Soooo... Season 2 of True Detective on HBO is in the books and I have had a night to digest the season as a whole. I wanted to start writing this article last week, but I thought it best to reserve judgement until the full story was told. If I learned anything from watching various TV shows lately its that: a) a good finale can totally change the trajectory that a show has been on for a whole season and b) the events in the finale might actually make up for any shortcomings that the show may have created for a viewer. I definitely want to give Nic Pizzolato the chance he deserves to tell his own story. Anybody that knows ME or follows us on social media (search CCD.NYC on all media platforms and find us) knows that early on in Season 2 of TD I took the "wait and see what happens" approach before condemning the show. It gave me enough imagery and potential in the first few episodes to spur my interests, and I had high hopes for a second half comeback on the show the way Harrelson & McConaughey came through in the end. But now that it is all over, I am sitting back and shaking my head wondering what "could have/should have" been in the sequel season of the century. So here are my 5 biggest problems with the show, and in my humble opinion the reasons why the show disappointed so many people. Enjoy....
So, before we jump right in to my 5 reasons, let me just preface this with a few facts. The 1st season of TD, which I (among millions of others) loved, was not perfect from beginning to end. Anybody who says that they were 100% on board from the very beginning of the show is lying. My wife actually STOPPED watching it after episode #4 and never cam back. A lot of people were employing the strategy of hanging in and hoping for more... that is a fine assessment to have had. I tried to use this same strategy as I watched this season. Great minds think alike! But it was by no means perfect, especially not week to week. You can look back on the completed season 1 and say you dug it. But you can't tell me around episode 4 or 5 you weren't thinking of abandoning ship. So I am not writing this article just to spew hate on this season, or pile on. Just know that I really, really, REALLY wanted to like this season. The final product just didn't garner that reaction from me, so I gotta at least try and explain what I think went wrong.
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| Shhhhh... Spoilers Ahead!!! |
I personally LOVE every single one of the main characters in the show. I have long thought Colin Farrell a great actor who gets a bad rap. Vince Vaughn has been in some of my all time favorite comedy movies. Rachel McAdams? Love her in almost everything I have seen her in (especially the Notebook... don't judge me!). And Taylor Kitsch. Well, lets just say that I have liked a bunch of the projects he has been in but I seem to be in the minority. Most have been lambasted as the "Worst Ever" in the respective categories (Wolverine: Origins - worst X-Men movie, Battleship - worst adaption of a non literary property, and John Carter - Worst ruination of a possible tent pole franchise in movie history). Let's just say it seems like the young actor possess the "Kitsch of Death" (thank you Jeff Bond for this pun), and the streak continues with TD season 2.
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| Scummy at its finest since James Woods... |
Now I must start by saying that I don't particularly mind any of the above actors in the roles they played. I thought they all delivered pretty good performances. But I am curious why Pizzolato would push the envelope so hard to cast THESE actors against type so much. Farrell is the most accurately cast of the bunch. He has made a career of playing angst filled characters that have a scummy appearance yet can be attractive and righteous in the end.
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| Step aside, I'm in charge... |
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| I am literally more afraid of EVERYONE in this picture than Vince Vaughn |
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| Please stop hating me! |
2) Why all the side bars and plots that don't pay off?
Here is what I don't get. The season is UNREALISTICALLY short. 8 episodes? Huh? 10 is the absolute minimum amount you need to tell such a dense story. 12 is more realistic. But here is the funny thing. The reason why they did it in 8 is because most of the side plots and tangential stories didn't ever factor into the main storyline and never pay the fuck off. Casper and his sex addiction? His sex house and crazy masks? Even though Kitsch has dashboard cam footage of him NOT doing anything wrong to the starlet he pulled over, she somehow can keep coming after him withe hearsay and ruining his career? Why did the guy have to wear the Bird Mask to complete the two murders? McAdams dad being a yogi and running a child molester friendly compound? Farrell's wife being a huge hard ass when she could have found out the paternity of the kid in episode #2? Woodrugh's fucked up momma and his hot piece of baby momma ass being left in that hotel? Vince Vaughn and his red headed beauty of a wife not being able to have kids? Grandpa Velcoro and how Ray is connected to the corrupt cops? The coke addicted mayor of Vinci and his wacky ass family? The drug cartel that pops up mid season and weaves in and out of the story until they help bring it to a close with no real connection to anything? These are just a few...
