True Detective

Walter said:
at the lack of a wedding ring on his hand, after thinking of his family. And the ring had, of course, been missing since the first episode.
I honestly thought he had a wedding ring on, i totally missed that.
 

Deci

Avatar by supereva01 @ DA
Walter said:
Here's an interview with how the crew did that magnificent loooooong take during the getaway scene: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1722001/true-detective-long-take.jhtml

Hah, I was just about to post about that. Another article posting about that article really. http://www.pajiba.com/tv_reviews/can-we-talk-about-one-of-the-most-impressive-sequences-in-television-history-.php

0qpHP5A-thumb-550x309-90338.jpg


Also, some crazy conspiracy theories about the show are popping up. http://www.uproxx.com/tv/2014/02/x-best-crackpot-theories-true-detective-theyre-probably-wrong/

A lot of speculation surrounding Hart's daughter, which I hadn't really put much thought into, but there's some fun brainstorming to do on that, such as,
"4. Someone else has suggested that Hart’s daughter, Aubrey, is the victim of the serial killer in 2012 but that, during the interview, Hart doesn’t know that yet (Hart’s interview took place five days after Rust’s).

Not really sure about that, seems a little too... twisty, I think.

Anyway, there's also an interesting photo from a behind-the-scenes video of
2012 Hart and Cohle drinking a beer together
... potentially lending cred to the theory they will reunite.

Anyway, I won't go too far into that, people are obviously looking way too long and hard in the effort to connect everything and solve the whole story, when that's not really the point of the show. It's obviously not about an investigation, but about the detectives during an investigation. The investigation is secondary. Very cool.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Re: Episode 5. My favorite one so far.

Quite an interesting turn, with the investigation essentially closing for the LeDoux case, and Cohle's side of the story. I didn't think we'd arrive here so soon. The investigators finally playing their cards, I can see where the show is trying to lead us--Cohle off the grid for almost a decade then reappearing and then the new murder happens--it's gotta be him! But I think he left the force and disappeared because he didn't trust the department anymore. The Yellow King had friends in high places. So, he was still working the case, just on his own, reporting to no one. And whatever he has in that storage shed is likely his evidence locker.

Anyway, about the school he returns to at the end of the episode. There were dozens of those things in there? Implying dozens of murders having occurred there? Crazy...
 

Deci

Avatar by supereva01 @ DA
Yeah, wow! I'm going to have to rewatch this again, my brain kept wandering off while watching this making some of the dialogue hard to follow.

Walter said:
Re: Episode 5. My favorite one so far.

Quite an interesting turn, with the investigation essentially closing for the LeDoux case, and Cohle's side of the story. I didn't think we'd arrive here so soon. The investigators finally playing their cards, I can see where the show is trying to lead us--Cohle off the grid for almost a decade then reappearing and then the new murder happens--it's gotta be him! But I think he left the force and disappeared because he didn't trust the department anymore. The Yellow King had friends in high places. So, he was still working the case, just on his own, reporting to no one. And whatever he has in that storage shed is likely his evidence locker.

That got me thinking of Cohle's history of undercover work and how different he looks now, almost as if
he's currently undercover, still investigating the case. Either that or he's just really let himself go. I prefer the former. Maybe both?
:serpico:

Anyway, about the school he returns to at the end of the episode. There were dozens of those things in there? Implying dozens of murders having occurred there? Crazy...

The part where they're talking about
it being unsolvable, how fate is unchangeable and it keeps repeating, continuous rebirth, and events (murders?) keep repeating themselves. This seems like something Cohle is very hinged on. I like your hypothesizing about friends in high places. Maybe The Yellow King is IN a high place. The school got me thinking about that place they referred to in a previous episode where murders are commonplace, etc.

Random thoughts,

Didn't Cohle seem
pretty familiar with "making it look right" after Hart shot that guy? He reacted pretty quickly. Though I don't like the theory about him guiding the case, it led some credence to it. If the current investigators found out there's no doubt that's the conclusion they would/will make.

I wonder what the boy has to say? :???:

Also, I'm hunching that
Aubrey might somehow get involved somehow, she definitely seems to be going down a pretty dark path. Definitely more then the usual teenage rebelling, etc.

Lastly, did anyone else get a kind of Se7en-ish vibe when
Hart looked in the room, than came out and immediately executed that one guy? I was half expecting to see his wife and/or one or both of his daughters in there.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Deci said:
That got me thinking of Cohle's history of undercover work and how different he looks now, almost as if
he's currently undercover, still investigating the case. Either that or he's just really let himself go. I prefer the former. Maybe both?

