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verushka70It's just a few hours until True Detective wraps up with its last episode of this season. I am both incredibly excited and apprehensive. I want to know what's going to happen, but the suspense is kind of killing me... and I'm still kind of numb and freaked out about what happened last week.
SPOILERS for episode 7
1. I'm afraid that Paul Woodrugh -- unlike Velcoro in that second ep -- is really dead. NOOOOooooooo... what about Erica and the baby?
2. I'm rooting for Frank Semyon and Jordan to make it -- as a couple, and out of the fires and burning bridges he literally set aflame last week. Frank especially seems to have fought his way up. The idea that he'd get beaten back down is, well, sadly realistic (seen The Drop with James Gandolfini, Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace?) and very noir... but, please, no...
3. I'm afraid all the corrupt motherfuckers will win. (I mean, if history -- and our recent economic meltdown and the crisis in the financial sector -- is anything to go by, they will totally win, of course. They always do.)
4. I'm afraid Velcoro and Bezzerides are doomed and will end up dead.
5. I'm strangely also rooting for Velcoro and Bezzerides' nascent relationship...
...DESPITE feeling that my Velcoro/Bezzerides fanfic idea from the middle of last week's ep was totally hijacked (I'm into angst, what can I say? and they're two seriously angsty, vulnerable characters who I could see starting over with each other)...
...and DESPITE the fact that having Ani and Ray roll around together sexually felt both (1) predictable, like totally taking the road most traveled, and (2) like a big mistake in the place, time, context, and headspace they both had to be in while on the run from ALL the authorities (after the hooker party where Bezzerides found Vera and disemboweled a couple scumbags to get away, and Velcoro and Woodrugh found all the paperwork proving the corruption).
Oh, damn you, Nick Pizzolatto. Even when I'm mad at some of your writing, I'll still tune in at 8pm CDST to watch the first showing of this last ep.
And I hardly ever do that for ANY shows anymore.
(Except Hannibal, although I missed it last night due to another goddamned POS migraine.)
SPOILERS for episode 7
1. I'm afraid that Paul Woodrugh -- unlike Velcoro in that second ep -- is really dead. NOOOOooooooo... what about Erica and the baby?
2. I'm rooting for Frank Semyon and Jordan to make it -- as a couple, and out of the fires and burning bridges he literally set aflame last week. Frank especially seems to have fought his way up. The idea that he'd get beaten back down is, well, sadly realistic (seen The Drop with James Gandolfini, Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace?) and very noir... but, please, no...
3. I'm afraid all the corrupt motherfuckers will win. (I mean, if history -- and our recent economic meltdown and the crisis in the financial sector -- is anything to go by, they will totally win, of course. They always do.)
4. I'm afraid Velcoro and Bezzerides are doomed and will end up dead.
5. I'm strangely also rooting for Velcoro and Bezzerides' nascent relationship...
...DESPITE feeling that my Velcoro/Bezzerides fanfic idea from the middle of last week's ep was totally hijacked (I'm into angst, what can I say? and they're two seriously angsty, vulnerable characters who I could see starting over with each other)...
...and DESPITE the fact that having Ani and Ray roll around together sexually felt both (1) predictable, like totally taking the road most traveled, and (2) like a big mistake in the place, time, context, and headspace they both had to be in while on the run from ALL the authorities (after the hooker party where Bezzerides found Vera and disemboweled a couple scumbags to get away, and Velcoro and Woodrugh found all the paperwork proving the corruption).
Oh, damn you, Nick Pizzolatto. Even when I'm mad at some of your writing, I'll still tune in at 8pm CDST to watch the first showing of this last ep.
And I hardly ever do that for ANY shows anymore.
(Except Hannibal, although I missed it last night due to another goddamned POS migraine.)
no subject
Date: 2015-08-10 12:56 am (UTC)2. The amount of finger crossin' I'm doing so that Frank and Jordan make it out alive is pretty epic at this point. As you and I have discussed before, their pairing is refreshingly adult (they actually communicate!) and sensual in a way that one can't help but appreciate.
3. I have zero doubts that the main players (Osip, the Mayor, Rick Springfield, possibly Burris) won't get taken down. :(((
4. I'm aaaaaalmost sure Velcoro won't make it (the show made it super clear that he's a Fated-to-die character in the first couple of episodes). Ani's probabilities are 50-50 at this point. She's basically said her good-byes to her family and her career is done. She's also begun to confront the abuse she suffered as a kid. I dunno if it's that she's gotten all the closure she needs so... *hands*
5. Yeah...I dunno. I think you're on your own in this one. #sorry.
Anyhoo, you'll probably end up watching tonight's episode way earlier than me (I'm not watching it til tomorrow night) so I hope that it is worth it.