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| The real Birdman ain't got shit on me... |
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| Why do these guys look like this? |
3) Why the hell didn't the story end up being about any of the main characters?
In the end, the story really wasn't about the main 4 characters. Bottom Line. The beginning of the story involves a whole bunch of corrupt cops from 1992 that robbed a jewelry store during the riots that created a pair of orphan twins (which we only get small tidbits of until the final episode), the middle of the story is about a massive land deal be brokered by a sexual deviant who dies in one of the opening scenes of the season, and the finale of the story is about the shady land deal actually going through and the possibility that they may get exposed in the future. Maybe. Wait... what? The whole beginning, middle and end of this story has very little to do with our main 4 characters.
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| Your remember these guys right? The main characters.... |
The middle sees the core 4 characters kind of affect the whole story, but not really. Semyon is a criminal who is used as a mark by bigger crooks then him (the Russian mob, Caspere, etc) as they scam him into believing he is more important to the project than he is. They are just going to back stab him and steal his money, Semyon is probably just one of many "marks" this bigger crime syndicate has lined up. Velcoro is Semyon's self created "cop on the take", a one man wrecking crew that helps Frank get stuff done. But again, that his only real connection to the Land Deal Syndicate. Ani is just a female cop who happened to be sexually abused as a kid and her now sexual deviant nature allows her to infiltrate and expose the sex ring that conveniently houses all the PAPER RECORDS of the Land Deal Syndicate and can tie Caspere to the bad guys. And Kitsch is drawn into this whole story as a guy with a death wish joyriding his motorcycle in a slight suicide attempt who happens upon Caspere's dead body. Really? WTF...
And in the final moments, we see a united front of Seymon's wife and Ani in Mexico with all of the incriminating "paperwork" and a new Velcoro baby (they did only have sex once, right? Damn super sperm strikes again!) ready to blow the lid off of the Land Syndicate and their deal. Wait... didn't Frank send his boy and his wife to Oregon? And wasn't Ani sent to Mexico? So when Velcoro and Semyon don't show up to meet their girls, these chicks just happen to link up? How? Frank wanted his lady AWAY from everyone who could tie her to him. Hence the exile to OREGON. Velcoro wanted to protect Ani, hence the exile to Mexico. Yet they are able to track each other down and meet up, throw on floppy hats, and mount up to take down the Land Deal Syndicate?
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| Boss Bitches.... |
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| Message Not Uploaded... probably not a great idea to drive up into the mountains/forest |
4) Why make the main villains of the story and the whole real problem of Season 2 take place in 1992 and not be part of the story the whole season?
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| Remember this scene? The only time you meet "Lenny" in the whole show prior to the Finale! |
This reminded me a lot of last season how they "miraculously" concluded that Errol Childress, was the killer. A dude that before episode #8 of lasts season only appeared in a few scenes in TWO EPISODES. And then there he was, the big bad. There was literally NO WAY that anyone could have REMOTELY connected him to the storyline being played out by the writers up until that point. Same hold true here. Lenny comes out of the cobwebs of just ONE EPISODE as the whole catalyst for everything. C'mon. Don't make it so EASY that I solve it, but make it a bit more than having me have to Goggle who the fucking character actually is that makes the whole story work!
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| Remember me? The bad guy no one saw coming in Season 1 |
This last thing ticked me off. One of the biggest disappoints of last years show was the conclusion that most of the supernatural occurrences that happened throughout the show ended up being more allegorical and in the characters minds than it seemed. These spiritual occurrences seem to be more aberrations than fact, and the existence of an actual killer (Errol Childress) instead of a dark, maleficent force being behind the whole thing really pissed off some people as they were waiting for a dark forces payoff in the reveal. But I liked the way Pizzolato used the supernatural stuff to forward the story and ultimately chalk it up to mostly Rust being batshit crazy. That and the possibility of a cult that Childress was loosely part of... maybe. They have steered CLEAR of all that wacky muckity muck this season, giving us a police procedural show with a dense story... until the very end.
