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I just really, really don't give a s**t about Vaughn's storyline.

I'm enjoying the series, no doubt, but I think it could have easily just been Farrell and McAdams.
 
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Needs to get more weird.

The first season didn't end up having much to do with Carcosa and Lovecraft's work, but they were one of the more appealing hooks. Could use some more of that here.

New director for this episode, and it was telling by the opening scene. So eerie.

Vaughn is hit and miss. There are some part that are okay, some parts that are dry as *. Biggest takeaway any time he's on screen is how he's acting and not much about Frank, which isn't great.
 

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I loved episode three. Loving the David Lynch style weirdness creeping in.
 
Weakest ep so far for mine (although I did like the first scene/dream sequence). The pace is glacial but its not the slow burn I'm struggling with (Boardwalk Empire remains one of my fav shows ever), just don't find the story that interesting. Seems flat somehow. Farrell is probably the best thing about it and I'd say he's been serviceable rather than spectacular, starting to actively dislike watching the other characters.

Warsaw said:
Needs to get more weird.

The first season didn't end up having much to do with Carcosa and Lovecraft's work, but they were one of the more appealing hooks. Could use some more of that here.
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Agree. If it's going to be an anthology type series, think they would have been better off linking seasons together by having some kind of preternatural angle for each one. As you say, even if it doesn't amount to much it makes things a bit more interesting throughout the journey.

blackshadow said:
I loved episode three. Loving the David Lynch style weirdness creeping in.
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Aside from the first scene, where was it?
 
HenrikLundqvist said:
**** this season is awful. In respect of the first season, I'm trying really hard to find something to date that has invoked any semblance of enjoyment.

It's like they had no idea how to follow up the first season so they've taken elements out of 90% of cop dramas.

Featuring your favorite generic characters:
  • Cheesy corrupt local cop
  • Estranged ex wife
  • Tough, empowering female lead who don't need (and can't chase) no man
  • Token closet gay/ war veteran
  • Drunken bumbling mayor
  • BDSM pervert dead guy
  • Organised crime leader who lays all of his eggs in one basket.
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This is one of the most ridiculous criticisms I've ever seen.

As mentioned on the previous page how is any of that more generic than what we saw in Season One if you're going to list it that simply? Consider the same logic applied to characters and story elements of S1:

Marty - A boozing cop and serial adulterer
Rust - The flawed genius detective type
Maggie - Frustrated housewife who revenge *s her husbands partner
Police corruption and cover up
Religious organization involved in child abuse
The Spaghetti Monster - A murderous inbred southern hick

Honestly I'd argue that the backgrounds of these new characters are much more mysterious and unique than what we saw in Season one when you consider the following:

Velcoro - A loose cannon bent cop with a violent past, drug and alcohol addictions and a son who in all likelihood is not his.
Bezzerides - Raised in a weird religious commune, her father is some religious figure, herself and her family are clearly sexually damaged too.
Woodrugh - A veteran who served with a mysterious mercenary organization linked to alleged atrocities, has obvious physical and mental scars, closeted and self loathing homosexual.
Semyon - A former gangster looking to turn legit as his entire world crumbles around him.
 
bourbons said:
Aside from the first scene, where was it?
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More the overall feel.

Kaspar's sexual proclivities and the mayor's wife and son have strong Lynch overtones.
 
Have to admit I came close to switching off last night, just found much of it bordering on the ridiculous.
Pliers to pull the guys teeth out, really?. The cop's BrokeBM gay, yay, I get it. The Mayor's house & family...cmon now. & when I start to die, can I get 22yo Debbie Harry singing Call Me, thanks

I'm probably being a bit harsh & maybe it will all click shortly, but for now it's not working for me.
 
Thought that episode was a huge improvement on the others in terms of style and pacing. I hesitate to put that all at the feet of the director change, but it was very noticeable to me. Kitsch and Vaughn still struggling, but as we come to spend more time with their characters I think we'll just get used to it. VV's main problem I think, is that he himself thinks he's not a great actor. He has no faith in his eyes to convey a message, so every second he isn't talking he is screwing his face into all kinds of emotions to let us know how he feels. He just needs to relax a little!

