Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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you mean, when he showed up to her house? how? she has no idea what lead detectives were on her case when she was abducted or found/cvs.
He's just a lost old man
True Detective
- Thread starter Fedor
- Start date
He's just a lost old man
Fight
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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Here is how you fix Season 3.
Timelines
Condense the 3 timelines into 2. Having the three timelines was needlessly complicated. In the 1980's timeline, West & Hayes are about age 35, the 1990's they are about age 45 and in 2015 they are about age 70.
As an alternate timeline to the events, have things kick off again in 1980. Then, skip the whole Woodard, discrimination of a Veteran story-derail. Have this timeline culminate with Tom's "suicide". Jump forward in time to year 2000, where West & Hayes are at the end of their careers and they get a finger print hit on Lucy Purcell, resurrecting the cold case for one last hurrah to their careers. One thing leads to another, they kill Harris James around episode 5, and then bring in Michael Rooker (Hoyt) as the big bad for a true culmination to your story.
AARP Club
A large portion of the season was spent with the elderly Wayne, trying to remember where he was and what he was doing. His missing memories where a plot device to hold back information and drag the season out. The impact at the end of the story was pretty minimal and more frustrating than anything else. It had hints of Memento, themes of frailty and regret. I'm not sure what this timeline did to serve the overall story.
Just skip this timeline and put your effort into a year 2000 timeline as mentioned above.
Amelia
For someone that played such a pivotal role in the story, there were some very odd things about her character. Hints that she lived an alternate/double life in California that was never fleshed out? The jump from grade school teacher to national best-selling author is kind of a stretch? Wayne being about as shitty as a husband and partner to her as possible, yet she completely accepts him as he is? The way the last episode played out, I guess Pizza clearly wanted to say that this season as as much or more about Wayne and Amelia as it was two missing kids?
It is called True Detective, not True Romance. Amelia is a fine character, but to end this season on this note of them maneuvering through their relationship is questionable.
Harris James
Poor casting choice with Scott Shepherd. This is the character that killed Tom, Dan, and Lucy, but whenever he is on camera he comes off as a nervous little bitch.
Roland West
He was the perfect good guy. Too perfect, for a story and world like this. It took 8 episodes before Pizza gave Dorff's character some character. The bar fight scene may have been his best of the entire season, yet it felt out of place because Pizza wrote him to be such a vanilla character that you cannot fathom him walking into a bar and doing what he did.
The bar fight should have happened around episode 3 and been one of the concluding events of the 80's timeline. He should have then showed signs of volatility throughout the rest of the show. It would have been a good balance to his care-taker nature he displayed with Tom & Wayne and given him some depth.
Conspiracy Reporter
It feels like HBO gave Pizza some notes saying, "You know, people really liked Season 1. Any chance you could tie this new season and the first together?" This was Pizza's half-assed attempt at appeasement. It also felt like his way of taking a shot at the "Lost- Conspiracy theorists". We get it, writers hate when people take their work and spin up some crazy theories, then get disappointed when the story doesn't play out like they wanted. But, when you are writing a show about mystery and intrigue, people are going to theorize about mystery and intrigue.
Either have a purpose to this story-line and character, or remove her out of the story.
Timelines
Condense the 3 timelines into 2. Having the three timelines was needlessly complicated. In the 1980's timeline, West & Hayes are about age 35, the 1990's they are about age 45 and in 2015 they are about age 70.
As an alternate timeline to the events, have things kick off again in 1980. Then, skip the whole Woodard, discrimination of a Veteran story-derail. Have this timeline culminate with Tom's "suicide". Jump forward in time to year 2000, where West & Hayes are at the end of their careers and they get a finger print hit on Lucy Purcell, resurrecting the cold case for one last hurrah to their careers. One thing leads to another, they kill Harris James around episode 5, and then bring in Michael Rooker (Hoyt) as the big bad for a true culmination to your story.
AARP Club
A large portion of the season was spent with the elderly Wayne, trying to remember where he was and what he was doing. His missing memories where a plot device to hold back information and drag the season out. The impact at the end of the story was pretty minimal and more frustrating than anything else. It had hints of Memento, themes of frailty and regret. I'm not sure what this timeline did to serve the overall story.
Just skip this timeline and put your effort into a year 2000 timeline as mentioned above.
