I feel like this song should be the end credits, it feels so true in tone and message. Also I would gladly have Josh Homme's babies, FYI.

my favorite song on that album!

I had a whole pile of links but the post got eaten on my first attempt, so I shall add them here instead:

My personal view of what's going on, don't read if you're not caught up.

Couple of links exploring the show from a feminist perspective:
Though the show has movie-star charisma, it reeks of macho nonsense.

Yes, True Detective treats its female characters badly. That's the point. (I'm inclined to side with this interpretation.)

And if you like a whole bunch of over-analytical conspiracy theorists posting screenshots of anything that looks remotely intentional- do check out the subreddit for all your woods for the trees missing needs.

Just watch it, it's a great show, enjoy it as a great character study masquerading as a crime thriller. You have two more weeks to be caught up by the finale, only 8 hours in total. Basically I want to be able to talk about this to as many people as possible. SO GO.

Was it the 406 error again? :(

When I tried it, my post preview just came up blank, as if I hadn't entered a thing.

crap. apologies for that. I don't actually know what's causing it. tomorrow I'll probably rewrite the whole posting backend. I have plans for it anyway. So, might as well ;)

Yeah, same with me, I got a PM about getting admin status but the post had vanished into the ether. But at least I still got post 26! user/post combo wooo

You are very funny/cute about this.

As a slightly more tempered response, there are elements of this show I like a lot and I enjoy it. Where it is best is when it diverts from the typical. This is largely with Matthew McConaughey's character (Harrelson structurally has had to be more typical so far).

Being a middle class white male of a certain age (MCWMOACA) I like it when it gets all philosophery.

However, whenever it strays close to what you'd expect from the subject it becomes rather predictable and a bit boring. A lot of the episodes are very similar and you know what will happen. An easy way of telling where you are is to see who the camera follows when someone leaves a room. Part of good writing/directing/editing is deciding what to show and what not to show. Narratively, this programme is best when it's making unconventional decisions about what to show. When it starts showing you what you'd expect, I get disappointed (Episode 4, I'm looking at you.)

I like the production design quite a bit. MMc is so fucking skinny it makes me envious. WH really drew the short straw on costume (apart from his awesome belt). Michelle Monaghan's hair has had some good moments.

I have trouble connecting the Rust of the framing story with the one of the main story. They're like two separate people to me. It's rather disconnecting.

[Spoilers?] And as a final added attraction, an album of gifs from that Alexandra Daddario scene... https://imgur.com/a/qIEya#9 Attempt at html link

Hey, my response doesn't have to be less tempered than yours because I like it. I'm not sure why it makes me cute, either.

I see your points but for me those are points in its favour, not something to make the show less. Does it use tropes and genre conventions? Sure. But it employs them well, and in a different way than you'd expect. I find the scenes that people have 'seen coming' to still be intriguing and well explored, in keeping with the characters. I think people are getting too hung up on surprise and originality rather than seeing why or how these common elements keep coming up in this kind of story. Why are shows constantly bombarding us with sexualised, objectified female bodies, possibly degraded/murdered? Why are female characters secondary to the plot, refracted through the lens of our male protagonists? etc etc..

Michelle Monaghan in particular has done amazing work, and I consider her character to be fairly well fleshed out (even if she's always been too skinny for Marty). I'm less inclined to put all the praise on McConaughey, I think he's been incredible but Harrelson has done very well as the 'straight' man, and the two of them together are a great pairing. Next season... Sam Rockwell and Elisabeth Moss? Julianne Moore? Maybe this can finally be the defining moment for Jessicas Alba & Biel!

Not sure what your tempered point is. The cute part is your growing obsession with this show. Ugh, I didn't think you were cute.

I wasn't referring to thematic conventions, it's rather standard in the growing arcaneness of the crime, but the crime itself isn't all that interesting (which I have no problem with). It's a character piece, essentially the fractured duality of WH and MM (fractured again by the framing device). I think that's the most interesting part of it.

The boring parts are when it reverts to scenes we've seen many times before, action sequences (hence my dislike of Ep #4), and is showing them in the standard way. I feel that these are just lost parts of the episode, like sitting through commercial breaks.

