Ah, ok. I guess I wasn't paying attention. For some reason I didn't really think about where it was set. To me it just seemed like any place, where the location wasn't really important to the proceedings, unlike Season One where it's very much a character in its own right.

I read it beforehand actually, as well as in some episode reviews, so it seemed widely known. Like Libs mentioned there's a few instances where Vinci geographic location comes up, it does have a quite apparent Californian vibe.

In season 1, the setting and environment was a lot more mood setting though.

By the way, your avatars have been on a downward spiral.

I gave the show a break after Episode 4, hoping that a binge of the last four episodes would benefit the show. Man, who the heck wrote the first four compared to the last four? It's like a different show. It's like Nic had enough content to fill three episodes, four top, and padded the rest heavily.

Colin Farrell and Rachel McAdams were terrific. Both especially came alive in the last few shows. Vince Vaughn was very good, but I agree with the general consensus that his part could have been played better by others. And Taylor Kitsch was decent, but never elevated the part.

Also, I completely forgot they starred together in Wedding Crashers until Vaughn and McAdams had a mini-reunion.

Anyway, I think the season was a lot better than it deserved to be, but still pales in comparison to Season 1. As good as the show became, so much was convoluted. I couldn't keep up with everything and it felt unnecessarily muddled at times. I cared more about Ray's relationship with his son (I agree the paternity test closure was not needed), as well as his unlikely union with Ani than anything else that the season centered upon.

I expected and called it early on that Kitsch would bite it early, but I didn't expect Farrell to go too. Of course it was inevitable in the finale. Kind of funny that after the first season was all about the dudes that the only surviving members of the main cast in Season 2 were the women.

Overall, a good season that would have been better if Nic combined the events of the first four episodes into one episode. I know it's hard to fill 22 episodes in a season, but I didn't think you could make 8 episodes feel like too many.

Season 1: A
Season 2: B (C+ for first half, A- for last half)

As far as the ridiculous dialogue goes, I think people forget that a lot of McConaughey's monologues were rambling as well, but he gave the words a little more gravitas. I like Vaughn, but his performance (and similarly silly dialogue) was not on par with McConaughey.

McConaughey's verbose whoa-dude dialogue is perfectly contrasted with Harrelson's straight-man cynicism in the first season, though, whereas most of Vaughn's monologues just linger in the air.

The season had flaws sure, but I overall liked it a lot. Nic Pizzolato says the show is about people finding opportunity for emotional connections with each other. People riding in cars talking or working a case and before they know it they mean something to each other. Like Rust and Marty in Season 1 the relationship between Ray and Ani ends up a heart of the season, but also Ray and Chad, Frank and Jordan, the kinship between Frank and Ray, etc. ended up a strength of a season. Throughout the season some of the best moments were farthest away from the case with characters opening up to each other or contemplating themselves. I liked the dialog and just hearing these characters talk a lot of the time. I just wish they didn't have to make the case so convoluted. I didn't mind the plot on Frank's end and all his chips falling apart, but to me the trail of investigation by Ray, Ani and Woodrugh felt like drivel for most of the season. It didn't help that who killed Casper didn't seem all that important. Furthermore the show spent so much time on the case it was as if they thought it was entertaining and were supposed to be on board with every turn.

Visually the show continues to be at a different level with a beautiful feel to the show, and the action scenes are fantastic. The finale was my favorite episode in part because it let its climactic action legs loose a little. The acting is impressive from Farrell, McAdams, but Vaughn as my favorite performance of the group and I thought he fit Frank perfectly. He helped make Frank seem like more of normal guy caught up in the wrong life. You don't take Vaughn as seriously as a tough guy boss as you would a De Niro, but neither do the people working for him. While weaker then the other three, Kitsch also did a good, intense job that would make him a good fit for action roles.

I wasn't all that impressed by S1 so I think I like this one a little more. True Detective has too much talent involved from its visuals, acting and the writing of its dialog, to be less than very good TV, despite some problems making the case pop in both seasons

lol, I totally forgot about finding out who killed Jasper. Was it even revealed? I remember the first episode where I thought they were trying to hide the killer for an eventual "whodunnit" finale. It's a shame that never panned out.

