butch and Sundance situation where there is no way out Ill be ok with it as long as they take some of those ****heads with them.

 

[vanson]

loved the episode and am pretty pumped for the finale..

poor woodrugh though.. only thing i dont get is how that last police guy knew he would come out exactly there..

 

[Tim_Riggins]

What a great episode, really intense. I'm bummed about Paul but he went out like a king, that tunnel scene was pure badassery, kinda wish Pizzaman could have given Kitsch a bit more to play with, I feel like Paul's storyline was finally paying off in that episode, but a bit too late.

Other standouts: great scene btw Ray & Ani, great score as well, and Vince was really good in this ep, I found him to be fine in the rest of the show, but I feel like he was finally able to cut loose in a way in this episode, like that scene with his lackey, while he had to deliver clunky and pretentious lines for the rest of the season.

It feels to me like everybody upped their level, that + obviously, it going crescendo in the last episodes.

I do not understand the casting of Kelly Reilly though, she has been awful for the entire fricking season and entirely unnecessary, actually, aside from Ani, the female characters are kind of non existent.

 

[Tim_Riggins]

Pizzolatto was pretty miserable teaching because he doesn't like bureaucracy and feels before he left it education wasn't serving students educationally just self serving institutions for the sake of profit i.e. dumbing things down (which is a sad truth). I mean it'd be humiliating to go from tv showruner to a full time college professor for the rest of his life.

I just hope Pizzolatto sticks to his guns and just writes what he wants. I hope his approach from season one and two didn't change in how he went about writing to what he wants to see in going into writing season three. I do think Pizzolatto's writing hasn't changed and the same writing we see from season two is that of the same writer's instincts from season one. It really shouldn't change for next season just because some people didn't like it. He should just trust his instincts and be honest with himself. Any writer writes what they want to see and then hopes for the best. You can't control outcome. I'd like to think he wrote the same way he did as last season and it just so happened this season just didn't catch on as well as the last. It happens with all creative people. So there's always a chance season three's reception could be better than this season's, or it could be the same response as this season. But people would still call him a hack and like to knock him down and pretend season one just became great all by itself. It's amazing what people will do in response when they're disappointed by just one thing after the last thing blew their minds. It's reminiscent of the movie mentality. One strike and you're out. Not that I'm saying this is going on here in this thread at all, I've seen fair opinions and no indication of the aforementioned, but I'm just talking of the internet in general.

This is a great post and should be quoted. Fukunaga helming the entire first season definitely helped in getting that "film like" quality and cohesiveness, that + the Louisiana setting + the occult, etc, etc. There is no doubt that having multiple directors not anywhere near Fukunaga's level (no offense, they still did a good job overall) is one of the main reasons undoubtedly as to why this season (while very good imo) is not as good.

This season has much more of a TV mentality in the sense that TV is the writer's medium, directors don't come in and bring their own style, except on stuff like Breaking Bad with Rian Johnson for example, the writer/showrunner is king, a director/DP establish the look of the show in the pilot or first two episodes, and then someone else takes over.

That being said, considering these circumstances, the fact that Pizzaman had much less time to write, I think season 2 is pretty solid, much more divisive of course.

Let's hope for season 3 (if Pizzaman wants it) that they'll get a GREAT director to oversee the whole thing.

 

[runawayboulder]

So why the **** do you even watch. Just move along then. God so ****ing annoying.

 

[Dugath]

Sort of interesting to me.
I see a lot of people complain about how they do not like this season.

I am the opposite. I really did not the first season too much. I only watched it because the wife wanted to. I like this season a lot more.

 

[vanson]

I like this Season also alot. But the first season is pretty similar regarding the pace.. people just forget because everybody is hyping the crap out of it..
I read two reviews of todays episode (collider and comingsoon) and both where whining about that they still have not revealed the killer...
makes me freaking angry.. In Season 1 we find out in the last shot of the penultimate episode.. nobody complained then..
Its all nitpicking or delusion what the first season was.

 

[Assassin32]

That was this season's first solid episode from beginning to end. Over the past few weeks they have been trying to put it together with rousing final ten minutes, and they finally broke through with last night's entry. I'm excited for the ninety-minute finale; hoping for a great feature-length movie. Since before the season began I've been anticipating the final episode to be an absolute thriller, especially considering my hunch that Pizzolatto has a (small) chip on his shoulder due to the lukewarm reception last season's finale received.

 

[Dyson]

No director is listed yet for episode 8. I'm hoping it's a surprise choice, like William Friedkin.

