True Detective (2014-)

[DraculaHasRisen]

Originally Posted by EvaDK

Pretty sure Travis is indeed Rust's father. Even if the timelines don't quite add up, based on how old we imagine Travis was when he died, based on the flashback with him and Rose. The actor playing Travis is around 68 years old.

Season 4 takes place in December 2023 or 2024 I reckon. A wall calendar says '2023' and a printout says '2024'. Rust Cohle would be around 59/60 years old in 2024.

Also, the Tuttle namedrop in episode 2 strongly hints at Rust and Marty's investigation in S1; the Tuttle family was deeply involved in the Carcosa case. The same family is likely financing the Tsalal research facility in Ennis.

So is the whole Carcosa thing actually bigger than the Tuttle family?

[chip75]

Two episodes in and I'm just whelmed neither over or under.

[raptors661]

Originally Posted by BluGalaxy

And I thank him for it, and he's not the only one. This is getting universally panned everywhere.

No it's not? High critic score on RT and even the audience scores are 68% with over 1000 ratings. That's not "universally panned" by any definition.

[TheSweetieMan]

Originally Posted by d2cheer

Apparently you can only post if you like it.

This has become an ongoing issue on this forum. Which is why I'm going to touch on it in this next quote from a user that is terribly uniformed.

Originally Posted by Joey9775

That dude does it for like every show. Just miserable.

This isn't even close to being remotely true. Hell, I made an entire thread last year dedicated to how underrated and ahead of its time that the second season of 'True Detective' is (HERE) which is about as open minded as you can be toward a series considering how universally disliked that season was upon its original release.

This also hasn't included recent praise I've given to series like Prime's 'The Terminal List'.

Or the countless times I've praised 'Better Call Saul' -- basically calling it the greatest companion TV series in television history.

What about my thoughts on 'Arcane'? Which I considered a significant evolutionary step forward for the medium of animation as a whole.

I've given glowing reveiews to NWR's two recent mini-series in 'Too Old to Die Young' and 'Copenhagen Cowboy'.

Where were you at then? Oh, that's right -- those are probably series/content considered too obscure for your Marvelized imagination, so instead of actually acknowledging when I give good content its flowers, you decide to fixate on the growing negative opinions I have on the negative trajectory of generic blockbuster movies and shows. I'm sorry that Disney, Marvel Studios, and Lucas Film have basically become the 'butt rock' of filmmaking -- but maybe, just maybe, if real effort were put into the content they put out, it wouldn't be so easy to pick apart.

I'll never apologize for having standards. Entertainment may be a convenience of something we take for granted -- but there still has to be a standard. Because it's still a practiced art. But the bulk of the entertianment industry has decided to disregard the 'art' part and instead partake in useless DEI initatives and place that at the forefront of what a film and show should include, instead of just focusing on plot and characterization first. This isn't some salty opinion -- this is what the current state of the industry is. And you can even see it in 'Night Country'.

What's it tell you that the director had to go crying on social media. Immediately labeling and projecting criticism -- and unfairly generalizing fans of the first season by basically calling them 'dude bros' -- even though... EVEN THOUGH her series still yields both a higher critic score than seasons 2 and 3 -- as well has having a substantially higher audience score compared to the second season.

Talk about projected insecurity. Which has basically trickled down through to audiences as well. Hence replies like yours.

You see, when you can't take criticism -- or if a piece of entertainment you like but is disregarded by someone else -- instead of just acknowledging that people have the right to critical thinking, there's this automatic projection of insecurity. It's the insecurity of not being able to being accepting of the fact that maybe, just maybe, the show or film that you like that I happen to be criticizing, may actually just suck. Now, in the case of 'Night Country', I wouldn't say it sucks. It's competently made. I actually enjoyed the practical effects and the way they did the ice burg of bodies. I like the son. I like the way Foster's character interacts with him. I also think John Hawkes is a criminally underrated actor. So it's been enjoyable seeing him occupy a major role with this series. Funny how you never acknowledged those parts of my posts. Just the ones you decided to be selectively negative about. How on brand of you.

Anyway, another user pointed out that they're grateful for my feedback. So that nulifies whatever criticisms you and others want to put out on my posts. I'm also not apologizing for having standards. Standards that are simply just calling out how weak Hollywood's content has been post-Covid so far. Kind of like HBO's adaptation of 'The Last of Us'. It's nothing groundbreaking, yet hardcore fans wanted to treat it as such. It's such a massive step backward, both narratively and in thematic richness for Craig Mazin -- who made an absolute masterpiece of a mini-series in 'Chernobyl' (yet another series I've praised to no end on here -- yet you're not mentioning that). That show is basically 'The Walking Dead' but with an HBO budget. It's every bit as melodramatically shallow as the AMC series.

