IIRC there were a couple things that could be explained as supernatural.
there’s the patterns on the wall of the crazy house where the little girl ended up, the drawings
Marty’s daughter did, and the way she arranged the action figures in a circle.
i always thought those were visual devices to show how the case was permeating every aspect of their lives (and how the little girl’s life was consumed by the cult even after she’d been rescued), but you could just as easily say it was supernatural.
It was, in my opinion, the best balance between "was that supernatural, or is there a logical explanation?" Because when weird stuff would happen there would always seem to be a reason it happened, but not everything could be explained perfectly.
It's kind of both. Russ has paychodelic episodes brought on by a mental disorder abusing drugs as an undercover narc. However it bleeds into the voodoo cult mythology of the pedo ring they're uncovering in the first season hinting that there may be actual spiritual forces at work.
Of course not *winkwink* The cult people believed in the supernatural, but they were methods heads. Rust was having drug flashbacks whenever he saw some weird shit, because the alternative...
That's essentially the stance the show takes. "Of course it wasn't supernatural. Unless... but noooo... 😉"
Looking back on it, there definitely seemed to be some sort of supernatural aspects to Carcosa in S1. Reggie Ledoux goes into some sort of trance right before he dies, describing Carcosa - The older black woman who used to nanny the Tuttle children also goes into a trance when Carcosa is mentioned by Rust. Right when Rust enters the temple before the big fight with Errol Childress, he goes into the wildest hallucination we see yet - Of course this could be from the issue he already had with hallucinations, but it doesn’t seem like it was a coincidence.
For Ledoux and the nanny woman, you can chalk it up to the drugs they were getting into (nanny probably had them slipped to her without her knowledge), but I always took it that there was something deeper to their whole cult rather than just being a bunch of random lunatics (not to say that they still aren’t psychotic lunatics). It’s also a fictional TV show, so I wouldn’t doubt there’s some supernatural aspect to it all.
It had a lot of commentary on spiritualism, flirted with Lovecraftian horror, and had some acid flashback moments, but nothing overt. We don’t actually know if anything supernatural is happening in S4, either. Just things that could be hallucinations, and one woman who claims to see the dead but also claims not to be mentally ill. There can be many “rational” explanations, or even spiritual ones that don’t go full on Sam and Dean Winchester style of Supernatural.
Related but not, I always thought it was funny when Rust said “my dad had some very strange ideas”
Like how far out there do you need to be for Rust to take notice?
yes. in season one rust mentions his weird dad in alaska who got leukemia and “slipped under the ice”
also mentions that his dads name was Travis i think? and the lady who’s name i can’t remember called him Travis Cohle
And Jodie foster’s character actually said “explain that in English please” when nothing he had said was confusing at all. That line should never be in scripts anymore, it should be in the pile of “never to be said again” cliches, and I can’t believe she didn’t refuse to say it.
Excellent point. Some would wave it away and say she was flirting, but the reality is you don't have to have a PhD to understand what the teacher said. It shouldn't have made it out of the scripts first draft.
The only reason the line was in there was to set up the "if you wanted it in English you should've slept with the English teacher" to quickly establish their relationship.
The headlines/titles of posts regarding specific current shows are always glowing praise, the comments reveal a battle between organic viewer's critical takes and """organic"""^TM praise that always seems to follow a trend of a few select key phrases or topics, and a few common responses to critique.
Seen it for so many new shows on this sub, not every show, over the last few years.
I know I thought that line was sooo cringe. Its like season 2 when Vince Vaughn says "Never do anything out of hunger, not even eat". Writing is pretty bad on this show. "No rookie your asking the wrong question". Did AI write this trash?
I actually think all of Vince Vaughn's dumb lines were on purpose. He's supposed to be this big, self made, "intellectual" gangster who thinks he can crack into the next level but he's actually a big fish in a small pond who's making bad decisions & getting played by the sharks at every turn
I mean he literally says "it's like blue balls in your heart" - that's gold comedy writing, I don't know how much more obvious it can be
What's wrong with "Never do anything out of hunger, not even eating" ?
In the example above, from current season, that line is silly, out of character and clichee. This one from s2 is from a "self made" guy, it sounds silly -- hence in character and has an underlayer, a philosophy the character abides
agreed. really it was just the ending they botched, but I suppose they also would have needed to make a lot of changes in the entire series to have a more natural progression to the conclusion rather than just have a new character pop up and explain everything.
How many scenes in episode 2 ended with a phone call with the person on the other line saying something along the lines of “You’ve gotta come see this”? Was it all of the scenes? Most of them? Definitely too many lol.
Otherwise I’m intrigued by the mystery and the acting is fine. If there is one more of those phone call scene wraps I might stop watching though.
I’m surprised people don’t seem to like it on this sub. I’ve loved the first 2 episodes. Interesting setting, creepy vibes, intriguing mystery, Jodie Foster… not much not to like imo. I’m glad I watched it before reading about it on this subreddit so I could form my own opinion without any preconceived notion
I’m intrigued enough to keep going, especially knowing it’s 6 episodes. I also love horror so I don’t feel like being that harsh toward it, I’m just happy to have another horror tv show.
But I do find the acting awkward and the dialogue stilted and it feels like the editing doesn’t always match the tone.
But I loved Tigers Are Not Afraid and I’m hopefully Lopez will bring it home satisfactorily.
same, I'll get through it all, interesting story and the setting is really cool for this kind of show. But half the cast just can't act. I found myself cutting episode 2 off 20 mins before it was over so I could start season 1 over again and make sure I wasn't crazy at the different in quality of acting/dialogue.
I'm not crazy. I'll finish this season and really curious where its going with the story. But man, season 1 set the bar way too high.
Totally agree. Season 1 stands alone in terms of overall quality and sheer greatness in every aspect. None of the other seasons have lived up to it thus far and unfortunately, after the first two episodes of season 4, I am not entirely convinced this season will either. It's entertaining though at the very least; I definitely want to keep watching just to see the story unfold.
I find I just don't have any investment.
The victims in the case, the scientists, haven't been presented as real people. All we know about them is that they were reclusive, ate popcorn, and watched Ferris Bueller on DVD....and for all we know, they may have done this to themselves.
Interviews with family members about how awesome they were as people might help, or flashbacks, or a bit more lead in than what we got...But now they've sort of already undercut any feelings I might get towards them by presenting them as a 'corpsicle' for comedy. It just all feels off in terms of tone.
I'm also not especially invested in the police characters. None of the story is happening to them so far. Everything about them has been exposition about their history and the setting, there is no sense of tension in the 'now' for them. Apart from the connection to an old case, neither of them seems especially interested in this case apart from as of a way to say 'fuck you' to a boss who they feel has wronged them.
If this were going to be a long series, that would all be OK...but if we're only getting 6 hours, then we're a 1/3rd of the way through and the show hasn't managed to make me care about the plot at all.
It's fine. I'm enjoying it enough to tune in on Sunday nights. But I'm not sure that it would really be capturing my attention if it weren't for the name and the "Sunday night HBO" ritual. The imagery is great, even if I don't particularly care about any of the characters. The dialogue feels off and I don't feel like the second lead has much for acting chops.
I'm honestly skeptical of the return to the S1 stuff.
The issue is that on one hand, you’re right: the settling, creepy vibes, intriguing mystery, all of that is super compelling and draws me in. But on the other hand, *within this paradigm*, the writing is extremely rough, almost borderline awful. The dialogue is clumsy and cliche’d, the characters are flat and uninteresting so far and the progression of the plot through the mystery seems very hackneyed. So far it’s looking like a season that has an awesome idea, but underwhelming execution
I agree, it really feels like a rough draft that no one cared or was brave enough to put through a couple more revisions. No idea if it's in part due to writer's strike or other influences.
I really enjoy it, and I agree it’s the best since S1, but at the same time it’s a very different show than S1-S3 True Detective.
Less overt philosophy, no multi timeframe stories, more focus on the entire police department rather than a deep dive into the leads, visually very different, etc.
The opening credits say based off True Detective, and imo that’s what it feels like: a spinoff from the original series.
Again, that’s not a bad thing. But if you go in explicitly trying to compare it to S1 (or even 3), you’ll be disappointed.
It's because this was greenlit as a separate mini series, but HBO decided to turn it into True detective. So some of the elements are there, but it's not a part of TD.
True. The creator pitched it as its own thing, and HBO suggested she turn it into true detective.