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| Add ghosts of tormentors past here.... |
So that is that. I'm not saying I hated Season 2 of TD, but it certainly fell very short of my expectations. They can't all be winners, and I am willing to wait it out to the end. But ultimately, this show was a little to convoluted and not enough was paid off in the end. You disagree? Feel free to blast off in the comments sections below....
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| Cheers to the haters like Mike D! |
On the whole, I'm the guy that couldn't be MORE happy about this season, as well as it's predecessor. While others spent time scratching their heads, worrying whether they were getting taken for a ride, or simply jumping ship...I was glued to the set each week hanging on each and every word and flipping out when the credits rolled ...only because I'd have to wait another 7 days for more!I think it was written and directed well. I thought ALL of the characters were brilliant in their own way and the actors that portrayed them did a fantastic job.
ReplyDeleteLet me say that I'm not certain why the the creators of this show would seemingly seek out four big Hollywood names that are synonymous with either box office failure (cough 'Kitsch of Death') or normally type-casted in a completely different character direction. Perhaps someone has something to prove...either the casting director, the shows creator or the actors themselves but, I was just fine with the performances as delivered and I think this series did a pretty good job of opening up future roles, than the ones we're accustomed to from these actors.
Let's get into it, though, shall we?
First and foremost, I'm confused as to why you would suggest Vince Vaughn was the "big bad" of this season. That must simply be a writing mistake on your part. You did see that the 'Big Bad' of this season was a collection shady land developers that knew each other for decades and used wild sex parties to push the deals forward behind the whole town's back, including the back of Frank Semyon.
This might be a wild concept. But, If anything, I was under the impression that Frank Semyon was one of this season's True Detectives. A guy, similar to Ray Velcoro, who came up through the system the wrong way and who was now on a better path. Both spent the larger half of this season investigating the death of THE main victim Ben Caspere in their own way with the tools they had at their disposal. Both were anti-heroes in my opinion.
This white horse = 'good guy' & black hat = 'big bad' thing, you and I were raised on, hardly exists anymore. There's no longer He-Man and Skeletor.....G.I. Joe & Cobra.....There's a wonderfully gifted boy that makes poor choices and goes down the path to become Darth Vader. There's Maleficent who, instead of an inherently ugly witch, was a beautiful wronged child that took revenge on an kingdom formerly viewed as one of pure light. Netflix's Daredevil & Kingpin whom both have streaks of good and bad in them. There's no time to push a peg marked 'Velcoro' or 'Semyon' into a hole marked 'Hero' or 'Villain'. Everyone on film and TV are human these days...sometimes they do good things and somedays they make poor judgements. I haven't decided if I love that or hate it but, it does make the story less predictable and more interesting in the long run.
I disagree with you that most of the series' smaller plot lines didn't pay off.
ReplyDelete-Caspere's sex addiction didn't pay off?! It was the basis of this whole series. He went to fuck-parties with the other shady business dealers. Stemming from those parties he fucked both the victim of the jewelry store robbery and later HER daughter who turns out is actually HIS daughter! (Guh-ross) The Perpetrators of this WHOLE murder...killed Caspere because of these sex crimes that lead to the sexual abuse and murders of their parents! Case Closed.
-Lenny wore the bird mask because he simply took it off the wall where Caspere's other animal heads hung. Check the episode where Lenny/Birdman shoots Velcoro. There's clearly a few animal heads on display on the wall and there's simply one missing and a blank mannequin head sits between a goat and something else. He wasn't 'The Birdman' killer or anything. He just grabbed something creepy to cover his face that was right there in plane sight! Same as when he grabbed an odd white mask, presumably from the apololyptic movie set. When he tried to dump and burn the car used in the crime near the home of a would-be-suspect.
-As you hinted, Ray Velcoro's ex didn't get the paternity test done sooner because that was the only thing keeping Velcoro from going completely mental. He pleaded with her regularly, do anything you gotta do but, don't have the tests done. He didn't want a paper telling him what he already believed in his heart. He'd sooner give his son UP than have her get those tests done. She only had it done at the end, in a strange moment of grief...or perhaps she had it done sooner, unbeknownst to us, and was simply reflecting on it in the shows final moments.
