Goat3001

"Messy" is definitely a good word to describe this season but I agree that the finale was pretty satisfying.

I like that the "bad guys" won rather than having everything tied up in a bow for the good guys.

My problems with the season boil down to 1. I never really gave a shit who killed Caspre so it was tough to draw me in from the start. When the pieces were put together the story and show got better but the build up was painfully slow. and 2. Until shit completely hit the fan, I couldn't understand why our heroes cared so much so it was hard to relate.

I think the show would have been better served if they focused less on Woodraugh and Bezzerides. Both characters could have been fringe characters on the level of Frank's wife. They didn't need to be major players. If they made Ray and Frank the focal point all season, as they did in the finale, I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more.

Nic Pizzolatto is a novelist. Both seasons of the show have felt like they were written by a novelist. Season 1 was more tightly focused so it worked as a TV show but season 2 definitely would have worked better as a novel.

Neil M.

I sort of liked the finale despite the weakness of everything that preceded it. I would say that the show wasn't bad overall, just horribly average. I didn't really like the first season finale so this was an area where the show improved for me.

Having said that, I was hoping that Velcoro would run into lumberjack Dexter at the end.

MrX

I would guess they are going to have a much harder time getting big name actors for season three given all the talk about this season has been almost completely negative.

Jackskeleton

I honestly blame all of those who said that the last season's ending wasn't up to par and were disappointed by it. Ol' Nic heard your complaints and rectified it by ending this mess in such grim fashion.

I mean, we can't be surprised by how it ended. It was telegraphed way back when he first got shot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg2jXDINve0

I enjoyed last season's ending. You know what it had that this season didn't? Characters that have some arc to go through. Even Rust. All season he's some nihilistic pessimist who they pretty much telegraphed dying at the end with the encounter with the yellow king. By not dying he went through some change in his character and his moralistic outlook.

That character growth pissed some people off and, well, now this is what we get. No character development at all for any one of these people.

Not to mention that characters telegraphed their deaths so fucking hard and then followed it up by doing the dumbest shit possible to make sure they died in the most pointless manner achieving not a god damn thing.

Paul died in denial of being gay and never resolved any of his turmoil. His death was so pointless. Ray completely lost his family x2 and died all for what? Frank lost his money, his property and then his life over... just about nothing. I guess he realized his wife really loved him, I dunno. It's just a waste for waste sake. None of the characters got anything remotely close to a character arc.

We finally got that dark and gritty ending everyone was wanting from season 1.

dex14

I look forward to seeing the Brendan Frasier and Billy Zane follow up season.

magiccmom

So many names of characters that I had no idea who they were talking about because they had little screen time or no character development. Too many to keep track of. I couldn't pick Stan out of a line up if I had to. Also, for the life of me I couldn't hear their conversations since they whispered them all the time.

mugwump

Good old Ray -- smart enough to pick off his attackers one by one but too stupid to grab one of their assault rifles, take care of business, run off south of the border with Ani, and torment Chad by sending him postcards from his now happy and honest to goodness actual dad.

I'm just hoping that season three focuses on the further adventures of Ani and Jordan as they go all Thelma and Louise in Venezuela.

dex14

I thought the same thing, especially when he took out the second guy. Either that, or double back to the cars, ditch the tracker, and take off.

Nausicaa

I agree the finale was pretty solid. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Watching it though, I couldn't help but think of how sloppy and meandering the previous seven episodes were, compared to all the ground covered in the finale. I feel like the seven episodes could easily have been culled of their fat and covered in four episodes, while the events of the finale could have made up the entire second half. Would have given the whole season more narrative drive. The characters and world building just weren't strong enough to sustain the show as it is.

That said there were some shortfalls in the finale too. Ray's conclusion was not satisfactory to me. I just don't understand why he got in the car with the tracking device at all, or how he was so easily located by the LT (I mean, wasn't he shot literally the night before?). I also think he could have lost them easily even considering how it played out. Did he just want to die? There were already loose ends (Burris, Tony) so I don't think he stayed around to finish anything.

I also thought the heist scene could have been better. Season 1 may have set an impossible standard with that landmark episode 4, but the action scenes throughout season 2 were all really, really poorly done IMO.

Neil M.

I think he was just trying to buy time to upload the message. He knew he wasn't going to make it. I sort of look at the decision to not destroy the transponder or jacking another car as him giving up on the whole idea of leaving the country. I think he thought about it for a second and then decided to end it all. Maybe it was out of concern for his son since they were monitoring him.

steebo777

That's actually a very valid point that I didn't even think of. Good call, makes a lot more sense now!

Goat3001

That is how I read it too. My feeling was that those moments spent with him standing outside the car deciding what to do was him coming to terms with the fact that even if he did escape them, they would still know where his son is. Him giving in to them would keep his son safe.

But the thing is that the show spelled out that kind of stuff so I'm surprised that Ray didn't just come out and say it to either Ani or Felicia.

Neil M.

He wanted Ani to get on the boat. If he had come out and said that he was staying, she might have done the same.

Goat3001

Well he did tell Felicia that he wasn't going to make it. He could have dropped in a quick line of "they're watching my son, I won't make it on the boat. Make sure Ani gets on. Sorry that I banged her instead of you, the facial scars were kind of grossing me out."

magiccmom

Why So Blu?

Ok, some of you really need to look up the definition of red herrings.

That was a great ending and I think a member had called it in terms of who was going to make it out at the end.

Why So Blu?

Well, yeah, that's why he tells Felicia to make sure Bezzerides leaves. His final message to his son also didn't get uploaded to the cloud, so there's that, too. It's a bleak ending.



EDIT - GOAT already mentioned it.

Funny enough they kept cutting to Felicia a lot and she kept looking at Ani with what looked liked contempt, because she also liked Ray, that I thought Felicia was going to kill Ani.

BuckNaked2k

I thought the LT running down a hill through thick woods with one arm in a sling was absurd. He sure did get out of that bloodbath cheap!

Also, the Vinci Chief of Police made a swift recovery, huh? It looked like Kitsch pistol whipped him within an inch of his life, but there he was a few days later walking around with nothing more than a band aid.

Why So Blu?

Not only that but it looked like he got shot by the police at the bus station, too. I thought the epilogue was 1 year later, though? A year is plenty of time.

BuckNaked2k

He did get shot at the bus station...fatally. I though the epilogue only included the scene in the Venezuela motel...or am I way off base?

DJariya

If Ani had Ray's kid, the epilogue had to be at least 1 year later

Thanks bluetoast for the clarification on that guy Ani was talking to with the evidence. As I said earlier, too many characters. The smaller ones got completely lost to me.

Was kind of neat seeing that bus station in Anaheim in the episode. You could easily see the Honda Center in the background. I live about 20 minutes from there.

Why So Blu?

No, it flashed back to the events happening in Vinci one year since. The MAyor's son is the new Mayor of Vinci, they dedicated a freeway to Kitsch's character and his wife and baby were there, etc.


Now the chief of police is the black dude with the fro, right? I thought I saw him shake the mayor's son's hand at his ceremony? I'll take a look later on.

BuckNaked2k

True Detective: Season 2 [Blu-ray] + Digital HD

Why So Blu?

Wasn't that kid at least a year?

BuckNaked2k

OK, forgot that part. Didn't notice him at the freeway dedication, but I clearly saw him take a direct shot to his chest cavity while he was grappling with knife boy in a hoodie.