I guess lightning doesn’t strike twice. The second season of True Detective is over and I can’t help but feel “meh” about it.
I just don’t care about the story or the characters. The plot is convoluted and a lot of essential beats are just told through dialogue and exposition. It’s the violation of a basic rule: don’t tell when you can show. There was a lot of very boring telling during this season.
I also felt a lot of the characters were miscast or just lacked charisma. I realize now that the main reason why season one worked so well was because of Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. Some of the dialogue in season one was kind of fake sounding, but McConaughey and Harrelson carried that season regardless. This season, none of the actors were compelling nor sympathetic. Farrel and Vaughn do their best, but their dark performances just made this season feel like an emo kid’s wet dream.
In the show’s defense, it was nearly impossible to follow up on the wild success that was season one. However, the writing for this season needed a few rewrites and maybe a different direction in regards to casting.
Score: 4.0/10 If you need some crime drama in your life, then this is fine to watch. Otherwise, I would skip it altogether and spend my time doing something else.
Muse Bank 