True Detective - HBO

[Joffrey]



The weird portal in the throne room was a play on the supernatural theme but can be discounted by Rust's comment about still seeing visions.

Overall I am disappointed. The pursuit of Errol through Carcosa was very well done...I was so creeped out. But Rust's babbling at the end was like a spoof. Made zero sense and added nothing. More importantly, how could they throw away half of the plot in one line? "Well, sure, there's a huge conspiracy but we got our guy!" That cheapened the show for me. And what about Marty's daughter? The doll scene, acting out, the drawings...it's frustrating to have those loose ends, because they seem like much more than red herrings.

Interesting thoughts. The scene at the temple (?) was incredible. Very tense, great music (plus the voice over of Errol taunting Rusty was awesome - although how realistic is it that it was real taunts since it'd suggest Errol could see Rusty the whole time). However, I was a little dissapointed with the ending. The first 6 episodes built things up to only have a wrap up in the final 2. I respect the decision to do only one season, but this story needed a few more episodes. Anyway, it was a good ride.

I think I'll add the emptiness/lack of satisfaction I feel has got to be a drop in the bucket the cops must feel after all that. Nearly die getting one of the suspects involved in the kidnaps and ritual killings but have to shrug and move on with other cases/their lives.

 

[phoni]

As one of my friends texted last night, the series ended with a wimper, not with a bang.

To be fair, the set-up was so complex and so well-executed it was never going to be possible to resolve this in a satisfying way in 2 episodes. I was really hoping ep 8 would be a 90-minute 'special' (or even 2 hours, I wouldn't have complained).

The paint explanation - maybe life really is like this, where years of meticulous work are trumped by a flash-in-the-dark moment of inspiration; you can certainly argue that is Marty had not done his homework before he would not have remembered about the house.

The Carcosa thing - yeah, I will admit that I was tense watching it, but mostly because I was convinced one of them was going to eat it (always thought it was going to be Marty, Rust just seemed too obvious). However, in retrospect this was some weak Red Dragon/SotL pastiche and I am genuinely dissapointed by the whole thing. Oh yeah, the stars moment was interesting, but they wasted it with the 'explanation' speech.

The denouement made things even worse - nevermind the complacency in the whole nevermind-the-conspiracy-we-got-ours. I just can't buy such a complete character metamorphosis, for both of them. Apparently the secret is to have a good solid cry and presto, bitter realism/pesimism -> full-blown joie-de-vivre and super-charged optimism.

Kinda wish the season would have finished with both of them wasted by Green Ears in that twig-art museum. Would have been easier to accept than what we got.

On a good note, I expect the ep 8 feedback might positively infuence next season's storylines.

Few weeks ago I would have laughed at the mere notion, but right now I expect the Black Sails finale to (easily) top this.

 

[Reggs]

I think the last episode was well done. I'm satisfied. This was a great show.

I thought going into it I thought there could be any mix of outcomes as far as Marty's and Rust's death. The fight scene was very intense. When Errol lifted Rust off his feet, I was sure he would die. Then I thought for sure both would die after the axe stuck in Marty's chest. I was on the edge of my seat.

 

[phoni]

Might have said this, but I don't care: +1,000 for Guts avatar. Hope I don't die before Miura finishes this series. Hmm, actually he's quite older than I am so maybe I should be more worried about his health...

The scene you described is the one I consider as the real ending for this season; I think I'll ignore the rest of the episode from now on

 

[NorCal]

Why are people reading so much into the "we got ours" statement? It was a one off line, if anything meant to make Rust feel better and to point out that they were no longer "in debt" because of their having missed the killer last time. Both guys were still in hospital only just having recovered form near death. Who knows what they will do in a week or a month.
Did people expect them to swear "never to stop hunting until they uncover the truth" in a dramatic bromace moment?
The fact that the contents of the video were not being widely reported on kind of gives meat for the next season, had they uncovered the whole conspiracy at the end it would have seemed way too forced.

Marty breaking down made perfect sense, it seemed that he never even considered that his family would be there, but of course they were and he realized that despite everything else they still totally loved him and he almost lost that.

There was no total character metamorphosis, maybe some slight optimism on the part of Rust, but I never saw him as a nihilist, just . . . off.

Anyway, the ending was about as good as it could be.

 

[Stugotes]

I think some of you are missing that the next season will have nothing to do with the current one.

 

[RedLantern]

The only real bone I have to pick with the finale is that I cant come up with a really good explanation for why Errol had his father/grandfather tied up. It just set off a ton of questions for me that were not at all answered.

How long had he been tied up? It must be a fairly new development, as the cultists probably were not preying on each other in the "heyday" of the cult and he couldn't have keep him alive in that manner for very long. Is it just that the old mad had become feeble enough that Errol could finally get the jump on him?

I thought for a minute that maybe it wasn't really a relation, and merely a stand-in for his father, but the disappearances are only women and children.

 

[Neo_Version 7]

Thought it was a fine finale. I echo the posters who're glad there wasn't some big twist out of left field (though to be fair, the writers opened it up for some wild ones to potentially pop up as evidenced by all the theories that circulated pre-finale).

I will say that after having Alexandra Daddario and Lili Simmons, I was kinda bummed that the final sex scene was with the two hillbillies.

 

[munchausen]

The series wasn't about the mystery, it was about the detectives. The ending was perfect.

 

[foodguy]

Finally caught up with the dvr last night. Sat down to watch the next-to-the-last episode and couldn't stop, so finished it. I'm a huge mystery junkie and in general, mysteries fall into two categories -- mousetraps, which are all about the plot; and character studies, which are about the people and the places involved. this was definitely the latter. and, honestly, though i loved the series, i didn't think it was terribly well-written. i think the thing that made it one of the best shows of the year (which i do think it is), was the performances of the two leads. mcconaughey and harrelson. i thought they were absolutely magnificent. each terrifically realistic portrait of a character flawed in its own way but with real strength and believability. try imagining another couple of actors in those roles and it probably wouldn't have been nearly so successful. (i'd juxtapose this with something like The Wire, where the acting was good, but it was mainly the writing that carried the series).
and unlike conne, i thought the ending was terrific. harrelson's character had been haunted for the last 18 years by what he had thrown away. the chance to regain it would have been very emotional. and mcconaughey had been haunted by his daughter's death for even longer, and had b een getting more and more tightly wound into a little box. man, some of those scenes where his eyes just go flat ... to have been offered his own chance at something like redemption, of course he would have cracked.

 

[HORNS]

I watched the last six episodes last night, with the finale ending at 3:30. Didn't sleep well last night.

They did such a good job at changing the characters' looks - from their weight, skin type, skin color, hair - from era to era.

 

[msg]



The only real bone I have to pick with the finale is that I cant come up with a really good explanation for why Errol had his father/grandfather tied up. It just set off a ton of questions for me that were not at all answered.

How long had he been tied up? It must be a fairly new development, as the cultists probably were not preying on each other in the "heyday" of the cult and he couldn't have keep him alive in that manner for very long. Is it just that the old mad had become feeble enough that Errol could finally get the jump on him?

I thought for a minute that maybe it wasn't really a relation, and merely a stand-in for his father, but the disappearances are only women and children.

The old man was dead, not alive.

 

[RedLantern]

^ doesn't really throw off my time frame from but a few days. He's not really decomposing, so he must have been alive at least a few days ago.

 

[Gibonius]

I got the impression he was alive the first time we saw him, but it was ambiguous.

 

[Neo_Version 7]

Rumors are swirling that Brad Pitt is linked to star in Season 2. It's a big maybe at this point in time but it would be awesome to see him in this role.