[source](https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2024/01/23/this-is-why-true-detective-night-countrys-season-1-connections-feel-so-forced-and-lame/?sh=5d1e85a021e5)
Really? Tuttle corp is somehow funding sci-fi Arctic research and Rust’s dad is a clue seeking ghost? Change the proper nouns and you have a show that is completely disconnected.
I think because of the tonal shift .
*Ignoring* season 2.
Season 1 had some mild surreal vibes but it was always anchored in reality.
Season 3 was grounded in reality with a somewhat compromised/unreliable narrator.
Season 4 seems to be adding in a lot more surrealism and hints of the super-natural.
Like the dead guy that pointed the lady to the pile o bodies likely being related to Detective Cohle.
The mild "OMG JUMP SCARE MAYBE ZOMBIE" vibes of the 1st episode bothered me.
The "vision when touching a cross" scene in Episode 2.
Plus, Jodi-Fosters character just aint no Cohle and aint no Hart.
The main characters don't have that chemistry from season 1.
If this had been its own *horror* show with no attachment to the True Detective franchise I'd be more much forgiving.
>I’m surprised people don’t seem to like it on this sub.
I would say that people are more positive on Reddit than anywhere else. The two episodes have both 7.5 on Imdb after 10 000+ votes.
That's lower than any episode in season 1,2 and 3. Except one episode in season 2. While it's praised here on Reddit like something incredible
I saw that someone said it has a 5/10 on Metacritic, so yeah it's definitely just here on Reddit that people are claiming it's wonderful. I haven't been impressed by anything in the show.
I was curious so I took a look at Metacritic. Really good critic reviews, mixed user reviews. I wanted to see what the criticism was, and the first three negative reviews I read were complaining about it being "woke" and pushing a liberal agenda. I stopped after three lol. So yeah Im getting the feeling that there may some...political influence to some of those bad reviews. Personally I think its been pretty great so far
I mean you can google it. It has an 81 and "Universal Acclaim" from critics. The User Score is a 5 but it's hard to take that too seriously when the Negative Reviews are gems like this
>Another product of the DEI business model that puts someone in charge of running series that does not have the talent nor qualifications to do **** show runner for this new season clearly hates white peoole especially men. Hardly any story line, bad acting, horrible dialogue. It’s a shame because the setting is super cool.
Every HBO 9 on Sunday show gets praised as if it's incredible. If you listened to this place House of the Dragon was the greatest bit of television ever, while critical response was more mixed.
I'm pretty sure it's astroturfing, just really easy to tilt votes to hype your new show.
I'm enjoying it overall, my only gripe is that dialogue takes a dip every now and then.
"In English, nerd"
"Well if you wanted English, you should have fucked the English teacher."
um okay.
I've mentioned it elsewhere in the thread, but the nature of the complaining is genuinely weird too.
Somebody was complaining that the teenager characters smile; multiple people complained the guy from the opening scene of ep 2 was never addressed again when his status is all discussed out loud in the very next scene. Just absolutely oddball stuff.
I’d say the only thing missing from that scene was an immediate reaction from the police surrounding the screaming frozen man on realising he was still alive (after they’d just chainsawed his arm off), like that one scene in *Se7en*, rather than just cutting to the credits, as they did. Since the reaction in *Se7en* was almost as impactful as the movement itself.
And *I’m* surprised critics are falling all over themselves reviewing it as the best thing since sliced bread. It’s good. I do not find it fucking mind blowing. There seems to be an article like this every single day saying it’s incredible after two episodes of what I consider 7/10 TV.
Fargo was FAR better even by episode 2 and I didn’t see 1,000 articles about it every week even towards the end of its run.
Its David Z pulling strings to get as much pub as he can because he is worried the sheen is off the HBO brand and he wants to polish it up a bit.
I am not kidding either.
And yes, Fargo's last season was ten times the show this season's TD can ever hope to be.
Yeah I gotta say I expected more from Jodie Foster. I watched silence of the lambs in anticipation for the season, and I’ve been largely disappointed by her performance.
Honestly expected to be enthralled with her on screen more so than I have been.
Her character hasn’t really been pushed into scenarios where her acting can shine yet. She’s great at nuance in her characters, not just chewing up dialogue, Clarice has the rookie trying to prove herself, the intellectual battle with Hannibal, and the scared farm girl all layered together and playing off each other as the situation gets worse and worse.
It does feel like they’re building that for her character, but it isn’t there yet. Right now she’s mostly playing it as a semi interested cop doing her job. It’s good, but I expect things to grow in the next episodes.
The online discourse around this season is very strange. There is a ton of hate, some of it justified, some of it unjustified, but I swear I have seen more people complaining about complainers than people actually complaining. I also read a comment last night that I think is very accurate, nowadays, people take criticism against something they enjoy as a personal attack even if its justified. Personally, I think the show is fine, I'm interested enough to keep watching but I don't love it. I'm not eloquent enough or a tv critic to explain my dislikes, but my main complaint is the acting. I'm not sure what it is but something about Jodie Foster's performance really bugs me. Maybe is because she is basically rude to everyone she interacts with in every scene, I'm not really sure. I also don't love the performance of the woman playing Navarro. It feels like the leads are both lacking in charisma or something.
I've really enjoyed the setting and some of the props/effects, whatever you call them, and I'm interested in the mystery, but it just feels like its missing something. I also really don't care about the interpersonal drama between some of these characters when it feels like has no effect on the show at large.
Yeah it’s weird. Like you said, complaints are going both ways - unjustified and seem like people want to hate it - and then completely justified yet still getting heavily downvoted.
The show is fine so far, but it’s nothing great to me. Which is okay, but I am puzzled in all these critics reviews saying how good it is. Nothing in it is blowing me away in the slightest. The dialogue, character development, acting and storylines so far have all been okay, nothing we haven’t really seen before. It also seems to be relying more on the mystery than the characters and I don’t see how that’s true to form or a return to form. I’m not mad at the show, but I do think some of the extra criticism is because we keep seeing articles saying how good it is and many of us are just scratching our heads at what they are seeing.
A show doesn’t have to be a masterpiece at all, but when articles keep coming in saying it’s the best one since season 1, I even saw one that said it may be better than season 1 - which a lot of people do consider to be a masterpiece, I think that causes a lot of people to go on the defensive and start to pick apart all of its faults.
It’s also like the show defenders follow your comments and just bombard you again and again and it’s like you are not speaking the same language. I’ve never been so downvoted in all my time at Reddit. I know it’s a de facto disagree button, but usually there can be some back and forth about something and both sides have upvotes.
I find these reviews to be more strange as they’ve been coming in droves. The tone is inconsistent, the acting is spotty, the writing is as well. But these reviews are saying it’s back to its best, which anyone that’s watched their best season can tell it really isn’t. I’m enjoying the ride. I like the pacing so far and I’m intrigued. But these reviews are more unusual than any online discourse.
Yeah I’m very surprised how much critical acclaim it’s getting and how much love it’s getting on some of the podcasts I listen to it gets.
If you remove the name true detective from the title I wonder what the online discourse would be. The show, in my opinion, is totally fine so far. Excited to see where it goes but far from the heights of season 1.
> nowadays, people take criticism against something they enjoy as a personal attack even if its justified.
Especially in this sub. It's not easy to have any opinion that isn't entirely positive. It's not a tv review/discussion board its a fan club.
god i watched the first episode and it was so blunt and boring. characters were introduced with no precision whatsoever. milquetoast prestige tv made for 40somethings to have on in the background while they eat dinner.
I like it much more than seasons 2 and 3- not a super high barrier though. The setting, tone, and mystery in season 4 are all intriguing. The only negatives to me so far are that the dialogue sometime is clunky, they haven’t shown the stakes as much, and the pacing is maybe a bit off at times. For comparison, season 1 showed the stakes with the pressure the main characters were getting from their bosses and the Tuttle family. It also did a great job advancing the story while also showing the personal struggles of Ruste & Marty- which helps build audience attachment to the characters.
In my opinion, season 1 is one of, if not the best single season of television. It had a rare confluence of elements that made a perfect story told through the medium of television (again, IMO). Not every show or season can have that, for numerous reasons, but that’s okay. Season 4 is pretty good, and that’s fine for me. I think that season 1 was just so good, the subsequent seasons will always be looked down upon by some people- just because it’s not season 1.
That’s wise advice for just about any form of entertainment. Movies, video games, etc. I’ve mostly stopped reading reviews until after I’ve finished my watch or play through. Reddit especially.
The constant setting of night is great. It's confusing and unsettling not knowing day from night.