Argh (really doesn't capture it, but...AAARRGH just sounds like a pirate)
Date: 2015-08-10 02:59 am (UTC)1. He was in fact dead. But he got a stretch of PCH named after him. Yay?
2. I was LITERALLY crossing my fingers on both hands for Frank and Jordan. *sob*
3. Well, we were both right, kind of. Osip and McCandless get street justice. *ROAR* But while Chessani gets dead, it's so his own son can step into his place. And Burris stays put. At least Holloway got it, too. Pitlor (Springfield) got it, too, but he was "suicided" as Ani puts it.
4. You called it. I wished for it to be different, but I kind of knew it was coming.
5. Oh well.
6 (I didn't have a 6, but here it is...) I was pretty sure Velcoro was his kid's dad. At least that turned out to be true.
Lastly, I am totally okay with the "Ani, Jordan and Nails the bodyguard ride off into the Venezuelan sunset." When Frank explained the plan and Ray got he and Ani in on the plan, I already figured (sadly) that only the women would make it.
But, my first reaction to the heteronormative babymaking is... did we really need that? I don't think so. I guess fertility was a constant theme throughout the series, so it was kind of expected (or at least it was not unexpected).
But still. I just didn't see Ani that way. She definitely deserves redemption, but why did it have to come that way? Redemption via babymaking seems... like what millions of doomed marriages and relationships have been based on.
This makes me seem like I hate babies and babymaking, which I don't (although a shit-ton of people have babies who shouldn't).
I like holding them and playing with them; they're fucking adorable. I'm even okay with feeding them, though it can be messy, but it's usually funny and entertaining.
I also love giving them back to their mothers when they start to cry or need a diaper change...
But... Ani the baby mama. I don't know. It just... *thinks*
Then again, it's nice that Velcoro has another son; it seems good that a not bad man has, hopefully, helped make a couple more not bad men.
I may have more later... or I may just have to go have a long think about it.
Do you feel like True Detective S2 has the rewatchable-ness of S1?
Re: Argh (really doesn't capture it, but...AAARRGH just sounds like a pirate)
Date: 2015-08-11 03:21 am (UTC)It's funny because I kept wishing so fucking hard that I'd be wrong and that, in a twisty ending, Jordan and Frank would be hanging out in Venezuela. The amount of rooting/cheering on I did for those two kids was fairly epic throughout this last episode.
Even though I did feel terrible that Ray died, I also had this darker wish that he wouldn't. His last convo with Ani was...very off-putting. He was very mushy (or, at least, mushy for Velcoro). I was also annoyed that, during his last conversation with Ani, he lied (even though they both knew he wasn't going to make it) and then turned around and told the other lady the truth (that, yeah, he wasn't going to make it). Ani's an adult and hella tough. She didn't need to be lied to.
I'm glad that, at least, some of the big bads got killed. That Burris has to be part cat because he's survived a lot of assassination attempts!
The whole baby thing...I'm going to call it a fail. That whole idea that Ani's "fine" now because she's a mother doesn't make sense. I'm going to say that I do like the unexpected f/f of Jordan/Ani (it could be seen as gen, but I like to think that they do eventually become a couple).
Do you feel like True Detective S2 has the rewatchable-ness of S1?
I do. Even though it took at least 2 episodes to get going, the majority of the characters were interesting in their own ways. Also, I think that viewers can watch it from different perspectives without missing out on the general plot. The fact that it's linear (vs. Season 1) also helps. In truth, I think that the rewatchability degree falls on how much someone likes this season.
Considering it ended yesterday, I need a bit more space and time to go revisit Season 2. That said, I fully intend to do that. What do you think?
Re: Argh (really doesn't capture it, but...AAARRGH just sounds like a pirate)
Date: 2015-08-13 04:03 am (UTC)I agree, pretty much. I was pretty much okay with the Jordan and Ani and sidekick!Nails (or protector!Nails) thing; it wasn't the ending I was rooting for (like you, I was rooting for the legitimacy-seeking!gangster/helluva!dame pair), but it was an ending that was (1) very noir and (2) I could live with. I guess I just had a kneejerk reaction to the bebbeh. In a way, it's cool Velcoro now has two sons. (I was rooting for him to be the bio!dad of his kid from the moment it was made clear he might not be.) But... I still find the bebbeh thing kind of 'meh'.
