I was still pretty in until Ep 4. That was just bad boring TV.

What is most upsetting is that this setting is so great and primed for some really good TV but this just falls flat.

HBO did it right as I can't think of any shows out there to watch besides this. I was hoping for better, but not like i have anything else to watch and I am giving this series the benefit of the doubt.

Story is uninteresting
Characters are uninteresting and pretty bad actors
Jodi Foster is old
Story line is poor

I'm out

The fact it's only 6 episodes and the competition is very weak right now is what has me seeing this through. If it was a 10+ episode season, this is probably where I'd check out.

Issa Lopez better not show her face around here.

You guys are pretty brutal. About 85% of us are going to finish it. It's not the best TD season of all time, also don't think it's the worst. Curb was a nice chaser after this on Sunday.

I think the only people more disappointed in this season than some of yall is the Alaskan Department of Tourism, who the heck wants to visit that icy wasteland?

(And yes, i know it really is a great place)

AgShaun00 said:

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HBO did it right as I can't think of any shows out there to watch besides this. I was hoping for better, but not like i have anything else to watch and I am giving this series the benefit of the doubt.

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This nails it. This show isn't good and has some truly bad, bad moments. However, there's really nothing else to watch. I'm seriously choosing between this, old Arrested Development reruns, or working through CB Strike from 2018. I'll probably finish it because honestly there's nothing else on.

Thank goodness for this site, will save me some time. I've only watched the first season. Was waiting on to watch the 3rd season after watching this one, which I will now give a pass. I'll check out season 3 and give 2 and 4 a miss. Too many other things on the to watch list.

cr0wbar said:

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Issa Lopez better not show her face around here.

You guys are pretty brutal. About 85% of us are going to finish it. It's not the best TD season of all time, also don't think it's the worst. Curb was a nice chaser after this on Sunday.

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Yeah we may be a harsh but I expect more from a primetime Sunday night HBO show.

And while it is has fallen flat for me I will finish it but I'm not near as invested in it as I was when it started. I'll probably watch it sometime in the week when I have time as opposed to making it a point to sit down on Sunday.

Proposition Joe said:

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I've tuned in every year, but honestly it's still just riding off of the name and acclaim from S1. Every year it gets hyped, the critics tell us its great, and it's relatively mediocre to flat out bad.

I brought up Mare of Easttown before because while it was a detective story it was very character-heavy. If you altered the title to "True Detective: Easttown" it would be the second best True Detective season by a longshot.

TD is simply not a show worthy of the hype and acclaim it gets. It gets A-list actors that sometimes give great performances, it typically has a great soundtrack, and the visuals are interesting. That's it.

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Bingo. Mare eats this show for breakfast.

Maybe its because I watched season 4 directly before this, but I don't get all the hate. Talk about boring and stilted dialogue....just watch season 4. And it drags on forever at 8 episodes. Also, that case has no stakes either, and the decision to have it take place over multiple time periods just makes it frustrating to watch, not interesting.

This season isn't Chernobyl, Mare of Eastown, or Season 1 levels of greatness, but its definitely entertaining, interesting, and better than a lot of other shows out there, IMHO.

I also still think much of the supernatural stuff will not be explained or end up not being supernatural. They are leaning into it quite a bit, but its still very subjective to the individuals experiencing it. Even the orange can be explained as something having to do with their mother, so its why they both hallucinate it. The mine is probably putting something in the water that is causing the town to hallucinate. I think, other than how they found the bodies and Navarro eventually telling Danvers what her son said to Navarro, the rest of the supernatural elements will remain ambiguous or be explained as hallucinations.

veryfuller said:

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I think, other than how they found the bodies and Navarro eventually telling Danvers what her son said to Navarro, the rest of the supernatural elements will remain ambiguous or be explained as hallucinations.

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Which a big part of the problem.

You can't lean into something quite a bit and then just not explain it.

Also IMO it's not that entertaining or interesting. We get 55 mins of boring then 5 mins of entertaining and interesting at the end of each episode.

I'm halfway through the outsider (HBO show based on Stephen king novel from a few years back. There's a thread about it) and enjoying it much more than this. Although it has taken
A king esque turn. No spoilers please

Well put.

MW03 said:

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PS, the stupidest thing so far on the entire show was Navarro learning about her sister from the Coast Guard. How is that even possible? A woman strips down, walks into the ocean, in a region famous for having no daylight at this point, and not only does the Coast Guard immediately find her, but they immediately identify her and call Navarro.

I can suspend disbelief for magic, supernatural, whatever so long as it's part of the show. This kind of mess is just so completely dumb, though. Is it a magical Coast Guard crew? Did Travis Chole point her out too?

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I said that exact same thing out loud when watching the episode.

