Yessir, with phenomenal acting, filmography, and directing you can save just about any TV production from sinking under the weight of its numerous cliches, cheesy dialogue (tellingly, mostly the parts of it that weren't filched wholesale from other media), and one of the most disappointing endgames in television history... Wait, no. No, you can't.
I won't deny that True Detective has got a lot good stuff going for it. It's got a look and an atmosphere that stands out and makes it memorable, ain't no doubt about that. But bereft of its aforementioned saving graces, few would have probably even given it the time of day. It surely would not enjoy the inexplicable acclaim that it has; only the very few can make their multiple high school-level emo teen nihilism speeches an episode anything but the epitome of narm.
In a way, I guess I have to congratulate the makers on including so much purposeless vagueness, not the least of which is the Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane approach. It's obviously just a cheap tactic to appeal to folks who like to read into things, and unfortunately, it seems to have worked, like so many times before. There is no great poignancy or cleverly-disguised social commentary to be found here (at least none of which was wrought by writer Pizzolatto's hand alone) outside the very basic and obvious. The end result is merely the same old tired bullshit about schizophrenic, serial murdering, pedophile hillbillies that I swear CSI alone must have done like, five times. And, dagnabbit, they got away with it! Just like in real life!
It so desperately wants to tap into genuine Twin Peaks-ish esoteric weirdness; problem is, Twin Peaks actually had an explanation for many of the vague elements that popped up in the show (most of which, unfortunately, remained unseen for the longest time). It wants this to the point of just chucking random scenes and red herrings in there to make a well out of a puddle, if you catch my drift. But unfortunately, it seems just including "applicability" for the sake of it will work if the other elements of a show are strong enough. And even worse, I can see this starting a trend for future shows.
Series It don't take Sherlock Holmes to crack this one.
Yessir, with phenomenal acting, filmography, and directing you can save just about any TV production from sinking under the weight of its numerous cliches, cheesy dialogue (tellingly, mostly the parts of it that weren't filched wholesale from other media), and one of the most disappointing endgames in television history... Wait, no. No, you can't.
I won't deny that True Detective has got a lot good stuff going for it. It's got a look and an atmosphere that stands out and makes it memorable, ain't no doubt about that. But bereft of its aforementioned saving graces, few would have probably even given it the time of day. It surely would not enjoy the inexplicable acclaim that it has; only the very few can make their multiple high school-level emo teen nihilism speeches an episode anything but the epitome of narm.
In a way, I guess I have to congratulate the makers on including so much purposeless vagueness, not the least of which is the Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane approach. It's obviously just a cheap tactic to appeal to folks who like to read into things, and unfortunately, it seems to have worked, like so many times before. There is no great poignancy or cleverly-disguised social commentary to be found here (at least none of which was wrought by writer Pizzolatto's hand alone) outside the very basic and obvious. The end result is merely the same old tired bullshit about schizophrenic, serial murdering, pedophile hillbillies that I swear CSI alone must have done like, five times. And, dagnabbit, they got away with it! Just like in real life!
It so desperately wants to tap into genuine Twin Peaks-ish esoteric weirdness; problem is, Twin Peaks actually had an explanation for many of the vague elements that popped up in the show (most of which, unfortunately, remained unseen for the longest time). It wants this to the point of just chucking random scenes and red herrings in there to make a well out of a puddle, if you catch my drift. But unfortunately, it seems just including "applicability" for the sake of it will work if the other elements of a show are strong enough. And even worse, I can see this starting a trend for future shows.
This is the true puzzle of True Detective.