True Detective [HBO]

[King]

Terrific show.

[King]

Even ignoring the story and dialogue and acting (which is obviously great), the show is just freaking gorgeous as well. Stupid Super Bowl ruining everything.

Yeah, it does a fantastic job of depicting Louisiana as a complete sh**thole, but in the most cinematographically beautiful way possible.

I'm totally down with the McConaughey circlejerk like everyone else, but does anyone else find him a bit difficult to understand at times without subtitles?

This last episode's soundtrack had a intrusive bass line of some sort that was making the dialogue a little more difficult to understand.

[King]

Every episode has been good although this last one felt a little bit down simply because if how intense the action was in last week's.

[King]

Every episode has been good although this last one felt a little bit down simply because if how intense the action was in last week's.

Really? On a whole, I feel like it was actually a lot better of an episode - minus last week's end sequence.

If this was a conventional television series, it felt like an episode that could've been a season finale.

I still liked it, but it was just Ep 4 had such a tempo while 5 was more inline with the rest of the season.  I'll probably rewatch this one again later this week and absorb it better.

[King]

Episode 6 of an 8 parter is usually the weakest. Its only use is to build up some plot points for the climax, which can be a downer following something as exciting as a second act climax and new third act plot that happens in 4/5.

Writing schools teach people that narrative builds on an 8 part structure and it creates some dead moments and cliche if you're aware of it. I try to suspend my disbelief but I see it often.  This series has its moments where it hits formula hard.

For example, romances are generally introduced in stage three and that's the episode where the Marty affair happens.

[King]

Very nice.  Only gripe is all the false ending fadeouts toward the end.