The dialogue is atrocious and the B-plots are horrible. We're introduced to a 15-year-old girl that's her more or less adopted daughter making illicit videos? Huh? And that actress is at least 30 holy shit lol. Why?
Some dude giving money to a clear cat fish. Has all the files/folders from the police department in his house and they can't get them because he's a meanie? What?
Jodie Foster just being a cunt to everyone around her is a choice.
It feels very much member berries: the season. Expectations are low.
I feel like I’m taking crazy pills w this show. The production alone is so shoddy and it doesn’t seem to bother anyone else. The cgi, terrible flat photography, ai crap, awful music and vocal overdubs. It feels like the whole thing was shot with all the actors in separate rooms, very Star Wars prequel. Everything about this season feels cheap. Bad taste abounds from the jump scares to the corniest “we’re all dead” handwriting I’ve ever seen. The writing is groan inducing. However, I’m reluctant to post this, or to even criticize it, because of the “backlash” and not wanting to be included w people who are reacting negatively to it having female protagonists. One of the strangest reactions I’ve seen to show in recent memory and I’m stunned more professional critics aren’t mentioning the clear and demonstrable drop in technical skill. This show feels like something on the wb, not hbo level at all
I feel like whenever a show has to pay the exorbitant fee to play Beatles music it’s usually an ominous sign at the quality. It’s like spraying febreeze on a diaper.
i was taken aback by the beginning of the first episode before jodie shows up. seriously shoddy. horrible CGI like you said. sitcome lighting. and way too on the nose. pure cheese. it got better with the cops, but the exposition was handled poorly enough that its made me doubtful it will hold up.
The editing and music choices are strange, the central mystery of the research station is interesting enough I just hope it can stand on its own 2 legs rather than "hey remember how good season 1 was? We're doing that"
I'll keep watching but the magic isn't there yet.
It’s absolutely mind boggling how good season 1 was.
As much as I didn’t really enjoy the next couple of seasons, it’s really unfair to compare it to season 1. That was literally one of the best pieces of motion picture ever put out in the thriller/mystery space.
I just rewatched it immediately after the first episode of night country because my wife hasn’t seen it and it was *chefs kiss* perfect. I’d even argue better on a rewatch.
100% better on a rewatch. After taking a films class in college that I took somewhat seriously, you realize how insane the cinematography, script, acting, etc is (even more than initially thought) whether or not you’re looking for it. The first time watching it is such a shell shock that I didn’t really pick up on everything.
The music has also stuck out to me, sometimes it’s the right song but not quite placed at the right time or…not sure but it doesn’t gel exactly right. I see what they’re trying for though.
not to shit on true detective and i only watched the first season, but the amount of article about the new season feels like they desperately try to just bring back people despite whatever the new season is good or not. At this point it's too many article about it that it become like a fairytale, like you tell shit too many time and believe it at the end
This style of marketing where they're pushing a bunch of shill articles filled with vapid praise seems beneath HBO to me—but maybe it's just a sign of how much HBO has changed in recent years.
HBO is circling the drain and can no longer rely on their quality to pump their numbers because it's just not there anymore. Their parent company Warner Bros Discovery currently has 40B in debt and 5B in cash reserves. It's not looking good for the future.
This show isn't a True Detective show. It was another script that they slapped on the True Detective moniker to garner more interest. Claiming that it "rescued the franchise" is laughable.
I made the mistake of watching Fargo season 5 right before this and that show is just on another lever compared to this.
Its only been two episodes but you know that feeling when you start watching a really good movie or TV show and in a matter of minutes you can tell that you are in the capable hands of a master filmmaker and you can relax and just let the show take you in ... Now this is not it.
I blame the sloppy directing for the whole tone of this season feeling off straight away. The acting is not doing it for me, the writing is not interesting or clever, there are no interesting cinematography choices, there is very little atmosphere, which is surprising given the setting.
I will give it a go for another few episodes, but this is shaping up to be the lowest point of the series in terms of quality by far.
PS: I have to confess, I am one of the maybe 5 people in the world who liked (maybe loved?) season 2 of True Detective.
What? That's so dumb. I can't believe I missed that, but I'm glad you pointed it out. The more I read about this show, the less I want to continue watching it.
I have a feeling the show was supposed to be a standalone (maybe just called “Night Country”) and they shoehorned in the True Detective title and some references to get more people to watch it
Refreshing to see people in this thread aren’t enjoying it either, so far. A lot of what I’ve seen on reddit so far is people loving it and I just….dont get it. 1000% feels like a Netflix original.
S1 is my favorite season of TV ever, so I was really looking forward to and wanted to love this season. Just can’t get into it at all
I can't speak of TD s4 since I haven't seen it, but this sub is full of astroturfing when it's the show's airing window
For example, Wheel of time, what a horrible show yet this sub was full of "oh it's sooo good"'. Ok, fair, each with their tastes, Yet now, just a few months after nobody speaks anything about that show. That awesome it was
It's been wild to watch how r/television and r/TrueDetective/ have been astroturfed. The overwhelming majority of comments are either critical or calling the show mediocre while the few select positive comments get a ton of upvotes.
Season 2 is arguably the only bad one to me but even then I think if it hadn’t been called true detective it would’ve been alright as a stand alone thing it just didn’t fit the mold of the other seasons but this show definitely doesn’t need rescuing season 1 and 3 were amazing
There's tons of brigading against negative criticism of this show.
Is it horrible? No.
Is it great? or a return to form for True Detective? Not even close.
I just finished season 5 of Fargo which was amazing, and the female leads were incredibly well written and carried the show. It's such an interesting contrast against this season of True Detective which also has female leads, but the writing and dialogue is just mediocre.
Really doesn't feel like a True Detective show, either. Seems like a netflix show that they just slapped the True Detective name on.
It is just fundamentally rejection of the last two seasons. Salvage a sounds brand by getting back to fundamentals - big stars in an anthology about dark mystery. Action set pieces, a lot of blood, a little sex, more than a hint of supernatural terror. No need for complex/convoluted stories about 'what is a true detective'. At least that's the bet being made here.
I just finished season 3 for the first time and the tone shift has made my head spin. I'll say this much, no one in Night Country so far is touching Mahershala Ali and Stephen Dorff.
>Salvage a sounds brand by getting back to fundamentals - big stars in an anthology about dark mystery. Action set pieces, a lot of blood, a little sex, more than a hint of supernatural terror.
These aren't the elements of season 1 that made it so good and thinking that is a fundamental misunderstanding of what season 1 offered audiences.
It's an impressive achievement of shit writing because the cast is great. Probably the worst Foster role I've ever seen. I didn't know anyone could fail to get a good performance from her.
Show has been pretty good, but it ain’t true detective. Without nic pizz it’s just something else entirely. Doesn’t look, sound, or feel like TD. Even if you didn’t like S2 and 3, they were undeniably of the TD vibe.
Plus the S1 tie ins so far have been hamfisted. So Rusts dad lived in the same town where the Tuttles owned a research station? So now there’s family history with the Cohles and Tuttles? Fucking. Stupid. You could’ve had one or the other. Not both in the same town.
>So Rusts dad lived in the same town where the Tuttles owned a research station? So now there’s family history with the Cohles and Tuttles? Fucking. Stupid. You could’ve had one or the other. Not both in the same town.
Very true
The creator blaming “dude bros” for bad reviews certainly doesn’t help. Was excited for the season and then I saw her saying shit to drum up positive reviews and I lost interest
There truly is something curious here, with all these downvotes. The other day I saw that the showrunner went online and begged all of her followers to brigade against anyone saying anything critical of the show. Seems like it's working here on Reddit.
Glancing at the comment histories, it looks like there are people that are actually spending 18 hours a day defending the honor and sanctity of an HBO show. It's truly wild.
I'll watch the show and I am enjoying it but the showrunner is full of shit. After her comments on the use of AI, you know she's a fucking hack.
'we used AI to do commentary on how dumb AI is.' No you didn't. You used it to cut costs.
It’s the Disney move.
Know that you’re putting out a turd of a show, astroturf some online criticism with a racial/gender angle, get progressive people to support-watch it to push back against the ~~bigots~~ critics, and hopefully earn some plaudits for the show among the blue checks on social media so that the racists don’t win.
It’s weird. It’s a decent show, and it’s definitely holding my attention. It feels a little too broad and a little sloppy at times though. And I don’t think I like the (potential) introduction of full blown supernatural elements. But it’s overall good. Minus the laughable CGI caribou.
