True Detective (HBO) Official Thread

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The Adventure Starts Here!
So am I the only one who found that last scene/few seconds a tad confusing? Oh well. It gave me the same WTF? feeling as the finale of The Sopranos. Just a bit jarring to me as I was wrapping my mind around all the explanations and the winding down of the story. I wish they'd shown us a similar jungle scene at least once before so that I would have had a frame of reference and not been confused.

Ali and Dorff truly made this season worth watching. They were well matched and their relationship had lots of nuances, as a friendship and partnership like this would.



So am I the only one who found that last scene/few seconds a tad confusing? Oh well. It gave me the same WTF? feeling as the finale of The Sopranos. Just a bit jarring to me as I was wrapping my mind around all the explanations and the winding down of the story. I wish they'd shown us a similar jungle scene at least once before so that I would have had a frame of reference and not been confused.
It was random because he was in a constant state of confusion and it was only going to get worse. There was a scene in an earlier episode of the season where he was surrounded by vietcong soldiers, and a few American ones too.
WARNING: spoilers below

There wasnt a pedo-sex cult, wasnt some teenagers practicing black magic on little kids, or a serial killer. It was a lonely rich woman with tons of influence, a tragedy the boy dying, and nobody saw it coming that it was his own sister that put him in the praying pose.


The only true horror was what existed in between the main characters head and our own fears. The first mystery I've seen in a long time where I had no idea of the outcome, and it made sense.



The Adventure Starts Here!
I wasn't clear enough: both of those endings *felt* random the second I saw them. Tongo, I must've missed the earlier bits with him and the Viet Cong. That would have changed my initial reaction to that last scene.

As for The Sopranos ending, there was a huge flurry of anger and resentment at that ending and the show's writers and creators even said at the time that it was open to individual interpretation. Frankly, to me as a writer, I find that a bit of a cop-out. Stories typically have endings. The Sopranos needed a better ending. Yoda watched it here at my house that night, and we literally jumped up and yelled at the TV. We all thought the cable had gone out. It wasn't till many long seconds later when the credits came up that we realized we'd been swindled.

Tongo, thanks for the added info that I somehow missed an earlier cue about his time in Vietnam. It changes a lot of my opinions about that last scene.



I wasn't clear enough: both of those endings *felt* random the second I saw them. Tongo, I must've missed the earlier bits with him and the Viet Cong. That would have changed my initial reaction to that last scene.

As for The Sopranos ending, there was a huge flurry of anger and resentment at that ending and the show's writers and creators even said at the time that it was open to individual interpretation. Frankly, to me as a writer, I find that a bit of a cop-out. Stories typically have endings. The Sopranos needed a better ending. Yoda watched it here at my house that night, and we literally jumped up and yelled at the TV. We all thought the cable had gone out. It wasn't till many long seconds later when the credits came up that we realized we'd been swindled.

Tongo, thanks for the added info that I somehow missed an earlier cue about his time in Vietnam. It changes a lot of my opinions about that last scene.
But looking back - do you not think the Sopranos ending was absolute genius?

Now you know what it's all about? I was a bit miffed at the time too - then I read up on it, watched it again and realised it was epic.

I guess some people don't want to have to think about endings or have to do a bit of research. I'm fine with it.



The Adventure Starts Here!
I don't mind looking into things like that. And I love thinking about endings. It's all kinda fun. But to hear the show's creator say that he himself didn't really decide whether Tony lives or dies in that ending felt cheap to me. And lazy. If he's going to leave it up to the viewer's interpretation, then what's the point of calling it an ending at all?

I *get* that a series can end without us knowing the ultimate fate of a character. Happens all the time. I wouldn't have minded that. But to cut to black the way they did, leading us on in that drawn-out final scene in the diner, building suspense, and then shutting the scene down mid-musical-note felt like they knew they were taking us all for a ride.

So, no, even all these years later, I don't think that ending was genius. I think they were leaving open the possibility of perhaps a follow-up movie or something. Which, of course, never happened.

Anyway, that's for another thread.



But to cut to black the way they did, leading us on in that drawn-out final scene in the diner, building suspense, and then shutting the scene down mid-musical-note felt like they knew they were taking us all for a ride.
Tony was dead. How could it not cut to black?
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I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.



David Chase so far as I know is the sole creator of The Sopranos & he goes back & forth in order to prolong the debate. Depends upon when he said it & in which publication he said it.



“Sugar is the most important thing in my life…”
Finally finished the last episode after the first attempt was staccato napped. Really disappointing because of my expectation for this series. Unsolved mystery, intrigue, uneasiness. S3 led me down this path and then adopted a finale that wasn't of the same DNA as its S1 ancestry.


It wasn't bad, but I agree with Lady A and how just splain'n everything seemed out of place. Not bad, but really a whimper of sorts for the finale.


Side note. How did they explain the fingerprint pharmacy heist?



The Adventure Starts Here!
Meaning what? I think they said that her fingerprints were on the scene among the ones they found, but that this just meant she was in the store.

Or are you asking something different?



“Sugar is the most important thing in my life…”
I had thought it was in a far away state and that she may have committed a crime. It didn't seem to line up with how they explained her fate.

Another thing I thought was cheap were the Wicker dolls and how that was purely used to imply the Yellow King .



I finally watched the finale last night. It took me so long because quite frankly I wasn't expecting much. Maybe partly because of that I ended up fairly satisfied. I enjoyed the season, but despite superior acting and craftsmanship, I enjoyed season 2 more. Much more really.



We've gone on holiday by mistake
I don't mind looking into things like that. And I love thinking about endings. It's all kinda fun. But to hear the show's creator say that he himself didn't really decide whether Tony lives or dies in that ending felt cheap to me. And lazy. If he's going to leave it up to the viewer's interpretation, then what's the point of calling it an ending at all?

I *get* that a series can end without us knowing the ultimate fate of a character. Happens all the time. I wouldn't have minded that. But to cut to black the way they did, leading us on in that drawn-out final scene in the diner, building suspense, and then shutting the scene down mid-musical-note felt like they knew they were taking us all for a ride.

So, no, even all these years later, I don't think that ending was genius. I think they were leaving open the possibility of perhaps a follow-up movie or something. Which, of course, never happened.

Anyway, that's for another thread.
I think it is. Though I was in my early twenties at the time and was initially disappointed that there wasn't some sort of going out with a bang, he even went to bed with his AK 47 in the penultimate episode.

The ending though is the only time I think that we've seen a true mafia hit from the perspective of the victim, I'm not just talking about the killshot but the not knowing, thinking there's peace but unknown unseen figures are ordering your death, was it Butch? was little Carmine pulling the strings again? Like Henry in Goodfellas, "There wasn't all this cursing like in the movies, your killers come as your friends, when you need them the most" (not exact quote). Every other hit in the Sopranos we've known what's going on, what's causing it, what the bad blood is, who is in danger but this time like Tony we the viewer are completely in the dark...literally.
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The Adventure Starts Here!
And yet the creator said he might not have died at all. They purposely left it hanging. Completely hanging. As a writer, I find that a little vexing. And I certainly am not alone in that assessment. Opinions have been split on that ending since it aired.

We will have to agree to disagree on that one.

But we can all agree that the endings to LOST and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA were... not great.



“Sugar is the most important thing in my life…”

True Detective Pikachu




I spent the whole time wondering if they made his head covering out of paper mache.



The Adventure Starts Here!
When is this released? Such a good series.
HBO is just saying "Coming This Year," so... within five months?

This is a good series... but some of the dialogue lines in this trailer seem so... predictable. So I dunno what to think about the new season. Foster's a great addition, though, so I'm cautiously optimistic.