It's funny because I kept wishing so fucking hard that I'd be wrong and that, in a twisty ending, Jordan and Frank would be hanging out in Venezuela. The amount of rooting/cheering on I did for those two kids was fairly epic throughout this last episode.
I was rooting for them more and more as this season progressed. Especially after the whole "well, now I'm me, and you're you, and here we are" scene in 2x5 or 2x6. They were very epic. *sniff*
The appearance of all the figures from his past while Frank was stumbling through the desert was killing me, in both bad and good ways. I was like, oh-noooos, it's his shit of a dad, who wants that to be the last thing you think of while you're dying (and I knew he was dying and wasn't going to make it). I was so glad it ended with Jordan though, that he got to his dame-in-a-white-dress, even if it was only just right before he died.
Even though I did feel terrible that Ray died, I also had this darker wish that he wouldn't. His last convo with Ani was...very off-putting. He was very mushy (or, at least, mushy for Velcoro).
Wait, are you saying that you had a darker wish that he had lived? Yes, that convo seemed ...uncharacteristic. For both of them. In a way they were both unpacking their deepest darkest secrets. I wasn't sure if what Pizzolatto did was have two hard-ass people expose their sins and vulnerabilities to each other as post-coital pillow talk... or if it was supposed to be that they had some kind of "breakthrough" via their coupling (and of course Ani's realization/remembering of what happened to her while on X at the hooker party she infiltrated). I could see it both ways.
In a way, it felt like they were edging towards trusting each other more and more in the final 3-4 eps. But still, compared to the characters we'd seen up until they got together, it seemed like a very uncharacteristic conversation for the two of them to have... and I was sort of like, would a woman who was kidnapped and likely molested/violated *want* to unpack her victimization with a guy she just had sex with? But then, she had already decided (and said) that he wasn't a bad man, so why not? And maybe knowing about his wife's rape was, I don't know, a way for Ani to connect across multiple perspective, like as both damaged/collateral!damaged people (Velcoro being the latter vis a vis his wife's rape), but also as *cops*, as detectives, unpacking what was both experience and what was or could be like evidence.
I was also annoyed that, during his last conversation with Ani, he lied (even though they both knew he wasn't going to make it) and then turned around and told the other lady the truth (that, yeah, he wasn't going to make it). Ani's an adult and hella tough. She didn't need to be lied to.
I see your point, and I agree with you from that perspective. But at first I just thought he meant, "I'm going to be late, I'm going to miss the boat." And then when I realized that was not going to happen and he wasn't going to be able to dodge the tails because of the transponder, my perspective changed again to thinking that he told Ani what he wanted to be true not in order to protect her from the truth by lying, but because connecting with Ani had allowed him to hope for better things with himself and them together... so what he was saying was not a lie, it was what he truly wanted and intended and he needed her to believe (that he was coming with her) (even though in reality he knew his chances were slim to none of making it).
I had several moments throughout, even up until she got Ani on the boat, of wondering if there was going to be some double-cross by the barmaid -- because I had the sense throughout the series that she had a thing for Velcoro, and she was seriously bummed that when she'd been under Velcoro's nose for years, quietly longing for him and making herself available, he'd kind of suddenly taken up with Ani.
I'm glad that, at least, some of the big bads got killed. That Burris has to be part cat because he's survived a lot of assassination attempts!
I know, right? What a fuckin' snake. I would have loved a more detailed and explicit denouement showing everyone being taken down by the writer from the times and all the documentation Ani gave him. But Frank's street justice worked fine for me, because, really what would have happened to all those scumbags (including McCandless, who I hated way more than Osip for some reason) if they were truly caught was Club Fed, probably some bullshit slaps on the wrist. Frank's version of justice was way better because it was *just*.
The whole baby thing...I'm going to call it a fail. That whole idea that Ani's "fine" now because she's a mother doesn't make sense.
Right? It was the implication that really bugged me. But then, I'm one of those people who just avoids mpreg and kidfic like the plague. I've never understood it.
I do get the sense that Pizzolatto is kind of working out his own shit with True Detective. Which, I guess, everyone who writes kind of does. But I got a very strong feeling Frank Semyon was the most Gary Sue of the characters for Pizzolatto. I have no idea -- it's just a guess -- but I wonder if Pizzolatto has gone through these kind of fertility issues. Or someone close to him has.
