Television True Detective | Season 2 Spoilers

Awesome.

That final scene...McConaughey is just on another level at the moment. I was welling up.

Considering how little got resolved / how many loose ends there are, I feel like I should feel unsatisfied...but I'm not.
 
I thought it was a brilliant episode, loved it. Superb from McConaughey.
 
I don't think we need spoilers now, but don't read this if you haven't seen the finale.

Really enjoyed it. This show has taken us on an incredible ride in just 8 one hour episodes. The real journey for me was that of the two main characters, their own personal conflicts and problems, the relationship between them, and shared desire to finish the case. To me, that was more important than the need to conclude the case (in terms of catching everyone involved), and I did suspect that it would remain unsolved in some way. For me it was like 'Apocalypse Now' except with two Willard's on the same journey with slightly different paths, and Kurtz was even more fecked-up at the end.

I don't recall a show being so analysed and critiqued when it was so new, and still on-going before (perhaps Twin-peaks had this?). It felt so great to be immersed in the mystery of it all, reviewing articles and theories, re-watching episodes for clues, discussing with mates. And for that reason, I feel it was always going to feel at least a little underwhelming when it finished. It's impossible to satisfy everyone, because we all have different expectations and needs. So I don't blame the show for leaving us feeling that way, I just feel it's own brilliance created that impossibility of perfect closure. More than anything, I was just disappointed that it was over, that I'll never see these characters again.

I thought it was a bit cheesy at the end but I still enjoyed the 'twist' if you can call it that. That basically one of the most nihilistic characters ever created found some kind of meaning/solice in life. MM wrapped up all the awards with that closing scene, if it was ever in doubt.

Some scenes/lines in that finale were just straight-up terrifying to me, and it takes a lot to scare me. Cohle saying 'this is the place Marty' was one, that sister/lover woman telling Marty 'he's gonna get you mister, and he's worse than anyone'... was another. Pretty much every scene that involved the killer and his sister/lover scared the crap out of me if I'm honest. I just don't want to think about shit like that if I can help it.

Simply breathtaking television. The acting, writing, cinematography and music were all of the highest quality. It's hard to rank it because it's so different to every else, but I'd put it comfortably in my top 5. I suppose that is a conversation best left for when we have a few seasons to reflect on. True Detective has raised the bar.
 
Tarrou said:
I still enjoyed the 'twist' if you can call it that. That basically one of the most nihilistic characters ever created found some kind of meaning/solice in life. MM wrapped up all the awards with that closing scene, if it was ever in doubt.
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Yeah I loved that. Rust seeing something (that weird cosmic hallucination just before he got stabbed?) that finally alters his mindset. It could have been extremely cheesy but MM nails the execution, fantastic scene.
 
The series was about the character development of Rust and Marty. It's very possible that Cohle was religious/optimistic before the death of his daughter and that event possibly turned him into a nihilistic character who just doesn't see the point in life looking for suicide. With the background like that, he just couldn't handle many more girls/children being brutalized and murdered and comes back to solve the case. At the end of it all, his views change when it seems to him that the death is really not the end of it (rightly or wrongly) and is left to pick up the pieces of his broken life once again.

I don't know if it's a happy ending for Rust Cohle. It's possible to say that he turned religious and that won't sit well with the Darwin religion.
 
R.N7 said:
Nah, the finale was pretty rapid. I feel like a lot of scenes could have been expanded on more.
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I think we'll have to agree to disagree there. The series was always about the development of Rust and Marty's character and less about the murderer. There were enough scenes about the murder plot and in my opinion, the scenes with Errol and his mother/sister were left there to please the audience to give the background about the murderer. Considering there was an hour left on the show, they cracked the case with 20 minutes left, and even in the 40 minutes before, there was plenty of scenes with Marty and Rust.

The scenes with Errol and his woman, getting her off by telling tales of incest with her grandfather was just about the worst ever you can see in television I suppose.
 
But it does sound cliched when they break the case with something as silly as 'We need to start on this fresh, like green', 'Wait a minute, why green ears, give me photos, here's a green house re-painted'. Ear muffs or Masks could have been much more believable. All this when Rust knew there was a guy with scars who was often with Dora Lange when he first saw Errol the lawnmower man at the abandoned school.
 
kps88 said:
Yeah but they didn't know that until they decided to investigate a random house. All because it was freshly painted green.
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I guess Marty was studying the house in the picture on the wall, noticed the faded green paint and recalled seeing an earlier photo of the freshly painted house.

The only thing that disappointed me about the series is that the gardner/painter being the killer was slightly too obvious but that might just be because I was reading and discussing it online between episodes. Unbelievable series though, definitely up there with the best for me. McConaughey is just top, top notch and the writing and cinematography were simply fantastic.
 
