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verushka70Dear Nick Pizzolatto (like you'll ever read this):
I truly was addicted to Season 1 of True Detective. It was hypnotic, fantastically gothic southern noir, and had all sorts of elements (not to mention great acting by the leads and the ensemble cast) that pushed my buttons, plus an amazing soundtrack.
Now we're up to Episode 3 of Season 2. I'm happy the soundtrack is still appropriately foreboding (and thematically similar). I was iffy on the casting up until seeing 2x1. But when I saw 2x1, I was okay with it mainly because all the leads are playing broken, angsty people (<3 <3 <3).
I'm ignoring critics and fan responses to the new season in order to form my own opinion. I have not read a SINGLE professional or fan review or recap of a single Season 2 episode so far (just imdb.com info on cast). So this is purely my opinion.
Your actors this season were *all* cast against type. You had to know going in, people might have a problem with it (I did, and I'm very willing to suspend disbelief for an ultra-noir show like TD). While that was true of S1, too, you really only did it with one actor: Matthew McConaughey. Woody Harrelson still played an affable, good ol' boy-ish cop, the perfect regular-guy foil to MM's cynical, world-weary, pessimistic ex-undercover detective.
That dynamic worked brilliantly. MM's dialogue-heavy philosophical rants were sometimes pushing the envelope (well, not for me; I hung on every word because I <3 fictional angsty, intellectual semi-blue-collar broken people, especially cops -- they do exist IRL but not so much on the TV screen, so thanks for that).
But you had WH there as the "shut up with your high-falutin' ranting" stand-in for all the American viewers who weren't buying MM's intellectual cop (even if some of us knew WH's Marty was less regular-guy than defensive and fucked up in his own more conformist ways).
But after 2x1, I was with you and with your cast-against-type S2 characters... up until last night, that is. But the world weary semi-philosophical cops and career criminals don't work so well this season, specifically in 2x3 -- because (1) ALL of them are broken, cynical, world-weary, and (2) some are prone to saying semi-philosophical things which they'd never say IRL, and (3) there's no typical, regular-guy/gal fucked-up foil for those characters like WH from S1.
I get the intertwining of themes of pollution and environmental degradation in a sunny, beautiful climate with the fertility problems of Frank's and Ray's wives. I get that these hidden toxicities parallel the ingrained, embedded corruption (occasionally shot through with streaks of hopeless attempts at morality) among the ambitious and desperate cops/career criminals/politicians in your beautifully shiny, sleazy, perverse, twisted SoCal noir.
I get that you're saying these categories (cop, criminal, politician) are basically parts of the same inherently immoral patriarchal power structure fighting over finite pieces of a rotten pie. I <3 these themes! It is so great to see deeply cynical noir themes up on my TV screen that aren't my DVDs of classic noir from one or two generations before me, but are lovely postmodern twists.
But, dude.
Frank Semyon would not say "stridency." He just wouldn't.
And neither he nor Det. Ray Velcoro would say "apoplectic."
They just wouldn't, these guys. These two men, as you've presented them in the first two episodes of S2, don't speak this way. Frank would say "a codependency of interest" -- he totally would, and it's totally okay that he does in 2x1. But not "apoplectic" or "stridency." No.
If anyone were to say these words, it would be Detective Bezzarides. She's the one reading Hagakure (The Book of the Samurai) (yes, I did rewind/freeze-frame and then Google the title of the book on her table right before she bursts out of her bedroom after freaking out her rank and file cop lover with something he thinks is kinky, which I think I know what it is -- or hope anyway *g*).
And... I get the name Athena Bezzarides. There are lots of Greek women named Athena; I've met more than a few myself. But Antigone Bezzarides? I've met a lot of Greeks (I'm 1/4 Greek myself), and I've never met a Greek woman in America (or in Greece, actually) named Antigone. It seems kind of unlikely. This is completely based on my own personal, anecdotal observations of Real Life, but people who know the name 'Antigone' wouldn't saddle their poor daughters with that baggage. Not that there's never been a modern Greek woman named Medea by her parents, but... it's way, WAY less likely than Athena. Y'know? The meta you seem to be going for is a little obvious.
