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| Are four characters simply too much to juggle for True Detective's style? |
"People were rendered mute by fools who spoke many words but said nothing." - Samson Lionheart, Carnivale, S02E01
Two weeks gone by, two episodes of the second edition of HBO's True Detective aired. However, the magic that was in the air for the first season seems rather lost thus far in the second. With four main characters, a complex plot, and a more crowded deck of sideline players, the two episodes have been rather unimpressive. While it's still too early to really judge the quality of the season as a whole, a full quarter of it is over now, meaning that it better get fantastic quick, lest we write off season one as a one-off special.
Our story this time centers around three detectives and a mob boss/business man. There's Paul Woodrugh, played by Taylor Kitsch, an ex-military cop who seems disillusioned with the world, Ani Bezzerides, played by Rachel McAdams, a relatively put-together detective with a strange family, and Ray Velcoro, played by Colin Farrell, an alcoholic, divorced, angry detective under the thumb of Frank Semyon, Vince Vaughn's trying-to-go-legit mob boss. In classic True Detective fashion, none of these four characters are happy, funny (except for a small ball-busting of E-cigarettes by Velcoro,) or happy with their place in the world. However, while the first season brought us the ramblings of Rust Cohle contrasted with the ostensible good ol' boyishness of Marty Hart, the second season has a bit too much to juggle to really develop any of these four. Certainly, Ray Velcoro is the most developed, showing the audience his divorce, his son, and his odd friendship/employment with Semyon. However, at the end of the second episode, we watched as Velcoro was shot point-blank with a shotgun in the chest, leaving him seemingly dead. If he is dead, this seems like a hell of a lot of time to put into a character that plays almost no real role in the overall plot.
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| One of the best singular shots of the second season. |
Our plot is more complex this time around as well. Whereas last time there was a series of missing girls strung up in a darkened Louisiana vale, this season brings us into the criminal underworld of LA, wherein a mafia boss directly related to Frank Semyon is found with his nether regions shot off. However, this seems like it is not the work of one crazy man living in an overgrown haunted house, but an organization of mobsters or other criminals involved in an underground war. Thus, we devote more time to the actual plot than the first season did. This time around, instead of a simple mystery of "who killed those girls," the plot is a dense look into the world of black markets and illegal activity. Thus, us as viewers spend a bit more time actually trying to figure out what's going on than we do figuring out how the characters are affected by the case.
It's a simple difference, but one that seems to make True Detective truly click. In many ways, the first season's plot didn't matter at all. Yes, the Yellow King and Carcosa were haunting ideas and visuals, but the real meat of story was how exactly these two detectives from opposite points of world view, dealt with a fifteen year long case. We talked to Marty's wife and saw his affairs. We learned the background of Rust Cohle and what were the few things that he actually cared for. Despite the lackluster ending of the eight episodes, the miniseries delivered some of the best character development ever on television.
This is what is lacking in the second season. By no means do I mean to say that it's been "bad television." Everything we've seen to date has been entertaining and interesting, though lacking the spark of what made the first edition just so fascinating. Ani and Paul have had very little development to date, other than the show letting us know that they're disenfranchised. Frank and Ray are better developed, but in two full hours they still seem like interesting men without enough fuel to light their fires.
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| Classy Cohen - maybe we'll get a cameo? |
The highlights of the show are still there however. The directing and cinematography of the first season are ever-present, giving us a true feel for the darkness and the mood of the show. The winding shots of Los Angeles highways seem to parallel the complexity of character and plot, while the almost film noir camera shots give us constant interesting visuals. The intro to the show, though lacking the perfect-sounding "Far From Any Road" still gives us a lot to marvel at, and Leonard Cohen's "Nevermind" is quickly growing on me.
In all, the second season of True Detective should not be taken as "bad" by any means, but just uninspiring. Instead of being teleported to shadows and darkness of Louisiana, I feel as though I'm watching a well-done LA Noir cop drama. This still puts the second season above 90% of television, but unless the next six episodes really impress, it will feel like a major missed opportunity. If Ray Velcoro really is dead, and the other characters don't become more interesting to make up for the loss, the second season of Fargo will have an easy time sweeping the floor come Benny time.
Labels: C.S. Lee, Colin Farrell, HBO, Justin Lin, Kelly Reilly, Leonard Cohen, Matthew McConaughey, Michael Irby, Nic Pizzolatto, Rachel McAdams, Taylor Kitsch, True Detective, Vince Vaugh, W. Earl Brown, Woody Harrelson