Motorcycle cop seems to have a lot going on in his head. Perhaps thats what all those scars are about (and his intimacy issues). Love Colin Farell's character. Raging and pissed off all the time. Love it.

Regina from mean girls is my favorite so far. I want to see how her relationship with her dad and sister got to that point. Cults always are a hoot.

Loved it so far, looking forward to more.
All the characters are intriguing . . .

Super into the first episode, the way they brought those 3 together at the end was super smart. Was wondering the whole time "how are they going to do this..." and they nailed it perfectly. Cant wait for this to unfold!

Huh. I'm seriously on the other side of the fence again here - first, I kinda loved the ending last season and NOW I've found myself kind of hating the debut of season 2. I haven't written off the year already, don't get me wrong, but wasn't anybody else put off by the 9000 pounds of exposition in this one? Pretty much every scene had dialog that explained away what you were seeing or could infer. I guess that they didn't want anybody confused by anything this go-around. Also, the whole ep reeked of square-ass old man hepsterism. Least believable dive bar chanteuse ever. At least when Lynch does it he's earned the tone. Ah well. Sticking with it, in spite of having my hand held.

All that said, I'm looking forward to the weekly history lessons that are promised from Welcome to Vinci.

Game of Detectives.

Yeah that pretty much sucked^^^

Otherwise the episode put me to sleep.

I'm pretty meh about season 2 so far, but it's a slow burn of course so who knows where it will go.

Definitely a slow episode but I'm eager for next week already. Caspere's shrink is def creepy too. There is already so much more going on in this season than the previous.

Oh thank fuck. I like Colin as an actor, and despite what the lame ass writers at Atlantic say I don't think he's a one dimensional character.

^^^ I am definitely thinking internalized homophobia as well.

^ Couldnt agree more! Perhaps he is somehow involved in this sex trade...

I love Colin Farrell's character, but come on, he breaks into a house with music playing and doesn't seem too worried about someone else being there? Not acting like a "True Detective" on that one

I really hope not . . . he's one of the most interesting characters so far. I liked that conversation in the car with knife-crazy Detective Antigone.
I thought the cinematography and lighting in the scene leading up to him being shot was stunning . . . i'm digging the the noir atmosphere.


Yeah, and if he's not dead . . . . i would of thought someone blasting a guy that close range would notice if he's wearing body armour or not.
Perhaps i'm getting ahead of the story.

As for other characters, i really liked shady Mayor Chessani too . . .

^^^ Me too! "Some people can't handle the deep trip..." - that whole monologue is why I'm still watching this show. Overall, it's pretty overwrought, ridiculous stuff, but I love the parts like this, where you realize you're willing to sit though a pretty boring hour of t.v. like this 2nd ep, only because it's a pretty sure bet that it'll pay off in half a minute of dialogue from a sleazy, cartoonish character who seems to have been created solely to have someone there to say shit like this. I love that this season seems to be going whole hog for that "California Noir" made famous by arguably better pieces of work like CHINATOWN and James Ellroy novels (and movies made from his novels) For the record, I can't believe they'd kill of Ray for real two eps in, but I also don't know how he's supposed to come back from that. Body armor might be their out, but for a guy who just basically admitted he's got a death wish in the previous scene, that doesn't really sync up. But hell if it didn't do the trick - I'll be back next week to find out for sure!

Somehow Velcoro survives the point blank shotgun blast because IMDB has him listed in all episodes.
He could be in flashbacks for the remaining episodes but he's too integral to the story as the inside guy playing both sides of the fence to be killed off.
Plus I want more of the car conversations with Bezzerides. Farrell is amazing. Love the show.

Anybody else get a real David Lynch vibe with the slow fades and constant slow exterior shots in between scenes?? Plus the Mulholland Drive road sign in the first episode seems like a definite indicator of influence for this season

Definitely. Similar soundtracks as well. His influence was all over the first season too.

The Bald Move guys have a great podcast for this season. Great breakdown of the first episode with the second on the way.

http://baldmove.com/true-detective/201- ... -the-dead/

I've only watched the first episode, but I really, really liked it. So much so I dreamt about it the night I watched it. I don't need old Matty Mac's monologues to enjoy the hell out of this show.

I am actually with David on this one. Just too much overt exposition, that seems to have dummed down the show. It is a detective show after all right? If you can't "get it" then I would venture to say you are not the target audience. Still, HBO seems to have decided to shove it down everyone's throat. Not to say that I don't have any hopes for this season, or that it hasn't been two hours of well made television, I just think it is still lacking the depth and mystery the first season had from the get go. Too much drama and backstory focus. The character are ALL flawed, we get it. But whereas the first season lead us down a path to show us their backstory and let the viewer judge for themselves in all the 'grey area,' this season just feels like it wants to be an LA-Noir version of The Wire. You don't have so many episodes for a single storyline, so you really squander them developing the ensemble of characters. I am going to stick with it and hope it gets there, but the detective part of it is thus far taking too much of a backseat.

Whether Velcoro is dead or not, I couldn't say. Doesn't seem like anyone would come back from that [even with body armour, two shotgun shots at close range, unless they are filled with salt, is going to do some severe damage]. I wouldn't be sorry to see him go, as I am not such a fan of Farrell, and it sure doesn't seem like he is a great detective, but it isn't something I believe HBO would do, even with their history of bold moves. I barely recognised W. Earl Brown; I suppose it is the role but he looks much worse than I would have expected. Woodrugh and Bezzerides could team up for solving the crime (and Velcoro's murder) but no one on the show seems to have the great on-screen chemistry [yet] that McConaughey and Harrelson shared. Oh, and I am not sure if should be embarassed or not at this point that I have that Araki book on my shelf that featured so prominently in the 'sex house.'

Closing credits song for episode 3 was from a local Louisvillian "Bonnie Prince Billy" aka Wil Oldham....pretty cool

That 'Elvis' dream sequence reminded me of 'Wild at Heart' or even 'True Romance' at a stretch.

I really think that Detective Antigone's character is very influenced by the no nonsense female lead roles
of Danish/Swedish police shows like 'The Killing' and 'The Bridge' or the French 'Spiral'. Or even
Lisbeth Salander from Dragon Tattoo. When the black lady suggested she use her 'feminine charms' i
had to laugh . . . she was asking the wrong woman for that kind of crap.

I'm not totally convinced of Vince Vaughn's acting chops yet, he doing an OK job but i'm not sure if
i buy him as a gangster . . .