I’m loving this show. I like mysteries set in backwards rural locations like this one in Louisiana. Having said that, this show feels like more of a character study than a real murder mystery.
I’m waiting for something to happen between Rust and Marty’s wife.
Taken from the Wiki link above:
The last shot of the episode shows the sun being reflected in the river (?) near the church making it look like there’s a second sun for a moment. No clue what this signifies, if anything. I’ve been always bad at reading symbolism.
In that vein, there’s this pervasive undercurrent of “loss of innocence” running through the show I can’t make heads or tails of either. You have the the pretty clear implication that the victim was molested by her father as a child (via the bathing line by her mother), 2012 Rust’s soliloquy about fatherhood, the teenage hooker (actually all the sex workers shown), Marty’s daughters reenacting crime scenes with Barbies, the smoking girls outside the mother’s home and so on. And all that from a strictly female perspective to boot. So I guess there’s an “exploitation of women” angle somewhere in there too.
Still not sold on the mystery, but as a character study the show works pretty well. Love the juxtaposition of 1995 Marty calling his FIL out on his bullshit and 2012 Marty being the embodiment of a Good ol’ boy so far. Rust’s backstory is too over the top in my opinion (hell, the whole character is), yet again I really like that everyone, i.e. the mayor, calls him out on it.
The production values are really good, even by HBO standards.
I was thinking the same thing during the first episode - mostly, after the way Marty’s wife was talking to Rust and seeming a little too “interested” in him. Granted she was probably thankful for ANY male attention. She had heard about this “strange” partner of his, and wanted to meet him.
After Ep 1, I read a review of the show (sorry, no cite) and it mentioned Marty’s divorce and Rust having a hand in it (that could happen several different ways at this point). Rust knows that Marty has cheated, and he didn’t approve - telling Marty as much with his smart ass jibes (he has SOME morals - it’s not okay for married man to cheat). In Rust’s odd little world - it would be just fine for him to cheat with a married woman. He would think of it as perfect karma, Marty the “religious family man” having a taste of his own medicine. It would be even better if delivered by his very own, partner.
It’s kinda nice to know that it will be resolved in 6 more episodes. I love the music. It adds to the overall eerie feeling. Flashbacks aren’t always a good thing, but I think they work for this show, because Marty & Rust look totally different in 1995 compared to the present interrogation scenes.
I wasn’t able to use closed captioning, it would have been helpful at times. While watching Episode 2, I kept thinking of them with a mouth full of chew or rocky mt. oysters - as others mentioned upthread. It was hard to take it seriously sometimes. :rolleyes:
One of the black detectives interrogating them is Tory Kittles… who played Laroy Wayne the leader of the One-Niners on Son’s of Anarchy. I looked him up on IMDb, because it was bugging me that he looked familiar. Both detectives are in all 8 episodes. They will be grilling them down to the wire.
They’re probably gonna hook up right the moment Rust laids his soul bare to her; namely that he’s the one responsible for his daughter’s death, running her over while on Ecstasy to the tune of Rocket Man.
Just you wait.
So I’ve been thinking about last night’s episode off and on today. At one point in the first episode Cohle describes the killer as ‘metapsychotic’, but does he explain that further? I’m wondering if what he actually said was metempsychotic, which might work given the religious angle. Though it’s easy to come up with an explanation of ‘metapsychotic’ as well.
ETA: A little googling suggests that I’m not the first one to come up with that interpretation.
Damn, those overhead shots are stunning. They must’ve got a deal on helicopter rentals.
True Detective (HBO) Sunday 9:00 P.M. EST - Cigarette fetishist Rust “Debbie Downer” Cohle and a bald cop with partial facial paralysis recount the wacky hijinks of their past partnership.
I would be disappointed as this was a story told in Breaking Bad to Jesse Pinkman while in rehab. The counselor explained to the group that he did this very thing…minus the Rocket Man.
If you are a fan of Jacob Clifton’s reviews on TWoP, he’s doing this show too.
He got the words on the mug wrong though…it’s Big Hug Mug; not Big Huge Hug. I’ve got the same one.
The bunny ranch back in the boonies was interesting…how realistic is it for them to have enough business to support that many pretty decent looking women?
He also describes the picture of Dora Lange in her mom’s house as including “redneck Klansmen” or something to that effect. They might be either of those two things, but the tall hats they’re wearing in the picture are Courir de Mardi Gras hats, not Klan hoods.
Speaking of symbolism, when they went into the burned church there was an owl sitting up on a rafter or something right over their heads. Impossible to miss. I though for sure it was going to swoop down on them or something. If I walked into a place like that and saw an owl like that, the first thing I would have said was, “Shit ! Look at that owl!” Instead - nothing. The writers couldn’t have put there for no reason could they? Just to add to the general spookiness maybe?
I agree with the overdone cigarette smoking. It seems more common in recent years. If a character smokes, he smokes but can he not have a brief moment where he doesn’t have a cigarette in his hand?
It could have been a hallucination.
What a truly great TV show this is. Even the characters that have one minute on screen are excellent. The script plays away from all the usual stuff. I really pray that I don’t die before it all ends.
It looks like the action will heat up considerably next week. I loved Cohle’s exposition on religion and the reference to humans as a virus.
I can’t get over the authenticity of the locations! And the fresh approach to setting up shots from angles you aren’t bored with. The music underpinning is right on the money (I heard one theme that sounded like the intro to Taxi Driver) and I marvel at how the aging effects on Woody and Matthew make it look almost like they shot this show’s scenes far enough apart in real time that some physical changes (weight, hair, etc.) might accompany the excellent hair and makeup work.
Does anybody know enough production details to address that possibility? Or is the makeup that exceptional?
That long shot of the guy in underwear and a gas mask reminded me of a scene from another movie or TV show, but for the life of me, I can’t remember which one.
It seems to me that the writers are trying to make us sympathetic to Marty’s philandering. “I’m getting old! The end is coming! I’m so complicated!” Marty doesn’t know himself and Rust understands too much, about himself and about people in general.
It reminded me of Bigfoot pictures.
I don’t know your current medical condition, but if you can last out 5 more episodes, you’ll get to see it all.
I was blown away to see Shea Whigham in a 180 turn from Elias ‘Eli’ Thompson as the “evangelist.” Boy’s good!
He also had a small part in American Hustle.