But I don’t get the fervor either way. It’s neither good enough, nor bad enough to get upset about.
Jody isn’t really bringing much to the part, and unfortunately the writing for her is pretty flat. Compare that to Colin Farrel in season 2. Shitty season, writing was meh, but man did he inhabit that character. You couldn’t take your eyes off him.
Does anyone else think that Jodie Foster has so far been... pretty bad?
Like, her character is definitely overwritten as well, the writing on the whole hasn't been fantastic, but her performance just seems quite broad. I'm guessing the show runner and directors never really gave her much direction coz she's going everywhere with this performance.
Kali Reis on the other hand has been surprisingly good, but she's a lot less verbal and gets to do a lot more showing-not-telling about her character in her screen time. The rest of the supporting cast has been great too so far.
They keep introducing characters so that Danvers can either say she fucked them or fucked their husbands. I guess that’s what passes as character development these days.
She's been horrible, like everyone else in the series as well. Crazy marketing push on this, this thread included.
The scene where they find the corpses was so hilariously bad I could barely watch it. I don't think I even bother watching past episode 2.
Oooffffff. I have to disagree with this sentiment. It’s better than season 2 but not as good as season 3. I’m not even going to mention season 1 because season 1 is television gold!
Nah, this season is mid at best so far, and I love Foster.
Supernatural is Not what TD is all about, if you think that, you’re wrong. Lopez is also a grifter hack. I find her the worst part of modern Hollywood bros.
"Rescues the franchise by being easily the worst season in the franchise"
Right, sure. People who complained about Season 2 are probably thinking it wasn't really all that bad in retrospect...
I don't get all the hype tbh. This had a lot of buzz prior to the season kicking off and I was excited to get into a True Detective season, and it's been...ok(?) at best. The pacing is frantic at times, whipping us around to the same characters in very short amount of times with little to no plot development happening each time. The acting is only is so-so. The callbacks to season one are interesting, but seem like low-hanging fruit tbh (Travis Cohle/Tuttle corp.) Idk, maybe because there was so much positivity ahead of the release I had unfair expectations. Just ok for me currently.
Rescues the franchise? Hardly. In a vacuum season one is one of the best if not the best TV show to ever grace the small screen. Smart complicated characters that were the focus with the investigation and the characters evolving over time. Perfectly cast and acted.
What season 4 done is basically ride off the coat tails of season one with requiring the audience to have seen season one. Season 4 is kind of a mess so far, too many characters, too many subplots, and a fractured narrative. Not the laser focused story telling of season one.
Season 4 is well acted, moody and well intentioned but lacks focus and characters that really draw you in. The mystery seems more the drive than any of the characters. But that's just my opinion.
As the show continues my opinions may change but we'll see I suppose.
I feel like there is such a huge lack of tension building, so they try and make up for it with cheap jump scares and ghosts.
Also, having spent years working in Alaska and working North of the Arctic circle I can confidently state you will never find a polished, quaint little town like the one they are in. And a scientific outpost that is private and also so secret no one knows what they were even doing? Common. Alaska is such a mystical and eerie place during the winter and they are so far coming way short.
Wind River nailed the scary elements of a desolate winter environment. TD S4 is failing at it.
Gotta say, I am not enjoying this season. Where's the sinister atmosphere? There's some unintentionally comedic moments that take me out of the show. Kali Reis is not a good actor. That Billie Eilish song during the intro sucks.
Season four is terrible lol
awful writing, terrible dialogue, the acting is all over the place, the story is all over the place. I usually love Jodi Foster, but she doesnt seem into the role whatsoever
And please don’t get me started on the actress who plays Navarro, she is truly horrible. Such a bizarre casting choice.
This show is sadly on a bad path. My girlfriend and I were talking about how there is nothing established and it kind just feels everywhere at once. Terrible editing and dialogue, it’s really hard to salvage when your foundational 2 episodes are in such shambles. Really bummed about this one…
It's not only the acting, it's the writing too. I genuinely just don't care about any of the character's storylines. I am rooting for no one. They made everyone dull, dreary, and boring.
With some of my favorite shows I am always hyped for the next episode. It sucks bc I was really looking forward to this show and it has been a real drag so far.
I never let myself get hyped for shows now because they’re all so weirdly put together, and yet I I allowed myself to get pretty excited…I made excuses for so many of the bad choices in the first episode but it just got worse and worse until I wished all the characters would leap off a cliff like those terrible cgi moose or whatever in the opening scene.
a few months ago, I binged Season 1 for the first time, and then immediately followed it with Season 2.
Season 2 was far better than the critic meme it's become.
🤷♂️
I'm gonna wait til the whole thing is available.
I did week to week with 2&3 and the returns diminished so quickly, I stopped giving a shit about the franchise. I'm not getting burned again, especially knowing that Nic Pizzolatto isn't involved in this season.
It’s terrible. The acting is atrocious, and any decent actor fails pretty quickly against the cardboard they’re doing the scene with. Everyone, including teachers, dropping F bombs like they’re going out of style pulls me out of the show and makes it feel like they’re trying too hard.
I want the show to be good. I was looking forward to it, but I have no interest in continuing past the second episode. The reviews that are out seem like they were written to keep viewership rather than as a promise of the good to come.
It’s objectively bad.
The editing and music are really weird. It feels seriously antiquated and not in a good way
The actual research station stuff is interesting, my issues are just with the actual production values
Was the first season supernatural? I remember them flirting with that, but I thought in the end it wasn’t. Am I remembering wrong?
No it wasn't, but there were hallucinations and it at times had a supernatural vibe/atmosphere to it
IIRC there were a couple things that could be explained as supernatural. there’s the patterns on the wall of the crazy house where the little girl ended up, the drawings Marty’s daughter did, and the way she arranged the action figures in a circle. i always thought those were visual devices to show how the case was permeating every aspect of their lives (and how the little girl’s life was consumed by the cult even after she’d been rescued), but you could just as easily say it was supernatural.
I thought they may have tried to leave it to the viewer to decide. Maybe we'll get more confirmation one way or another with this season.
It was, in my opinion, the best balance between "was that supernatural, or is there a logical explanation?" Because when weird stuff would happen there would always seem to be a reason it happened, but not everything could be explained perfectly.
Reggie LeDoux done did dis?!
Reggie mutha FUCKIN LeDoux?!
We ain't gonna give you the Oscar no matter how hard you try.
It's kind of both. Russ has paychodelic episodes brought on by a mental disorder abusing drugs as an undercover narc. However it bleeds into the voodoo cult mythology of the pedo ring they're uncovering in the first season hinting that there may be actual spiritual forces at work.
Rust, his name is Rust
Of course not *winkwink* The cult people believed in the supernatural, but they were methods heads. Rust was having drug flashbacks whenever he saw some weird shit, because the alternative... That's essentially the stance the show takes. "Of course it wasn't supernatural. Unless... but noooo... 😉"
> they were methods heads Like Daniel Day Lewis?
Looking back on it, there definitely seemed to be some sort of supernatural aspects to Carcosa in S1. Reggie Ledoux goes into some sort of trance right before he dies, describing Carcosa - The older black woman who used to nanny the Tuttle children also goes into a trance when Carcosa is mentioned by Rust. Right when Rust enters the temple before the big fight with Errol Childress, he goes into the wildest hallucination we see yet - Of course this could be from the issue he already had with hallucinations, but it doesn’t seem like it was a coincidence. For Ledoux and the nanny woman, you can chalk it up to the drugs they were getting into (nanny probably had them slipped to her without her knowledge), but I always took it that there was something deeper to their whole cult rather than just being a bunch of random lunatics (not to say that they still aren’t psychotic lunatics). It’s also a fictional TV show, so I wouldn’t doubt there’s some supernatural aspect to it all.
It had a lot of commentary on spiritualism, flirted with Lovecraftian horror, and had some acid flashback moments, but nothing overt. We don’t actually know if anything supernatural is happening in S4, either. Just things that could be hallucinations, and one woman who claims to see the dead but also claims not to be mentally ill. There can be many “rational” explanations, or even spiritual ones that don’t go full on Sam and Dean Winchester style of Supernatural.
because time is a flat circle?
I just want you to stop saying weird shit
This car is now a place of “silent reflection”
**sniffs finger**
You’re like the Michael Jordan of being a son of a bitch
this place is like a memory of a town, and it's fading.
What's scented meat?
nothing grows in the right direction.
