TRUE DETECTIVE is a really messy show.
Lets get down to this by season:
First season is a good detective drama with some nice storytelling. Basically, the good stuff here, is how the action is broken up into different time-lines. Both Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey are great as detectives Cohle and Hart.
The story itself is not something special, and the resolution is the basic "modern TV drama" ending that you will expect - even though you might not figure it out before the end.
That said, season one is good TV and well worth the time watching it.
The second season (and this is what all the bad reviews are about) is messy. First of all, the storytelling is not as interesting as season one. Here, it's straight forward. The characters - this time acted by Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams and Taylor Kitsch, are all good as respective detective - but they're not Harrelson and McConaughey.
And, what is worse, the characters are not likeable.
I understand what they did here. Start the show with a CHINATOWN (1974) story and let three "bad guys" be the Heroes. With bigger names, and a less convoluted story, that might have worked. But here, it's just messy and pretty weird at times.
Also - in season one things doesn't just "happen". Season two is filled with dumb decisions and stuff that doesn't really make any sense at all. The characters aren't likeable even after three-four episodes, and that is a huge problem.
Overall, season two is worth a look, but only if you don't have anything else to do.
Season three is better, and maybe the best. Interesting characters and well balanced broken up time-line storytelling again (this time three timelines!), is lifted even further with great supporting cast like Scoot McNairy (from HALT AND CATCH FIRE (2014-2017), a TV-series that is light-years better than this one, by the way) and Carmen Ejogo (ALIEN: COVENANT (2017)).
Here, we follow detectives Hays (Mahershala Ali) and West (Stephen Dorff). Both are good, but the character Hays is a bit difficult to like sometimes, but that of course makes the conflicts shine.
Interesting mystery, followed by a bit too "big" and "weird" ending, but still OK.
TRUE DETECTIVE is by far as good as some people say it is. And it is by far as bad as some say. It's not amazing, it's not the worst ever.
It's a bland pop-culture modern TV detective show with some great cast at times, cool story-telling techniques, and wonderful set pieces in the 80's drama-parts.
As a show, I will probably have forgotten all about it in a few weeks though. And I won't keep my eyes open for season four.
I'm happy I watched it, but today there are plenty of better shows to watch.
Lets get down to this by season:
First season is a good detective drama with some nice storytelling. Basically, the good stuff here, is how the action is broken up into different time-lines. Both Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey are great as detectives Cohle and Hart.
The story itself is not something special, and the resolution is the basic "modern TV drama" ending that you will expect - even though you might not figure it out before the end.
That said, season one is good TV and well worth the time watching it.
The second season (and this is what all the bad reviews are about) is messy. First of all, the storytelling is not as interesting as season one. Here, it's straight forward. The characters - this time acted by Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams and Taylor Kitsch, are all good as respective detective - but they're not Harrelson and McConaughey.
And, what is worse, the characters are not likeable.
I understand what they did here. Start the show with a CHINATOWN (1974) story and let three "bad guys" be the Heroes. With bigger names, and a less convoluted story, that might have worked. But here, it's just messy and pretty weird at times.
Also - in season one things doesn't just "happen". Season two is filled with dumb decisions and stuff that doesn't really make any sense at all. The characters aren't likeable even after three-four episodes, and that is a huge problem.
Overall, season two is worth a look, but only if you don't have anything else to do.
Season three is better, and maybe the best. Interesting characters and well balanced broken up time-line storytelling again (this time three timelines!), is lifted even further with great supporting cast like Scoot McNairy (from HALT AND CATCH FIRE (2014-2017), a TV-series that is light-years better than this one, by the way) and Carmen Ejogo (ALIEN: COVENANT (2017)).
Here, we follow detectives Hays (Mahershala Ali) and West (Stephen Dorff). Both are good, but the character Hays is a bit difficult to like sometimes, but that of course makes the conflicts shine.
Interesting mystery, followed by a bit too "big" and "weird" ending, but still OK.
TRUE DETECTIVE is by far as good as some people say it is. And it is by far as bad as some say. It's not amazing, it's not the worst ever.
It's a bland pop-culture modern TV detective show with some great cast at times, cool story-telling techniques, and wonderful set pieces in the 80's drama-parts.
As a show, I will probably have forgotten all about it in a few weeks though. And I won't keep my eyes open for season four.
I'm happy I watched it, but today there are plenty of better shows to watch.