A Rich Idea

A Quick Review of True Detective Season 2

Richard Cummings

Most people were compelled to watch True Detective Season 2 because they salivated for each episode of season 1.

My desire for season 2 sprang more from the news of the cast than from my experience with season 1.

Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, Taylor Kitsch, and Vince Vaughn? Are you kidding? I’m 100% in. Vince Vaughn is a Swinger. Taylor Kitcsh is a Savage. I fell in love with Claire Cleary in Wedding Crashers and Phone Booth (easily Colin’s best) may be one of the most underrated movies of all time. So, yeah, I’m 100% in! You had me at hello.

But, like the beautiful girl you begin dating, life is not a picture (nor a movie for that matter). No, True Detective, like a relationship, is a commitment; eventually, it must have meaning.

After 5 weeks, one of my favorite sports announcers quipped: “I’m five episodes in and I have no idea what’s going on.”

“What’s more,” I thought, “I don’t even care.”

The majority consensus of True Detective Season 2 was this: It sucked.

The HuffPost declared that the finale had diamonds but no sparkle.

Just look at the picture of the two of them above: Colin Farrell and Rachel McAdams.

Do you see the look on their faces: Misery.

Is that the look of two people who know their shows fate? Or, is that the look of two actors playing roles so out of character that they create misery for the audience?

I always finish a book that I started and I guess the same applies to an 8 week “anthology series”.

I tuned in, not salivating, but with a feint hope that I may be pleasantly surprised by what unfolded. It never happened. I just never cared.

The only remotely interesting play at the end was with Vince Vaughn’s character. I wrongly anticipated a Scarfacesque sendoff.

This season of True Detective was about actors playing contra-roles: Vince Vaughn, the consummate prankster, never smiled. The ever-lovable and hopeful Rachel McAdams was neither. The viral Taylor Kitsch needed pharmaceutical assistance to sustain his act. And, Colin Farrell? I don’t know what that was…very Sling-Bladish.

I applaud when actors go against type, but it’s a choice one needs make wisely — Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump or Charlize Theron as a Monster.

These great actors all made a gambit based on the quality of Season 1 of True Detective.

But, like many a sequel, the actors didn’t fail us; the script did.

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