That he has let himself go is a little obvious at this point. I don't think he's going to suddenly revert to his old 1995 self or anything. He simply doesn't have to keep up appearances anymore.

Deci said:
I like your hypothesizing about friends in high places. Maybe The Yellow King is IN a high place.
That wasn't my idea, the guy in the interrogation chamber said: "There's big people who know about him." And of course, the task force was ordered by the governor, whose brother in law has some high-ranking religious gig (I forgot the details, it's in Ep 2).

Didn't Cohle seem
pretty familiar with "making it look right" after Hart shot that guy? He reacted pretty quickly. Though I don't like the theory about him guiding the case, it led some credence to it. If the current investigators found out there's no doubt that's the conclusion they would/will make.
Knowing how to cover up a crime comes with the territory when you're an investigator. You know the weak spots, and how they can be faked. Particularly if you're someone as quick as Cohle. It didn't strike me as suspicious--and
he certainly didn't know ahead of time that Marty was going to do that.

Also, I'm hunching that
Aubrey might somehow get involved somehow, she definitely seems to be going down a pretty dark path. Definitely more then the usual teenage rebelling, etc.
Could be, but as Marty keeps saying that he was so focused on the case that he didn't see the problem right in front of him, I think whatever happened with her is separate. Of course, she could end up running away from home and ending up killed. A cheery thought... It could also be related to the other daughter, the one who seems to be rather normal, but being ignored by her parents.
 

Oburi

All praise Grail
Walter said:
Re: Episode 5. My favorite one so far.

Quite an interesting turn, with the investigation essentially closing for the LeDoux case, and Cohle's side of the story. I didn't think we'd arrive here so soon. The investigators finally playing their cards, I can see where the show is trying to lead us--Cohle off the grid for almost a decade then reappearing and then the new murder happens--it's gotta be him! But I think he left the force and disappeared because he didn't trust the department anymore. The Yellow King had friends in high places. So, he was still working the case, just on his own, reporting to no one. And whatever he has in that storage shed is likely his evidence locker.

Anyway, about the school he returns to at the end of the episode. There were dozens of those things in there? Implying dozens of murders having occurred there? Crazy...

I also think it's possible that both Hart and Cohle are still investigating the case, Hart from the inside still being on the force and Cohle going rogue and off the grid. I know they other investigators keep mentioning some falling out they had but perhaps they faked it so they could continue the case on their own terms since there seems to be a bigger conspiracy going on, possibly involving their own department and the Mayor himself.
 

Deci

Avatar by supereva01 @ DA
Cool article about the show: http://io9.com/the-one-literary-reference-you-must-know-to-appreciate-1523076497

A large chunk with quotes from the creator of the show that I found particularly interesting,

The King in Yellow is a fictional play within a collection of short stories—a metafictional dramatic work that brings despair, depravity, and insanity to anyone who reads it or sees it performed.

.....

Why The King in Yellow? I think it's obvious, and I'll go out on a limb and say the season will continue with detectives Cohle and Hart edging closer to the abyss of what Lovecraft termed "cosmic fear," which he defined as:

"A certain atmosphere of breathless and unexplainable dread of outer, unknown forces . . . a hint, expressed with a seriousness and portentousness becoming its subject, of that most terrible conception of the human brain—a malign and particular suspension or defeat of those fixed laws of Nature which are our only safeguard against the assaults of chaos and the daemons of unplumbed space."

In a revealing interview with the The Wall Street Journal, Pizzolatto discusses his love of existential horror and its most prominent authors, from Chambers and Lovecraft to modern masters of the weird Laird Barron and Thomas Ligotti:

"Their fictional visions of cosmic despair were articulating the same things as certain nihilist and pessimist philosophers, but with more poetry and art and vision . . . It's important for us to confront the potential of the true abyss. . . ."

Clearly, the present-day Cohle, with his glazed, vacant eyes and brutally nihilistic philosophy, is someone who has experienced the chaos and daemons lurking just over the edge of the interminable abyss. He explains his philosophy in his interview with the two current-day detectives:

"You, yourself, this whole big drama, it was never anything but a jerry-rig of presumption and dumb will and you could just let go, finally know that you didn't have to hold on so tight. To realize that all your life, you know, all you love, all you hate, all your memory, all your pain—it was all the same thing. It was all the same dream, a dream you had inside a locked room, a dream about being a person. And like a lot of dreams . . . there's a monster at the end of it."