Also, episode 7 WAS the best episode of the whole series, thus far. 9.5/10!

 

[chamber-music]

That character was the most expendable so I wasn't surprised by their fate. If anyone was going to

Spoiler

die I expected it to be Paul

Good to see Frank finally off the chain. I still suspect

Spoiler

his wife is in on this conspiracy

Random Applebee’s plug.

Teague Dixon is like Baskin Robbins, he always finds out.

 

[Dyson]

Good to see Frank finally off the chain. I still suspect

Spoiler

his wife is in on this conspiracy

Teague Dixon is like Baskin Robbins, he always finds out.

I'm thinking that

Spoiler

Frank's wife will kill him in the end. I have a feeling all the leads will end up dead.

Yep... Baskin Robbins ALWAYS finds out! Haha

 

[JtheDreamer]

I do not understand the casting of Kelly Reilly though, she has been awful for the entire fricking season and entirely unnecessary, actually, aside from Ani, the female characters are kind of non existent.

Ya, she's been stiff this entire season. Honestly, the story could have done without Frank's relationship with her. Watch they hit us with some weird twist at the end to make me eat my words though lol.

 

[Assassin32]

No director is listed yet for episode 8. I'm hoping it's a surprise choice, like William Friedkin.

Brilliant.

 

[P Supreme]

Solid Episode Vaughn made it great!!

the hook up at the end felt forced

 

[Sawyer]

Did Vaughn actually make it great, or did it just seem that way because he's actually been given something to work with?

 

[TheFuture]

loved the episode and am pretty pumped for the finale..

poor woodrugh though.. only thing i dont get is how that last police guy knew he would come out exactly there..

Paul's friend/lover told him before they went inside that there were eyes all around on the outside.

It just so happens that it was the cop covering that exit, while other black mountain ops were probably covering elsewhere.

Paul's expert execution of the ops team was amazing to watch, and made his complacency when exiting even more tragic.

Elsewhere, Vaughan finally stole the show. Vaughan is very good at saying a lot without actually saying much, and can be quite intimidating simply through expressions and how he holds himself. He was able to do that to great effect in this episode while canning the woefully written "deep" musings.

About the hook up, I like how it was handled. I particularly liked how it bookended the show, where at the start it was born out of Ani being in a bad place, but by the end it was born out of Ray and Ani connecting in a genuine and true way.

 

[Doctor Jones]

I'm actually surprised people liked this episode. But I'm glad people loved it. And of course so did I. This show just keeps building in such a way where it not only gets better, but makes me re-examine the previous episodes and strengthening them.

But **** happened in this episode. Goddamn. Frank was at his absolute best where I finally loved him as a character. God knows what **** he's going to cause in the next episode.

Ray and Ani getting together made a lot of sense and I had a suspicion that they would since episode three. They're both like these wounded animals who have lived lives in pain. Ray no longer has the one thing he truly loved which is his son who isn't even his, the product of a failed marriage. He lost his wife in trying to avenge her in a sexual crime that ended up being a set up. Ani is sexually tormented and has never had a meaningful relationship with a man because how guarded she is due to her childhood experience so there's these holes that are left in each other's lives. Both don't know how to love. They're so bankrupt in those type of emotions. So it made perfect sense these two would get together and find some semblance of love in each other's pain. It's a very unconventional romance and something I've never seen before. Their pain is their romance in a way and they realized that about each other. I just really enjoyed how they found each other like that. And that scene between them was so well directed.

"You're not a bad man."

"Yes. I am."

So perhaps Ani accepted the bad men are the ones she can be with, because bad men made her the way she was. Though Ray admitting he's bad doesn't quite make him bad. I just loved how this episode was about people being honest with themselves.

Also an interesting note that further connects these two -- in the beginning dream sequence of episode three, Ray's father tells him he saw Ray as a little boy running through the trees that were much larger than him and how people were shooting at him caught him. Ani's father in this episode tells her he wandered the forest for four days looking for her and found her within them. I guess that's the significance of the forest shots at the end of the opening credits.

And I just felt so bad for Paul. Out of the three despite his problems he was the guy who just tried to live good and straight and despite it being for the wrong reasons, there was hope to bring life in the world where he might be able to change his in an honest way. He started out good but the system tore him down and caused his end.

I feel like now going into this episode, these three characters don't give a **** anymore and have nothing left to lose. Frank seems on a vengeance streak where he's actually going to be tearing walls down and them some.

