# Anybody watching True Detective season 3? (Spoiler free, please) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 15, 2019, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-watching-true-detective-season-3-spoiler-free-please/827829 "2019-01-15T22:32:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 50
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2019, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-watching-true-detective-season-3-spoiler-free-please/827829/50 "2019-03-07T23:42:26Z")
> [@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](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-disappointing-finale-of-true-detective) [critical](https://io9.gizmodo.com/what-the-hell-kind-of-ending-was-that-true-detective-1540629251) [reaction](https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/03/the-em-true-detective-em-finale-thats-it/284312/) 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: > [@True Detective - HBO - McConaughey / Harrelson \[SPOILERS\]](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-detective-hbo-mcconaughey-harrelson-spoilers/660697/388): > > Well that was underwhelming. > > Carcosa was \*incredibly \*creepy though. Not a place I would ever want to walk through at night. _shiver_ > [@True Detective - HBO - McConaughey / Harrelson \[SPOILERS\]](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-detective-hbo-mcconaughey-harrelson-spoilers/660697/389): > > 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 > [@True Detective - HBO - McConaughey / Harrelson \[SPOILERS\]](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-detective-hbo-mcconaughey-harrelson-spoilers/660697/391): > > Yeah, the finale was very standard action flick. > [@True Detective - HBO - McConaughey / Harrelson \[SPOILERS\]](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-detective-hbo-mcconaughey-harrelson-spoilers/660697/392): > > 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. > [@True Detective - HBO - McConaughey / Harrelson \[SPOILERS\]](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-detective-hbo-mcconaughey-harrelson-spoilers/660697/397): > > Yup. I think[this Atlantic article](http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/03/the-em-true-detective-em-finale-thats-it/284312/)is 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: > [@True Detective - HBO - McConaughey / Harrelson \[SPOILERS\]](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-detective-hbo-mcconaughey-harrelson-spoilers/660697/416): > > 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] > [@True Detective - HBO - McConaughey / Harrelson \[SPOILERS\]](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-detective-hbo-mcconaughey-harrelson-spoilers/660697/418): > > 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. > [@True Detective - HBO - McConaughey / Harrelson \[SPOILERS\]](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-detective-hbo-mcconaughey-harrelson-spoilers/660697/485): > > 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. > [@True Detective - HBO - McConaughey / Harrelson \[SPOILERS\]](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-detective-hbo-mcconaughey-harrelson-spoilers/660697/488): > > Yeah, it was a pretty good ride until the ending. > [@True Detective - HBO - McConaughey / Harrelson \[SPOILERS\]](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-detective-hbo-mcconaughey-harrelson-spoilers/660697/490): > > 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. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-watching-true-detective-season-3-spoiler-free-please/827829)._