What little I know of Pizzolatto (from, um, Wikipedia? /fail, I guess), it sounds like he grew up incredibly poor (like Frank) and rough (like Frank) and considering he is (according to Wikipedia) estranged from his family of origin, it just seems like Frank Semyon was the Pizzolatto stand-in. Especially some of the stuff Frank said about class, and fighting his way up, and achieving legitimacy.
I'm going to say that I do like the unexpected f/f of Jordan/Ani (it could be seen as gen, but I like to think that they do eventually become a couple).
Yeah, that totally ran through my mind at the end. I thought, oh, wow, here comes an explosion of Ani/Jordan fanfic, lol -- which I could totally see. In a way it's like a dame version of the ending of Casablanca. Two same sex pals thrown together by circumstance and affinity.
Do you feel like True Detective S2 has the rewatchable-ness of S1?
I do. Even though it took at least 2 episodes to get going, the majority of the characters were interesting in their own ways. Also, I think that viewers can watch it from different perspectives without missing out on the general plot. The fact that it's linear (vs. Season 1) also helps. In truth, I think that the rewatchability degree falls on how much someone likes this season.
Yeah, I'm planning on rewatching the whole season myself. I haven't had the time to rewatch the finale but I'm planning to do so in the next few days (being 90 minutes w/o commercials, it's a bigger chunk of time than I've found available the last few days). And then I think I'll rewatch the whole series.
I think the difference -- for me, maybe/probably me alone -- between this season and S1 is that in S1 I hung on virtually every word Cohle said because he was prone to philosophical rants and I was freaking out that a fictional prime time TV character was articulating and saying things I'd been thinking morosely (and sometimes telling friends) for years. It was so incredibly validating (probably in a bad way, lol, given how damaged Cohle appears to be...).
That didn't happen for me this season, although from what I've read about the possible plagiarism, that just means I apparently need to read Thomas Liggotti :-( because evidently that's where Pizzolatto got it...
This season was much more sprawling because there were more main characters and they were more disparate. And it was much less philosophical/meta than S1. S2, I feel, was more straightforwardly noir. But in a way S2 had fewer/no red herrings like the supernatural element of S1... and I liked that about S2.
(That always bothered me about S1 because I never bought into the supernatural thing -- I was always team human!evil, if you will -- but a lot of people did, including a friend of mine, and I was like, C'mon, guys, really? Up until Cohle sees that vortex while he's in Carcosa, it seemed to me that Pizzolatto was equating the supernatural with religion and all the evils that human beings have perpetrated in the name of religion as were similarly perpetrated in the name of Carcosa/him-who-eats-time while, underneath it all, it was just the same old human evil. Which in itself is more gothic than noir, I guess.
Considering it ended yesterday, I need a bit more space and time to go revisit Season 2. That said, I fully intend to do that. What do you think?
Yep, me too. First I'm going to catch up on Hannibal (which I missed this past Saturday -- the only show, besides True Detective, that I watch when it is broadcast, although that became more difficult when they announced Hannibal's cancellation and moved it from Thursday nights to Saturday nights).
And then I'm going to rewatch the 90 minute True Detective S2 finale. And then I'm going to rewatch the entire S2. I might have to DL them... after I subscribe to a VPN so Comcast doesn't send me any more notices of copyright violation...
;)
(At least until it's available on DVD. I DLed True Detective last season -- my HBO subscription is not in HD, whereas of course the DL eps were, and I love me some great high def TV and movies on my big screen HD TV which isn't that big anymore -- only 37", lol, *small* compared to what they're pushing these days, but then it's like 10 years old and I let my ex have the good 43" HD TV I bought us.
But then I bought the DVD set of S1 of True Detective when it came out -- which included free digital copies of all the episodes so I can stream it, yay. HBO is one of the few major networks which has an unofficial but more or less known policy of not pursuing copyright cases against DLers because when they ran the numbers, they discovered that piracy actually increased DVD and subscription sales... which is totally true in my case, at least as far True Blood and True Detective are concerned.)
(But the last few seasons of True Blood were so silly, I didn't bother to either DL *or* buy them... even the eye candy factor didn't motivate me, heh...)