Cohle has seen the monster. I suspect we will, too.


The comments go off on it more. Didn't realize it was possible but I'm even more intrigued now.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Yeah, and I mentioned the connection on the last page: http://www.skullknight.net/forum/index.php?topic=14183.msg226181#msg226181
 
This series I find myself when watching feeling tense. My mind trying to figure things out but not miss any detail puts me on alert and how the current story develops while still wanting to know the past is a recipe I really enjoy. I won't redact my post because I will remain spoiler free. The whodunit aspect is superb, how they keep making it obvious where you think (it has to be this guy) but you don't want it to be/there are always more possible choices. Rust having them get him alcohol is one of those double edge swords where now anything he says is inadmissible but he is clearly a functioning alcoholic. Is he really that smart or… There are so many of these types of little instances occur that make you wonder. I am happy intrigued now the shows narrative may change a little to see how they will move forward. I believe this season will only be 8 episodes. I wonder if this will conclude or run on.


OH and Batman the animated series FTW!!!!!!!!!
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
krzykoopa said:
This series I find myself when watching feeling tense. My mind trying to figure things out but not miss any detail puts me on alert

I don't think it's that hard a series to follow. There are certainly more complex plots in other shows. What True Detective has that most others don't is quality writing and a refined tone.

Is he really that smart or…

Yes. :casca: Really, Rust
being the killer is rather farfetched. The evidence the investigators showed wasn't convincing. He returned to the crime scene and was photographed? Do they really think Rust would be that careless if he was their guy? After all the ingenuity and insight he's exemplified through the show so far?
It's one of those concepts that's tempting until you really think about how it would work. Of course, the show could surprise me, but it certainly doesn't seem to be the case just yet...

I believe this season will only be 8 episodes. I wonder if this will conclude or run on.

8 episodes only for this season, and it is expected to be concluded, with the next season unrelated to this case. From an earlier article on the subject: "They will feature different stories and different casts." (The Atlantic)

OH and Batman the animated series FTW!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, it's a good show but... Where'd that come from...?
 
I am loving this show. And the concept of having additional seasons with new cases and new detectives sounds great.

Oburi said:
I also think it's possible that both Hart and Cohle are still investigating the case, Hart from the inside still being on the force and Cohle going rogue and off the grid. I know they other investigators keep mentioning some falling out they had but perhaps they faked it so they could continue the case on their own terms since there seems to be a bigger conspiracy going on, possibly involving their own department and the Mayor himself.

I am right there with you.
It has been shown before that Cohle and Hart are not truthful with others about their time together, especially after this last episode. They might not have the best relationship but there is a bond there and I could see this "falling out" as a way to possibly throw off anyone watching them, allowing Cohle to slip away and continue the investigation unsupervised, while Hart has maintained a higher profile and has been like a man on the inside for him this whole time.
 
Walter said:
I don't think it's that hard a series to follow. There are certainly more complex plots in other shows. What True Detective has that most others don't is quality writing and a refined tone.

Not once did I say it was hard to follow or anything about complexity. To put it more simply I don't just watch mindlessly I am constantly thinking. The tense feeling is from the show itself setting the mood.

Walter said:
Yes. :casca: Really, Rust
being the killer is rather farfetched. The evidence the investigators showed wasn't convincing. He returned to the crime scene and was photographed? Do they really think Rust would be that careless if he was their guy? After all the ingenuity and insight he's exemplified through the show so far?
It's one of those concepts that's tempting until you really think about how it would work. Of course, the show could surprise me, but it certainly doesn't seem to be the case just yet...

The investigators didnt/wouldnt show all the evidence they had. The show (every single person I have talked to about it) does point at Rust but I agree that it isn't him.

Walter said:
8 episodes only for this season, and it is expected to be concluded, with the next season unrelated to this case. From an earlier article on the subject: "They will feature different stories and different casts." (The Atlantic)

That is awesome news. Thank you for the link as well.

Walter said:
Yeah, it's a good show but... Where'd that come from…?
Hanma_Baki said:
EDIT: Just thought I´d leave this here, king of all intros/outros :guts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5nB2OJnCko
 

Deci

Avatar by supereva01 @ DA
"Should you find the opportunity you should kill yourself."

Delivered monotonously with a dead stare.
Get up, walk from the room.