The mayor's son? Velcoro's dad? Woodrugh's mom ...fiance'...impending child? This is all there to show that, for better or worse, 'life goes on' after the series ends. After the loss of the son he helped fuck up, Maybe Velcoro Sr. reaches out to his grandson who, you know, is now in possession of his badge. Maybe Woodrugh's mom finally finds some peace in life by helping with her soon-to-be grandchild. Maybe the new mayor of Vinci goes down a new road of corruption. Who knows. None of this needs clarification. Again, it's just proof that life goes on.
-I don't think the Mexican drug cartel was magically 'popping up' anymore than were any other character or characters in each of the 8 episodes. Did Holloway 'pop up'..Dixon? Osip? Velcoro's son? Woodrugh's male lover? If you have 8 episodes and any of these characters or groups make it in to 3 or 4 of those episodes I think they are doing pretty well, no? All of them help to drive the plot.
There in lies the problem Jeff. This Land Deal cartel throwing sex parties still keep ALL of their IMPORTANT PAPERWORK at this undisclosed cabin where the sex parties occur... even after the death of Caspere? Really? That seems awfully convenient. They would be on the defensive, and the most certainly would have a much more secure location to keep their "plans". Yet they are sitting right there in an unguarded office, for Kitsch & Velcoro to snatch up MID SEX PARTY!
DeleteKind of like how Woody and Matt lept from a house painting receipt to the idea of the Spaghetti Monster being the maintenance man and ultimately leading them to Carcosa. All that material and evidence to pour over, and then boom "didn't this house get painted? By who...." leads them to the bad guy.
I didn't like it then, I didn't like it now. It is like the wrote Caspere as a sex creep from ep #1 so that they can eventually infiltrate a sex party and get all the paperwork in ep #5 or #6 . Dumb
The Mexican Cartel came in Episode #4 or 5, and were only here or there from then on. All of the sudden at the end they were Larger Than Life... A bigger threat than the Russians (who Frank fucked over with the fires and killed a bunch of their men?) & the Black Water op guys who were obviously onto Velcoro but didn't know about his bossman? Weird...
And there is no defending the main bad guy, Lenny, only appearing 1 time before the finale. They didn't even start revealing the jewelry heist/murder aspect of the 92 plot until ep 6 or 7. Not fair...
Just my opinion, you are entitled to yours. I was glued to the TV too... just don't like the final product!
I understand where you're coming from with this new point about the necessary paperwork being at the secluded cabin where they hold private sex parties and the people invited all have to be on the same page so no one gets ratted on but, isn't that EXACTLY where the best place to keep said paperwork? You're grasping at too many straws. First of all, If I were hiding a double-life away from my family at a secluded cabin where I have both secret business meetings away from the general public and insane sexual parties...wouldn't that be the perfect place to also keep my secret files in my secret cabin office? BUT (and I could be wrong) I don't even necessarily think they were KEEPING these files there (although I'd stand by their decision to do so if there's proof that I'm overlooking that said files where stored there) The paperwork was just there in that scene when they needed to be signed. Who's to say they didn't relocate all those files once they were done at that particular event?
DeleteAlso, I think you're dwelling, too much, on the Mexican cartel. They popped up in the story line looking to run drugs in Semyon's club after he took it over from the chubbster with gold teeth in the 2nd or 3rd Ep (correct me if I'm wrong) just as simply as Semyon popped up in that bakery looking to do business with those Eastern Europeans. They weren't THE major group of organized criminals in this series (but were kinda scary)...they were just one of many. The reason they seem SoOo prominent by the end of the series might be because they were responsible for Semyon's demise. That demise wasn't really one that they chose either. They just abducted Semyon to 'renegotiate' again after Semyon burned the clubs down stopping there drug sales and costing them money. Yes, they had a grave dug for him in case he refused compensation but, they were satisfied with the renegotiation until the altercation over Semyon's suit. (which was really just an add-insult-to injury kind of thing. Like knocking a kid down in high school and than telling him to give you his sneakers. give up the sneakers and you walk) I'm fairly certain they'd have let Semyon walk home, unscathed, had he given up both the million and the suit but, it became a principle thing for Frank.