Agree about the Lynchesque opening scene. Was nothing like Lynch after that, but that was a cool, trippy way to begin the episode.
 
So upfront i didnt like the episode and honestly if the series was more then 8 eps long it would have 2 more eps for me before i would give up on it, heres some of my musings from last night

- The Lynchian opening was fine but all it did for me was serve as a way to soft break the piss poor bait and switch of Farrell's "death". Cheap cliffhanger is cheap
- The movie set stuff was just way too meta "clever" for me, the ham fisted joke about Fukunaga (with the asian director) and the general tartiness of the whole thing makes me think the series has gotten too big for its own boots.
- The storyline just isn't progressing, i can handle slow but at the moment its exposition for the sake of it and its lost the charm of the exposition of the first season which leads me to...
- The characters are all just wholly unlikeable. Maybe its the actors, maybe its the way they have been written but you would swear it was being done on the fly because the guy that should be the least likeable (seriously Farrell beat the s**t out of that kids dad, thats about as close as unredeemable as possible) is suddenly being written as the guy who will redeem himself and solve the case... Shouldn't surprise but his line of "we get the world we deserve" seemed to be a direction at the time, now its a throwaway line. He is gonna be the hero and he shouldn't be.

Anyway i might be being hyper critical but its was a very hit or miss episode and it missed for me. The good stuff for me is

- Farell and McAdams have been good and the chemistry is clearly there with them as well, their scenes together work
- Kitschs character i personally find intriguing, ill take a cliche if its done well and i think he is being done well
- VV was beliveable as a bad ass gangster for the first time last night, he is still not working at all but last night i saw a flicker of hope
- O'Reilly needs more airtime, she is being wasted cause she is good
 
phantom13 said:
- The movie set stuff was just way too meta "clever" for me, the ham fisted joke about Fukunaga (with the asian director) and the general tartiness of the whole thing makes me think the series has gotten too big for its own boots.
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Found that very petty.

Obviously no love lost between Fukunaga and Pizzolatto.
 

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Could it just be a playful jab at a friend? Or is there a backstory there?

Also, episode 3 was a step up, but I still can't get over my disappointment at this season. I hope that the pay-off makes me eat my words, but the really great shows make the setup episodes enjoyable in their own right. So far, that's not really happening for me. I just don't care about the characters yet or the overall plot. Hell, I still refer to all the characters by their real names!!

But it was definitely a step up. VV's fall back into his former gang boss role was done really well and I enjoyed TK's closeted self-loathing rearing it's head a number of times. The other two seem to have the chemistry though and I'd rather see the focus on their relationship rather than the impact of the external factors like the District Attorney (?) on the one side and the corrupt mayor and Police chief on the other.
 
it's been okay for me so far, but good lord kitsch is just dull. he's not even bad, there' just absolutely nothing to it. he's too empty and shallow to be bad.

his character's name might as well be glare.

enjoyed farrell and mcadams, vaughn as said comes and goes. much like the show so far really. some good scenes, some bad scenes, some really awkward scenes.
 
Most of the first 3 episodes is the main characters mumbling rubbish. Rust did that sometimes but then you had Marty to call bullshit on him, now we're supposed to take it as serious dialogue... cringe worthy.

Whats the point of Kitsch? Can't help but feel at the end we'll be asking why there are 4 main characters when you only have 6 or 7 episodes to really explore them and tie them all in to the story.

I forgot they were looking for a killer till the last 5 minutes, bit of a borefest so far. I'll keep watching because of how good season 1 was.

Positives - Farrell and Mcadams and Rick Springfield all very well cast and acted. Mcadams has been particularly good.
 
Macadams gets extra points for that booty.
 
I find this season's characters to be more relatable than last season's. Enjoying the gritty, grimy setting of the west coast too.
 
Doesn't come close to season 1 for me, but to be fair, I never expected it to. Just too much to live up to and MM and Woody's performances were out of this world.

Still this is holding me. I think it will pick up the pace soon
 
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