Way before 2x3, I got the feeling that ex-Blackwater -- um, I mean ex-"Black Mountain" -- ex-soldier/CHP cop Officer Paul Woodrugh might be repressing gay desires along with his PTSD... His comparative youth and
fitness contrasted with his need for Viagra to fuck his super hot gf in 2x1 was a hint. But it was nice to see it addressed more directly (though still somewhat obliquely) in the scene with his ex-soldier buddy in 2x3.
I also like that it's hinted in 2x1 that Bezzarides may be kinky; that whole exchange with the other Ventura cop in 2x1 makes me think (wishfully thinking) she tried to penetrate or otherwise peg him. (I can dream, can't I?) If this is the case, I only wish Bezzarides' possible kink wasn't being presented in a micro context of her fucked-up-ness and seeming hypocrisy, given her conversation with her sister Athena about what's sexually normal and "healthy"... and within a macro context (SoCal/LA on the outskirts of "showbiz" and the fetishes of the murdered Caspere) that conflates "kinky" with "perverse"/dysfunctional/inherently unhealthy.
The way everyone with something to gain is willing to pimp out colleagues &/or underlings in order to gain it -- whether cop, politician, or organized crime -- is especially well done. It is so matter-of-fact that it indicates just how ingrained and necessary such exploitation is to the essence of patriarchy. I mean, politics, law enforcement, and organized crime are nothing if not utterly patriarchal structures.
But I truly hope for no more jarring, unrealistic dialogue from your lead characters.
Maybe I'm hoping against hope... It throws me right out of the story
And I'm sorry to nitpick because, as with S1, it's such a well done show in so many respects. But some of this nitpicking is because what little is wrong with S2 ruins my suspension of disbelief, and I don't want that. I want to be absorbed, addicted, and hypnotized like I was during S1!
I truly was addicted to Season 1 of True Detective. It was hypnotic, fantastically gothic southern noir, and had all sorts of elements (not to mention great acting by the leads and the ensemble cast) that pushed my buttons, plus an amazing soundtrack.
Now we're up to Episode 3 of Season 2. I'm happy the soundtrack is still appropriately foreboding (and thematically similar). I was iffy on the casting up until seeing 2x1. But when I saw 2x1, I was okay with it mainly because all the leads are playing broken, angsty people (<3 <3 <3).
I'm ignoring critics and fan responses to the new season in order to form my own opinion. I have not read a SINGLE professional or fan review or recap of a single Season 2 episode so far (just imdb.com info on cast). So this is purely my opinion.
Your actors this season were *all* cast against type. You had to know going in, people might have a problem with it (I did, and I'm very willing to suspend disbelief for an ultra-noir show like TD). While that was true of S1, too, you really only did it with one actor: Matthew McConaughey. Woody Harrelson still played an affable, good ol' boy-ish cop, the perfect regular-guy foil to MM's cynical, world-weary, pessimistic ex-undercover detective.
That dynamic worked brilliantly. MM's dialogue-heavy philosophical rants were sometimes pushing the envelope (well, not for me; I hung on every word because I <3 fictional angsty, intellectual semi-blue-collar broken people, especially cops -- they do exist IRL but not so much on the TV screen, so thanks for that).
But you had WH there as the "shut up with your high-falutin' ranting" stand-in for all the American viewers who weren't buying MM's intellectual cop (even if some of us knew WH's Marty was less regular-guy than defensive and fucked up in his own more conformist ways).
But after 2x1, I was with you and with your cast-against-type S2 characters... up until last night, that is. But the world weary semi-philosophical cops and career criminals don't work so well this season, specifically in 2x3 -- because (1) ALL of them are broken, cynical, world-weary, and (2) some are prone to saying semi-philosophical things which they'd never say IRL, and (3) there's no typical, regular-guy/gal fucked-up foil for those characters like WH from S1.
I get the intertwining of themes of pollution and environmental degradation in a sunny, beautiful climate with the fertility problems of Frank's and Ray's wives. I get that these hidden toxicities parallel the ingrained, embedded corruption (occasionally shot through with streaks of hopeless attempts at morality) among the ambitious and desperate cops/career criminals/politicians in your beautifully shiny, sleazy, perverse, twisted SoCal noir.
I get that you're saying these categories (cop, criminal, politician) are basically parts of the same inherently immoral patriarchal power structure fighting over finite pieces of a rotten pie. I <3 these themes! It is so great to see deeply cynical noir themes up on my TV screen that aren't my DVDs of classic noir from one or two generations before me, but are lovely postmodern twists.