Amelia
For someone that played such a pivotal role in the story, there were some very odd things about her character. Hints that she lived an alternate/double life in California that was never fleshed out? The jump from grade school teacher to national best-selling author is kind of a stretch? Wayne being about as shitty as a husband and partner to her as possible, yet she completely accepts him as he is? The way the last episode played out, I guess Pizza clearly wanted to say that this season as as much or more about Wayne and Amelia as it was two missing kids?
It is called True Detective, not True Romance. Amelia is a fine character, but to end this season on this note of them maneuvering through their relationship is questionable.
Harris James
Poor casting choice with Scott Shepherd. This is the character that killed Tom, Dan, and Lucy, but whenever he is on camera he comes off as a nervous little bitch.
-Here is what you needed out of the character: Deceptive, Capable, Flexible Morals, and Dangerous.
-Here is how Scott Shepherd played him: Cowardly, Anxious, Family Man, and an Opportunist.
Some guys just aren't the right person for the role and I would argue that they made a misstep here. Cast someone with some backbone.Roland West
He was the perfect good guy. Too perfect, for a story and world like this. It took 8 episodes before Pizza gave Dorff's character some character. The bar fight scene may have been his best of the entire season, yet it felt out of place because Pizza wrote him to be such a vanilla character that you cannot fathom him walking into a bar and doing what he did.
The bar fight should have happened around episode 3 and been one of the concluding events of the 80's timeline. He should have then showed signs of volatility throughout the rest of the show. It would have been a good balance to his care-taker nature he displayed with Tom & Wayne and given him some depth.
Conspiracy Reporter
It feels like HBO gave Pizza some notes saying, "You know, people really liked Season 1. Any chance you could tie this new season and the first together?" This was Pizza's half-assed attempt at appeasement. It also felt like his way of taking a shot at the "Lost- Conspiracy theorists". We get it, writers hate when people take their work and spin up some crazy theories, then get disappointed when the story doesn't play out like they wanted. But, when you are writing a show about mystery and intrigue, people are going to theorize about mystery and intrigue.
Either have a purpose to this story-line and character, or remove her out of the story.
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How to fix season 3: Make a story worth telling with decent pacing to go along with the stellar acting.
- 1
TJT
Mr. Poopybutthole
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- 102,814
Seriously. S1 had great acting and the story was an interesting Whodunit? Season 3 they had good acting even though it was cheapened by bizarre memory tricks and inconsistent outbursts like Dorff's bar fight. Unfortunately they made their Whodunit? into a Whocares?
The magic of S1 is making an interesting mystery that people want to speculate about. While at the same time building the story and narrative such that all the clues are actually there. You must only pay very close attention to what is said, who says it, imagery and so on.
Like the flash of genius in S1 when the clue leading them back to the killer's lair was the same green house they saw in the early 90's. That they showed to you, and that they hinted about green spaghetti monsters and so on. It was like, BOOM! A vast ped-murderer cult takes a blow because your main guy painted a house in 1991. Holy shit.
S3 didn't have that.
The magic of S1 is making an interesting mystery that people want to speculate about. While at the same time building the story and narrative such that all the clues are actually there. You must only pay very close attention to what is said, who says it, imagery and so on.
Like the flash of genius in S1 when the clue leading them back to the killer's lair was the same green house they saw in the early 90's. That they showed to you, and that they hinted about green spaghetti monsters and so on. It was like, BOOM! A vast ped-murderer cult takes a blow because your main guy painted a house in 1991. Holy shit.
S3 didn't have that.
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dizzie
Triggered Happy
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Just finished it and while it wasn't a totally awful ending, it just wasn't very good either. It's a shame that the mediocre story and writing has upstaged some stellar acting, and the make up and sets have been great.
Season one was probably some of the best crime drama ever created on the small screen so it's got a high bar as far as comparisons go.
Hoping HBO don't fuck up Big Little Lies.
Season one was probably some of the best crime drama ever created on the small screen so it's got a high bar as far as comparisons go.
Hoping HBO don't fuck up Big Little Lies.
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Jozu
Bronze Baronet of the Realm
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It was an awful ending. Period. I have given this show every benefit of the doubt, and Dorff's performance was just as good as Colin Farrels IMO, but the fucking tell all by the one eyed black guy who turned out to be a sympathetic figure (who has to be at least 85 years old in 2015) was so fucking lazy, I was almost in disbelief as it unfloded.
It would have been infinitely more satisfying if Wayne had like a short lapse that turned into a manic episode that led him to blowing the one eyed mans head off.