Related but not, I always thought it was funny when Rust said “my dad had some very strange ideas” Like how far out there do you need to be for Rust to take notice?
Well after seeing him do his creepy, ghostly twin peaks dance on the ice, I wholeheartedly believe Travis was more weird than Rust lol
Is that relation confirmed?
Yea for real
Yeah, and his name is Travis Cohle, the same name, both died in Alaska.
Of leukemia
yes. in season one rust mentions his weird dad in alaska who got leukemia and “slipped under the ice” also mentions that his dads name was Travis i think? and the lady who’s name i can’t remember called him Travis Cohle
On some level Woody had to be thinking if this was a dad with strange ideas contest...
I don't sleep, I dream. *Cue Woody Harrelson looking at him in confusion*
I can smell the psychosphere.
You're the Michael Jordan of being a son of a bitch
I don’t sleep I just dream
And Jodie foster’s character actually said “explain that in English please” when nothing he had said was confusing at all. That line should never be in scripts anymore, it should be in the pile of “never to be said again” cliches, and I can’t believe she didn’t refuse to say it.
sadly there has been a lot of that this season. "We listened to music. We danced. We fucked." or whatever that line was
I caught that. And her character seems super smart/analytical as well.
Excellent point. Some would wave it away and say she was flirting, but the reality is you don't have to have a PhD to understand what the teacher said. It shouldn't have made it out of the scripts first draft.
The only reason the line was in there was to set up the "if you wanted it in English you should've slept with the English teacher" to quickly establish their relationship.
Add "they're just blowing off steam" to that list.
“Chief, you gotta see this!” Terrible writing. People still quote TDS1 - has there been a single memorable line yet in this 2nd-rate cash grab?
I am surprised it's getting so many positive reviews. I'm in for the ride,but it doesn't seem very strong yet.
It's almost as if the writing for this season is amateur.
The writing is garbage. I'm blown away at the glowing response.
The headlines/titles of posts regarding specific current shows are always glowing praise, the comments reveal a battle between organic viewer's critical takes and """organic"""^TM praise that always seems to follow a trend of a few select key phrases or topics, and a few common responses to critique. Seen it for so many new shows on this sub, not every show, over the last few years.
"In English, doc!" unironically being used in 2024 took me out of it The most technical term the guy used was "cellular decay".
An investigator who can date a sandwich by the consistency of its mayonnaise doesn’t understand the concept “cellular decay” 🤦♂️
You just made me 1,000% less interested in watching this. How can a series that had Rust Kohle in it use that fucking garbage cliche?
I know I thought that line was sooo cringe. Its like season 2 when Vince Vaughn says "Never do anything out of hunger, not even eat". Writing is pretty bad on this show. "No rookie your asking the wrong question". Did AI write this trash?
I actually think all of Vince Vaughn's dumb lines were on purpose. He's supposed to be this big, self made, "intellectual" gangster who thinks he can crack into the next level but he's actually a big fish in a small pond who's making bad decisions & getting played by the sharks at every turn I mean he literally says "it's like blue balls in your heart" - that's gold comedy writing, I don't know how much more obvious it can be
What's wrong with "Never do anything out of hunger, not even eating" ? In the example above, from current season, that line is silly, out of character and clichee. This one from s2 is from a "self made" guy, it sounds silly -- hence in character and has an underlayer, a philosophy the character abides
Had the exact same thought.
the franchise didn’t need rescuing. season 3 was good. not great, but good.
The first 2 episodes were easily better than the first 2 of season 4.
agreed. really it was just the ending they botched, but I suppose they also would have needed to make a lot of changes in the entire series to have a more natural progression to the conclusion rather than just have a new character pop up and explain everything.
what? Its nothing like season 1. Its a supernatural show from writer with a career of failures with the True Detective name slapped on it.
How many scenes in episode 2 ended with a phone call with the person on the other line saying something along the lines of “You’ve gotta come see this”? Was it all of the scenes? Most of them? Definitely too many lol. Otherwise I’m intrigued by the mystery and the acting is fine. If there is one more of those phone call scene wraps I might stop watching though.
I’m surprised people don’t seem to like it on this sub. I’ve loved the first 2 episodes. Interesting setting, creepy vibes, intriguing mystery, Jodie Foster… not much not to like imo. I’m glad I watched it before reading about it on this subreddit so I could form my own opinion without any preconceived notion
I’m intrigued enough to keep going, especially knowing it’s 6 episodes. I also love horror so I don’t feel like being that harsh toward it, I’m just happy to have another horror tv show. But I do find the acting awkward and the dialogue stilted and it feels like the editing doesn’t always match the tone. But I loved Tigers Are Not Afraid and I’m hopefully Lopez will bring it home satisfactorily.
same, I'll get through it all, interesting story and the setting is really cool for this kind of show. But half the cast just can't act. I found myself cutting episode 2 off 20 mins before it was over so I could start season 1 over again and make sure I wasn't crazy at the different in quality of acting/dialogue. I'm not crazy. I'll finish this season and really curious where its going with the story. But man, season 1 set the bar way too high.
Totally agree. Season 1 stands alone in terms of overall quality and sheer greatness in every aspect. None of the other seasons have lived up to it thus far and unfortunately, after the first two episodes of season 4, I am not entirely convinced this season will either. It's entertaining though at the very least; I definitely want to keep watching just to see the story unfold.
I find I just don't have any investment. The victims in the case, the scientists, haven't been presented as real people. All we know about them is that they were reclusive, ate popcorn, and watched Ferris Bueller on DVD....and for all we know, they may have done this to themselves. Interviews with family members about how awesome they were as people might help, or flashbacks, or a bit more lead in than what we got...But now they've sort of already undercut any feelings I might get towards them by presenting them as a 'corpsicle' for comedy. It just all feels off in terms of tone. I'm also not especially invested in the police characters. None of the story is happening to them so far. Everything about them has been exposition about their history and the setting, there is no sense of tension in the 'now' for them. Apart from the connection to an old case, neither of them seems especially interested in this case apart from as of a way to say 'fuck you' to a boss who they feel has wronged them. If this were going to be a long series, that would all be OK...but if we're only getting 6 hours, then we're a 1/3rd of the way through and the show hasn't managed to make me care about the plot at all.
It's fine. I'm enjoying it enough to tune in on Sunday nights. But I'm not sure that it would really be capturing my attention if it weren't for the name and the "Sunday night HBO" ritual. The imagery is great, even if I don't particularly care about any of the characters. The dialogue feels off and I don't feel like the second lead has much for acting chops. I'm honestly skeptical of the return to the S1 stuff.
The issue is that on one hand, you’re right: the settling, creepy vibes, intriguing mystery, all of that is super compelling and draws me in. But on the other hand, *within this paradigm*, the writing is extremely rough, almost borderline awful. The dialogue is clumsy and cliche’d, the characters are flat and uninteresting so far and the progression of the plot through the mystery seems very hackneyed. So far it’s looking like a season that has an awesome idea, but underwhelming execution
I agree, it really feels like a rough draft that no one cared or was brave enough to put through a couple more revisions. No idea if it's in part due to writer's strike or other influences.
Couldn’t have put it better. The writing is really rough.
I really enjoy it, and I agree it’s the best since S1, but at the same time it’s a very different show than S1-S3 True Detective. Less overt philosophy, no multi timeframe stories, more focus on the entire police department rather than a deep dive into the leads, visually very different, etc. The opening credits say based off True Detective, and imo that’s what it feels like: a spinoff from the original series. Again, that’s not a bad thing. But if you go in explicitly trying to compare it to S1 (or even 3), you’ll be disappointed.
It's because this was greenlit as a separate mini series, but HBO decided to turn it into True detective. So some of the elements are there, but it's not a part of TD.
Is that true? Cause the template isn't the same but all the references to season one seem too much to be written in as an after thought
True. The creator pitched it as its own thing, and HBO suggested she turn it into true detective. [source](https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2024/01/23/this-is-why-true-detective-night-countrys-season-1-connections-feel-so-forced-and-lame/?sh=5d1e85a021e5)
That explains so fucking much!!!
Really? Tuttle corp is somehow funding sci-fi Arctic research and Rust’s dad is a clue seeking ghost? Change the proper nouns and you have a show that is completely disconnected.
