So after a small hiatus, I am back! And I want to tell you my thoughts concerning this seasons of True Detective, but first, I want to recommend a show you need to watch. Mr. Robot.
Mr. Robot stars Rami Malek as Elliot an elite hacker who decides to use his abilities for good. Created by Sam Esmail, Mr. Robot is unlike anything that USA has produced prior to it. It's dark, it's a fantastic depiction of New York City, and truthful depiction too it isn't all Carrie shoe shopping it's a smelly dirty old city, and it tells an excellent story. It also stars Christian Slater as Mr. Robot, another elite hacker, Michael Gill as Gideon Goddard, as the president of All Safe a computer security company that Elliot works for as well. There is also Martin Wallstrom who is worth mentioning playing Tyrelly Wellick an elitist techie who seems to understand what makes Elliot tick. I really would love to tell you more about the other fantastic characters like Angela played by Portia Doubleday or Shayla played by Frankie Shaw, but I really want to get to what makes this show great.
It's a show i look forward to every week. I put down my phone, don't even glance at it, for fear that I might miss something. I might miss a key aspect of this show, a glimpse into something darker if I look away for even a second. The characters are fully realized the plot takes realistic twist and turns and there doesn't seem to be a line that doesn't appear true. It's a glimpse into an underworld that I truly believe exists. It's not campy, sophomoric, or cliche, it is tech-noir and that's what I believe I love about this show. Elliot, the protagonist, is unraveling a mystery that we the viewer don't know the entirety of, he's sarcastic, fairly antisocial, but for some reason all the women within his life find him fairly attractive. It is noir set in modern day and I absolutely can't get enough of it. He has a monkey on his back that makes him incredibly jaded and frustrating to get a long with but you cannot help but want to finish this journey alongside him.
Now one show that is tripping over its noir-ness, is True Detective. I loved season 1 and though some of the words of Rust Cole were some of the best lines I've ever heard, but this stands in stark contrast to the awful duet of Vince Vaughn and Kelly Reilly and the unbelievable stumbling of the plot overall.
True Detective is a mini-series and every season we will get to witness a totally new cast, a new story, with new directors. The writer and creator, Nic Pizzolato, will write for the next season and maybe the one after but my God he needs someone to come in an help him move this story along. So far, and there are two episodes left, I like the investigation, I like the mystery but there is a lot of unnecessary dialogue mainly from Vince Vaughn and Kelly Reilly that doesn't need to occur. Rachel McAdams and Colin Farrell are doing their best but their screen time, for some reason, is shared with Taylor Kitsch, whose story line still has not been fully flushed out, and Vince Vaughn. Oh did I mention that Vince Vaughn's character needs to no longer exist in this show? Because he doesn't. During the last episode, I audibly groaned when we cut away from Kitsch, Farrell, and McAdams to stop in to see what Vaughn and Reilly were doing because, honestly, I no longer care what they are doing. An attempt to empathize with the character was made but it was done poorly and honestly I just want to see where and how this all ends.
My suggestions for next season, Pizzolatto, stick with one thing. If you want a who done it story, then don't add in the gangster and his wife and the problems they are having in pregnancy. If you want to tell a story about a few people and really dig into them, then focus on a crime that's simple. True Detective season 1 was exactly that, find out who has been abducting and killing these girls. There was no holding companies, contract deals, and mysterious business partners, there were just meth heads and girls missing and it was fantastic.
So, in conclusion, watch Mr. Robot and finish True Detective? I guess? If you've already invested this much time?
Written by cwm on Aug 3, 2015
Very nice serie
Mr. Robot is just all sorts of WOW! Each episode draws you in more and more. Then the surprises they hold are shocking, but also very revealing about the characters and the show's premise.
I acknowledge that season 2 should never and could never be compared to season 1. I wasn't writing at the time it premiered but I was posting all over Facebook saying that the two were like apples and oranges because there was a different cast and a different director with the only commonality being the creator and screenwriter.
Despite this, I just doesn't think it holds up on it's own and I really wish it did. I thought Colin was great but Vince Vaughn was atrocious. It didn't even seem like he was in the same show as Kitsch, McAdams, and Farrell. He and Kelly Reilly were off in their weird haiku drunken world throwing rings out of train stations and mourning over Stan. WHO WAS STAN?
The problem with this season I believe resulted from nobody telling Pizzolato to cool with and stick to one thing. The best part about season 1, in my opinion, was that the crime was fairly easy to follow, a missing girl, and the characters were difficult people to understand, which was fantastic. But, in season 2, the crime was difficult to follow and the characters were also difficult to understand. If this gets a third season, I think it will, someone is going to have to look at Pizzolato's stuff before it gets shot.
I would like to defend season 2, I truly would, but that finale did not need defending, it needed a rewrite.
Mr. Robot is fantastic. Despite being more-or-less a thinly veiled reimagining of Fight Club, it brings enough new ideas to the table to still feel fresh. Also, the Patrick Bateman-esque Tyrell Wellick being pretty much a mirror image of Elliot and rising in power and ability concurrently with him is going to pay off really well down the line when they finally face off against one another.
I'm impressed with how much more realistic the hacking aspect is in Mr. Robot than any other movie/show too, the episodes I've seen so far are totally enthralling, USA network seems to be doing a pretty good job.
I completely agree with you on Mr. Robot, it is the best show on air right now and it definitely has the best lead of all shows running. The storyline is gripping and the voice over of Elliot is priceless.
I cannot fully agree with you on True Detective. it is not as good as season one, that's for sure, but come on, it is almost impossible to top the first season :) The atmosphere was so eerie and the crime itself was way more mysteriously.
The acting on the other hand I find as good as in season one, Vince and Collin are doing a great job, the storyline is very complex and needs a lot of attention, but if you invest on it, it gives you back great character studies. Maybe you went in on season two with too high expectations :)