I guess time will tell whether the more rewatchable season of True Detective is S1 or S2. If I had to guess, I'd say S1 is more rewatchable for general audiences. I remember reading (after the fact) some complaints that S1 was hard for people to get into due to the shifting present/past narratives, whereas this season was much more linear as you point out. For me, personally, I'm not sure yet, but my hunch is I'll still find S1 more rewatchable, only because I particularly love disjointed/interrupted narratives and the way they are more difficult to predict and pin down.
I haven't read any critical commentary on S2 yet. Have you? What are they saying (if you have)?
Re: Argh (really doesn't capture it, but...AAARRGH just sounds like a pirate)
Date: 2015-08-20 01:30 am (UTC)Yes. I think having just two of them being gal pals (for any vague definition of that term) + Nails but without the bebbeh would've made for a better finale. I don't think that Ani needed to be "rewarded" with motherhood. Or softened up, for that matter. Dunno. I've grown to resent (or, at the very least, side-eye) the redemption-through-motherhood end game.
I was so glad it ended with Jordan though, that he got to his dame-in-a-white-dress, even if it was only just right before he died.
I'd gotten spoiled about his death (but not about the hallucinations) and yet I found that whole scene beautiful because of its fragility. Frank reuniting with Jordan (even if it all happened in his mind) was perfectly bittersweet. ;___;
Wait, are you saying that you had a darker wish that he had lived?
Indeed I did. Ray had merged himself so much with his death wish (down to being resigned to his fate even after tumbling in bed with Ani) that I'm curious to know what would've happened if he had made it. Would he regress to the substance abuse? Would he try (and possibly fail) an actual relationship with Ani (including its ups and downs)? Especially since he'd fathered a kid with her? Sometimes, the worst option for such a dark character is to live. Because it means that they have to own up to whatever has changed within them and keep pushing forward.
I had several moments throughout, even up until she got Ani on the boat, of wondering if there was going to be some double-cross by the barmaid
Yes, me too! It's pretty obvious she was crushing/pining for Ray since before episode 1. She kept glancing at Ani at the oddest moments too. Very good acting.
But then, I'm one of those people who just avoids mpreg and kidfic like the plague. I've never understood it.
Funnily enough, I loathe regular pregnancy fic but mpreg hits a strong id button for me. It's one of those things I can't quite explain why it works for me. It just does. Kidfic I can leave or take. Some of it is good, a lot of fics are awful. It depends on the pairing and what exactly I'm in the mood for. *hands*
But I got a very strong feeling Frank Semyon was the most Gary Sue of the characters for Pizzolatto.
Huh, I hadn't thought about that. For me, Ray was more of Pizzolatto's stand-in/Gary Stu than anyone else. Perhaps it's because Velcoro was front and center (since Frank didn't really solidified as a character--at least for me--until episode 3).
I hung on virtually every word Cohle said because he was prone to philosophical rants and I was freaking out that a fictional prime time TV character was articulating and saying things I'd been thinking morosely...
Putting the whole plagiarism thing to the side, I actually believe that the main reason why watching Rust go on and on about all kinds of things was solely because of Matthew McCoughnaey. He had a very specific delivery as well as the physicality to enhance his dialogue. Another actor might've come across as ridiculous to the point of obnoxiousness. But Rust (as played by Matthew) was living art. YMMV.
I haven't read any critical commentary on S2 yet. Have you? What are they saying (if you have)?
I think that the general opinion was lukewarm. A lot of people kept bitching about how S2 wasn't anything like S1 or that the plot was hella complicated.
FWIW, I did come across a lot of people in comment threads being very enthusiastic about the entire season. Perhaps the fans weren't as vocal as they were last season, but the show (even though it "wasn't as good as S1") still got a viewership. So, if S1 got an A+, S2's final grade hovered between a B- and a C (depending on who you asked).
Re: Argh (really doesn't capture it, but...AAARRGH just sounds like a pirate)
Date: 2015-08-30 07:57 pm (UTC)Yes. I think having just two of them being gal pals (for any vague definition of that term) + Nails but without the bebbeh would've made for a better finale. I don't think that Ani needed to be "rewarded" with motherhood. Or softened up, for that matter. Dunno. I've grown to resent (or, at the very least, side-eye) the redemption-through-motherhood end game.
I agree 100%, especially with the side-eyeing thing. Plus, Ani+Jordan+Nails finale just feels more noir. Any kind of bebbeh ending is just anti-noir... It would be interesting to check through every "redemption through motherhood" series or movie script, too, just to check whether that's largely a male-written trope or female written. I'm thinking it's a largely male-written trope (and, if so, what a surprise /sarcasm).