Harrelson is good. He's our access point, his story is comprehendible. We kinda know him. The trouble is with MM. When he MM stops talking, stops explaining, he's lost to the audience as a character. In this past episode, I really wasn't sure who he was. I'm talking about something different than the mystery and unreliable narrator thing. We need to know what he's thinking, even if we don't know the "real" him.

I think Michelle M is very good, too. There isn't much to her, but she's not the subject so I don't mind. MM/WH is the subject.

I like the show too. Not sure if you were implying I didn't. However, it's only good in parts. Some of the writing is very well done. Some of it is too conventional. All the acting is good. Directing, I'm less impressed by. There is an established tempo and it's repetitive. You can tell where you are in each episode from it.

For this reason, I'm not sure how well it will work as an anthology. What will be carried on to next season? I can't see enough originality here to allow a through line. This is why I find mention of this show in the same breath of Twin Peaks, say, confusing.

MM's ties are ridiculous but cool. His watch is very cleverly done. His hair in the present is best left undiscussed.

Yeah, I was kinda wondering was was supposed to be so funny/cute about someone sharing a show they liked.

It was the progression from discovering the show...binge watching it in IRC...reserving the setting for a mafia game...to really wanting to talk about it so creating a post. I find seeing the nascent growth of someone's passion funny/cute.

Unless it's for jihad....

What are you passionately interested in and how would you like it if someone gave you a condescending pat on the head and dismissed your interest in that topic as "cute"?

Depends if it's a cute topic or not. I really don't see the insult here. This is a TV show, I've enjoyed watching Brat get more into it. I didn't tell anyone that their faith in Jesus or work with the poor was cute.

Just to clear it up, I've talked to brat about this show before. We're both fans of the show, though we perhaps like different parts of it. I think her reasons for liking it are absolutely valid, but I also think my criticisms of it are valid.

If I was condescending, I'm apologise. I don't think I was meaning anything more than teasing. I sincerely think it's cute when bogans watch grown up shows.

I'm really enjoying discussing the show with you and I like hearing your perspective and criticisms.

The word 'cute' though is quite loaded, and can sometimes raise my heckles when I come across it in internet-based discussion. I don't think you intended it that way, but it's not a word I see applied equally to both genders in terms of being passionately interested in something, and that means I view it with suspicion as to intent. It does get employed often as a way of minimising both the person and the interest as something less than serious or lacking in credibility. I don't think that's how you view me, the show, or my interest in it, but the word carries baggage and it's easy to misconstrue intent over the internet :P

And that's today's episode of 'Girl on the Internet!' please tune in next week for an in-depth discussion of why Marty bought so many damned tampons, srsly, wtf?

SPOILERS!!!

Now the big tampon reveal is ruined for everyone. Also, he got them from Walgreens which just seemed weird to me. I expect every shop in the south to be called some variation of Piggly Wiggly.

"Marty? Can you run to the Hoggly Woggly and get me and the girls 72 jam rags?"

Shall not use cute again. Thanks for the warning.

Maybe the girls are building a giant sculpture out of them, like a wicker man. That's why the chief calls him a human tampon! Foreshadowing his eventual sacrifice by all the female characters, trapped in a giant earth-mother shaped cage made of menstrual aids and then set on fire! Honestly it's about what he deserves :P

I, for one, am looking forward to it. This is the 3rd year that Mrs. moriati and I have forgone watching television / movies etc. for the month of February (our media consumption equivalent of those who don't drink alcohol for January) so a binge watch of True Detective is scheduled for this coming weekend, possibly after going to see The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Just started watching this the other day, definitely a great series.

Hey, my mod is gone? Should have been a +1 good.

I heard that I should watch this show because Hart's (Woody Harrelson) mistress has gravity-defying boobs. Not saying that should be the deciding factor, but it did get me interested.

They are pretty sensational.

I linked to them in my comment.

Haven't watched the show, but one selling point for folks around here might be the presence of nekkid ladies. Some such highlights can be found here.

Still working on The Wire, dammit.

True Detective is The Wire by way of Nick Cave and Flannery O'Connor. It warms the cackles of my cold black heart.

Still working on Luther.

The Wire

Season 2 of The Wire is extraordinarily good.

Wax is another name for?

but this how is damn good too.

Cheers, never heard of this before but am now loving it. Fucking fantastic soundtrack.