That plus the fact that the actors aren't acting nearly cold enough. I spent time in Alaska, heck not even as far north as this show takes place, and during the middle of winter when its almost total darkness all day long...it's cold as ****, even for native Alaskans. Most of the time the only thing visible on a person when they're outside is their eyes, everything else is covered. These characters are acting like if they just throw on a heavy coat the cold is no big deal.

I don't get why so many of you are comparing this to season 1.

"Season one is some of the greatest television of all time and this doesn't compare." Well no ***** Here's some breaking news for you...the coach who follows Nick Saban won't be as good either. If you think Season one is the pinnacle of television and you had expectations of this being as good or better you are setting yourself up for disappointment, and that's on you.

Is it incredible? No. But I've still enjoyed watching it for what it is.

I mean....season 1 never explained it? They didn't lean so far into it, but it was definitely part of the story that they left open ended.

I'm not saying its good writing, I'm just theorizing thats what will end up happening.

I wasn't declaring anything good/bad. I was saying I watched season 4 immediately preceding this, which had all the complaints that everyone is having here but worse, and this is much more enjoyable/entertaining than that to me, so I'm not as critical as most are on this thread.

Josepi said:

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I don't get why so many of you are comparing this to season 1.

"Season one is some of the greatest television of all time and this doesn't compare." Well no ***** Here's some breaking news for you...the coach who follows Nick Saban won't be as good either. If you think Season one is the pinnacle of television and you had expectations of this being as good or better you are setting yourself up for disappointment, and that's on you.

Is it incredible? No. But I've still enjoyed watching it for what it is.

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It's also season 1 of the same series, so the comparisons seem both fair and warranted. It's not as if people are bringing up the Sopranos or Breaking Bad.

Josepi said:

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I don't get why so many of you are comparing this to season 1.

"Season one is some of the greatest television of all time and this doesn't compare." Well no ***** Here's some breaking news for you...the coach who follows Nick Saban won't be as good either. If you think Season one is the pinnacle of television and you had expectations of this being as good or better you are setting yourself up for disappointment, and that's on you.

Is it incredible? No. But I've still enjoyed watching it for what it is.

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To be quite honest, I expected this to be as good or better than season 3, so far it is not. Compare it to season 3 and look at how much the case had advanced by episode 4 (of 8) in that season vs episode 4 (of 6) in this season.

Not only is this bad compared to Season 1, it is just plain bad compared to the word entertaining.

I meant I watched season 3, my bad

I will at least admit I enjoyed the flight attendent fakeout on dumbass Hank. That being said we all knew there was no way in hell she was on that flight with him standing there like a moron holding that ridiculous stuffed bunny.

On a separate note, I couldn't stand the teacher mispronouncing Heiss as "Hayes" as nobody would ever pronounce it that way but it was a way to make Danvers look smart by deducing the correct pronunciation. What excellent sleuthing!!!

AgShaun00 said:

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There better be a point of the Russian bride besides he is an obvious idiot

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I think he is going to kill himself.....and that is the puddle of blood we see on someones floor in one of the post episode previews. After she did not get off the plane, his mood and demeaner did a 180. Now, that story line would not contribute much to a bigger plot....but what the hell has?

Episode 5 will be streamed on MAX Friday night due to the Super Bowl, but will be shown on HBO on Sunday at the regular time. So if you watch it on HBO you might want to avoid this thread for spoilers from Friday night until it is shown on HBO.

Agasaurus Tex said:

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Episode 5 will be streamed on MAX Friday night due to the Super Bowl, but will be shown on HBO on Sunday at the regular time. So if you watch it on HBO you might want to avoid this thread for spoilers from Friday night until it is shown on HBO.

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Spoiler alert! People will say it sucked. Probably myself included.

Max Power said:

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So this was episode 4 of this season, only 2 episodes left. What have we really learned so far? I went back just to compare with season 1 and where we had been. Season 1 episode 4 was Who Goes There, one of the best episodes in the history of TV. As a reminder that's the one where Cohle infiltrates the iron crusaders, he kidnaps Ginger, and has the crazy chase in the projects all while trying to track down Reggie Ledoux. Every episode major things were happening to move the investigation forward. I haven't seen any evidence that Danvers and Navarro are any better at their jobs than Hank is at this point.

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TD1 is just in a completely different realm...from the writing, to the acting, to the cinematography, to the soundtrack. I watch it like once a year and it's still awesome.

With this one, I almost feel like it's cheating setting it in dark Alaska...just the overall cold dark and spooky vibe (with hopes that there will eventually be some major reveal or development) is keeping me entertained enough. But if you changed the setting to the NE, deep south, or midwest or something, I gotta admit, I think it would be a complete disaster. The dark and creepy vibe is what is keeping a lot of people in the show imo.