Should I Watch True Detective?

[Doctor Dugald Eldritch]

Information concealed.

[njhorror]

I'll tell you why I liked it, and maybe it will add to your decision, one way or another.

It's not like anything I'd ever seen. There were all kinds of suggestions of the supernatural, and I guess depending on your beliefs you may interpret the evil as supernatural influenced. There didn't seem to be any episode that turned me off, or bored me to tears. The action was good and the suspense was always present, and the story was very interesting. The characters were well-acted and occasionally did unexpected things that made sense afterwards. The plot took twists and turns when you were convinced that you'd figured it out. So, without spoilers, I liked it!

[ramonoski]

The worst I can say about it is that the weird fiction influence is superfluous at best*, and that the pessimist philosophy is basically painted as something you can grow out of. And perhaps that the final episodes aren't anywhere as good as the first half of the series. Then again, that first half was pretty damn good. Some of the most riveting TV I've watched in recent years.

So, yeah, you could give it a go. There's worse ways to pass the hours.


*mild spoilers: it seems to me the only reason the murder cult worships "the king in yellow" is because it sounds better than "they worship satan" or anything generic and unimaginative like that.

[Michael]

Yes. Unequivocally yes.

It is like Ligotti was put in a form that was digestible to the masses, in a good way. So many good reasons for people on the Network to watch this series.

[Frater_Tsalal]

I started watching it last week. Have only seen the first 2 episodes but so far have found it very enjoyable.

[Druidic]

My Mom died a year ago so I'd love to watch TD with her.

If you like noir with atmosphere that reeks of the supernatural you'll enjoy it. Despite the grumblings we all made at the end, I found after a second viewing I liked the final episode very much.

[njhorror]

Not at all Hell-Ghost. No arrows coming from my sling. My first reaction to the show was somewhat negative, focusing on the awkward moments, and skimming the rest. It wasn't until I went back and started from the beginning (thank heavens for On-Demand) that I caught the groove, so to speak, and tuned in to the story. What was going on wasn't immediately clear so that left ample to the imagination. The King in Yellow reference wasn't necessary to my enjoyment of the series. It just gave me more to think about.

[mgriffin]

My opinion is that many people are misjudging this show as a weird or Ligottian show with some detective elements, when in fact it's a detective show with some weird elements. The only thing Ligottian about it is the dark personal philosophy of a single character.

It seems to me that people who encountered the show without such preconceptions mostly enjoyed it, and those who came to it thinking "Cool, an HBO show that's all about Chambers and Ligotti and Karl Edward Wagner!" ended up mostly disappointed.

[ramonoski]

Quote Originally Posted by Hell-Ghost

Gentlemen, I began watching the first three episodes of True Detective and I regret to say that, at the risk of sounding like a Joshi, my general assertion of it is negative.

Well, now that the risk of spoilers is sort of out of the way...

To me the ending of episode three (Rust's monologue segueing into our first look at Reginald Ledoux) is the high point of the series. The words, the mood, the implications, the tease of the "monster at the end" and what went down that day... that's the one sequence that made me go like wow, this is great. Gave me chills when I first watched it, and then again on a repeat. This is the only episode I've watched more than once, incidentally. Been thinking of rewatching the whole thing again to get a more objective footing on the whole thing. Might do so one of these days.

Anyway, there's a pretty impressive action sequence at the end of episode four, which you might not want to miss if you care about those things. Then in episode five they finally get to Ledoux, but that scene plays against expectations (though there's a good in-story reason for it). Then there's some great bits in latter episodes, but like I said I think the ending of ep 3 was the peak.

[waffles]

I enjoyed it for what it was - a well-writen tv detective series. Even without the Chambers references, I think it was a strong show.






Spoiler Alert






If I remember nothing else about the series, the long take at the end of episode 4 was spectacular.