AuntiePam, it’s interesting you mention E8. The show finished on UK tv last night and there is some debate about e8 in particular. People don’t seem to have picked up on that point in particular, but there is quite alot about cliches and the denoumement.
Many of the interesting posts here cetre on someone who calls himslef alternatively seanmcnulty/SeanMurray
For all True Dectective fans out there - there is a luxury hotel in Malaysia called “Carcosa”. Yes, it derived its name from the same source as the series - the King in Yellow. 
True Detective season 1 was one of the best things I’ve seen HBO put out, and that’s a pretty strong statement considering some of the other series they have done.
I’m looking forward to season 2; it will be all new characters a completely different story, and a new director.
The word is it will be set in California this time, and possibly revolve around three main characters.
I’m glad there seems to be more experimentation in the US market with the concept of telling stories this way. While the mini-series isn’t a new concept, it fell out of favor for some reason.
I am a fan of Korean dramas, and they tend to use the mini-series concept to good effect. No sprawling story lines, no watering down of the writing, due to writers moving on to other projects like in perpetual series. They tell a good story and bring it to an end.
True Detective season one, was basically an eight hour movie, they told a good story and ended it.
Season two, will be a completely different story, with different people putting it together, only Nick Pizzolatto is coming back as lead screen writer and producer.
I’m looking forward to see what he comes up with, I don’t expect it to be the same tone and feel as season one, nor do I want it to be.
I thought season 1 was good… but I don’t really think it quite deserves the adulation it’s getting. I think Fargo, which was clearly very similar (miniseries in an anthology format, main characters are detectives and criminals, hints of the supernatural or metaphysical) was better, largely because it didn’t have long and frankly pointless digressions about how time is a flat circle. I feel like to really enjoy those I would have to either be (a) stoned, (b) a smart high school junior, or possibly © way way WAY smarter than I am.
I mean, it was good, and I’m looking forward to season 2, but I think it overreached and took itself a bit too seriously.
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.
I loved McConaughey’s rambling little speeches, and the one about the “flat circle” was given after he had drank a six pack of tall boys and a flask of whiskey. Plus, the young detective’s reaction to the “flat circle” was priceless.
His best rant was at the tent revival and the interaction with Woody during that scene was great.
Woody had some pretty good lines also, my favorite was when he was describing how the best years of his life had passed him by and he didn’t realize it. I think it was episode six, and they were showing his daughters play in the yard; one of the girls takes a tiara with ribbons and tosses into a tree. As he explains how he had a few good years with his family, the ribbons fray as those good years pass, and then the camera pans down to show his now teenage daughters coming home from school.
Excellent story telling!
Absolutely, that was fantastic.
Yeah, it was a pretty good ride until the ending.
I’ll go along with this a tiny bit. The ending in relation to the killer became less interesting, but it wasn’t central to the story line to me, at all.
I thought it was more about Marty and Russ resolving the bad blood between them and becoming friends again.
There was a good story being told that made it worth while.
If you are a middle age man that has been through a divorce, chances are you identified with Marty on some level.
Watching him go from his peak, in his 30s, to his low point in his late 40s, was like having a bucket of cold water thrown in my face.
Browsing internet dating sites, eating microwave food alone, while telling himself that he was keeping things level. There was level of realism that is very rare in TV and movies.
Plus, there were a bunch of little things that were so damn funny amid the darkness and sad tone of the story.
Marty sucking on a Werther’s Original with the old lady in the retirement home, or his asking “What’s scented meat?”
It’s very hard for me to criticize season one of True Detective. I’m really looking forward to seeing a new story and cast of characters in season 2.
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.
The amusing thing about True Detective to me was that the whole thing was simply a typical police buddy story - only, it was so well done, you as the audience (at first) did not realize it.
How many cop shows and movies have msimatched partners who don’t get along, but learn to do so? How many have a cop who ‘turns in his badge and gun’ because of conflict with a superior officer? These are all cliches of the genre - only, again, they are so well done, they do not appear to be cliches.
Thank you!
I skipped almost all of the thread, but I caught this, and thought it was brilliantly insightful.
My wife and I just finished binging on this series, and we both loved it, and were blown away by the acting, directing, and writing of the show. This comment here, though, really blew my mind. Just two short paragraphs, and I’m re-experiencing the whole show from a new perspective.
Woah, I’m blushing. :o
I think closure took place only for the buddy cop story. Additional episodes would have been needed to do the same for the various subplots, the occult elements, and criminal conspiracy.
They never do really explain what the whole King in Yellow/Carcosa thing was about, in terms of ideology, or its connection if any to the 19th century work of literature. Indeed, in that universe, the 19th century book doesn’t appear to exist. Moreover, I watched some of the extras, and did not see any reference to it.
Again, as I mentioned upthread, I was delighted to discover that there is a luxury hotel which takes its name from the same inspiration.