It seems their whole enemy is actually the thing that Rust and Marty understood they couldn't get to at the end of last season. The sprawl of it, despite getting their guy. Ray and Ani seem to be up against that very sprawl and know it's futile. Ray and Ani are now this power couple who have nothing left to lose where they seem to be going out in a Bonnie and Clyde style shoot out. They're fighting a mountain that they know they can't win so they might as well go out trying to do good. And possibly retribution for Paul's death. Now Ray can have a target he can make up for for her past set up.

So yeah I'm incredibly pumped for the 90 minute finale. That's film length right there. The finale to the last season is strong, but it can be topped.

 

[JtheDreamer]

I'm actually surprised people liked this episode. But I'm glad people loved it. And of course so did I. This show just keeps building in such a way where it not only gets better, but makes me re-examine the previous episodes and strengthening them.

And that's what I love about it. A beautiful crescendo.

Vaughn was so utterly convincing tonight as a man who DGAF anymore. The tearing down walls prophecy is definitely being fulfilled.

 

[Kane52630]

What a terrific episode.

I can't wait to see how it all ends.

 

[Man in the Suit]

I guess I'm in the minority that liked Vaughn throughout the season. Frank is a character that's a thug acting like business man, and now he's full thug so he can stop struggling to present himself as something he isn't. Not saying he didn't deliver some clunkers this season, but I thought he did a good job.

 

[JtheDreamer]

I guess I'm in the minority that liked Vaughn throughout the season. Frank is a character that's a thug acting like business man, and now he's full thug so he can stop struggling to present himself as something he isn't. Not saying he didn't deliver some clunkers this season, but I thought he did a good job.

I like this season more than last, but even I can attest that Vaughn has struggled in portions of this season (mostly early on).

 

[Smilodon]

I've been a pretty vocal supporter of Vaughn and critical about how he was given repetitive material throughout the season. I found his setbacks in order to find who duped him out of his money a nuisance rather than endearing or sympathetic. (Though I remember thinking that during S1 too) I think Vaughn looks the part and has gotten good moments here and there, like in episode 6.

Of course, the way he lets loose and gives into the fact that he can't live the life of a good man in this episode makes it seem like Frank was just pretending in the earlier episodes, and now Vaughn can just dig into the role as a bad guy. Helps that Vaughn is also just huge, but I hope Frank's arc gets some closure, especially since Paul bit the dust.

 

[Uptown Finest]

I too cannot wait for the finale. Somehow the corrupters will get justice done to them but do not think everyone is gonna make it out alive as far as the 3 main characters. I got Ani as the sole survivor.

 

[Doctor Jones]

I too cannot wait for the finale. Somehow the corrupters will get justice done to them but do not think everyone is gonna make it out alive as far as the 3 main characters. I got Ani as the sole survivor.

Ani was described by her father as, "The most innocent person I've ever known." So there's that. Maybe that's what will make her survive in a poetic sense.

Ray I don't see living. Out of everybody, this man has the least amount to lose. Then again, I thought Rust was definitely going to bite it and was proven wrong so who knows?

 

[BestGirl]

I wasn't as wild about this episode as everyone else is, mostly because I don't give a damn about Paul and therefore don't care that he's dead. What was his point in the story? Just to get killed? Except for the ending shootout he was a waste of screentime. I also had a lot of questions about events as they were unfolding:

There were also some annoying coincidences: Tasha just happens to send her backup photos to Vera's sister, who just happens to have mentioned her missing sister months before to Ani? Tasha just happened to take a picture of Laura? Admittedly, that last one may not have been a coincidence as Tasha may have known who Laura was to Caspere.

Why did Laura infiltrate Caspere's parties anyway? Didn't he recognize his personal assistant was hooking there?

Why does Casrpere still have the diamonds if his job back in 1992 was to sell them for Holloway and Dixon? Did he buy them back?

Why does everyone assume Mayor Chessani doesn't know what Tony's up to? I mean, Tony is working out of his dad's house.

I did enjoy Frank turning to the dark side, though I can't figure out what his deal was with the Jewish diamond seller. I was probably not paying enough attention at that part. This episode must have been written before the bottom fell out of Venezuela's economy because there's no way Frank would go there now.

I'm glad and rather surprised that Elliot Bezzerides has seemingly turned out not to be evil. Ani needs to have something going for her.

Ray is definitely going to bite it before this season's over. I hope Ani makes it out though there's so much working against her.