Apart from the acting and direction, shit ending. Didn't answer anything. And before anyone says anything, yes its supposed to! Like

Dora Lang's diary was scribbled with Yellow King.. Why?

What was the point of the video?

What about all those rich people killing?
 
Interval Level said:
Apart from the acting and direction, shit ending. Didn't answer anything. And before anyone says anything, yes its supposed to! Like

Dora Lang's diary was scribbled with Yellow King.. Why?

What was the point of the video?

What about all those rich people killing?
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The Yellow King was related to Carcosa, part of the cult which these people were involved with.
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Notice everything tinged with yellow in this room, also looks like some kind of throne which is an obvious link to the Yellow King.

The video was used to get information from the Sheriff about the case and who was responsible for marking it as "made in error."
 
Kind of conflicted, but overall I feel it was excellent. I can understand the disappointment at the lack of closure on certain aspects of the case and why it'd be flat, but like others have said it was always about the two characters and their arcs. They arguably built up the whole case a bit too much considering revelations were often used for endings, but it wasn't really till the whole 'Yellow King' idea came up in that I thought the whole was that interesting. Up until then, it'd been all about the characters for me.

While it'd have been nice to find out more about who else was involved, I suppose that's life and it's good realism. A lot of things, like Marty's daughter, were made clear to us, but subverted cleverly. When we see something like that in a cop show, it's either important or a red herring. Instead, they took a third path where it's likely that his daughter was involved, but they chose not to resolve it. That is sort of annoying in a way, but it's interesting and different.

The tension in the scenes in the lair was brilliant too, edge of the seat stuff. The direction in the show has been ridiculously good, and that whole sequence allowed them to show off their skill.

Rust's resolution was interesting. Even now I wouldn't see him being the sort of ultra-religious guy who's going to be at church every week, but now he's simply got something to believe in; some sort of purpose and meaning which will at least make him a more optimistic person.

So overall, very good in the places and sort of disappointing, but still really good. Weird finale really, difficult to describe.
 
Agree on nearly all points @Cheesy and I can't help but think if they'd have made it 10 or 12 episodes rather than 8, they could have given us a lot more closure and explanation. Maybe leaving lots of things unresolved was the intention from the start though.
 
walsh said:
Agree on nearly all points @Cheesy and I can't help but think if they'd have made it 10 or 12 episodes rather than 8, they could have given us a lot more closure and explanation. Maybe leaving lots of things unresolved was the intention from the start though.
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Yeah, I think it's clear that they intentionally put stuff in there that we worked out but they never concluded themselves in order to throw us off a little bit, but it'd have been nice if they'd maybe given a tiny bit more closure on something to do with the case, while still leaving the rest of it open.

Next season though, I'd like to see them change it up a bit by perhaps adding to the main cast and giving a more human villain (presuming they have a villain). This was brilliant, obviously, but the main complaint would be that the supporting cast wasn't overly interesting, which was obviously made up for by two superb lead characters and actors. Will be interesting to see what sort of approach they take to it though and what calibre of actors they can land.
 
kouroux said:
The house painted in green belonged to who exactly ? To Dora Lange's family or somebody else ? I was a little confused tbh.
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I'm not 100% sure either but I think it was just one of the house's they canvassed during the Dora Lange case, but it's definitely not someone from her family or anyone directly linked to the crimes.
 
kouroux said:
The house painted in green belonged to who exactly ? To Dora Lange's family or somebody else ? I was a little confused tbh.
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Wasn't it Marie Fontono's family? Remember episode one, when Rust went out to the shed and found a stick sculpture.
 
Loved the finale, damn what a show. The lair scene was terrifying, all the way through they have set the atmosphere perfectly. Only 8 episodes but for me some of the best TV iv ever seen.
 
We're all confused about the dam green house! The way I remember it -

The house was one of the many Rust "canvassed for Johns" while investigating the Dora Lange case. He went around with a picture of Lange and asked randoms in the area whether they knew her or not. While doing this he came across the house. He knocked on the door, got no answer, took a photo and left. It was quite a random scene at the time; now we know why they put it in.

I still think the green paint theory is quite a stretch though.
 
Lynk said:
Wasn't it Marie Fontono's family? Remember episode one, when Rust went out to the shed and found a stick sculpture.
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I have no idea, this is why I need to re-watch it all. I'm a little confused but like @kps88 said, the way they went from the newly paint to finding the killer was a bit too much.
 
I don't think I can remember a show falling off quite so steeply in such a short space of time.

I'd lowered my expectations for the finale and I still found plenty to enjoy but there was some awful stuff in there.

