Can't say for sure, but those toys seemed like she was just recreating a crime scene to me. She probably saw the Lange murder on the news.
Television True Detective | Season 2 Spoilers
- Thread starter Dirty Schwein
- Start date
Old people remembering minute details doesn't surprise me. That's exactly the thing my grandfather would remember.
Mine thinks I'm my Dad.
Quite a shame, went from being a runner for one of the great series of all time, to a very good series with the last 3 episodes, the 7th episode in particular was particularly mediocre. I get what they were trying to do with the ending but the lack of closure in real life is unsatisfying and annoying! That isn't to say every programme should have absolute closure,but it frankly comes across as lazy to just leave a whole host of legitimate questions unanswered. Like the story was wrote and he couldn't think of a way to adequately answer them.
Still, the actual bit when they got to the house was genuinely very good and the horror film like atmosphere they created was excellent. It was still a very good series, its just a bit disappointing given the first half of the show. I can't help but feel everytime I see the writers interviews that he thinks its a lot smarter than it actually is, and that ultimately came to the detriment of the show.
Still, the actual bit when they got to the house was genuinely very good and the horror film like atmosphere they created was excellent. It was still a very good series, its just a bit disappointing given the first half of the show. I can't help but feel everytime I see the writers interviews that he thinks its a lot smarter than it actually is, and that ultimately came to the detriment of the show.
I agree with this. Saying it ruined the series is being ridiculously melodramatic. It'd be like saying this year's Moyes-inspired fiasco has completely ruined last year's title-winning sending to SAF.
If the writer was Swedish or Danish the show would have ended with both of them being dead, or at least one of them.
Yep, agree with most on here that it was a little bit disappointing but aesthetically well done.
The scenes involving Childress and his half sister just seemed like a lazy way to provoke a shock reaction, not to mention daddy in the shed. Reminded me of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, which isn't good.
The scenes involving Childress and his half sister just seemed like a lazy way to provoke a shock reaction, not to mention daddy in the shed. Reminded me of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, which isn't good.
I know I would have!
Yeah, the green ears/green house thing was fecking bananas. I could accept lots of unanswered questions but that was doolally. Has the writer explained what the hell was supposed to have been going on there?
e08 aside, I have a major beef with something in e01 that was never properly explained. The link between the dead whore with antlers and the missing girl who ended up in the snuff video. How the hell did the investigation get from one to the other?
e08 aside, I have a major beef with something in e01 that was never properly explained. The link between the dead whore with antlers and the missing girl who ended up in the snuff video. How the hell did the investigation get from one to the other?
Have you watched episodes 02 - 07 ?
Nah, figured 1 and 8 would suffice...
Of course I've watched them all. The missing girl took up the last 20 minutes of the very first episode. With absolutely no explanation as to why they started investigating her case. They just rocked up at her stroked out uncle's gaff for no apparent reason. Hence my question. Perhaps you could fill me in on what I overlooked?
Of course I've watched them all. The missing girl took up the last 20 minutes of the very first episode. With absolutely no explanation as to why they started investigating her case. They just rocked up at her stroked out uncle's gaff for no apparent reason. Hence my question. Perhaps you could fill me in on what I overlooked?
Most of it was done in the first episode. When they were asking around about the antler girl, someone said something like "do you mean the Fontenot girl?". They then visited the Fontenot family (uncle I think) and found the stick thing in her backyard. Further digging lead to them to discover the strange circumstances behind her case and a possible cover up.
Exactly. Why did someone say that? What was the connection between her and the antler girl?
That's without even getting into the humungous fecking coincidence that of all the dozens of missing kids allegedly kidnapped over the years they start investigating the one girl who ends up with a starring role in that snuff video.
I think it's pretty obvious the actual detective stuff was not Pizzolatto's forte.
Also, unfortunately, he comes across like a massive bell melt in every interview I've seen.
Also, unfortunately, he comes across like a massive bell melt in every interview I've seen.
Meh. I can put that down to it being a small town and it's not everyday girls go missing.
Really? That's annoying. I wanted to love this show so badly. Pisses me off that basic errors in the plot have taken the gloss off.
Like I said, a few loose ends would have been fine but all these crazy coincidences in the investigation make the whole thing seem less good in retrospect. It seemed to take the procedural stuff quite seriously too.
You know I even rewatched that scene to work out the link. They were standing round at the station, discussing the antler girl's habit of turning tricks at truck stops and someone said, completely out of the blue, "we've got a name, Marie Fontenaux".
Total non sequitor. Bringing up a case from years ago that nobody ever thought was sinister at all. Not sure it was even a case? Didn't they accept the idea she'd gone off with one of her parents? Really strange and clunky bit of narrative.