:SK: or :femto: ?
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
That busted tail light. I love this show. Also, "I, uh... have the flu." :ganishka:

Very excited about next episode.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Deci said:
"Should you find the opportunity you should kill yourself."

Delivered monotonously with a dead stare.
Get up, walk from the room.

:SK: or :femto: ?

My favorite part of the episode. Cohle might be one of my favorite characters of all time.

Walter said:
That busted tail light. I love this show.

I smiled through that entire shot. Best show on television right now, and probably my favorite of all time. That might sound like a bit of an exaggeration, but I have never been this excited about a television show.

Walter said:
Very excited about next episode.

Same here. What was on that television?! :SK:
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Quick neat detail about the show's awesome opening song that I haven't read anywhere else. It's by The Handsome Family, and it's about a cactus that blooms once every 10,000 years. If you see it, you go insane. "It's best not to look, but you have to." As explained by them in this live performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvUiIU1b0_M

The concept mirrors that of the play in The King in Yellow, which the show of course references so heavily.

Rhombaad said:
My favorite part of the episode. Cohle might be one of my favorite characters of all time.

He's definitely up there, for me. I was about to say it's been a long time since there was such a fascinating character to watch on screen, but then I remembered of course Walter White and Gus Fring.

Best show on television right now, and probably my favorite of all time. That might sound like a bit of an exaggeration, but I have never been this excited about a television show.

With two episodes still to go, I think it's premature to say it's among my all-time favorites, but as of this exact moment? It's top five material, quite easily. I really wonder what they'll do for the second season to top this...


Hanma_Baki said:
Getting better and better! Not much progress on the actual case

It's all subtextual and inconclusive, but with the new information this episode from the former minister, and of course the talk between Cohle and Tuttle, I think all the pieces are already in place for it being solved at this point. It's only missing the tall man reveal and the final sit down with Cohle and Tuttle, revealed to us by the investigators.

Part of me thinks Cohle's coming to Hart to give him an opportunity to prosecute this--hand him the evidence necessary to close the case. But with Tuttle dead, it makes me question that... And of course, I wonder if Cohle even cares about the justice side of things at this point.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Walter said:
Quick neat detail about the show's awesome opening song that I haven't read anywhere else. It's by The Handsome Family, and it's about a cactus that blooms once every 10,000 years. If you see it, you go insane. "It's best not to look, but you have to." As explained by them in this live performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvUiIU1b0_M

Cool! I hadn't heard that.

Walter said:
He's definitely up there, for me. I was about to say it's been a long time since there was such a fascinating character to watch on screen, but then I remembered of course Walter White and Gus Fring.

I loved Walter and Gus, but Cohle is at another level for me. :guts:

Walter said:
I really wonder what they'll do for the second season to top this...

I was thinking the same thing today.

By the way, do you think the show will end on some kind of supernatural note? Or do you think the King in Yellow will end up being (just) one messed-up individual?
 
Walter said:
"I, uh... have the flu."

I don't get to watch it on sunday nights I catch it a day or 2 after. When he said that shit I laughed pretty good.

This episode specifically felt like a transition/build up episode EVEN so it was still so good! As usual with every episode I am not just entertained but more excited to see the next episode.

"better yet… You buy me a beer"
 

Oburi

All praise Grail
I thought this episode was great and actually plot wise it managed to bring everything up to date.
Like Walter said all the pieces are there. Now it's time to find out what Cohle plans to do. I feel like he's going to have to transgress even further than he has in the past, beyond the law, beyond the laws of man. Maybe even become a martyr type. In any case, form the preview it looks like we'll see ninja Cohle next episode doing ninja stuff. Possibly tied to the mysterious Tuttle death?

Walter said:
That busted tail light. I love this show. Also, "I, uh... have the flu." :ganishka:

Very excited about next episode.


That busted tail light. Man, this show is fucking beautiful.
 

Deci

Avatar by supereva01 @ DA
Rhombaad said:
By the way, do you think the show will end on some kind of supernatural note? Or do you think the King in Yellow will end up being (just) one messed-up individual?

I know you were asking Walter, but I would like to answer my theory on this.

I think there is definitely a real cult of some sort doing the murders, not just one person and not necessarily anything supernatural. I say not necessarily because I think the Yellow King is actually some sort of monster from another dimension (remember, the murders happen "somewhere down south in Carcosa" and "we're in Carcosa now.") that the cult follows.