But yeah, there's actually plenty of films and shows I like. They just stray from the norm, so therefore aren't as socially talked about on this forum. But I do praise them. You, unfortunately, just happen to focus on my takes for the current state of the more popularized content that is coming out of the entertainment industry. Which in its current state, is not very good. It's not good at all.

It's called having standards.

[Fausti1969]

Definitely a big improvement over episode 1. Me and a friend were discussing they should have shrunk the town and character development in episode 1 and added more of the storyline in episode 2 to strengthen the first episode. Some of the stuff in 1 needed to be there for character, but it felt too stretched out. But at least now the pacing is much improved and we're really seeing how and why the characters interact.

[BluGalaxy]

Originally Posted by raptors661

No it's not? High critic score on RT and

RT is completely and utterly untrustworthy these days, the critics score doubly so. I don't believe anything that come from that compromised website anymore. It's full of paid shills getting bags from studios for promos and fake reviews, nothing more, start talking to me about RT and I'll just smirk at you.

[raptors661]

Originally Posted by BluGalaxy

RT is completely and utterly untrustworthy these days, the critics score doubly so. I don't believe anything that come from that compromised website anymore. It's full of paid shills getting bags from studios for promos and fake reviews, nothing more, start talking to me about RT and I'll just smirk at you.

Even so, user ratings elsewhere do not point to it being universally panned everywhere.

[Cpt. Feeney]

2nd episode.

[Show spoiler]They're tending the crime scene and one of the bodies starts gurgling and rasping like a zombie. Hard cut to opening credits. No mention again of the weird zombie guy. At all.

Wtf?

[drb999]

Danvers was on the phone with a nurse talking about a man in an induced coma. I think that’s the frozen guy.

[Cpt. Feeney]

Originally Posted by drb999

Danvers was on the phone with a nurse talking about a man in an induced coma. I think that’s the frozen guy.

Okay, thanks, at least there's something, but there should be something right after the credit sequence, or before it even, finish the scene off. Surely realizing that it's not a zombie is a big moment for the team, everyone gets a jump from it, everyone is vulnerable, they realize what's up, and they pull themselves together. That is valuable character material right there.
You can't throw a moment like that in the audience's face, then sideline it to an offhand comment on a phone call half an hour later, with nobody even mentioning how weird or scary it was. To me this is a huge miscalculation.

[DraculaHasRisen]

I don't know how the one guy was still alive being frozen in the ice, but I have a feeling he's going to reveal something about Clark at some point.

I re-watched the first two episodes last night and I liked them a lot better than the first time. I think this is going to get really interesting.

[BillieCassin]

Originally Posted by Cpt. Feeney

Okay, thanks, at least there's something, but there should be something right after the credit sequence, or before it even, finish the scene off.

I agree - that should have been explained a bit better, or some reaction other than the climax of the teaser. Both of us watching looked at each other and were like, "wait, is she talking about that?" after that next brief phone call, but really weren't sure. After it was over and it wasn't addressed again, we were even like "wait, did that actually happen at all?"

I'm liking it so far. Because it's so limited, though, I am presuming it's going to start moving much faster - I mean, we are already 1/3 of the way through.

It's something new, the performances are pretty good - I'm no prude, but I do think there is a bit of gratuitous sex (I guess the point is, in the middle of nowhere that's all that people have to do?) but I'm interested in seeing where it is going.

[d2cheer]

presuming it's going to start moving much faster

Sure...

[TheSweetieMan]

Third episode wasn't very inspiring.

Anyone else feel like there has been too much focused placed on subplots so far? It feels like they're not even attempting to solve the deaths of the scientists to this point. There's either a focus on who is sleeping with who -- or time allocated to the case that Navarro couldn't solve (though, we do know it will end up tying into the main case before all is said and done) -- or time spent on natives continuing to remind white people that white people are bad people. It's so damn hackneyed to this point. None of that is original or important to plot development.

The ending of the episode was laughably bad. Leaning into the full on supernatural would've worked were it not for the cheesy, Blumhouse-esque voice effect. A little too on the nose there for the type of effects the filmmakers were aiming for.