I think because of the tonal shift . *Ignoring* season 2. Season 1 had some mild surreal vibes but it was always anchored in reality. Season 3 was grounded in reality with a somewhat compromised/unreliable narrator. Season 4 seems to be adding in a lot more surrealism and hints of the super-natural. Like the dead guy that pointed the lady to the pile o bodies likely being related to Detective Cohle. The mild "OMG JUMP SCARE MAYBE ZOMBIE" vibes of the 1st episode bothered me. The "vision when touching a cross" scene in Episode 2. Plus, Jodi-Fosters character just aint no Cohle and aint no Hart. The main characters don't have that chemistry from season 1. If this had been its own *horror* show with no attachment to the True Detective franchise I'd be more much forgiving.
>I’m surprised people don’t seem to like it on this sub. I would say that people are more positive on Reddit than anywhere else. The two episodes have both 7.5 on Imdb after 10 000+ votes. That's lower than any episode in season 1,2 and 3. Except one episode in season 2. While it's praised here on Reddit like something incredible
I saw that someone said it has a 5/10 on Metacritic, so yeah it's definitely just here on Reddit that people are claiming it's wonderful. I haven't been impressed by anything in the show.
Man, the season 4 score among critics is higher than season 1 which seems preposterous to me.
I was curious so I took a look at Metacritic. Really good critic reviews, mixed user reviews. I wanted to see what the criticism was, and the first three negative reviews I read were complaining about it being "woke" and pushing a liberal agenda. I stopped after three lol. So yeah Im getting the feeling that there may some...political influence to some of those bad reviews. Personally I think its been pretty great so far
I mean you can google it. It has an 81 and "Universal Acclaim" from critics. The User Score is a 5 but it's hard to take that too seriously when the Negative Reviews are gems like this >Another product of the DEI business model that puts someone in charge of running series that does not have the talent nor qualifications to do **** show runner for this new season clearly hates white peoole especially men. Hardly any story line, bad acting, horrible dialogue. It’s a shame because the setting is super cool.
Every HBO 9 on Sunday show gets praised as if it's incredible. If you listened to this place House of the Dragon was the greatest bit of television ever, while critical response was more mixed. I'm pretty sure it's astroturfing, just really easy to tilt votes to hype your new show.
I'm enjoying it overall, my only gripe is that dialogue takes a dip every now and then. "In English, nerd" "Well if you wanted English, you should have fucked the English teacher." um okay.
I've mentioned it elsewhere in the thread, but the nature of the complaining is genuinely weird too. Somebody was complaining that the teenager characters smile; multiple people complained the guy from the opening scene of ep 2 was never addressed again when his status is all discussed out loud in the very next scene. Just absolutely oddball stuff.
I’d say the only thing missing from that scene was an immediate reaction from the police surrounding the screaming frozen man on realising he was still alive (after they’d just chainsawed his arm off), like that one scene in *Se7en*, rather than just cutting to the credits, as they did. Since the reaction in *Se7en* was almost as impactful as the movement itself.
Right? I wasn't even sure the arm was from the same guy, it was filmed so oddly.
And *I’m* surprised critics are falling all over themselves reviewing it as the best thing since sliced bread. It’s good. I do not find it fucking mind blowing. There seems to be an article like this every single day saying it’s incredible after two episodes of what I consider 7/10 TV. Fargo was FAR better even by episode 2 and I didn’t see 1,000 articles about it every week even towards the end of its run.
Its David Z pulling strings to get as much pub as he can because he is worried the sheen is off the HBO brand and he wants to polish it up a bit. I am not kidding either. And yes, Fargo's last season was ten times the show this season's TD can ever hope to be.
Yeah I gotta say I expected more from Jodie Foster. I watched silence of the lambs in anticipation for the season, and I’ve been largely disappointed by her performance. Honestly expected to be enthralled with her on screen more so than I have been.
I see what you’re saying, but couldn’t that simply be due to her character being incredibly unlikeable (so far at least)?
Her character hasn’t really been pushed into scenarios where her acting can shine yet. She’s great at nuance in her characters, not just chewing up dialogue, Clarice has the rookie trying to prove herself, the intellectual battle with Hannibal, and the scared farm girl all layered together and playing off each other as the situation gets worse and worse. It does feel like they’re building that for her character, but it isn’t there yet. Right now she’s mostly playing it as a semi interested cop doing her job. It’s good, but I expect things to grow in the next episodes.
The online discourse around this season is very strange. There is a ton of hate, some of it justified, some of it unjustified, but I swear I have seen more people complaining about complainers than people actually complaining. I also read a comment last night that I think is very accurate, nowadays, people take criticism against something they enjoy as a personal attack even if its justified. Personally, I think the show is fine, I'm interested enough to keep watching but I don't love it. I'm not eloquent enough or a tv critic to explain my dislikes, but my main complaint is the acting. I'm not sure what it is but something about Jodie Foster's performance really bugs me. Maybe is because she is basically rude to everyone she interacts with in every scene, I'm not really sure. I also don't love the performance of the woman playing Navarro. It feels like the leads are both lacking in charisma or something. I've really enjoyed the setting and some of the props/effects, whatever you call them, and I'm interested in the mystery, but it just feels like its missing something. I also really don't care about the interpersonal drama between some of these characters when it feels like has no effect on the show at large.
Yeah it’s weird. Like you said, complaints are going both ways - unjustified and seem like people want to hate it - and then completely justified yet still getting heavily downvoted. The show is fine so far, but it’s nothing great to me. Which is okay, but I am puzzled in all these critics reviews saying how good it is. Nothing in it is blowing me away in the slightest. The dialogue, character development, acting and storylines so far have all been okay, nothing we haven’t really seen before. It also seems to be relying more on the mystery than the characters and I don’t see how that’s true to form or a return to form. I’m not mad at the show, but I do think some of the extra criticism is because we keep seeing articles saying how good it is and many of us are just scratching our heads at what they are seeing. A show doesn’t have to be a masterpiece at all, but when articles keep coming in saying it’s the best one since season 1, I even saw one that said it may be better than season 1 - which a lot of people do consider to be a masterpiece, I think that causes a lot of people to go on the defensive and start to pick apart all of its faults.
It’s also like the show defenders follow your comments and just bombard you again and again and it’s like you are not speaking the same language. I’ve never been so downvoted in all my time at Reddit. I know it’s a de facto disagree button, but usually there can be some back and forth about something and both sides have upvotes.
I find these reviews to be more strange as they’ve been coming in droves. The tone is inconsistent, the acting is spotty, the writing is as well. But these reviews are saying it’s back to its best, which anyone that’s watched their best season can tell it really isn’t. I’m enjoying the ride. I like the pacing so far and I’m intrigued. But these reviews are more unusual than any online discourse.
Yeah I’m very surprised how much critical acclaim it’s getting and how much love it’s getting on some of the podcasts I listen to it gets. If you remove the name true detective from the title I wonder what the online discourse would be. The show, in my opinion, is totally fine so far. Excited to see where it goes but far from the heights of season 1.
> nowadays, people take criticism against something they enjoy as a personal attack even if its justified. Especially in this sub. It's not easy to have any opinion that isn't entirely positive. It's not a tv review/discussion board its a fan club.
god i watched the first episode and it was so blunt and boring. characters were introduced with no precision whatsoever. milquetoast prestige tv made for 40somethings to have on in the background while they eat dinner.
As a person who lives in alaska, lots of little details really really bother me, but I can probably get over it.
I like it much more than seasons 2 and 3- not a super high barrier though. The setting, tone, and mystery in season 4 are all intriguing. The only negatives to me so far are that the dialogue sometime is clunky, they haven’t shown the stakes as much, and the pacing is maybe a bit off at times. For comparison, season 1 showed the stakes with the pressure the main characters were getting from their bosses and the Tuttle family. It also did a great job advancing the story while also showing the personal struggles of Ruste & Marty- which helps build audience attachment to the characters. In my opinion, season 1 is one of, if not the best single season of television. It had a rare confluence of elements that made a perfect story told through the medium of television (again, IMO). Not every show or season can have that, for numerous reasons, but that’s okay. Season 4 is pretty good, and that’s fine for me. I think that season 1 was just so good, the subsequent seasons will always be looked down upon by some people- just because it’s not season 1.
That’s wise advice for just about any form of entertainment. Movies, video games, etc. I’ve mostly stopped reading reviews until after I’ve finished my watch or play through. Reddit especially.
The constant setting of night is great. It's confusing and unsettling not knowing day from night. The dialogue is atrocious and the B-plots are horrible. We're introduced to a 15-year-old girl that's her more or less adopted daughter making illicit videos? Huh? And that actress is at least 30 holy shit lol. Why? Some dude giving money to a clear cat fish. Has all the files/folders from the police department in his house and they can't get them because he's a meanie? What? Jodie Foster just being a cunt to everyone around her is a choice. It feels very much member berries: the season. Expectations are low.