Him and Roland leave just like they did, and then Roland asks Wayne if it feels like closure.
The end.
edit: Also the kid Wills death being the result of being pushed to the ground and subsequently dies by hitting his head on a rock.....thats a fucking joke right? Its almost like they just totalky trolled the audience with the pedo angle and was just like nah no conspiracy or large pedo network just a crazy woman who paid for a young girl and pushed a young boy to the ground in the process, and sadly for him he died.
Lol.
It would have been infinitely more satisfying if Wayne had like a short lapse that turned into a manic episode that led him to blowing the one eyed mans head off.
Him and Roland leave just like they did, and then Roland asks Wayne if it feels like closure.
The end.
edit: Also the kid Wills death being the result of being pushed to the ground and subsequently dies by hitting his head on a rock.....thats a fucking joke right? Its almost like they just totalky trolled the audience with the pedo angle and was just like nah no conspiracy or large pedo network just a crazy woman who paid for a young girl and pushed a young boy to the ground in the process, and sadly for him he died.
Lol.
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popsicledeath
Potato del Grande
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Sounds like the weakest aspect of season 3 was once again anything Pizzatatoe had a hand in. Sucks, because the posts about his mind-fuck writing earlier in the season almost had me hyped enough to pay for HBO specifically to watch this. Great to hear at least one of the acting performances and character was as great as Colin Farrell's Velcoro, though. High praise, indeed. Can't wait for season 4!
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I'm also tentatively excited for an S4 if they do one. We're kinda back-on-track, the plot at least made sense (unlike S2 which really just had Velcoro carrying it and then a surprising final performance by Vince Vaughan). So, fantastic S1, very weak s2, better s3 with an unsatisfying story, maybe back to a great s4? I'm willing to watch, I was entertained.
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Vandyn
Blackwing Lair Raider
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Season was good (not as good as S1), ending was clean. Almost too clean. For an investigation that seemingly spans roughly 4 decades, for it to turn out that 'simple' seems not only that it was a complete waste of time but that the director was trolling the audience. Throwing out red herring after red herring when it was nothing really complicated at all. Maybe the point was that there is truth in the saying that 'usually, the most simple of answers is the correct one'. Also I don't care how young the little girl was (lucy), you can't tell me she didn't recognize him from the covenant when he shows up at the end.
All that being said, there was strong acting in this season. Maybe Emmy worthy.
All that being said, there was strong acting in this season. Maybe Emmy worthy.
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Bloodrocuted
Trakanon Raider
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I really enjoyed it from beginning to end, mostly because I loved the characters in this one so much. It kind of reminded me of The Big Lebowski, where not a whole lot actually happened but I still loved it due to the acting, protagonists, and dialogue. Plot is so pre-modern, man.
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jayrebb
Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
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Jozu
Bronze Baronet of the Realm
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I mean, im glad Julie ended up being alive and well. Landscaper guy who liked Julie when they were kids finds her later in life and they fall in love and have a daughter of their own, with a strikingingly similar appearence to her mother.
Wayne has a memory lapse right as he is about to discover she is alive and well, but then recaptures it there at the end while sipping the glass of water.
That is great and all, but what a tidy conclusion to a boring story that was really all about a psychotic woman who pushed a young boy to the ground, where a rock accidentally hit his head due to gravity, causing his death.
*half nods to self*
Wayne has a memory lapse right as he is about to discover she is alive and well, but then recaptures it there at the end while sipping the glass of water.
That is great and all, but what a tidy conclusion to a boring story that was really all about a psychotic woman who pushed a young boy to the ground, where a rock accidentally hit his head due to gravity, causing his death.
*half nods to self*
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It might have been better if the very first mentions of the Hoyt daughter stuff didn't make it painfully obvious that it was never a pedo/murder situation. A slow reveal of that in the last episode would have been better instead of it coming out episodes earlier and followed by a huge exposition dump near the end that was pointless because we already figured it out. They failed to keep the audience as confused as Wayne, which is the only way the memory theme could have really paid off.
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Jozu
Bronze Baronet of the Realm
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Lol @ audience not being confused as Wayne.
Pizzolatto sure knows how to create polarized stories.
Rolands stray dog lover origin story might have been one of the best scenes I have watched on a TV show. He found a good boy in a bad place.
Pizzolatto sure knows how to create polarized stories.
Rolands stray dog lover origin story might have been one of the best scenes I have watched on a TV show. He found a good boy in a bad place.
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