verushka70 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
verushka70) wrote2015-07-06 01:18 pm
verushka70) wrote2015-07-06 01:18 pm
Entry tags:
Dear Nick Pizzolatto (True Detective, "stridency," "apoplectic")
Dear 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!