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Oh and one more thing. When Marty was playing golf with the dude they interrogated on the boat, there was a moment when the sinister music swelled and he looked all constipated. Presumably because yer man had let something slip which implicated him. What, though? He just gave the same explanation for the disappearance they'd heard before. What else could he say? What did Marty expect to hear? Why did that moment suddenly confirm their suspicions to a point where they decided to kidnap him at gun point?
Anyway, don't want to remember the show for all the plot-holes. I can usually take a few plot-holes and I still massively enjoyed the series overall. The killer painting his own ears green, though. The same green as a random freshly painted house they photographed 15 years ago. I mean, ffs. Is that the most stupid plot contrivance in the history of film/tv? Has to be right up there.
It's a stupid way to reveal things when the writers could have used something more sensible than green fecking paint. What if that house was painted in blue 
?
?All they needed to do was find a way to establish a link between the tall scarred dude everyone was talking about and his real identity.
There was so many ways it could have been done without that ludicrous green ears leap of faith. That's what drives me nuts about bad writing. You got a bunch of presumably intelligent people sitting round a table deciding that yes, this is definitely the best way to move the narrative along. Beggars belief that nobody at that table put his hand up and said "I'm not really getting this... You're saying he spilled some paint on his ears? Both of them, right?"
There was so many ways it could have been done without that ludicrous green ears leap of faith. That's what drives me nuts about bad writing. You got a bunch of presumably intelligent people sitting round a table deciding that yes, this is definitely the best way to move the narrative along. Beggars belief that nobody at that table put his hand up and said "I'm not really getting this... You're saying he spilled some paint on his ears? Both of them, right?"
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They stuck out of his hat supposedly too, I'd have preferred if they used something that was theorized by many people all over the internet like those ear muffs coupled with the fact he was lawn mower (the Childress company was about painting and landscaping among other things). Wtf did the writer smoke when he came up with that moment ?
How something ends has a huge influence on how you consider the whole later. I considered the Battlestar Galactica finale to be so bad that I basically couldn't watch any Battlestar Galactica for a few years. It's hard not connecting early episodes you're watching again with what you know is going to happen later.
Yeah, that's the most obvious way to resolve things. One of them staring out the window, sees someone cutting a lawn wearing green ear protectors. Looks up at drawing. Eureka! Then they do digging about who cut lawns/did maintenance at the Tuttle schools and it all comes together nicely. Lawns had been a recurring motif too, with the Marty getting in a strop when Rusty cut his lawn. Seems such an obvious bit of writing in hindsight.
There's also the scene where Rusty explores the run-down old school and finds loads of creepy stuff inside. That's another way to link the dude who was maintaining the school grounds with the bad guy. Instead, that whole scene served no purpose whatsoever.
It's crazy that you could watch an episode of Miss Marple and get a far better whodunnit than what was served up here and it really takes away from my enjoyment of the series as a whole. Which is nuts because I absolutely loved it up until the last couple of episodes. The writer had built up so much goodwill it took a monumental feck-up to make me feel as ambivalent about the series as I do now. A monumental feck-up that was really a piece of piss to avoid. Baffling.
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Worst ending to a good show, ever. Disappointed that a series which paid a lot of attention to detail and created so much mystery in the first seven episodes let the plot unravel in the manner in which it did. All the build up until that point was hastily wrapped up in the series finale. A lot of parallel storylines were completely ignored and the conclusion to main storyline was underwhelming. A bit daft, tbh.
In the end, the only thing I would remember the show by is for Rust's monologues rather than any "True" detective work.
In the end, the only thing I would remember the show by is for Rust's monologues rather than any "True" detective work.
I was pretty invested in the first seven episodes so reluctant to admit the failures of the ending but I think I can say that, despite the tension and excitement it stirred in me when watching it, it was a bit of a failure.
Mockney's point that Rust's mild change has absolutely nothing to do with the events of the case or series is a real smoking gun for me. It's so.. amateurish. The CSI-esque fight scene. The ridiculous green-ears thing when so many better ways of finding Errol were available for the writer.
The stupid way Rust followed Errol instead of just waiting for Marty, or calling back Papania and Gilborough.
The weak shoehorning of Rust's "hallucinations" back into the show after about 5 episodes without one, maybe even six episodes.
It's weird. It was so good. It hinted at so, so much. Then it just turned into a really weak whodunnit with (for some bizarre reason) a stereotypical redneck as the killer, who was not helped by some conspiracy but instead was helped by police incompetence. It was a "Well Marty, I guess in the end we really were.. True Detectives." away from being abysmal.
Mockney's point that Rust's mild change has absolutely nothing to do with the events of the case or series is a real smoking gun for me. It's so.. amateurish. The CSI-esque fight scene. The ridiculous green-ears thing when so many better ways of finding Errol were available for the writer.
The stupid way Rust followed Errol instead of just waiting for Marty, or calling back Papania and Gilborough.
