OT: True Detective 2 begins tonight
- Thread starter preebs2001
- Start date
Same here. I broke my own rule and read some screener reviews who said it's not quite the masterpiece that season 1 was, but it's still good.
I take that with a big fat grain of salt though. If you only watched the first 3 episodes of TD last season (which is all the screeners watched of season 2) you'd think, "eh, it has potential but it's not mind blowing". But then the rest of the season ended up being some of the best TV ever made.
I've been looking forward to to tonight for awhile. Very interested in the new characters and story.
I take that with a big fat grain of salt though. If you only watched the first 3 episodes of TD last season (which is all the screeners watched of season 2) you'd think, "eh, it has potential but it's not mind blowing". But then the rest of the season ended up being some of the best TV ever made.
I've been looking forward to to tonight for awhile. Very interested in the new characters and story.
Yeah there is. We've gone from 2 main characters to 4.
So far it's very different than season 1.
I thought it was pretty good. Hard to know how good a show will be after one episode. I have been blown away by premiers for shows that have been terrible and disappointed in one's for shows that went on to be great.
I think a lot of people who have been complaining about it are too caught up in the first series. They said each would be different. I heard someone on the radio today say they wouldn't watch because the intro song was different. Just crazy.
I think a lot of people who have been complaining about it are too caught up in the first series. They said each would be different. I heard someone on the radio today say they wouldn't watch because the intro song was different. Just crazy.
No kidding. Bear with me while I talk this out, for anyone who is interested, and for myself to better understand what's happening. Let me know if I'm missing something.
Apparently Vinci is based off of a real California city that was investigated not that long ago. It has over 1800 businesses and only 90 residents. It was only a city on paper. So being a city, it had a city manager, police force, city council, etc. And since it was basically created and established by organized crime, all the businesses inside the "city limits" can basically do whatever they want as long as there is a legislative loophole passed by the city council, which is of course is nothing more than an organized crime proxy. It looks like this is baseline plot for this season.
Frank Semyon has gone from blue collar criminal (that Russian boss called him "a terror back in the 90's), to white collar criminal who has every Vinci government employee in his pocket. Passing legislation, codes, and laws to benefit his grand plan of establishing a Central Californian railroad system. One of his key pieces is city manager Ben Casper who has gone missing right before the presentation of the railroad plans to developers, construction companies, and investors. The biggest investor of all is the Russian mafia (we assume) represented by a Russian gangster who is less than ammused that the head honcho of this project is nowhere to be found.
It appears that the Vinci PD is a complete farce as well. The police captain tells Detective Velcoro that they are shredding every document they have after hearing of a scathing article written about Vinci. Even the detective that works with Velcoro doesn't know what a basic 207 is (kidnapping). We are led to believe that they are fake cops at best excpet for Velcoro who had extensive LE work prior to Vinci. Regardless, they all appear to work for Semyon.
MEANWHILE, a major Los Angeles paper just released the first of 8 articles that explain in detail just how corrupt this small mystery city is, calling out every big player in the area except for Semyon. Semyon realizes that it's only a matter of time before they tear him to pieces in the press, possibly destroying the plans for the railroad, so he sends Detective Velcoro to beat up the reporter and steal all of his research. Velcoro has been in Semyon's debt ever since Semyon pointed Velcoro in the direction of the man who beat and raped Velcoro's wife.
City Manager Ben Casper turns up dead on the side of the interstate with his eyes burned out. Not a good sign for the railroad plans. Velcoro has been placed on an investigative team that includes the equally damaged personalities in the form of knife wielding, sexually adventerous Detective Anitone Bezzerides (aka Ani) and mentally and physically scarred, sexually confused Army veteran turned Black Mountain contractor turned motorcycle highway patrolman Paul Woodrough. Which are 2 other story lines left for another time.
So yeah, gotta pay attention!