You know what made the first three seasons -- but especially the first season -- work so well when it came to the cosmic/supernatural elements, was that it never leaned too heavily into them, almost making the series become a parody of itself. It knew just to dabble into them just enough to make the audience feel that there was this uncomfortable and uncontrollable auroa around it, but still kept everything completely grounded in reality. Hell, most of Rust's visions stemmed from the residual drug use from his past more than anything else as it was.

I think to this point the biggest offense of this series is that it doesn't feel like 'True Detective'. It's no wonder why Pizzolatto has recently been openly distancing himself from this series. I mean he's really starting to go in on it on social media now. I can't blame him. Even if he himself didn't meet expectations set by the first season with the follow up seasons he wrote, they both still felt like True Detective. His fingerprints were sill recognizably there.

I don't mean to sound like a broken record -- but all Night Country feels like is a derivative mashup of 'Wind River' and 'Hold the Dark', but with the 'True Detective' brand stamped onto it.

This is turning out to be a rather disappointing effort from HBO.

[drb999]

The end was creepy AF.

[TsMkLg068426]

Originally Posted by DraculaHasRisen

So is the whole Carcosa thing actually bigger than the Tuttle family?

It would make sense if they were trying to find a hidden temple in the middle of Alaska and I find it strange that Rust who lived in Alaska got this case when he was working in Louisiana.

It really makes you wonder how much of first season what the Tuttle family was just generation of inbreeding, or the Lovecraft story is real.

[FubarFrenzy]

Third ep in and i'm still in it. I know there are folks that don't like the super natural angle, but I'm all in. Not expecting it to end that way and with only 3 episodes left, they have alot to uncover.

3 in, and it's still tons better than that dreaded 2nd season, and more memorable than the 3rd.

If this season ends on a sour note, I for one will be dissapointed, but for now, i'm pleasantly suprised.

[TsMkLg068426]

Originally Posted by FubarFrenzy

Third ep in and i'm still in it. I know there are folks that don't like the super natural angle, but I'm all in. Not expecting it to end that way and with only 3 episodes left, they have alot to uncover.

3 in, and it's still tons better than that dreaded 2nd season, and more memorable than the 3rd.

If this season ends on a sour note, I for one will be dissapointed, but for now, i'm pleasantly surprised.

The supernatural part is cool but Barry Jenkins connecting to first season it was a supernatural/horror story is not accurate. Most of what Rust saw are the effects of the drugs when he was working undercover. Did he ever say he was seeing spirits while in Alaska because I do not remember him ever saying it.

The only time he really saw a spirit was his daughter outside where he asked his partner "do you believe in ghosts" not sure if the quote is accurate.

As for the birds spiral shape that was also in his head.

I do hope in the end of this season it connects first season perfectly and gives a full closure.

[KcMsterpce]

Not perticularly impressed with this season. Nor do I hate it.

[Show spoiler]But if one of the ice cores (say, the core named on that page in the scientist journal Jodie Foster was looking at just before she turns the page and sees 'crazy writing') unearthed a microbe that then got into the water, causing everyone to have shared hallucinations, it's really dumb.
Of course the mining is going to come into play. That, along with the water going bad. That's referenced in every episode (most recently when Chief Jodie Foster turned on the tap, and the dirty water spewed out). So, bad water; seeing visions of dead people; weird lens flares (that I think are digitally added) that almost look like UFO lights during a couple "seeing the dead" moments; people dying of horror from some uknown sight/entity, like wildlife blindly running off a cliff in fear the moment the sun goes down...
Something's fishy, but the core samples, the mining, microbes that may stop aging/sickness, and the visions will be used to finalize the story.

The clues are so obviously laid out for some lackluster conclusion, and has been done countless times in previous movies and shows and books. I don't even want to TRY to 'solve' the mystery. Just accepting it as it goes along.
Thus, I only pay attention to this season as surface entertainment.

But if they also throw in another potentially obvious 'twist' into the season

[Show spoiler]aliens and/or ancient humans

, I'll be even more dissappointed.
I feel like this season throwing so many horror elements and potential unexplained phenomena kind of negates the point of naming the show 'True', nor 'Detective'. It's an oxymoron.
They would have been better off just making this its own show, and call it something like "Naked Fear". I feel that there are two or three key elements that will be thrown together to make a "Gotcha!" for the viewers. However, combining all these elements in a series that "True Detective" only hinted at in the past, but didn't use as the primary thrust of the storytelling elements for the mystery, will cheapen the show's integrity more than my distaste for seasons 2-3 ever did.

[tcripe]

Im digging this. Obvi not as good as S1 but still enjoying it.