Anybody watching True Detective season 3? (Spoiler free, please)

[EllisDee]

@duality72

Well I might be remembering the first season with rose-tinted glasses, but as I recall the mystery ended with the discovery of a strange/dramatic location with unusual characters, a mysterious vortex, a tense gun fight, and the resolution of dozens of missing persons and murder cases. I wouldn’t call any of that mundane or anti-climactic. It was also the most highly watched episode of that series by a large margin. Looking back at some of the negative critical reaction at the time, I find myself more embarrassed for the critics than the show (not that it was perfect, just saying).

Here’s a selection of posts in the SDMB thread for season 1 after the finale aired:

@Eyebrows_0f_Doom

Well that was underwhelming.

Carcosa was *incredibly *creepy though. Not a place I would ever want to walk through at night. shiver

@Anomie

Production values: Astonishing
Cast and acting: Exceptional
Dialogue: Interesting (even with the occasional eyeroll at Rust’s Philosophy 101 and near-death experience)
Plot: I feel like I have seen this one billion times before

@Acsenray

Yeah, the finale was very standard action flick.

@Unauthorized_Cinnamon

Yeah, I wish I had taken Pizzolatto at his word a little more. I think this episode would have been much more enjoyable if I had just watched for a typical detective story, rendered with incredible style and talent, plus a soupçon of eldritch weirdness. I got too wrapped up in looking for clues and trying to predict what crazy things would happen.

@Unauthorized_Cinnamon

Yup. I thinkthis Atlantic articleis pretty fair - lots of praise for the quality of the production, reflection about why it felt sort of flat at the end, and a bit of mea culpa for embracing the conspiracy-theory hysteria:

@Acsenray

Speaking for myself, I wasn’t looking for an unexpected twist, but I was hoping for an ending that did not include thriller clichés like–
[snipped]

And I was disappointed that certain questions were so strongly emphasized but not resolved, like:
[snipped]

@Unauthorized_Cinnamon

All fair criticisms. If someone asked me if they should check out True Detective, I’d say, “Yes - it’s a bog-standard serial killer cop story, but told with a ton of style and excellent characterization.” However, I feel like the finale does rely on more pedestrian tropes without the artistic flourishes that made the first half of the season so mesmerizing.

@Acsenray

I think it was one of the best shows ever made until the last tie episodes when it somehow became an ordinary, boring cop show.

@Accidental_Martyr

Yeah, it was a pretty good ride until the ending.

@Acsenray

Which is exactly why the last two episodes were so disappointing. The story you describe took a back seat to police procedural and a fucking shootout.