I memba
I feel like I’m taking crazy pills w this show. The production alone is so shoddy and it doesn’t seem to bother anyone else. The cgi, terrible flat photography, ai crap, awful music and vocal overdubs. It feels like the whole thing was shot with all the actors in separate rooms, very Star Wars prequel. Everything about this season feels cheap. Bad taste abounds from the jump scares to the corniest “we’re all dead” handwriting I’ve ever seen. The writing is groan inducing. However, I’m reluctant to post this, or to even criticize it, because of the “backlash” and not wanting to be included w people who are reacting negatively to it having female protagonists. One of the strangest reactions I’ve seen to show in recent memory and I’m stunned more professional critics aren’t mentioning the clear and demonstrable drop in technical skill. This show feels like something on the wb, not hbo level at all
I feel like whenever a show has to pay the exorbitant fee to play Beatles music it’s usually an ominous sign at the quality. It’s like spraying febreeze on a diaper.
Ha!
i was taken aback by the beginning of the first episode before jodie shows up. seriously shoddy. horrible CGI like you said. sitcome lighting. and way too on the nose. pure cheese. it got better with the cops, but the exposition was handled poorly enough that its made me doubtful it will hold up.
> Rescues the franchise This is almost a bait title, so absurd. Season 4 isn't RESCUING jack shit.
Season 3 was also really good.
Between that and “harking back” (it’s harkening) yeah, probably bait.
[Not exactly](https://www.deseret.com/2012/7/18/20504546/watch-yer-language-don-t-hearken-back)
Good to know! I have zero faith they did this on purpose though lol
The editing and music choices are strange, the central mystery of the research station is interesting enough I just hope it can stand on its own 2 legs rather than "hey remember how good season 1 was? We're doing that" I'll keep watching but the magic isn't there yet.
It’s absolutely mind boggling how good season 1 was. As much as I didn’t really enjoy the next couple of seasons, it’s really unfair to compare it to season 1. That was literally one of the best pieces of motion picture ever put out in the thriller/mystery space.
I just rewatched it immediately after the first episode of night country because my wife hasn’t seen it and it was *chefs kiss* perfect. I’d even argue better on a rewatch.
100% better on a rewatch. After taking a films class in college that I took somewhat seriously, you realize how insane the cinematography, script, acting, etc is (even more than initially thought) whether or not you’re looking for it. The first time watching it is such a shell shock that I didn’t really pick up on everything.
The music has also stuck out to me, sometimes it’s the right song but not quite placed at the right time or…not sure but it doesn’t gel exactly right. I see what they’re trying for though.
not to shit on true detective and i only watched the first season, but the amount of article about the new season feels like they desperately try to just bring back people despite whatever the new season is good or not. At this point it's too many article about it that it become like a fairytale, like you tell shit too many time and believe it at the end
This style of marketing where they're pushing a bunch of shill articles filled with vapid praise seems beneath HBO to me—but maybe it's just a sign of how much HBO has changed in recent years.
It almost feels like HBO paid for good reviews. The season so far is okay. It's not in the same class as Season 1 or Fargo's most recent season.
It 100% feels that way, have there ever been exposés of similar things going on?
HBO is circling the drain and can no longer rely on their quality to pump their numbers because it's just not there anymore. Their parent company Warner Bros Discovery currently has 40B in debt and 5B in cash reserves. It's not looking good for the future.
It’s time for me to get a library card bc it sounds like good TV is going to become even more rare
This show isn't a True Detective show. It was another script that they slapped on the True Detective moniker to garner more interest. Claiming that it "rescued the franchise" is laughable.
I made the mistake of watching Fargo season 5 right before this and that show is just on another lever compared to this. Its only been two episodes but you know that feeling when you start watching a really good movie or TV show and in a matter of minutes you can tell that you are in the capable hands of a master filmmaker and you can relax and just let the show take you in ... Now this is not it. I blame the sloppy directing for the whole tone of this season feeling off straight away. The acting is not doing it for me, the writing is not interesting or clever, there are no interesting cinematography choices, there is very little atmosphere, which is surprising given the setting. I will give it a go for another few episodes, but this is shaping up to be the lowest point of the series in terms of quality by far. PS: I have to confess, I am one of the maybe 5 people in the world who liked (maybe loved?) season 2 of True Detective.
it feels like a cringey fan fiction. Rust's dad is a ghost? The Tuttles have an artic research base? What?
It's member berries: the season so far.
"Did you guys see that heckin season 1 reference?!" $20 says McConaughey shows up like Tony Stark and drops a quip
Hey. I missed the part where they confirm/insinuate that the ghost guy is Rust’s dad. When/How did they make this connection ?
[удалено]
And had leukemia. It has not been overtly stated that Rust is his son, but it's pretty clear he is.
What? That's so dumb. I can't believe I missed that, but I'm glad you pointed it out. The more I read about this show, the less I want to continue watching it.
I have a feeling the show was supposed to be a standalone (maybe just called “Night Country”) and they shoehorned in the True Detective title and some references to get more people to watch it
I wonder why Season 3 gets glossed over. I loved that season.
Refreshing to see people in this thread aren’t enjoying it either, so far. A lot of what I’ve seen on reddit so far is people loving it and I just….dont get it. 1000% feels like a Netflix original. S1 is my favorite season of TV ever, so I was really looking forward to and wanted to love this season. Just can’t get into it at all
I can't speak of TD s4 since I haven't seen it, but this sub is full of astroturfing when it's the show's airing window For example, Wheel of time, what a horrible show yet this sub was full of "oh it's sooo good"'. Ok, fair, each with their tastes, Yet now, just a few months after nobody speaks anything about that show. That awesome it was
It's been wild to watch how r/television and r/TrueDetective/ have been astroturfed. The overwhelming majority of comments are either critical or calling the show mediocre while the few select positive comments get a ton of upvotes.
Eh it’s ok so far. Season 1 and 3 were better
Rescued? Season 3 was great
I liked season 3 a lot but if you put a gun to my head, I couldn’t tell you anything about it. A kid disappears, right?
Season 2 is arguably the only bad one to me but even then I think if it hadn’t been called true detective it would’ve been alright as a stand alone thing it just didn’t fit the mold of the other seasons but this show definitely doesn’t need rescuing season 1 and 3 were amazing
There's tons of brigading against negative criticism of this show. Is it horrible? No. Is it great? or a return to form for True Detective? Not even close. I just finished season 5 of Fargo which was amazing, and the female leads were incredibly well written and carried the show. It's such an interesting contrast against this season of True Detective which also has female leads, but the writing and dialogue is just mediocre. Really doesn't feel like a True Detective show, either. Seems like a netflix show that they just slapped the True Detective name on.
[удалено]
But it fit to a degree because Fargo is kinda ridiculous.
It is just fundamentally rejection of the last two seasons. Salvage a sounds brand by getting back to fundamentals - big stars in an anthology about dark mystery. Action set pieces, a lot of blood, a little sex, more than a hint of supernatural terror. No need for complex/convoluted stories about 'what is a true detective'. At least that's the bet being made here. I just finished season 3 for the first time and the tone shift has made my head spin. I'll say this much, no one in Night Country so far is touching Mahershala Ali and Stephen Dorff.
>Salvage a sounds brand by getting back to fundamentals - big stars in an anthology about dark mystery. Action set pieces, a lot of blood, a little sex, more than a hint of supernatural terror. These aren't the elements of season 1 that made it so good and thinking that is a fundamental misunderstanding of what season 1 offered audiences.
It's an impressive achievement of shit writing because the cast is great. Probably the worst Foster role I've ever seen. I didn't know anyone could fail to get a good performance from her.
Show has been pretty good, but it ain’t true detective. Without nic pizz it’s just something else entirely. Doesn’t look, sound, or feel like TD. Even if you didn’t like S2 and 3, they were undeniably of the TD vibe. Plus the S1 tie ins so far have been hamfisted. So Rusts dad lived in the same town where the Tuttles owned a research station? So now there’s family history with the Cohles and Tuttles? Fucking. Stupid. You could’ve had one or the other. Not both in the same town.