Frank Semyon has gone from blue collar criminal (that Russian boss called him "a terror back in the 90's), to white collar criminal who has every Vinci government employee in his pocket. Passing legislation, codes, and laws to benefit his grand plan of establishing a Central Californian railroad system. One of his key pieces is city manager Ben Casper who has gone missing right before the presentation of the railroad plans to developers, construction companies, and investors. The biggest investor of all is the Russian mafia (we assume) represented by a Russian gangster who is less than ammused that the head honcho of this project is nowhere to be found.
It appears that the Vinci PD is a complete farce as well. The police captain tells Detective Velcoro that they are shredding every document they have after hearing of a scathing article written about Vinci. Even the detective that works with Velcoro doesn't know what a basic 207 is (kidnapping). We are led to believe that they are fake cops at best excpet for Velcoro who had extensive LE work prior to Vinci. Regardless, they all appear to work for Semyon.
MEANWHILE, a major Los Angeles paper just released the first of 8 articles that explain in detail just how corrupt this small mystery city is, calling out every big player in the area except for Semyon. Semyon realizes that it's only a matter of time before they tear him to pieces in the press, possibly destroying the plans for the railroad, so he sends Detective Velcoro to beat up the reporter and steal all of his research. Velcoro has been in Semyon's debt ever since Semyon pointed Velcoro in the direction of the man who beat and raped Velcoro's wife.
City Manager Ben Casper turns up dead on the side of the interstate with his eyes burned out. Not a good sign for the railroad plans. Velcoro has been placed on an investigative team that includes the equally damaged personalities in the form of knife wielding, sexually adventerous Detective Anitone Bezzerides (aka Ani) and mentally and physically scarred, sexually confused Army veteran turned Black Mountain contractor turned motorcycle highway patrolman Paul Woodrough. Which are 2 other story lines left for another time.
So yeah, gotta pay attention!
Thanks for the break down. Makes a heck of a lot more sense to me now.....gotta get the hubby to read this as well.
No problem. Like I said, it helps me understand things better when I write it out. I want to like this season, but I have to undestand it first!
Here are a few other interesting notes (these aren't spoilers)...
Detective Antigone (Ani) Bezzerides: Antigone is a Greek tragedy written by Sophocles around 440 BC. In the story, Antigone is described as a strong but stubborn woman, loyal to her family who breaks the law by burying her dead brother in accordance with her families spiritual beliefs. Note: Det. Ani's sister is named Athena, after the Greek goddess of love. So there may not be any significance here other than Ani's dad is a huge hippy.
Frank Semyon: There was a Soviet philosopher in the late 1800's name Semyon Frank. Semyon's philosophical focus was metaphysics, the existential study of "being" and "becoming". He argues that becoming is just as significant as simply being, therefore a person's future is never pre-determined. As the person you become changes, so does your future path through life, for better or worse. He believed in free will and chaos theory (for lack of a better term)...which basically means while we do have free will and the choice to become, develop, regress, etc., but also that the universe is both "rational and irrational", and because of that, we will always be at the mercy of random outside influences beyond our control.
Like Ani, this could have very little meaning in the show. Maybe the writer just liked the name. The Russian connection is interesting though, as is the existintial philosophical element that defined last season.
Paul Woodrough:
This is definitely a spoiler. Paul clearly has some kind of deathwish, driving 100 MPH down a winding California interstate in the middle of the night with his lights off and no helmet. It almost seems like he has another personality after slows down though. He snaps out of it, almost shocked at himself and tells himself to "stop it". There's also a strong possibility that he's gay. He has to take a pill and wait 30 minutes before he can jump in bed with his hot gf, and once he does, he looks like he'd rather be anywhere else. Plus, after he is accused (falsely?) for soliciting favors from a high actress he pulled over, his fellow officers laugh him out of the building, as if the idea of Paul requesting anything from a woman is a complete joke. If he really is gay, you can imagine the strain it would put on a macho personality like his. He's an Army vet who apparently went to work for Black Mountain, a mercanary group who appeares to have done some shady stuff in the middle east that is also about to be exposed by the press (not unlike the former real-life private contracting group Black Water and the trouble they got into in Iraq a few years ago).
So that's all I got for now. I know it's excessive but I'm in an airport terminal with absolutely nothing else to do at the moment. Except maybe rewatch the first episode?