The weak shoehorning of Rust's "hallucinations" back into the show after about 5 episodes without one, maybe even six episodes.
It's weird. It was so good. It hinted at so, so much. Then it just turned into a really weak whodunnit with (for some bizarre reason) a stereotypical redneck as the killer, who was not helped by some conspiracy but instead was helped by police incompetence. It was a "Well Marty, I guess in the end we really were.. True Detectives." away from being abysmal.
I never had a problem with that. It was a very Rust thing to do. He did similar with the Biker gang and with Ledoux. Rust told Marty to go call it in, he wouldn't go back because he knew Rust would go in there without him. "Stakes ain't that high anyway, if I get found I take a bullet to the head"
Before that scene Marty had explained to Rust that the Deputy (Golf course guy) took the initial complaint (not the Sheriff), but on the Golf course he told Marty that the Sheriff took the complaint and he hadn't even spoken to the family directly.
At this point the creepy music kicks-in to let us know that Marty knows he's bull-shitting.
Also, he totally rips off George W Bush with his 'Now watch this' line!
So the fact that Marty Hart solved the green ears mystery in a somewhat contrived way somehow lessened the impact of episode four (the housing project episode)? I just don't see it.
I do, however, agree that bad endings can have an impact on what came before. Breaking Bad instantly springs to mind. But I really don't think True Detective last episode was guilty of anything other than failing to live up to the incredibly high standards of the first 5 episodes.
For me, the detective work aspect was always secondary to the central characters. My principal complaint with the last episode, and it's a fairly minor one, is that too much time was spent with the serial killer (his name escapes me at the moment.) If anything, I felt it came a bit too close to the horror/thriller conventions that Pizzolatto had claimed he had zero interest in.
Really, what has he said? I've only read one relatively short interview with him (the one where he claims not to be into serial killer stories.)
The quest to solve the case was what everything was built around. I would say it was pretty central to the whole deal.
The way it was brought to an abrupt closure with the green monster, green ears, green house revelation was ludicrous. Then they walk to the lady in an old home and she remembers the color she got the house painted, the cost and the man with scars on his face accurately, all some 20 years after a simple paint job to her house.
The pictures, the videotape etc. all were of Marie Fontenot - a girl, whose name they had stumbled upon accidentally. Why weren't there pictures of other victims in Billy Lee Tutle's safe? These guys kidnapped and killed 100's of women and children but why did they make a show of the two women 17 years apart? What was the significance?
I found the whole last 10 minutes where Rust finds God a bit OTT too. It seemed like an attempt to overcomplicate thing to hide away from real issues. In the end all we need is God, rest everyone will get their comeuppance through natural order.
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Blah blah blah 'characters'. What is this defence supposed to mean exactly? Every show that's ever been any good ever has been about the characters more than the plot.
I really don't see why it was too much to expect a reasonably satisfying conclusion to the case alongside a satisfying narrative arc for the characters.
And on that subject I didn't think even that was particularly well done in the last few episodes. Marty and Rust giving each other the finger, the little gift, "tell me about the stars Rust". It all came across a bit forced.
I really don't see why it was too much to expect a reasonably satisfying conclusion to the case alongside a satisfying narrative arc for the characters.
And on that subject I didn't think even that was particularly well done in the last few episodes. Marty and Rust giving each other the finger, the little gift, "tell me about the stars Rust". It all came across a bit forced.
Just watched the finale last night, I feel the same way. The finale felt so rushed, even Rusty's realisation/awakening was a bit zzzz. It was a great piece of acting but it felt flat to me. I assume it's because of everything that happened before. I will watch the series again at some point but I felt 1 hour wasn't long enough for the finale, too many lose ends.
Again I don't care about loose ends (probably why I wasn't that thrilled with the Breaking Bad finale.) If anything, I thought the final episode rushed a bit too much to tie up certain things (unnecessary exposition regarding the serial killer and his house of horrors, the aforementioned contrivance of the green ear clue.) I think the show went from being a 10/10 for the first 5 episodes, an 8/10 for the next two, and a 7/10 for the finale. So overall, a very good experience.
Yeah, from the moment they did the green ears/green house leap of faith I felt so irritated and disappointed it was really hard to relax and enjoy the rest of the episode.
Might actually enjoy it more on repeat viewing. There were some really beautifully shot and acted scenes in the final 10-15 minutes (the long shot of Rust in a hospital bed, with all the stars reflecting off the window, was really stunning).
Such a pity that I watched it while I could think was "He painted his own fecking ears green?! I mean, come on..."
I think the worst part is that it was supposed to be a culmination of Marty's constant "you always miss the obvious things that are right there" lines throughout, as if the writers thought "well yeah, this is really a f*cking easy one to miss, the guy has has painted a house green and has green ears, I mean, DUH"
Was his daughter caught having a threesome a build up to that? Out of the left field, that one.