TCTTS said:

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Finally caught up (through episode 2.3), and yeah, season two is cooking on all cylinders.

The way everyone has their guard down in Tozawa's absence, as tensions slowly mount all around, yet we now know he's finally back… so good. All while the show continues to look incredible, the sets/locations are so good, and overall it's simply unlike anything else on TV.

Why this isn't part of HBO's Sunday night lineup, I have no idea. Because it's easily the best thing on right now, and so much better than that other detective show that just ended.

Adelstein and Katagiri are the true True Detectives.

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Currently three episodes in (agreed on all fronts btw), and I legit had no idea HBO even dropped shows on other nights besides Sunday...

Technically, it's a Max Original, not HBO. They used to be two different executive teams, and kind of still are, but are now at least under one roof. Though still different. It's hard to explain.

But yeah, HBO only drops scripted shows on Sunday nights and then also on Monday nights when the schedule is busy (along with the occasional Saturday night original movie). While Max shows almost always drop on Thursdays.

Only disappointing part of the finale was not seeing Katagiri reunite with his adorable daughters!

Also I wouldn't be so sure about Samantha getting written out if there is a S3. Even though I'm with the thread consensus about her not being my favorite character.

Kampfers said:

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Only disappointing part of the finale was not seeing Katagiri reunite with his adorable daughters!

Also I wouldn't be so sure about Samantha getting written out if there is a S3. Even though I'm with the thread consensus about her not being my favorite character.

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I cant tell if the problem with Samantha is the character or the actor. The character walks the line, like all the characters in the show but she has no real depth which I am not sure is because of the writing or the acting.

Personally, I think the actress is good - I really liked her in Legion on FX - I just think the character ran out of steam after she lost her club in the shootout. It was a great narrative move to have her lose all her saved up money for her own club to that punk kid at the end of season one, thus having to make a deal with the Yakuza. That was brilliant, showed that no one can escape, it's all a web, etc. But to then have her club get shot up so soon after that, and thus have to endure yet another crushing business loss just a few episodes later, felt like too much. It just killed all narrative momentum for her character.

If we do get a season three, and she's still part of the cast, she needs to come back like halfway through as a disruptor of sorts, not as a main player. Cast a new female lead in whatever capacity - maybe a local this time - and then have Samantha show back up and throw some kind of wrench into the proceedings. At this point I just think she would work better almost more as a plot device as opposed to a main character.

TCTTS said:

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Personally, I think the actress is good - I really liked her in Legion on FX - I just think the character ran out of steam after she lost her club in the shootout. It was a great narrative move to have her lose all her saved up money for her own club to that punk kid at the end of season one, thus having to make a deal with the Yakuza. That was brilliant, showed that no one can escape, it's all a web, etc. But to then have her club get shot up so soon after that, and thus have to endure yet another crushing business loss just a few episodes later, felt like too much. It just killed all narrative momentum for her character.

If we do get a season three, and she's still part of the cast, she needs to come back like halfway through as a disruptor of sorts, not as a main player. Cast a new female lead in whatever capacity - maybe a local this time - and then have Samantha show back up and throw some kind of wrench into the proceedings. At this point I just think she would work better almost more as a plot device as opposed to a main character.

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Yea I could definitely see the character's story losing steam yet I did like the way she played it at the end for the big payout. But in the previous few episodes it was difficult to care about her story or lack there of with so much big drama happening with the other main 4 characters. Perhaps that was the problem, the stakes were so high for the others that her story paled in comparison. Regarding the actor, at times I thought she was really strong and commanded the screen yet others I thought she was lacked the range or dare I say desperation.

VP at Pierce and Pierce said:

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Kampfers said:

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Only disappointing part of the finale was not seeing Katagiri reunite with his adorable daughters!

Also I wouldn't be so sure about Samantha getting written out if there is a S3. Even though I'm with the thread consensus about her not being my favorite character.

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I cant tell if the problem with Samantha is the character or the actor. The character walks the line, like all the characters in the show but she has no real depth which I am not sure is because of the writing or the acting.

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It's like someone told her to play Ivory Hecker, former local Houston news gal.



I personally think it might be the actor to some degree...while she's not horrible by any means, she's just a little too "vanilla" to me. Although to be fair, this seems like the type of show that would be hard for a westerner to excel or stand out in, unless they were just very accentric or had incredible acting chops. That makes sense in my head at least.

Just finished the season. Man, what a fantastic season of television. Personally I found this to be better than Season 1 (by a pretty wide margin), and a hell of a lot better than the garbage that was Night Country.

I binged both seasons throughout the last month or so, so here's some of my overall thoughts on the show.

For me the show started kind of slow. It took about 3-4 episodes for it to really grab me. But when it did, it did not let go. Similarly, I did not care for Sato at all for at least the first half of S1, but he slowly became one of my favorite characters. I think the episode where he reveals his fandom of BSB is where that turn started for me.

Loved how gradually they built up Tozawa. From what I remember, they never really tell you who he is in the first few episodes, you just keep seeing scenes of him in bed, covered in tattoos, but I remember asking myself how he related to any of the storylines. But slowly, they reveal who he is and what he's doing. And then, he disappears for several episodes. Cut to him being an awesome big bad for the rest of S2. I just thought it was very well done.

In the end, it was a little bit of a bummer that Jake's story wasn't really what brought him down, but I still thought it wrapped up very well. (For a little bit, I thought maybe Sato's brother would be brought back in publish the story online.)

The last five episodes were amazing. I rattled off the last four episodes in the last two nights cause I was just so hooked. (Had been doing one every few nights before that.) The way the tension just keeps building and building, so good.

Now I'm just hoping they bring it back for a third season. I know it seems like everything is wrapped up, but I definitely think there's enough still unresolved for more seasons. (Jake improving his relationship with his sister, Sato as the boss and whatever complications that brings, Samantha making peace with her family and starting a new club, getting more resolution on Polina, etc.)

Here's hoping.