The first episode is honestly kind of a mess, and I predict will set the bar for the rest of the season.....Somehow, it's exactly the way I thought it would be, washed out and grim, very cliche and worn plot wise, and the strain of Pizzaloto writing this mostly on his own really shows.....Colin Farrell and Rachel Mcadams offer the most compelling performances, though I have seen this from Farrell before, his Ray Vescoro is just Sonny Crockett from 'Miami Vice' (2006) and the out of control cop from 'Pride & Glory' (2008), complete with ski masks and hilariously profane and expertly delivered threats.....Mcadams is in new territory, and it suits her.
The dialouge all around ranges from thin, to flat out bad....Farrell gets the most mileage out of his. Vaughn falls almost completley flat, though there is only so much even a great actor can do with lines like 'This will not stand....fukk that'. And the rest of the clunkers that kill any hint of menace we may have been able to gain from his character, who is cliched to the point of nausea. A gangster turning straight. What kind of gangster exactly? The show isn't sure. Russian? Italian? I don't know. And it doesn't really matter.
I loved the score, and the brooding intro and outro are probably too overbearing, I liked them regardless. The direction is competent, but mostly uninspired...lots of overhead shots don't substitute for artistic vision. I liked David Morse, Taylor Kitsch less so....his character arc and story is another broad cliche, the damaged veteran coping with sexuality, PTSD, and substance abuse. Oh, and fast motorcycles. This is near parody levels of cliche. The whiskey soaked bars, the ominous lines of advice tossed off by Vaughn, Farrell hitting a few lines with his greasy bar food, and glowering at whomever attempts to take his whiskey.
It's messy and uninspired, dull and listless, grim and bleak......and nowhere near the first season, which is fine, we don't judge it that way. On it's own, it's a well produced, badly written, well acted mess of a cop show, with enough going for it I will keep watching, but I don't feel compelled or excited.
* That VOX list was over the top, I'd say there were 15 or so that were noteworthy, the rest is padding.
True Detective back.. thank you again HBO gods
at "12 years old my ass, fukk YOU!"
