Since I was a kid, the last ten days of June always ended up being the most beautiful time of the year, one way or another. It used to be the end of class, that short period of bliss where time stopped before July 1st kicked off the summer's two months countdown. Now that I'm an adult and summer vacation is a thing of the past, I have to find other reasons to feel bliss at the end of June. The NBA and the NHL both hold their entry draft on consecutive days (June 25, 26 and 27), and this year, TRUE DETECTIVE is premiering its second season on June 21. This is going to be awesome. I went over the iconic first season during the long weekend, for inspiration and mood setting purpose both.
Here are my notes:
- Time is a flat circle.
- I like Matthew McConaughey as much as the next guy, but did he ever knock it out of the park in TRUE DETECTIVE or what? By far the best part of his career. He had the help of Nic Pizzolatto and Rust Cohle though. What a tremendous character he is. He is the kind of character that fascinates me: he lost everything (daughter, marriage, faith in existence) and yet it made him great. He couldn't have become the guy to tackle this case if he didn't develop that growing darkness within.
- After the initial run on HBO, the fans were somewhat angry that their conspiracy theories of cosmic horrors turned out to be wrong. They expected a monster at the end of it. I can understand why they were disappointed, to be honest. My second viewing of the show highlighted a lot of clues that lead in that direction. The biggest being Marty's daughter drawing some of the key events in the series in her book. That was never explain. Although I like the route Nic Pizzolatto took better, but I think the finale was underplayed. A lot of what the fans theorized about is true, I believe, it was just left out of the finale events.
- It's a symptom of great writing though, that viewers start building unrealistic expectations about what's going to happen next. It means that the mystery you're building up is beyond solid. Kudos to Nic Pizzolatto for sticking to his guns, even if his ending was a tad conventional. I loved LOST more than the majority of people did, but this giving-what-the-fans-want philosophy and playing in their conspiracies only made the end product more confusing. Season 2 seems to be more of a straightforward, character-oriented storyline, but I hope it'll create a similar buzz. It was fun.
- TRUE DETECTIVE, season 1 is some kind of supreme Bushido-level of seamlessly blending genres. I aspire to do it as well, one day. To paraphrase the immortal unitentional comedian Roger Mayweather: "Most people don't know shit about blending genres," and they do it terribly. They put Philip Marlowe in space, or a samurai in the Far West. TRUE DETECTIVE blends so many genres together: Noir, Gothic, Southern Gothic, Mystery, Cosmic Horror, Existential Horror, Western, Pulp and nihilistic philosophy (with an assist from extraordinary and underrated American writer Thomas Ligotti). I don't know how Nic Pizzolatto makes it all stick together, but it created a new golden standard for originality in genre fiction.
- Time is a flat circle, bro. Really.
