True Detective S01E08

This is the last episode??

The opening song reminds me of Murder by Death.

This guy is creepy as fuck.

What a shithole. The ol' rural poverty horror show.

This scene is unlike anything we've seen yet in the show.

I still don't remember who this guy is. Was he another detective?

Was he the same guy that was on the riding mower in the earlier episode?

Haha, it's that guy!

I guess they couldn't pull a fake sniper gambit after Breaking Bad already did it.

Okay, but the bad guy does not have a spaghetti face or green ears. Oh they're going to talk about that now.

"Fuck you, man" = "Nice one, Marty."

"Best to avoid her name" He hasn't said her name. "She" is sufficient.

I'm hot for the curl of hair tucked behind Rust's ear.

"Is she still living?" "Alive, you mean?"

I hope that bar owner guy never says a word.

I feel a lot more comfortable with the present-day structure in this episode.

Now the show is using visual tropes of horror films. The first person perspective with heavy breathing, etc.

Very "Home"-like - in the X-Files sense.

I'm a little disappointed that it all comes down to the tired inbred hillbilly cliche. Surely there's more to it...?

The stick figures are no more than Texas Chainsaw-style homespun crafts, marking an impoverished house of rural horrors.

They're doing a good job, as far as this trope goes. It's creepy and suspenseful and uncomfortable. But it's not new. (What about this show led me to expect new? The hype? The ambiguous narrative structure? The big names and big budget that come with an HBO production? (And am I only disappointed because everyone tweeting about letdown and backlash?))

This basement ruin with the branches (and mummies) is pretty. Like a moribund Narnia.

Hannibal uses antlers and bones and bodies to a more interesting and pointed effect. Here they're just decor. A motif.

The guy is even wearing a Michael Meyers jumpsuit.

Mylar balloons? That seems like an inappropriate get well gift for this situation.

I still don't *really* understand why those detectives suspected Rust. Or why they deemed it necessary to bring all three of them in for such extended questioning.

This scene I like. "I'm fine" and then crying.

Next I would like Woody and Matt to do this show again, but as a comedy.

The detectives are interesting. The case itself was not.

"I could feel my definitions fading."

He wasn't looking out the window, he was looking at his reflection.

Light vs. Dark? Really? You're going to reduce all the gray in this show to light vs. dark?

--

Okay, so here's why I had expected a higher standard of narrative innovation about the villain: throughout the show, they have been showing characters living in the backwaters of Louisiana and giving them reality and depth. Example: Dory's ex had personality beyond just "skinhead inmate." The show was rooted in the history of the region - references to dates and hurricanes. And then for the final chase, it twists into fantasy (ie, my Narnia comment). They set up a reality and the villain was outside of that reality. That could have been a choice, to illustrate the character's delusion. But for me it was too much of a stylistic break.