Monday, March 10, 2014
Short, Shameless Fan Boy Review of True Detective
Boy howdy.
If I were to compare it to William Faulkner and Raymond Chandler building a raft from timbers stolen from the House of Usher, with Conan Doyle stitching the sails, so they could sail away up Joseph Conrad's river in search of monsters...well that would be exaggerating.
But it was awfully good.
Also (he said, trying very hard to avoid spoilers) the suffocating, hallucinogenic atmosphere of a drug house infused with the sense that Lovecraftian horrors are flitting around just out of sight reminded me very agreeably of Harlan Ellison's "Shattered Like A Glass Goblin".
It was a hero's journey down various rivers, both literal and metaphoric.
It was Holmes and Watson.
It was Gothic and southern and horrifying.
It was one of the most effective uses of the length and depth of the miniseries format I have ever seen.
It was one of the most effective uses of landscape and local culture you will see on teevee, each worked tight around the plot like the copper windings of a motor.
It was a terrific acting class.
And it set a very high bar.
Maybe more later.
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It was good. And I loved that it slapped everyone in the face who was trying to jack off their own intellect and read too much into it (despite the director telling people not to do this repeatedly).
It leaves in question though where they are going with season 2. I might be ignorant of the facts but IIRC the lead actors aren't returning, and it will have multiple directors instead of just one. That's interesting, but it still begs a question I haven't seen answered. What's the plot?
They could retell the same damn story with a different set of actors and just twist it slightly to go down whatever road they want. They could do another detective story that incorporates the same sort of mythology they have and try to link it through that (or not and just leave it to people to mine through for fun), or it could be completely different.
So far though I know a lot of people that turned utterly sour on it for the fact that it didn't end in a Lovecraftian style horror... though those tend to be the wanking off to their own intellect types that were sure they read something into it that wasn't there.... who knows a few seasons down the road it could though.
.
I'd like to read about whoever scouted locations and designed the props.
There is certainly a fair amount of outrage in some corners of the internet about the ending.
I guess some people couldn't stand not having Cthulhu consume the universe or some shit...
I liked it. Real life via the news has plenty of horrific endings for my tastes. I don't need something I devoted eight hours to for entertainment purposes to leave me sad and empty.
It seemed to me the real plot was the relationship between the two characters and the complex religious murder cult was a vehicle to carry it.
The conflict between the intellectually curious "True Detective", constantly working hard to unravel the mysteries of life, death and pain, and the passive police man, riding the current of the life he thought he deserved, and finding out deserve has nothing to do with it.
Fairly masterfully done.
I hear next years installment will be based in L.A., with different characters, but the same dark under currents. Thank god GOT starts back next month.
Ha! The moderation crypto is:
Makes Hp Riven....
Do you get to write these things?
Or is Lovecraft pissed....
It was as good as it gets right now.
http://missgar.ghost.io/true-detective-finale-or-just-the-beginning/
@Anon 11:51
It was intellectual masturbation and wankery. There were a lot of people who wanted to play this by reading all sorts of crap out of the background to solve the twist. You had all sorts of people feeling great about their amazing deductive skills and attention to detail making them so much smarter than the average person who just can't see what they see.
Then of course it turned out to just be... background information in a film to help give it character and detail with no grand Lovecraftian horror at the end.
And thus did the nerd brigade not get their moment of glory to gloat and show the world how smart they were. As such, ego not stroked by the outside world of normals, they threw a collective shit fit all over the internet.
This is why you should stay away from social misfits as soon as they start telling you anything that they think show cases how smart they are, it never ends well. Always treat that type of person like a leper.
This is why you should stay away from social misfits as soon as they start telling you anything that they think show cases how smart they are, it never ends well. Always treat that type of person like a leper.
I just wanted to highlight that part. Self-awareness can be a useful tool.
If you want to deal with bitcoin true believers, Paultards, reddit, and 9/11 truthers that's on you. But I wouldn't advise it.
There was a lot of that going around with this series and it went crazy.
There were plenty of subplots and loose ends hanging at the end of this one to propel another dozen "Tru" detective seasons. Harrelson and Mcconaughey set a very high bar for the next one, not to mention the writers. Great work all around.
@Anom 9:58: "And I loved that it slapped everyone in the face who was trying to jack off their own intellect and read too much into it (despite the director telling people not to do this repeatedly)."
Hah hah! Perfect! Yeah, I definitely agree with you there. Make no mistake--I _really_ liked this show, and look forward to the next season--but honestly, the intellectual masturbation and fan wankery just pissed me off. It didn't spoil my enjoyment of the show--not by a long shot--but to me it came across as "Lookit meee! I'm so f--king smarter than everybody else for making these connections and knowing EXACTLY where the show will go!!"
No you don't, you fools. The minute you start to put together the climax and the conclusion of a film/book/tv show/comic book in your own mind is the moment you fail, because--guess what?--that isn't the way things will go. These things depend on the actual _creators_ of the material, not some self-absorbed uber-fan. If they're upset because the ending wasn't the one they put together in their minds, too bad. It isn't a damned Choose Your Own Adventure.
But...TRUE DETECTIVE is definitely one of the best shows of the year. Possible Emmy nods? Who can say. But for me, it's best work I've seen from Harrelson and McConaughey. Great work from all involved on the show.
@Maturin42: The show is supposed to be an anthology, so next season it will be new characters and a new story....but yes, you are right--this first season has set a very high bar, and all we can do is wait to see if Season 2 can reach it.
Emily Nussbaum at the New Yorker was not impressed.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2014/03/the-disappointing-finale-of-true-detective.html
but I liked it a bunch.
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