I liked the foreboding atmosphere, the creepy Texas chainsaw family vibe and mostly the cinematography which was stunning (especially the final shots) but wtf happened to the plot? Ok, I'm happy to run with the idea that they haven't caught everyone but a lot of what we didn't see in that last episode reflects poorly on the overall plot in retrospect...e.g wtf what the feck was all that stuff with the daughter about? It makes a mockery of that interview with Pizzolatto where he explicitly states "we aren't trying to trick you". Well you obviously are or why put it in there?

Then there was the the awful "green building" realization which didn't belong in this show at all but fit in quite well with the Scooby Doo reveal at the end of Episode 7.

I'll go back and rewatch but I'm not even too sure I can enjoy it as a character piece because the transformation of Rust even seemed a bit trite and rushed in that final episode. Disappointed but probably more in my own expectations not being met than anything else.

Interested to know if people still rate it as highly as they did after the first 5 episodes...
 
I thought it was fantastic throughout, lost momentum in the 6th episode but overall brilliant throughout.

I don't know why they didn't leap on the green noise-cancelling earmuffs Errol used to wear instead of conjuring up this shit about the green paint thing. There was a cogent explanation at hand for them finding him out, and they instead made that up. Why?
 
DJ Jeff said:
I thought it was fantastic throughout, lost momentum in the 6th episode but overall brilliant throughout.

I don't know why they didn't leap on the green noise-cancelling earmuffs Errol used to wear instead of conjuring up this shit about the green paint thing. There was a cogent explanation at hand for them finding him out, and they instead made that up. Why?
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That's exactly where I thought it was going the whole time. I do actually feel like once the show settled into only showing scenes from the present day, it lost a bit of it's mystery and intrigue.
 
Well the vast majority have labelled the finale as excellent and I have to agree, it was literally edge of your seat television for the most part.

The green house thing is a little weak I guess, but other than that they captured the atmosphere and tension like nothing iv seen before.
 
Rust: Green.
Marty: ...green?
Rust: Green.
Marty: GREEN!

That's literally how the conversation went, almost word for word.
 
CassiusClaymore said:
I don't think I can remember a show falling off quite so steeply in such a short space of time.

I'd lowered my expectations for the finale and I still found plenty to enjoy but there was some awful stuff in there.

I liked the foreboding atmosphere, the creepy Texas chainsaw family vibe and mostly the cinematography which was stunning (especially the final shots) but wtf happened to the plot? Ok, I'm happy to run with the idea that they haven't caught everyone but a lot of what we didn't see in that last episode reflects poorly on the overall plot in retrospect...e.g wtf what the feck was all that stuff with the daughter about? It makes a mockery of that interview with Pizzolatto where he explicitly states "we aren't trying to trick you". Well you obviously are or why put it in there?

Then there was the the awful "green building" realization which didn't belong in this show at all but fit in quite well with the Scooby Doo reveal at the end of Episode 7.

I'll go back and rewatch but I'm not even too sure I can enjoy it as a character piece because the transformation of Rust even seemed a bit trite and rushed in that final episode. Disappointed but probably more in my own expectations not being met than anything else.

Interested to know if people still rate it as highly as they did after the first 5 episodes...
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Totally agree with this.

There was lots to like, but the green paint thing breaking the case is lame in the extreme. And Rust's transformation was just cheesy and out of place.

Obviously a lot of loose ends left undone, which is fine, but weak aspects like the above let it all down.
 
And we still don't know why some of the bodies were left out in the open but that's probably less of an issue considering the guy in charge is either suffering from multiple personality disorder or just likes showboating his range of accents before flicking his sisters bean. The English one was very Oliver Reed. :lol:
 
DJ Jeff said:
I completely disagree about Rust's "transformation". He doesn't transform.. he changes in the mildest sense of change.
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Yeah, it's development as opposed to transformation, which makes sense for his character when he'd largely remained the same throughout the series. Despite already being a brilliant character, it made sense to change him in some way.
 
No, it was definitely a transformation after he had a very vivid and explicitly explained 'near death experience'.

It couldn't have been any more of a transformation unless he'd changed into a robot car.

It flipped his entire life perspective 180 degrees.
 
Only watch if you've seen the finale:



I'm not gonna lie. I enjoyed it but was left a bit miffed about the lack of answers regarding a few things
 
Huh? He said he could feel his loved ones waiting for him. That's about as far removed from 'nothingness' after death as you can get.
 
Even Pizzolatto says that, I've seen.

"Where we leave Cohle, this man hasn't made a 180 change or anything like that. He's moved maybe 5 degrees on the meter, but the optimistic metaphor he makes at the end, it's not sentimental; it's purely based on physics."

Note also that after Cohle says he felt their love he slipped into oblivion. He doesn't think this loving afterlife is permanent.
 
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