True Detective.

[Halie Satanus]

Yeah that ending was crazy. I'm assuming the shoot out Woody Harrelson was talking about is with this guy right and not the one that happened last episode?

Yeh, they seemed to make a jump in the story there. I thought it was a nice touch showing Ledoux in a shot very similar to the Patterson big-foot film. Wondering if that was deliberate.

It's as if you never heard of GOT

Well I did say (the BEST), GoT is ok, not among their best, imo..

[Mike92574]

Well I did say (the BEST), GoT is ok, not among their best, imo..

Burn the heathen

[maxi90]

A friend recomended this to me the other day and I just watched the first episode. Good stuff, althoug I would prefer that some of the more cliché elements werent there, but oh well, at least it´s done right.

Also, what the HELL happened to Mcconaughey? All he use to do was crap, and now he gets an oscar nomination and a main role in this super high standard HBO show, and does a kick ass job at it. Seriously, did he sell his soul for acting lessons or what?

[tarvu]

He plays a Texan as good as anybody in the business.

He was in some bad movies, and I don't know how much range he has playing anyone not from the state of Texas but who cares. He does it well.

[Halie Satanus]

About a year (or so) ago I chanced on 'Mud.' Considering it had McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon in it I wasn't expecting much but it sounded ok. Not a great film but it's good. Both MM and RW were far removed from anything I'd seen them in before. MM in particular played a similar character to his character in TD...

[Caesar Germanico]

MM was alway a good actor, just look at his early career with movies like Contact.

[maxi90]

Maybe I just had a really negative image of the guy. I´ll look him up in some of his earlier works then.

[brandbll]

Yeah, he takes a lot of crap movies. Lots of actors do it. Can make a few million bucks putting in little effort and having absolutely no emotional attachment to the movie itself.

Yeh, they seemed to make a jump in the story there. I thought it was a nice touch showing Ledoux in a shot very similar to the Patterson big-foot film. Wondering if that was deliberate.

Yeah it definitely seemed like that. I was really pumped for the last episode because i thought we were going to see that shoot out. Still considering that didn't happen, that last episode was damned good.

[Halie Satanus]

Another example of why this show is so brilliant. From when they enter the house until they get into the car is one continuous camera shot (about 6 mins)...

End of Ep 4.. (some profanity/violence)..

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[RubiconDecision]

This is a particularly fine show, perhaps the best that's currently available. Clearly McConaughey could be a psychopath as well as a schizophrenic. His character is definitely brilliant. Harrelson is especially fine in the series. You have to acknowledge the huge difficulties in playing characters over a large time span and in all of the things that happen to them along that history...the loss of friendship, relationships, declining mental health, all leading to possible corruption and affecting their choices.

I think a lot of people assume that it's more easily defined who's a good person or an evil person, but under the right amount of stress and situations, and coupled with bad physical and mental health, many people will make excuses for their behaviour.

I knew the writing was top notch from Harrelson's discussion of the types of cop subtypes in law enforcement. Ultimately with serialized dramatizations, no matter how much money is spent on salaries and sets, it's up to the caliber of the writing.

The writers were smart in giving themselves an out when discussing a much larger conspiracy of serial murders that may eminate from an organized group...so don't assume that one of the two leads is the culprit for the new copycat murders.

[maxi90]

Writer. There is only one.

I might be alone in this (in fact, for what I´ve been hearing and reading everywhere in the last week, I almost certainly am), but I find McConaughey annoyingly artificial. Like he just walked out from a pulp fiction or a noir film. We had this perfectly verosimil story with real people in it, and then here comes this fictional character to ruin the ilusion.


edit: Not his performance, just the way the character is written.

[Halie Satanus]

Rust has that very precise nihilistic philosophy and humour that a lot of addicts have, especially those who's drug of choice was/is heroin. In the past he was high functioning but in the present day he appears to have burned out, fits the character well. imo..

[Lord Thesaurian]

I think the real strength of this show is the writing, as others have mentioned; which really allows our A-list dynamic duo to deliver the goods. I have nothing but good things to say about the show and hope they can maintain this level of quality after the first season (assuming it isn't canceled). The crimes are bizarre, but the story has a richness and complexity that allows it to rely on more than just the sheer shock value or "craziness" of the crimes and characters alone; something that puts this show well above "Hannibal" or the "Following" in terms of quality. IMO the latter two shows don't even come close really; True Detective is on a whole other level as far as I'm concerned. I've been waiting an eternity for some good TV; a reason to watch in between seasons of Boardwalk Empire, and I'm thinking True Detective might be it.

[maxi90]

Rust has that very precise nihilistic philosophy and humour that a lot of addicts have, especially those who's drug of choice was/is heroin. In the past he was high functioning but in the present day he appears to have burned out, fits the character well. imo..