And why would Ani need to be redeemed or softened, anyway? She didn't; maybe she could have used a little more trust and openness to love -- for her own happiness. But that had already happened with Velcoro while they were awaiting Woodrugh's return. Why take it that step too far (with baby) and ruin it?
I'd gotten spoiled about his death (but not about the hallucinations) and yet I found that whole scene beautiful because of its fragility. Frank reuniting with Jordan (even if it all happened in his mind) was perfectly bittersweet. ;___;
Yeah, that kind of killed me. I had tears in my eyes. I was really rooting for Frank and Jordan, really rooting for Frank a lot. I guess I sympathize with the up-from-nothing-seeking-legitimacy underdog gangster, lol.
Ray had merged himself so much with his death wish (down to being resigned to his fate even after tumbling in bed with Ani) that I'm curious to know what would've happened if he had made it. Would he regress to the substance abuse? Would he try (and possibly fail) an actual relationship with Ani (including its ups and downs)? Especially since he'd fathered a kid with her? Sometimes, the worst option for such a dark character is to live. Because it means that they have to own up to whatever has changed within them and keep pushing forward.
True, Ray had definitely merged himself with his death wish prior to the encounter with Ani. His surrender to his death wish seemed to be sealed by agreeing to give up custody of his son so his ex wouldn't reveal the kid's paternity (to the kid) in an "only when you've lost everything are you free to do anything" perspective (ala Fight Club). I wanted to see what Velcoro would do with himself after having lost what was most important to him. Pizzolatto has him get involved with Ani (in a redemptive fashion) and I can see the narrative logic in that (although it was kind of disappointingly predictable). But Velcoro could have done anything else besides that (or along with that) and it would have been interesting to see... falling back into known/ingrained patterns vs redefining himself in an unknown future would have been interesting to watch.
Funnily enough, I loathe regular pregnancy fic but mpreg hits a strong id button for me. It's one of those things I can't quite explain why it works for me. It just does. Kidfic I can leave or take. Some of it is good, a lot of fics are awful. It depends on the pairing and what exactly I'm in the mood for. *hands*
Huh. Interesting. (but what do you mean about "a strong id button"? do you mean "id" in the Freudian sense?) I have things where I'm like "IDK why I like this, but I do!" too... and I suppose slash in general would qualify (though I've kind of felt like a gay man in a woman's body for a few decades at this point, lol). From a whimsical/magical, bodyswap, or scifi perspective I can tolerate mpreg. But any other use of it, No. I def don't seek it out and would never write it. Kidfic, if it's not canonical (e.g. Fraser's concern for the welfare of some child/ren) and embedded in something like casefic, I avoid.
Huh, I hadn't thought about that. For me, Ray was more of Pizzolatto's stand-in/Gary Stu than anyone else. Perhaps it's because Velcoro was front and center (since Frank didn't really solidified as a character--at least for me--until episode 3).
I can see that. I just sort of came to the Frank/Gary Stu conclusion based on what little I know about Pizzolatto (mostly from Wikipedia, lol)-- that he's from a poor multi-child family, estranged from his father, has never gone back to visit, that violence was a factor. There are some things that don't add up (like that his father was an attorney and his mother a schoolteacher but there were no books at home? a little hard to believe, unless maybe mom and dad were working on becoming attorney/school teacher while Pizzolatto was growing up). But I can totally believe that there was violence in the Pizzolatto home because (1) such violence cuts across all demographics, and (2) my own father's working class upward mobility from blue collar steelworker to middle class college instructor included all the family violence of his family of origin.
So, based on what I had read about Pizzolatto, and Frank's dialogue about himself and his childhood, I got the Frank Semyon/Gary Stu impression. Ray doesn't really talk about his childhood at all. The paternity/fertility issues were kind of spread across both Ray and Frank, though -- and of course there is no reason to think they can't both be Gary Stu aspects of Pizzolatto. It's just the feeling I got.
Putting the whole plagiarism thing to the side, I actually believe that the main reason why watching Rust go on and on about all kinds of things was solely because of Matthew McCoughnaey. He had a very specific delivery as well as the physicality to enhance his dialogue. Another actor might've come across as ridiculous to the point of obnoxiousness. But Rust (as played by Matthew) was living art. YMMV.
