True Detective Weekly 7: Black Maps and Motel Rooms

[True Detective Weekly 7: Black Maps and Motel Rooms]

More fuel for the 'directors really make a difference' theory I guess.  The stark cuts mentioned above, and - I don't remember this from earlier episodes - closeups on people's faces, eg in the Frank/underling scene, slow-motion too, and the (excellent) leaning into a red light Ani does in the Ani/Ray cabin scene.  I liked these bits a lot - made it feel OTT in a fun way, especially the Frank/underling part.  Obvious 'The Departed' feelings toward the end...

It's always had (bad) elliptical dialogue but it feels like it's imploding now...  You're a good man.  No I'm not.  Do you remember?  What?  Anything!!

re: above I thought she was crying because she thought she'd figured out why kid Paul liked the film - it shows a better mother and child relationship.  But yes I think the specific cut was just a tragic thing rather than implying anything.

 

On the dialogue: I feel one of this series' problems is actually a bunch of unnecessary dialogue which lengthens scenes or unnecessarily presumes the audience are blind. The standout example is this episode's remark by Paul's sexual partner that "this wouldn't have happened if you'd been honest with yourself." It's a bad line which says something obvious and it's in contrast to the usual subtlety with which Paul's sexuality has been treated. I noticed there's also a moment like this when they're stalking around the cabin and spot the vultures. After the camera cuts away one detective pointlessly says that there are vultures.

 

By the way, if anyone (like me) is now thoroughly confused by the plots -- I didn't really remember the diamonds and I couldn't place the police chief at first -- here's a good, incredibly explicit plot summary up to this point.

[True Detective Weekly 3: Maybe Tomorrow]

Two thoughts:

 

We should take a moment to appreciate the perfection of the picture of Caspere that the investigators keep using. I haven't found an image on the internet after a quick search, but it's about the most generic civic official photograph that could've been made. He's slightly turned to the right with what seems to be the edge of an American flag in the background and even his hair is perfectly groomed. It's a nice detail on its own, but it also lends credibility to Caspere as a city manager. Otherwise, we only see either his over-the-top, almost comical interest in sex and his strange interior decoration. That photograph makes him more a character than a punchline.

 

Also, good discussion of the scene with Paul and his friend from the army, which I was similarly ambivalent about. I think it was saved from being truly cliche by the reaction of the man he was with. After he brings up their encounter he almost immediately regrets it and insists he shouldn't have mentioned it. I like the implication that either he has his own guilt or that he'd rather not bring it up and jeopardize their remaining friendship. It's an added bonus that he never specifies why he regrets bringing it up since the ambiguity adds to the scene.

 

Also yeah, that Paul/American Sniper comparison jumped out at me too.

[True Detective Weekly 2: Night Finds You]

I actually really liked the bit with the knives. It felt like an honest portrayal of a woman in position where she is painfully aware of here physical limitations in comparison to her male peers who have likely never felt afraid for their safety in the way that a woman in Ani's job must feel every day. Reminded me of that Margaret Atwood quote about men being afraid that women will laugh at them and women being afraid that men will kill them. Much more preferable to your standard Strong Female Characters who would never hint at their vulnerabilities. And at least Ani didn't talk about being raped!

 

Agreed. I shared some of the cast's concerns in the first half of the first episode that Ani would be a faultless, invulnerable character who was left to play the straight woman to Paul and Ray. The knife scene finally dispatched that notion though and exposed her (well-founded) anxieties.

 

E: I also really hope the show doesn't go in for that 1:1 mapping of figures from Greek mythology a few people have been speculating about above. Even the names felt heavy-handed to me. I hope the crew aren't encouraged by the insane theorycrafting which surrounded season 1 to make a more coherent (ugh) mythology.

[True Detective Weekly 1: The Western Book of the Dead]

Been lurking on these forums since the Twin Peaks Rewatch started. They're great!

 

Was anyone else really irritated by that closing shot? It feels like directorial self-congratulation to conclude with the characters looking meaningfully at one another - as though we're supposed to know what this means except "tune in next week" - followed by the camera whipping around, circling and zooming out. It wouldn't feel out of place in the actual Fast and the Furious films and it attempts to generate that same sense of being on the precipice of something epic. If the episode had done even a serviceable job of making me care about these people it'd be tolerable, but as it stands it just reminded me how little interest I had.

 

Also, I think it was Sean who mentioned  being annoyed by the slow zoom in on the faces of Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn's characters. That, too, feels indulgent and even arrogant in its assumption that we care enough about these people for the shots to feel like anything but wasted time.