I want this to be cannon. Imagine finding this dude, and becoming best friends. Then you find out you're brothers? I'd watch that movie with them in it.
I really liked season 2 once I rewatched it. I think my biggest problem was that season one was so good I was expecting that level again. 3 was OK but seemed pretty predictable. I'll give 4 a try if there's like an HBO max free trial
I'm with you on season 2, I introduced a friend to the show, and just for the hell of it we watched season 2 as if it was S1 and he liked it although he thought it was nothing special. Then when we watched season 1 he couldn't stop talking about the show. And now he has watched the other two seasons on his own and whenever TD comes up he seems so disappointed, meanwhile I'm content with just having seen the two seasons.
4 is some of the worst television I've ever watched. Utterly squandered some decent cast members with poor writing (and totally wasted their legendary lead). It's not a detective show, just "mystery box" storytelling that spins its wheels until it's time for the next reveal. Almost none of it makes a bit of sense. 2/10
Watch 'Mare of Easttown' if you want a female-led True Detective, S4 isn't it.
What did you like the most, perhaps the total lack of any detective work? Oh no, maybe it was the naked women drowning off the coast of Alaska (at midnight on Christmas eve) and the coastguard not only IMMEDIATELY find her body but then instantly TELEPHONE her next of kin. Or perhaps the cringey subplot involving the lead's daughter being in a relationship with an underage girl and everyone hand waving it as 'technically legal' (whilst casting a 30 year old to play the teen).
The entire script reeked of ChatGPT (and got caught literally using ai generated artwork for their set dressing). Characters just go to places for no reason, plenty of scenes just exist for the sake of it, and everything of any interest happens off screen
Season one was a masterpiece, Mare of Easttown' is a worthy successor. Season 4 simply shoehorned in callbacks to S1 to slap the TD brand on a dog shit.
Season 3 was excellent in its own way. Maybe it shouldn't have been called True Detective though. It's a pretty spot on meditation on the nature of partnerships whether professional, personal, or romantic. And how they change over time.
I don’t agree at all, I loved season 2. The problem is people loved season 1 so much (and they were right, it’s amazing) that they were expecting something similar in terms of plot and atmosphere. The writers wanted to make something different and they succeeded imo, it’s very different from season 1 which is a good thing. People should stop taking season 1 as a reference for what the series should be, it’s great and probably the best season but it’s an anthology series and I think the writers should make the different season try to stand on their own. I didn’t care much for season 3 and found it much less interesting than season 2. I liked season 4, not as good as 1 and 2 but still pretty good, great acting and atmosphere.
Every season is different so I'm not sure what you expected. 3 was kind of a parallel story to 1 but 2 was totally its own world. 4 felt like a little bit of a callback to the supernatural feel to 1 but still its own world. I hope they continue with unique stories for each season. It's more of a franchise than a series.
Season 4 was really good. I watched the whole thing on a crappy airplane screen so watching it on a nice TV would have made it more enjoyable but I was still into it.
I felt like 3 was very disappointing, with absolutely zero stakes.
One girl, possibly missing, two clueless detectives, and the kicker at the end is that nothing they did mattered. They had absolutely no impact on the case they were investigating, and only found out what actually happened when a guy was like "OK, it's been so many years, let me tell you exactly what happened..."
I did not enjoy that experience, even though I've been told repeatedly that this was exactly the point. It may be clever and wise, but it made for very lackluster TV.
It had it's limits but Mahershala Ali and his dynamic with his wife and family; and his pursuit for the truth, and him going too far for the truth and only stopping due to his family I found interesting. Plus the time elements were also intriguing and how that one case defined his whole life, his wife's book, and his world lens.
You're right, it still left a lot to be desired, the pacing was off, it didn't come close to good TV or season 1 levels, but I still felt mesmerized by the production value, by Ali, and by a detective mystery.
I could not say the same of season 2, that had virtually nothing going for it.
For me, the fact that the entire case would have been exactly the same if the two main characters just slacked off and did nothing made me just hate it. The guy telling them what happened in the end felt like an NPC the GM put in at a D&D session after the players fucked around for a few hours and he wanted to wrap up the story quick before everyone went home. Just straight up "here's all the details about everything that I've known all this time, and all you had to do was ask".
Season 1 had effort and accomplishment on behalf of the detectives. They cared, worked their ass off, and earned the victory in the end. Season 3 ended with the detectives not even realizing how the case ended, and nothing they did had an effect on the girl who was alive and well the whole time.
I can look at the other elements like the fucking shootout out of nowhere that just felt like the writers were trying to copy that part from season 1, or the family lives, etc, but in the end, I feel like the detective show should revolve around the case. The rest are side-plots and the main plot was a let-dowb for me.
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u/i_should_be_coding 4d ago
I'm just gonna pretend this is where Rust and Marty went after season 1.