Reports say fans found that the story moved too slowly and was a clusterfuck of complications and characters.
Every show competes with itself.
This is especially true of anthologies.American Horror Storyafficionados prefer certain seasons over others.
Some rabid followers of the show itself loathe entire seasons but are still happy to proclaim themselves fans.
Of course, this spans genres, even situation comedies.
There are some soup Nazis who still havent forgivenSeinfeldfor its series finale.
Ad content continues below
Like all anthologies,True Detectiveis only as good as its latest story.
So where might it go from here?
True Detectiveset season 1 in New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz and the crossroads of dark hoodoo.
The geography can be the dangerous alleys on Wall Street and murky waters of the East River.
True Detectiveseason 2 was a police procedural.
It was intelligent, nuanced and dense, but its a procedural nonetheless.
The difference was that the procedures happened off the grid.
The genre includes such movies asAngel Heart,Fallen,The Ninth Gate, and to a lesser extentConstantine.
The first season referenced Robert W. Chambers mystic epicThe King in Yellowand works by H.P.
Lovecraft and the M-Theory.
Carcosa was set in the heart of the darkness of Louisianas impenetrable woods.
The second season followed the influx of eastern European sex slaves and subtly referenced the Bohemian Grove rich-mans playground.
At the end ofTrue Detectives debut season, Nic Pizzolato promised us more cosmic horror and weird fiction.
Sex parties have taken on a kind of mythological terror since Stanley Kubrick nakedly masked them inEyes Wide Shut.
That is, until Pizzolato subverted it.
When the woman resurfaced in the pool, she came up flirting.
The sex parties got less scary.
There was probably more sex in the first season.
More Damaged Characters
Season 1 set a high bar.
It was structured like a novel, which wore out its welcome for a lot of TV viewers.
A novel can progress as slowly and methodically as a sleuth with OCD.
At its heart,True Detectiveis a study into the true character of detectives.
The cops are all damaged.
When the detective got the name, it was supposed to have been the man who killed his wife.
Velcoros entire life went to shit soon after.
The former superman cop became a thug for hire in the debt of gangster Frank Semyon.
Colin Farrell is an immensely watchable actor.
I first noticed him as the damaged hitman in the filmIn Brugesand then watched him stealHarts Warfrom Bruce Willis.
He was the best thing in the Disney movie about the Mary Poppins writer,Saving Mr. Banks.
It was Charlie Cox who got sent back to Nucky in a crate COD.
Ani Bezziredes was one of the most complicated characters on television.
She hid layers of repressed memories in her shoes next to her knife.
She wore her rings like they were brass knuckles.
She let no one close until she found the best bad man she could, Ray Velcoro.
He could go much darker if the cop and the criminal are one and the same.
Maybe not unlike the craigslist cannibal cop we had in New York a few years ago.
The two other detectives who were interviewing Rust and Marty were phantoms.
The State Police investigating Velcoro and the city of Vinci were pawns.
In season 3, they should be collaborators.
Vince Vaughn cut his menace with impeccable and subtle comic timing.
But I do predict that Pizzolato will allow himself more whimsy.
I dont mind being a little confused.
I like shows that make me have to think.
Detective Ani Bezzerides was named after the screenwriter and novelist A.I.
Kiss Me Deadlywas about greed, corruption and nuclear nightmares and it oozed sex.
Some of the great detective films of all time defy easy synopses.
According to legend, Chandler told the Hollywood duo dammit I didnt know either.
It later came out that Chandler was just being cavalier because he thought the question was stupid.
The director Hawkes admitted that the screenwriters lost track of the clues, but who cared?
I predictTrue Detectivewill continue to be densely plotted.
I also predict that the third time will be a charm andTrue Detectiveseason 3 will be a superior offering.
I hope Pizzolato plays with the cosmic forces of weird literature with more abandon than hes done so far.