Yeah it was the two kids who's parents got killed for the blue diamonds, then grew up in the foster system, and yada yada

Oh yeah. Actually I do remember that. But it took you to remind me. In my mind's eye, when I think of Season Two, I think of Farrell's long hair, Vaughn in the desert, and Kitsch getting a blowy. As you said, the plot was needlessly convoluted, which doesn't make it easy on the memory.

Perhaps watching it in one sitting isn't good. There's no time for it to set in. Which is why I can mainly only remember the last episode. ha

Nice review Shack, which I totally agree with, aside from the part where you prefer it over season 1.

Kitsch can only ever do serious roles. He only ever frowns and looks serious. He seems to think that's acting.

It's acting. It's acting like a knobhead.

Yeah, Kitsch was a decidedly poor choice for the otherwise-stellar cast.

I think one big difference between the two seasons is that Season 1 made the big case feel way more important. Maybe the downfall of Season 2, from the audience's perspective, is that we expected the same for Season 2 when the entire season was more about the main characters than a "Whodunnit?"-style case. That's the only way I can justify what was an honestly-boring main story.

I'd also like to know if it was Nic Pizzolatto or HBO that wanted the season to more closely resemble season 1, especially with the dialogue. The second-half of Season 2 was exactly what the season needed to be. It was almost entirely different from Season 1 in every way, and really made fantastic use of its California setting. Whereas the first half felt like "Oh, here's a few lingering shots of Farrell and Vaughn staring at each other. Feels cool, right?! There's a dude with a bird mask on! OMG, it feels so Season 1!! There's a mysterious songstress singing a haunting ditty! Haunting. That's a word used to describe Season 1, right?!?!"

The more I've digested the season, the more I dig it. Maybe I would think differently if I had to endure certain scenes again, but I think it will be written off unfairly in retrospect when it ended up being a lot stronger than expected.

Bring on Season 3!

Thought this was quite interesting in the form of a review comparison of both season (episode by episode even - and there seemed to be no data on the last 2 eps unfortunately (yet))

Nothing seems to get higher than only 56% in Season One???

Damn. My love for it was near 90% the whole way through.

Yeah, that might seems a bit surprising, but I think "Good" and "Excited" are definitely good marks too. "Hate" and "Boring" are obviously bad and for season 1 they are cumulative around the 7-8% mark at most. While for season 2 that's hitting it between the 15-25 percentiles.

One character who petered out a bit over the course of season two:



I thought he would become this debauched, fascinating, intimidating figure.

HBO president blames himself for the shortcomings of Season 2, not creator Nic Pizzolatto. He claims he rushed Pizzolatto into a deadline for the season.

I don't know that I really buy this. I know you can't rush quality, but it feels like a cheap excuse. And it also feels unnecessary to complain about the season. We're in the era of the apology where everything lackluster needs to be apologized for, but what about the people who liked the season, myself included? Am I supposed to feel wrong now that the HBO head honcho has come out saying Season 2 was a disappointment.

I mean, sure, a lot of Season 2 sucked. But a lot worked too. As awards trickle in for the previous season, I'm saddened that a solid performance like Rachel McAdam's is going unnoticed and unrewarded (especially by those able to nominate film and TV, like the Globes). If the season did suck, it surely wasn't because of her. Colin Farrell pulled off a solid performance as well.

McAdams did get a Critics' Choice nomination for this. I still think she has a shot at an Emmy nod too. Perhaps Farrell as well.

The Emmys nominated Nicole Kidman for Grace of Monaco, no? Seems like faint praise at this point...

The Emmys are still the gold standard.

If they keep True Detective in Drama (a mistake), then it'll be shut out. If they move it rightly to Miniseries, it could pick up for Rachel and maybe Farrell. But even then, there's a chance it'll miss, especially given how old it will be by then.

Even though I liked Season 2 more I can see where more time spent on writing the case would have been made a huge difference

Today I watched the scene where Farrell kicks the ass of his son's bully's dad. Love that part.

The second season has flaws, but, honestly, so does the first. They almost run in cleanly opposite directions: the first season deflates a tad after the halfway point, the second season improves as it goes along. I believe both are very fine seasons of television.