I get that and I can get behind it. Especially his future version, when we get to see him all messed up. But I can´t shake the feeling that the show treats 90s Rush like an action hero at times. He is not only smart, but also a badass alpha male who takes no crap from nobody and will purposely insult others to mark his territory. His doughter is dead and his wife left him when he became an alcoholic and obsessed with his job, be cause don´t they allways do that? And of course every single female character that interacts with him wants to jump his bones even though he cold and inexpressive and never shows not an iota of interest in them (including Martin´s wife, which couldn´t be more obvious if she had a giant fluorecent red tatto in her forehead that reads "plot device").

Notice how all of the above reads like a list of tv drama tropes. There is a good character burried in there, and his monologues are interesting to hear, sure, but I feel like the writer likes Rush a litle too much, and I think the show looses some of it´s realism thanks to it.

For example, take this exchange:

Martin- Do you ever wonder... if you are a bad man?

Rush- I never do that, Martin -puts a cigarrete in his mouth- The world needs bad men -lights it up



Read the above dialogue replacing the smokes with sunglasses, and try not to picture the intro from CSI starting imediatly after that last bit. I dare you.

[Halie Satanus]

I don't disagree, but in the same way 'Tony Soprano' was a walking cliche the dialogue, and in particular Rust's philosophies on everything, are enough to make the back story not matter too much. Besides I like that they are being pushed to hand the case over while fighting to hold on to it, gives the impression that although Rust is a bit of a 'super cop' his superiors don't have a lot of faith in him. As long as he doesn't utter 'yippee ki yay M***********' while shooting the bad guys I'm OK with his flawed anti-hero story...

[Lord Thesaurian]

I get that and I can get behind it. Especially his future version, when we get to see him all messed up. But I can´t shake the feeling that the show treats 90s Rush like an action hero at times. He is not only smart, but also a badass alpha male who takes no crap from nobody and will purposely insult others to mark his territory. His doughter is dead and his wife left him when he became an alcoholic and obsessed with his job, be cause don´t they allways do that? And of course every single female character that interacts with him wants to jump his bones even though he cold and inexpressive and never shows not an iota of interest in them (including Martin´s wife, which couldn´t be more obvious if she had a giant fluorecent red tatto in her forehead that reads "plot device").

Notice how all of the above reads like a list of tv drama tropes. There is a good character burried in there, and his monologues are interesting to hear, sure, but I feel like the writer likes Rush a litle too much, and I think the show looses some of it´s realism thanks to it.

Agreed. Rush is an awesome character, but the key to his entire persona is that he's not a good guy. Hence when the writers have Rush swooping in to save the day on more than one occasion, especially contrasted with Martin's infidelity, drinking habits, etc. Rush ends up coming across as the stable, solid guy of the two. I dunno, maybe it's deliberate, but I think a severe sociopath with a drug habit and a sordid past ought to stick to his role. Any attempt to display some kind of "underlying goodness" in Rush will likely forfeit the reasons why I like him as a character in the first place. After all, creating "two sides" to Rush will just make him another cookie cutter "good cop with a bad past" protagonist, and he'll then just be a tool for endless plot devices, like the laughable allure he seems to have with just about any woman he meets - especially Martin's wife. I mean FFS, if being an anti-social dead-pan loner with a penchant for preaching doom and gloom were somehow the secret key to attracting women, I'd have more girlfriends than I knew what to do with. Sadly, that is not the case. Therefore, I can only conclude that the hypothesis is likely incongruent with reality

[Halie Satanus]

Rustin "Rust" Cohle.

Not 'Rush'

Gaadammit...

[tarvu]

I get that and I can get behind it. Especially his future version, when we get to see him all messed up. But I can´t shake the feeling that the show treats 90s Rush like an action hero at times. He is not only smart, but also a badass alpha male who takes no crap from nobody and will purposely insult others to mark his territory. His doughter is dead and his wife left him when he became an alcoholic and obsessed with his job, be cause don´t they allways do that? And of course every single female character that interacts with him wants to jump his bones even though he cold and inexpressive and never shows not an iota of interest in them (including Martin´s wife, which couldn´t be more obvious if she had a giant fluorecent red tatto in her forehead that reads "plot device").

Notice how all of the above reads like a list of tv drama tropes. There is a good character burried in there, and his monologues are interesting to hear, sure, but I feel like the writer likes Rush a litle too much, and I think the show looses some of it´s realism thanks to it.

For example, take this exchange:

Martin- Do you ever wonder... if you are a bad man?

Rush- I never do that, Martin -puts a cigarrete in his mouth- The world needs bad men -lights it up



Read the above dialogue replacing the smokes with sunglasses, and try not to picture the intro from CSI starting imediatly after that last bit. I dare you.

Few things....

Tony Soprano was a cliche, I don't see Rust as being one or being "artificial at all", let's examine your complaints about the character.

Not only smart, but a badass alpha male who takes no crap from anybody and will purposefully insult others to make his point.