DeleteNow, I want to say that I know the characters and dialogue are dense but, at the end of the day these are police procedurals in my opinion. The trouble I have with all of those network CSI & NCIS type of shows is that they present a crime and solve it within one episode....sure a few days or maybe even a month go by within the ep but, come on, you know crimes do NOT get solved in that type of time span. TD takes a crime and stretches it out to a realistic time frame. Months....years.......sometimes the case seems to go completely cold on our detectives.....but, that's what makes it real. At it's root it is a REALISTIC version of a police procedural.
ReplyDeleteThe reason I point this out it because, since some heavy-hitters choose to sign up for this show each season, some people seem to be watching this series as if they were simply character pieces solely about the detectives...and that's OK. But, when the detectives turn out to be people you don't completely care for than you look to jump ship on the show. Millions of people watch CSI and NCIS and all these other spin offs each week....but, I don't hear anyone talking about LL Cool J or Sam Watterson's characters in conjunction with their shows like I do Matthew McConaughey or Colin Farrell's characters. There tuning in for the crime and to see it solved. I know I'm going to get attacked for that opinion but, if you intend to give season 3 a shot...try watching it as a realistic police procedural rather than as characters pieces....than you won't let so much weight lay on the shoulders of it's detectives.
But, If you're trying THAT hard to like this series, please simply give up. Why do viewers these days continuously tune in for shows and films that keep making them angry. There's a billion other shows available. Find one that suits you from soup to nuts and keep at it!
Finally, let me just say that I was COMPLETELY on board with season 1....and I don't think I'm reaching when I say so was my better half and a few others I spoke to regularly throughout the first season. To make a accusation that people are liars if they say they dug it right out the box, is just poor blogsmanship.
There was a LOT going on this season as well as last. I agree. After each season's end, I was more than satisfied. Honestly, my ONLY major gripe (if you can believe it) was that both seasons ended in similar fashion with TOO MUCH extra ending. I was satisfied that both stories were complete around the 3/4 mark of each finale. The events that followed seemed kind of tacked on in both cases...but, to me that's like whipped cream on top of ice cream...I simply ordered the ice cream but, if you're handing out whipped cream as well..I'll take it!
Maybe it's the jedi training I received from 6 seasons of patiently sifting through episodes of 'Lost' week to week (a lot of which, decidedly, contained red-herring story lines) but, this shows speaks to me. I have been completely immersed in this series and I CAN NOT wait to see what season 3 will hold.
I was on board with Season 1 throughout, and I loved the final result. I also reserved my judgement for this season until it ended.... and I had hope that it would even out and satisfy me by the end. In my opinion, it didn't... that is just me though.
DeleteEveryone is certainly entitled to theirs...
The polarizing chatter occurring from season 1 and season 2 has made one thing evident to me. I'm going to request that you allow me to recap season 3 on CCD like I did with 'Lost', week-to-week, so we can hash it out together as it's happening. There's ZERO doubt in my mind, at this point, that HBO will greenlight a 3rd season. Everyone was still watching it even while saying they hated it!
DeleteCan't. Wait. Get in there...
DeleteMD
I was onboard TS season 1 from the opening scene. Breathtakingly shot and amazing dialogue. A lot of people were as well, my FB feed blew up with people commenting on it after it debuted.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. BTW weren't those shots of the California highways in TD 2 a thing of beauty?!
DeleteTD season 1
ReplyDeleteI was so in love with 98 percent of the first season. If not for that tacked on ending that solved no mystery ruined what up to that point I viewed as one of the greatest shows EVER on TV. Then came season two and for most of it I had NO idea what was going on. I couldn't follow the crime or the conspiracy. Nothing was layed out for me like I expected or had been used to expecting. That frustrated me. But I was so upset how great the finale was and how much I cared about the fate of these characters. The way Vic's message never got out. And poor doomed Frank. He never had a chance from the start. But looking back I like the season more and more. It really did all make sense in the end. Are lives amount to the hard decisions we make or are forced to make and how we live with ourselves after tragedy all but consumes us. No happy endings. No redemption. Just collateral damage. But now I have to admit I would watch a good revenge fantasy with those two women and that baby we saw at the end. What are they up to? Only at the end did you capture my interest True Detective. I just wish you could have given me more to chew on as we went along.
ReplyDeleteThat's fair. I agree with most of you assessment. I disagree that there wasn't enough to chew on, though. If anything there was TOO much to chew on...but, I'd say it was perfect for my consumption.
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