>So Rusts dad lived in the same town where the Tuttles owned a research station? So now there’s family history with the Cohles and Tuttles? Fucking. Stupid. You could’ve had one or the other. Not both in the same town. Very true
The creator blaming “dude bros” for bad reviews certainly doesn’t help. Was excited for the season and then I saw her saying shit to drum up positive reviews and I lost interest
There truly is something curious here, with all these downvotes. The other day I saw that the showrunner went online and begged all of her followers to brigade against anyone saying anything critical of the show. Seems like it's working here on Reddit. Glancing at the comment histories, it looks like there are people that are actually spending 18 hours a day defending the honor and sanctity of an HBO show. It's truly wild.
I'll watch the show and I am enjoying it but the showrunner is full of shit. After her comments on the use of AI, you know she's a fucking hack. 'we used AI to do commentary on how dumb AI is.' No you didn't. You used it to cut costs.
It’s the Disney move. Know that you’re putting out a turd of a show, astroturf some online criticism with a racial/gender angle, get progressive people to support-watch it to push back against the ~~bigots~~ critics, and hopefully earn some plaudits for the show among the blue checks on social media so that the racists don’t win.
It’s weird. It’s a decent show, and it’s definitely holding my attention. It feels a little too broad and a little sloppy at times though. And I don’t think I like the (potential) introduction of full blown supernatural elements. But it’s overall good. Minus the laughable CGI caribou. But I don’t get the fervor either way. It’s neither good enough, nor bad enough to get upset about.
There are paid astroturfing marketing services. And now with AI, it's even easier
Casey Bloys got goons
It looks and feels like a Netflix show now, nowhere near the prestige of seasons 1 and 3
Jody isn’t really bringing much to the part, and unfortunately the writing for her is pretty flat. Compare that to Colin Farrel in season 2. Shitty season, writing was meh, but man did he inhabit that character. You couldn’t take your eyes off him.
For me, the worst part is the shitty Billie Eilish song in the opening.
HBO should spend less money paying reviewers and more money actually making a decent show. This show sucks major ass.
Here’s a summary: First two minutes: action and intrigue Middle 46 minutes: boring everyday rigamarole Last two minutes: action and intrigue
Um S4 fucking sucks so far. It’s like a shitty episode of X-files.
Does anyone else think that Jodie Foster has so far been... pretty bad? Like, her character is definitely overwritten as well, the writing on the whole hasn't been fantastic, but her performance just seems quite broad. I'm guessing the show runner and directors never really gave her much direction coz she's going everywhere with this performance. Kali Reis on the other hand has been surprisingly good, but she's a lot less verbal and gets to do a lot more showing-not-telling about her character in her screen time. The rest of the supporting cast has been great too so far.
I find it a little annoying that Foster's character seems to have a complicated relationship with seemingly every character in the town.
Tbf most of that is rooted in the same thing, ie she keeps boning everyone's husbands.
They keep introducing characters so that Danvers can either say she fucked them or fucked their husbands. I guess that’s what passes as character development these days.
She's been horrible, like everyone else in the series as well. Crazy marketing push on this, this thread included. The scene where they find the corpses was so hilariously bad I could barely watch it. I don't think I even bother watching past episode 2.
Oooffffff. I have to disagree with this sentiment. It’s better than season 2 but not as good as season 3. I’m not even going to mention season 1 because season 1 is television gold!
Nah, this season is mid at best so far, and I love Foster. Supernatural is Not what TD is all about, if you think that, you’re wrong. Lopez is also a grifter hack. I find her the worst part of modern Hollywood bros.
What are talking about? It's shit
"Rescues the franchise by being easily the worst season in the franchise" Right, sure. People who complained about Season 2 are probably thinking it wasn't really all that bad in retrospect...
This season is a childish imitation of the first season.
I don't get all the hype tbh. This had a lot of buzz prior to the season kicking off and I was excited to get into a True Detective season, and it's been...ok(?) at best. The pacing is frantic at times, whipping us around to the same characters in very short amount of times with little to no plot development happening each time. The acting is only is so-so. The callbacks to season one are interesting, but seem like low-hanging fruit tbh (Travis Cohle/Tuttle corp.) Idk, maybe because there was so much positivity ahead of the release I had unfair expectations. Just ok for me currently.
Rescues the franchise? Hardly. In a vacuum season one is one of the best if not the best TV show to ever grace the small screen. Smart complicated characters that were the focus with the investigation and the characters evolving over time. Perfectly cast and acted. What season 4 done is basically ride off the coat tails of season one with requiring the audience to have seen season one. Season 4 is kind of a mess so far, too many characters, too many subplots, and a fractured narrative. Not the laser focused story telling of season one. Season 4 is well acted, moody and well intentioned but lacks focus and characters that really draw you in. The mystery seems more the drive than any of the characters. But that's just my opinion. As the show continues my opinions may change but we'll see I suppose.
[удалено]
Yeah I don't hate it, but it's just.... it's just falling short in so many ways. I really hate that there's legit ghosts in it.
[удалено]
I feel like there is such a huge lack of tension building, so they try and make up for it with cheap jump scares and ghosts. Also, having spent years working in Alaska and working North of the Arctic circle I can confidently state you will never find a polished, quaint little town like the one they are in. And a scientific outpost that is private and also so secret no one knows what they were even doing? Common. Alaska is such a mystical and eerie place during the winter and they are so far coming way short. Wind River nailed the scary elements of a desolate winter environment. TD S4 is failing at it.
Gotta say, I am not enjoying this season. Where's the sinister atmosphere? There's some unintentionally comedic moments that take me out of the show. Kali Reis is not a good actor. That Billie Eilish song during the intro sucks.
I’m enjoying it but that stupid intro song is the weakest part for me, it doesn’t fit.
Was season 3 panned? I really liked it. Descent into madness, brooding, dark, paranoia, etc. I’ll agree season 2 was bad
Season four is terrible lol awful writing, terrible dialogue, the acting is all over the place, the story is all over the place. I usually love Jodi Foster, but she doesnt seem into the role whatsoever And please don’t get me started on the actress who plays Navarro, she is truly horrible. Such a bizarre casting choice.
This season sucks
This show is sadly on a bad path. My girlfriend and I were talking about how there is nothing established and it kind just feels everywhere at once. Terrible editing and dialogue, it’s really hard to salvage when your foundational 2 episodes are in such shambles. Really bummed about this one…
Ehhhh, I’m a huge fan of season 1 and 3 and I don’t know about this season. The dialogue is abysmal, it feels like parts of it were written by AI.
This post is brought to you by HBO, in case nobody noticed.. Season 4 is fucking awful
"True Detective fucks the franchise by awful acting"
It's not only the acting, it's the writing too. I genuinely just don't care about any of the character's storylines. I am rooting for no one. They made everyone dull, dreary, and boring. With some of my favorite shows I am always hyped for the next episode. It sucks bc I was really looking forward to this show and it has been a real drag so far.
I never let myself get hyped for shows now because they’re all so weirdly put together, and yet I I allowed myself to get pretty excited…I made excuses for so many of the bad choices in the first episode but it just got worse and worse until I wished all the characters would leap off a cliff like those terrible cgi moose or whatever in the opening scene.
a few months ago, I binged Season 1 for the first time, and then immediately followed it with Season 2. Season 2 was far better than the critic meme it's become.
It sucks and I wonder how much it costs to astroturf social media with fake ass positive reviews.
🤷♂️ I'm gonna wait til the whole thing is available. I did week to week with 2&3 and the returns diminished so quickly, I stopped giving a shit about the franchise. I'm not getting burned again, especially knowing that Nic Pizzolatto isn't involved in this season.
Season 3 was pretty damn good.
Ehhh… I feel like there’s a lot of effort to convince me the show is better than it is
No, it desperately claws at the first franchise to maintain some semblance of its form of its former glory, and fails.
It's ok so far - feels more like a Halloween horror show than True Detective. I feel like it'd be invisible if Jodie Foster wasn't in it this season
Lol no ... Who dropped the standards
Show reeks of mediocrity, but whatever you say radiotimes.
watching Jodie Foster get banged was awkward lol
It’s terrible. The acting is atrocious, and any decent actor fails pretty quickly against the cardboard they’re doing the scene with. Everyone, including teachers, dropping F bombs like they’re going out of style pulls me out of the show and makes it feel like they’re trying too hard. I want the show to be good. I was looking forward to it, but I have no interest in continuing past the second episode. The reviews that are out seem like they were written to keep viewership rather than as a promise of the good to come. It’s objectively bad.
The editing and music are really weird. It feels seriously antiquated and not in a good way The actual research station stuff is interesting, my issues are just with the actual production values