That's very true. MM's performance was kind of amazing. I'm not sure if it was Method acting or what, but he really seemed to inhabit Rust. Before and throughout True Detective's S1 run, HBO ran other MM movies (they have a tendency to do that; this summer they ran a lot of Vince Vaughan and Colin Farrell flicks, both recent and quite old, throughout TD S2). So, besides the previews/trailers for S1, I had a glimpse of the possibilities with MM in that role. But had I not seen MM in Killer Joe, Bernie (with Jack Black), and Mud before or during S1, I would never have guessed MM was capable of such a performance of Rust -- either the willingness or the chops. He'd kind of fallen off my radar years before with all the rom-coms. Easy on the eyes as he is, it seemed he'd gone the Tom Cruise route: just play himself/the same role in everything. And you're totally right; his specific choices in delivery, cadence, and physicality deliver Rust's dialogue like no other actor probably could have pulled off. I like Woody Harrelson but considering he was the first choice for Rust, I can't picture myself hanging on his every existentialist/nihilist word the way I did with MM delivering those lines.
Also, totally superficially: MM's hands. They fascinated me like CKR's hands, lol; they're totally sexy hands and forearms.
I think that the general opinion was lukewarm. A lot of people kept bitching about how S2 wasn't anything like S1 or that the plot was hella complicated.
Well, I'm glad I didn't read people's opinions about it, fans or critical. I was hoping for something every bit as fascinating and hypnotic as S1 and in that respect I felt S2 delivered. But I sure didn't want S1 version 2.0. I have little patience for people who complain about complicated plots. It's a fucking noir mystery -- the entire point is a complex plot with suspense, red herrings, and major surprises! I love hella complicated plots that refused to be dumbed down because I find most everything on TV and in movies so formulaic and predictable and increasingly dumbed down (which was one reason I really loved S1: it wasn't). I totally wanted more not-dumbed-down S1 plotting and dialogue in S2, and I'm glad we got it.
FWIW, I did come across a lot of people in comment threads being very enthusiastic about the entire season. Perhaps the fans weren't as vocal as they were last season, but the show (even though it "wasn't as good as S1") still got a viewership. So, if S1 got an A+, S2's final grade hovered between a B- and a C (depending on who you asked).
I'm glad to hear there were some enthusiastic fans for this season. In a way S1 and S2 of True Detective are kind of apples and oranges, imo. There are common threads but the southern gothic corruption noir vs. sleazy corrupt LA noir are really very different, lol. And the main characters of each season were also quite different. So I'm not sure if I can even decide which I liked better, because I really liked both for some totally different reasons. Although the main reason I loved both S1 and S2 is intelligent, not-dumbed-down writing. I have had my quibbles with certain things but they are really just quibbles -- as a whole, True Detective has been nowhere near as predictable or dumbed down as like 80-90% of the other stuff like it on TV. (Though there's really nothing like True Detective on TV.)
I'm hoping to rewatch S1 and S2 while on vacation (which starts next Friday and goes through 9/21, yay). I was going to rewatch TD S2 this weekend but then yesterday HBO ran an all day/night marathon of Rome on HBOZone channel. So I got sucked into that, lol! I have to say, I am really glad HBO exists. It's not that there aren't quality shows on other networks. It's just that HBO consistently produces some of the most enjoyable, most engrossing TV I've watched in the last decade. The vast majorit of their stuff is well written, gorgeously produced, well cast, and not predictable. They've had some duds, sure, and other stuff I find "meh," but they seem to inhabit a space in popular entertainment that more consistently than any other network or studio falls into the "art" side of the "art vs. product" realities of TV/movie production. HBO seems the most likely to take risks, to be unpredictable, to refuse to dumb shit down, to not succumb to the temptation to make everything "appropriate for family viewing" just to capture the largest possible audience.
I still miss Boardwalk Empire -- hell, I still miss Deadwood and rewatch it periodically (and then there's Rome). In a way, HBO seems like one of those old movie studios from the golden age of cinema -- it just keeps putting out great stuff. Even some of their less popular and short lived series like In Treatment and Tell Me You Love Me have been engrossing. There's plenty of HBO stuff I don't watch, of course (just because it's from HBO doesn't mean I'll give it a shot -- like, Ballers with The Rock? totally not interested). I also haven't gotten into is GoT. But that's because there are so many seasons to catch up on (since I haven't watched it from the beginning) and starting in the middle as I have a few times makes it harder to get into.