The Michael Jordan Of Being A Son Of A Bitch.

[rionaleonhart]

My brother Joseph gave me the first season of True Detective on disc for Christmas. 'I didn't know if you'd watched it before,' he said, 'so I searched the tags on your blog to see whether you'd talked about it. I think you'll like it. It's about two men having a very fraught, intense working relationship.'

The title sequence is extremely cool! Striking cinematography throughout the show, too.

More thoughts under the cut! These thoughts were written while watching, so some of my feelings change over time.



I find Cohle slightly unbearable in these early episodes, but I like that Hart hates everything that comes out of his mouth just as much as I do. There's a fun contrast in Hart being very straightforward and direct while Cohle goes off on rambling philosophical tangents.

On the surface, Cohle seems like a character I might like - he's tortured, he's hallucinating - but I think it's hard for me to connect with a character if I feel they don't care about anyone or anything. I prefer Hart; I have a much clearer idea of what he cares about, which makes it easier to care about him. Hart's sense of entitlement can be frustrating, but his compassionate streak helps to temper it.

Now that Hart seems to be worrying about Cohle, I'm connecting a little more with this show, but there's still a distance. I don't really feel welcomed as a female viewer. I've seen things that feel like they're aimed mainly at men before, but this almost feels exclusively aimed at men to me.

Maybe it's just in my head. As cool as the opening sequence is, I definitely picked up on the fact that it featured dancing strippers and multiple shots of female nudity, which immediately primed me to be suspicious of the show's attitude to women.

Maggie sleeping with Cohle so Hart would leave her is top-quality poor decision-making and I enjoyed it a lot.

I like the tension of Cohle and Hart reconnecting and starting to work together again all these years later, too!

I am reluctantly finding myself warming a little to Cohle in later episodes. He's just so extreme, and there's so much wrong with him; he's certainly never boring to watch.

I think I must even have warmed to the overwhelming cynicism that I found so tedious in earlier episodes, because in the final episode he became a little less cynical and I found myself disappointed!

My favourite parts were probably a) the catastrophic decision of Cohle and Maggie sleeping together, and the subsequent fight between Hart and Cohle; b) Hart and Cohle holding the guy hostage on the boat, what the fuck, you guys are throwing yourselves alarmingly hard into this case; c) Hart holding Cohle when they were both seriously wounded in the final episode; d) all the gorgeous scenery shots. Putting 'scenery shots' in this list isn't intended to be a slight on the rest of the show; the scenery shots were really gorgeous.



A high-quality show! Good tension, acting and writing; gorgeous cinematography. I don't think I'm the audience, and I don't mean it's not my thing; I mean it was made with a particular audience in mind, and I don't think I'm part of that audience. An uncomfortable and unwelcoming watch, but well made and interesting. I'm not sure how I feel about it.

The show had a bit of a disadvantage because it's the first thing I've watched since finishing Lost, which I loved a frankly unreasonable amount.

To be honest, though, my brother is indirectly the reason I watched Lost as well! I wasn't in a position to start True Detective straight away, but Joseph's 'it's about two men having a very fraught, intense working relationship' comment made me think 'I do like that sort of thing', which led me to watch Person of Interest, which led me to watch Lost. So, Joseph, if you see this, I have to thank you for not only giving me True Detective but accidentally introducing me to two other shows I hugely enjoyed.

Comments

[wolfy_writing]

You watched it! If you decide to watch any more seasons, I recommend skipping the second one. The third is really good, but the second season kind of killed the show's reputation.

I find Cohle slightly unbearable in these early episodes, but I like that Hart hates everything that comes out of his mouth just as much as I do. There's a fun contrast in Hart being very straightforward and direct while Cohle goes off on rambling philosophical tangents.

I think half the fun with Cohle is how people react.

I don't really feel welcomed as a female viewer. I've seen things that feel like they're aimed mainly at men before, but this almost feels exclusively aimed at men to me.

Interesting. I didn't pick that up at all when I watched it, but I see where you're coming from.

I am reluctantly finding myself warming a little to Cohle in later episodes. He's just so extreme, and there's so much wrong with him; he's certainly never boring to watch.

I think that's what I like about him. He's so intense and you know something interesting is going to happen. Plus I love characters where there's an incredibly distinctive voice and you can easily identify what they would and wouldn't say.

I think I must even have warmed to the overwhelming cynicism that I found so tedious in earlier episodes, because in the final episode he became a little less cynical and I found myself disappointed!

I actually was not a fan of that moment. It felt a little forced.

I don't think I'm the audience, and I don't mean it's not my thing; I mean it was made with a particular audience in mind, and I don't think I'm part of that audience.

I have absolutely seen things like that where they're just not for me and they don't resonate with me. (I am not planning to see the Barbie movie.)

[rionaleonhart]

I think that's what I like about him. He's so intense and you know something interesting is going to happen. Plus I love characters where there's an incredibly distinctive voice and you can easily identify what they would and wouldn't say.

This is a good summing up of the character! I definitely ended up liking him more than I expected to, given how strongly he put me off at first.

I actually was not a fan of that moment. It felt a little forced.

Yeah, I thought the show wavered a little at the end. As you say, Cohle's shift in perspective felt a bit forced; it wasn't something that was built up to, just a revelation in a coma, so it didn't feel like a natural or satisfying conclusion to a character arc. And McConaughey did his best with it, but it's really hard to have a character deliver a lengthy, emotional monologue without making the scene feel unnatural or ridiculous.