But, dude.
Frank Semyon would not say "stridency." He just wouldn't.
And neither he nor Det. Ray Velcoro would say "apoplectic."
They just wouldn't, these guys. These two men, as you've presented them in the first two episodes of S2, don't speak this way. Frank would say "a codependency of interest" -- he totally would, and it's totally okay that he does in 2x1. But not "apoplectic" or "stridency." No.
If anyone were to say these words, it would be Detective Bezzarides. She's the one reading Hagakure (The Book of the Samurai) (yes, I did rewind/freeze-frame and then Google the title of the book on her table right before she bursts out of her bedroom after freaking out her rank and file cop lover with something he thinks is kinky, which I think I know what it is -- or hope anyway *g*).
And... I get the name Athena Bezzarides. There are lots of Greek women named Athena; I've met more than a few myself. But Antigone Bezzarides? I've met a lot of Greeks (I'm 1/4 Greek myself), and I've never met a Greek woman in America (or in Greece, actually) named Antigone. It seems kind of unlikely. This is completely based on my own personal, anecdotal observations of Real Life, but people who know the name 'Antigone' wouldn't saddle their poor daughters with that baggage. Not that there's never been a modern Greek woman named Medea by her parents, but... it's way, WAY less likely than Athena. Y'know? The meta you seem to be going for is a little obvious.
Way before 2x3, I got the feeling that ex-Blackwater -- um, I mean ex-"Black Mountain" -- ex-soldier/CHP cop Officer Paul Woodrugh might be repressing gay desires along with his PTSD... His comparative youth and
fitness contrasted with his need for Viagra to fuck his super hot gf in 2x1 was a hint. But it was nice to see it addressed more directly (though still somewhat obliquely) in the scene with his ex-soldier buddy in 2x3.
I also like that it's hinted in 2x1 that Bezzarides may be kinky; that whole exchange with the other Ventura cop in 2x1 makes me think (wishfully thinking) she tried to penetrate or otherwise peg him. (I can dream, can't I?) If this is the case, I only wish Bezzarides' possible kink wasn't being presented in a micro context of her fucked-up-ness and seeming hypocrisy, given her conversation with her sister Athena about what's sexually normal and "healthy"... and within a macro context (SoCal/LA on the outskirts of "showbiz" and the fetishes of the murdered Caspere) that conflates "kinky" with "perverse"/dysfunctional/inherently unhealthy.
The way everyone with something to gain is willing to pimp out colleagues &/or underlings in order to gain it -- whether cop, politician, or organized crime -- is especially well done. It is so matter-of-fact that it indicates just how ingrained and necessary such exploitation is to the essence of patriarchy. I mean, politics, law enforcement, and organized crime are nothing if not utterly patriarchal structures.
But I truly hope for no more jarring, unrealistic dialogue from your lead characters.
Maybe I'm hoping against hope... It throws me right out of the story
And I'm sorry to nitpick because, as with S1, it's such a well done show in so many respects. But some of this nitpicking is because what little is wrong with S2 ruins my suspension of disbelief, and I don't want that. I want to be absorbed, addicted, and hypnotized like I was during S1!
no subject
Date: 2015-07-12 11:57 pm (UTC)That said, I really enjoyed this post. Somehow, I'd missed out on the correlation/mirroring of the infertility of the wives with the general setting of putridity and contamination.
For whatever reason, the dialogue didn't quite rattle me up like it did to you. I think I mostly shrugged it off because there have been moments in other noirs in which the characters drop an unexpected word. Can't say much about Velcoro (since his characterization is more focused on how burned out he is), but I can imagine Frank as someone who might purposely develop his vocabulary beyond what's expected of him (meaning street slang). He's got dreams of being one of the movers and shakers so, yeah, he'll get as much finesse as he can.
One strident note (for me) is the Antigone Bezzarides thing. I can't imagine anyone willfully naming their child that. Even if the parents happen to be hippies of the bullshitter variety.
Anyhoodle, I'm now eagerly awaiting to see where the story's going to go in tonight's episode. Might have to gather all of my thoughts by tomorrow and post something in the evening. ;)
no subject
Date: 2015-07-15 01:07 am (UTC)But I just don't see Det. Velcoro saying things like "apoplectic." Part of the reason I just don't see that is because such a word isn't frequently used by the general public and, in my experience, is more likely to be read than to be spoken. We've seen a lot more of Semyon's home than Velcoro, but -- unlike in Bezzarides' -- I didn't see any books laying around in either Semyon's or Velcoro's homes.