Exactly how someone would need to be if they were an undercover officer trying to infiltrate a biker gang dealing with hardened criminals and drug cartels while preserving their cover. A few years of that, it would be hard to turn off.

His doughter is dead and his wife left him when he became an alcoholic and obsessed with his job, be cause don´t they allways do that?

Ummmm.... YES. They do always do that, obviously. Drug addiction and alcoholism (it wasn't just alcohol) alone lead to many divorces, throw in the fact that he is an undercover police officer (police officers alone struggle with marital problems just look at Harrelson's character, with undercover work being exponentially more stressful on self and family).

And of course every single female character that interacts with him wants to jump his bones even though he cold and inexpressive and never shows not an iota of interest in them (including Martin´s wife, which couldn´t be more obvious if she had a giant fluorecent red tatto in her forehead that reads "plot device").

Most women would want to "jump Mathew McConaughey's bones because he is an attractive man. Add in a dark and troubled past, add in sympathy for losing his family, add in the fact that Martin is cheating on his wife and neglecting her, and yeah WOW WHAT AN OBVIOUS PLOT DEVICE!!!!! No way that sexual attraction is at all relatable or realistic.

Martin- Do you ever wonder... if you are a bad man?

Rush- I never do that, Martin -puts a cigarrete in his mouth- The world needs bad men -lights it up



Read the above dialogue replacing the smokes with sunglasses, and try not to picture the intro from CSI starting imediatly after that last bit. I dare you.

The tongue in cheek nature of the "sunglasses bit" with CSI (which stole it from Law and Order) goes PUN->Sun Glasses->Music. So no I don't picture it. Are you to the internet how do you not even understand one of the most overused memes.


/facepalm

You are an internet commentator trope, Rust is a great character and probably the single most appealing aspect of this show to critics and audiences.

[maxi90]

Wow.... I mean.... wow. Don´t loose your cool there, mate. Getting a lot of agression from that post and I don´t think I did anything to deserve it. I said I don´t particulary like the character that everyone seems to love. No need to get so worked up about it. That said...

Few things....

Tony Soprano was a cliche.

What does that has to do with anything?

Exactly how someone would need to be if they were an undercover officer trying to infiltrate a biker gang dealing with hardened criminals and drug cartels while preserving their cover. A few years of that, it would be hard to turn off.

No, not really. Or, more specificaly, not in the way the show portrays it. Think of the scene in the locker rooms where Rus puposely provokes Martin by snarkly pointing out how obvious it is that he is cheating on his wife. When Martin pushes him against the wall, he calmly crosses his arms and grabs Martin by the wrist, threatening to break them. That´s some Steaven Seagal right there. He has the wits of Sherlock Holmes and the macho attitude of every 80s action hero ever. And that´s fine, but I find it distracting seeing how everything else in the show is firmly rooted in reality.

Ummmm.... YES. They do always do that, obviously. Drug addiction and alcoholism (it wasn't just alcohol) alone lead to many divorces, throw in the fact that he is an undercover police officer (police officers alone struggle with marital problems just look at Harrelson's character, with undercover work being exponentially more stressful on self and family).

I was talking about both of them, dogthers and wives. They always die or get a divorse in police dramas. Always.

Most women would want to "jump Mathew McConaughey's bones because he is an attractive man. Add in a dark and troubled past, add in sympathy for losing his family, add in the fact that Martin is cheating on his wife and neglecting her, and yeah WOW WHAT AN OBVIOUS PLOT DEVICE!!!!! No way that sexual attraction is at all relatable or realistic.

Sure, McConaughey (goddamnit, what a tiresome name to type) is hot, but I´m pretty sure most people would be turned off by the time he starts opening his mouth to show what an uncaring, unsimpatetic ass he is. Also, after five minutes of talking with him you´d think most women would pick up how mentaly deranged and creepy he is. You know, how every male character in the series has? Most women might like to fantisize with the dark, brooding antihero they see on movies and tv shows, but in reality, these guys are exactly the kind of people no one wants to be around, good looks or not.

Either way, both male protagonist could pick any girl from a crow and probaly take her home at any time just to proove how manly they are. And Martin´s wife is a plot device, whether you find it realistic or not.

The tongue in cheek nature of the "sunglasses bit" with CSI (which stole it from Law and Order) goes PUN->Sun Glasses->Music. So no I don't picture it. Are you to the internet how do you not even understand one of the most overused memes.


/facepalm

You are an internet commentator trope, Rust is a great character and probably the single most appealing aspect of this show to critics and audiences.

Well, one of these statements is true.


Anyway, it´s not any single one of these aspects or scenes that bothers me, but the combination of them all, and the execution, is what makes it stand out for me. In a different setting, I might have loved Rus´s character. Make of that what you will.

[Halie Satanus]

Ep05 The Secret Fate of All Life.

Not going to say to much, accept that the end of this one left me feeling a little uneasy. It was fairly obvious where the present day investigation was going but the past is going somewhere, unknown..