[wolfy_writing]

I think Cohle worked a lot better precisely because Hart was there and there was a relatable "What the fuck is he rambling on about now?" character in the scene with him. On his own, he would be much harder to take.

It felt like someone decided they needed to lighten things up at the ending, rather than like an earned change, yeah.

[sideways]

Oh interesting. I made it about two and half episodes into True Detective before giving up, but it's such a highly reviewed season that I had rather resigned myself to being an outlier in finding it just... not for me, hah. I have grown a bit sensitive over the years, I think, to shows where the roles for women are restricted to "hot wife", "hot secretary", and "prostitutes". (YES I realise I watched and enjoyed Deadwood earlier this year. I don't claim I'm consistently sensitive.)

I also struggled with Cohle, and it's a familiar struggle I have when people both executively produce and act in something. It wasn't that he meant to be perceived as a healthy and functional hero, because he was very clearly a mess, but he was also this tortured genius and there was a fair bit of hoo-rah going on and, I dunno, I guess it was someone's fantasy but it didn't manage to be mine. Them's the breaks.

The cinematography and the opening were chef kiss though, whoo yeah.

[rionaleonhart]

I can definitely see why someone would give up on it! I had very complicated feelings about it; I felt it was well made, but a lot of aspects grated a little. (My immediate thought on reading 'shows where the roles for women are restricted to "hot wife", "hot secretary", and "prostitutes"' was 'don't forget "sexy corpse"!', although, to be fair, Hart's wife Maggie was allowed to be a little more complex than I was expecting.)

I found it engaging, though, and it was a present from a loved one who'd enjoyed it himself and put serious thought into the sort of thing I liked, which I think helped me to stick with it.

[sideways]

You're right, of course: sexy corpse of a prostitute T-T

I'm glad Maggie had some things going on! Even if they were, uh, partly revenge sex.

There is something special about a gift or a recommendation, in that you get to watch a little of the other person involved too c:

[necrophilia]

Reading this just makes me think you would really enjoy Mindhunter, where the lead character throws himself wholly into brief-but-intense intellectual relationships with incarcerated serial killers for ten episodes.

[rionaleonhart]

I actually saw wolfy_writing posting about that show and thought it sounded really interesting, but then I realised it featured real cases and knew I'd never be able to watch it. If I know that actual people were hurt, it'll make me too sad!

[apiphile]

Although I have not watched it, if you're in the market for further "terrible men having fraught relationships" TV, I hear The Terror is. Very that.

Spoilers for The Terror

[rionaleonhart]

Thank you for the recommendation! I tried a couple of episodes of The Terror once and couldn't get into it, but I still think of the show fondly because it made RD send me so many distressed messages.

RD: Wow never watch that show.
Riona: Tell me more!
RD: I never want to think about it again
Riona: Please tell me more.
RD: I thought I didn’t care about the characters and then they all started dying horribly and I cared
Riona: Oh noooooo!
Riona: Did Goodsir goodsirvive?
RD: Absolutely not
RD: They ate him
Riona: In the absence of specification, I'm going to assume that 'they' refers to Hannibal and Will.

Spoilers for The Terror

[necrophilia]

I need you to know that I cackled IRL at, "did Goodsir goodsirvive?"

Re: Spoilers for The Terror

[wolfy_writing]

The second season of The Terror (a separate, largely unrelated story about Japanese Internment and also ghosts) really clicked for me. It doesn't get talked about much, but it was really good.

Re: Spoilers for The Terror

[apiphile]

I've never watched it personally because I struggle with TV anyway and it's a bunch of extremely identical knobbly white guys so I would probably not be able to tell them apart BUT a lot of my friends are very invested in what looks like absolutely monumental levels of suffering.

RD: Absolutely not
RD: They ate him

Yeah I, not to spoil, but no one has a good time

[ryulynn]

Interesting to read your thoughts on this show! I actually asked my best friend about it since I know nothing TV and when I kind of explained she could see how this show wouldn’t be for you (she loves Lost btw but True Detective wasn’t her type of show at all). Still always love reading and seeing what you take away from your experiences.

[rionaleonhart]

This comment made me smile; I'm delighted to know this entry could lead to a conversation between you and your friend! You really do your homework when it comes to reading Dreamwidth entries. I'm glad you find my ramblings worthwhile!

[lokifan]

I've seen things that feel like they're aimed mainly at men before, but this almost feels exclusively aimed at men to me.

Maybe it's just in my head. As cool as the opening sequence is, I definitely picked up on the fact that it featured dancing strippers and multiple shots of female nudity, which immediately primed me to be suspicious of the show's attitude to women.

That doesn't sound all-in-your-head to me, that sounds like a sensible degree of suspicion!

I love that that conversation brought you to POI and Lost as well - triple presents :)

[rionaleonhart]

It was a remarkably productive conversation!

[kadrin]

I misread your subject as "this Michael-Jordan-being son-of-a-bitch", and thus briefly had an idea that you were castigating Michael Jordan without having anything in particular to hold against him besides the fact that he was, in fact, Michael Jordan.

This is all I got. I haven't seen True Detective.

[rionaleonhart]

I enjoyed this immensely. That son of a bitch, always being Michael Jordan and not leaving any basketball skill for the rest of us.