If I had to point to one person we've already seen who is still around my guess is Maggie's dad, possibly responsible for sexually abusing Audrey, causing her past and current little strolls down bad decision road (the dolls, the two guys). Also, Rev. Tuttle was probably at least aware of something about the murders, if not downright involved.

What about you guys?

A totally off the wall totally random speculation I had rewatching the first episode,
all we're told about Danny Fontinot's reason for being handicapped is because of a "cerebral event, a series of strokes". His kin was one of the first possible victims of this cult, at least we know of. Perhaps he saw this Yellow King? Or something...
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Rhombaad said:
By the way, do you think the show will end on some kind of supernatural note? Or do you think the King in Yellow will end up being (just) one messed-up individual?

It's a good question (sorry about not replying til now, I just missed it), but I don't really have strong feelings either way on what will happen. I'm satisfied to let the show play that out for me.

As it stands, I don't think Cohle and Hart will ultimately face something that's undeniably otherworldly. The Berserk nerd in me thinks Carcossa might not be a place, but a kind of state of being--something like causality "You're in Carcossa with me now," as if they're both mired within something they can't escape. Maybe it will be something where Cohle sees the significance of it, and Hart just thinks it was a bunch of bullshit.

I tend to think the supernatural elements of the show have more to do with indirect things like the downward spiral of Cohle and Hart's lives since becoming involved in chasing this case, than some kind of actual supernatural beast or something... That at least would be in line with the King in Yellow.

And then there's the spaghetti monster, of course. So who knows! :void:
 
Everything about the show ... the moments the music's desolate in it's tone or the contrast between Cohle diving into work passionately vs the opposite by his pardner (Cassidy's influence) and so much more is pure class. Plus, I'll be honest, I have not read The King In Yellow or Carcosa. So it was especially rewarding to read up on the latter and re-visit the episode it was referenced in. Reading you guys bounce ideas is cool and informative for sure. With just 2 episodes to go, I don't want it to end but I'm anxious to see how it all comes full circle.
 

Deci

Avatar by supereva01 @ DA
Walter said:
And then there's the spaghetti monster, of course. So who knows! :void:

Don't forget the green ears! So important, those ears. Kidding, though
maybe that points toward the lawnmower guy. Errol, I think? I don't think he's anything major or possibly involved at all, green ears is a really long stretch there and I won't adhere to it. Just spit-balling. He also had very scraggly hair/facial hair. The spaghetti face though totally points at the facial scars IMO, and that guy didn't seem to have any. So I'd rule him out.

A couple things I forgot to mention to ride along with my half-baked theory above,

I forgot to mention the drawings when talking about Audrey's possible molestation, possibly by her grandfather. That guy definitely had a bit of a menacing face, I think. Again, no facial scars or anything of that like, so he'd be a bit of a surprise. I do think Audrey was molested or saw some fucked up shit when she was very, very little. Related to the case or not is another story. Another thing I noticed in the fifth episode upon re watching is the when Audrey and her sister are playing in the yard and her sister was wanting the crown/tiara, Audrey tosses it up into the tree. Where it stays, until years and years later it flashes forward where her sister is a healthy cheerleader and Audrey is getting out of a truck with beer cans falling out all goth'd up. I was thinking this is possibly leaning us toward the possibility that Audrey protected her sister from whatever fucked her up. Throwing the crown/tiara out of her grasp, so she alone deals with whatever happened/happens.

I also want to mention that I don't think we'll really get any kind of direct confrontation with a monster, just allusions toward it. Like, when all dosed up on LSD and meth, these victims and their predators induce a state where they're seemingly able to make some type of contact with Yellow King. I like this idea again, because of Cohle's history in the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), he might be able to make some type of contact with it as well down the line. Again, Hart would think it's all bullshit, whereas Cohle's "hallucinations let him main line the secret truth of the universe". I think that would be cool, leaving it open to interpretation, and we'd really only get something like a shadow or an outline of a possible "monster at the end of it".

I'm incredibly invested, and I've got tunnel vision with my theory at this point. As I'm rewatching this, doing episodes 4 - 6 tonight, I'm watching it with biased lenses. Just want to reiterate I do not pretend to think I've totally broken the mystery open or anything, but I am running with it full force and I'll try to keep humble, as I'm sure I'm very, very wrong in the end. But those I've shared this with all seem to think I could be onto somethin'. So I'm pretty pumped.

CAN. NOT. WAIT. FOR. TOMORROW! :ubik: :ubik:
 
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