True Detective (here be SPOILERS)

[RainDog]

42. hmmmm

Last edited Mon Mar 10, 2014, 06:16 PM - Edit history (1)

maybe endings are hard.

I have a lot I'd like to say, but it's all Monday morning quarterbacking. The first two acts were spectacularly strong, based upon the contrasts between the stories being told and the stories lived. The final act, the last two episodes (Pizzolato said he viewed this as a three act work, with the first three episodes as a first act, episodes 5 and 6 as the second act - and the last two as the final act) lacked and suffered from the lack of the structure of the first 6 - because the two were no longer being interviewed - but the reason doesn't matter - what matters is how the windy narrative became a straight line.

The last two episodes lost the tone of the first 6 - because of what story was told and how.

They felt flat, rather than eerie - and the expectation was that the reveal of the killer's lair would be a "psychotic" display - which would come from the story and the camera - and Rust's experience.

Rust's epiphany...whatever. I saw the "Inside the Episode" for this last ep. Pizzolato said this epiphany was "grounded in physics" and I sort of smiled.

If I were an obnoxious producer, I would've said the last two episodes needed to have more of an emotional/situational impact than the drug/money heist with Ginger. Marty and Rust made up too easily - Rust should've done something that made Marty doubt Rust's sanity, and made the audience wonder as well - this is the "through line" of Rust's story that was dropped when he walked out of the interview with the detectives. The pace didn't feel right, for me - but, you know, all of these things are just personal reactions, not absolutes.

Things were not explained that are biggies - why put the bodies on display for a few, but not all of the victims? Did I miss this somewhere? Errol wasn't asking to be found out - he occasionally left bodies... for no clearly understood reason.

The stuff with Marty's daughter was disturbing - in that it was just some sort of red herring.

The thing I liked best about the last episode was when Marty started crying.

But the bedside reunion... whatever. Maggie really wasn't important for the story other than to create a situation where the two detectives would irrevocably split.

It was a fine bromance.

But it coulda been more.