Agreed on the "Antigone" thing. The people most likely to know the name are also most likely to know its tragic origins, and the hippie spiritual subset of that set seem especially unlikely to name a child "Antigone."
I missed this past Sunday's episode -- I was out of town. I tried watching it when I got home and settled back in, but I fell asleep (in my defense, I had spent the majority of the day driving and was very tired when I settled down to watch it). Bummer. I will try again tonight... after I get all my other stuff done.
All of that having been said... this season seems to be as fabulously noir as last season -- maybe more.
The more I think about it (and rewatch), the more I wondre if Velcoro isn't the Marty Hart-type "regular guy" (though he's clearly no Marty, from either the womanizing perspective nor the "just one of the guys" perspective). Aside from being so burned out himself -- and, apparently, corrupt, though not for the money but more because he "owes" Frank for finding the guy who attacked/raped his ex-wife -- Velcoro's the only one of the three on the Caspere murder task force who seems most (woefully) clued in to the cynical reality of the investigation ("maybe we're not supposed to solve it" and "this task force is just a shakedown"). Maybe I'm just too used to corruption (what can I say, so many of our governors have gone to jail after they were governor), but Velcoro's interpretation of things seems most accurate. So far, anyway.
Are you feeling the slash in this? I was feeling it in the first couple eps, especially in those long stares between Frank and Ray at the bar with the melancholy singer (whose stuff I love, except it's apparently not available anywhere yet). But when I watched episode 2, I was like, omg, the slash is about to become canon (albeit with Woodrugh, not with Semyon or Velcoro).
Also, I am kind of loving Ani Bezzarides. I love some of her dialogue. Like when Velcoro says to her words to the effect of "You know what they say about flies and honey?" and she replies "What the fuck do I want with a bunch of flies?" I was like, Yes. Thank you for validating my typical cranky bitchiness. *g*
I am not sure what kink Bezzarides' lover was freaking out about in the first ep. I've rewatched it a couple times and don't see any equipment or paraphernilia to indicate what kink freaked him out. Admittedly I can only rewatch the episodes via streaming on-demand because I haven't DLed all the eps yet. So the controls to fastforward, rewind and pause (let alone slow-forward and slow-rewind) aren't as sensitive as they would be watching a DVD. I was hoping for pegging but that is just wishful thinking (has there ever been a major female character on a prime time cable show who was overtly portrayed as into that? I don't think so). But there's absolutely nothing to support that idea. The only thing to really indicate any kink at all that I recall is the dialogue of their exchange, as far as I can see. Then she breaks it off with him in the next ep.
She does later (I think in the next episode, or maybe in the same ep) surf some porn, but whether that's her relaxing, or her looking for prostitutes for the case, or looking for what her sister might be doing isn't clear.
At any rate, TD S2 is gloriously dark noir, which I'm enjoying very much. I'm also enjoying Colin Farrell's burned out, world-weary, ultra-cynical bad-cop-with-a-good-heart role. He's probably tied with Bezzerides as my favorite character.
I'm still figuring out Vaughn as Semyon, but so far, he's not as miscast as I thought he'd be; he certainly appears worn, stressed, depressed, pissed, or sociopathic as the role calls for it. But I'd seen him in that movie The Breakup with Jennifer Aniston years ago, where his role was not 100% happy/funny/goofy guy the entire time. He was allowed to play asshole/sad/pissed in that, so I'd already seen him go in that direction somewhat.
What do you think of Taylor Kitsch so far? I didn't know him from anything (never watched Friday Night Lights), so I didn't have any expectations of him. To me it seems like he's convincingly portraying the whole tightly-wound-closeted-PTSD-scarred ex-soldier semi-suicidal CHP cop. But I haven't seen him in anything before. (Friday Night Lights is still in my queue, but I haven't watched it yet, and I don't think I've seen him in any previous movie roles, either.) *is far behind on movie watching*
Well, I look forward to your comments when you're more coherent about binge-watching the first 3 eps. I'm going to rewatch Episode 4 again tonight because I couldn't keep my eyes open during it last night, so I missed a lot before I tumbled off to bed.