Review: ‘True Detective’ Circles Back, Flatly

I don't care what critics say. I read unkind reviews of "The Alienist" and "Escape At Dannemora" and I loved both series. I will watch this too.

I'll recommend Fargo as the small-town crime anthology to watch.

I love the franchise but come on people — there was some comically bad stuff in 2. Rachel McAdams as a skilled knife fighter (fresh off Notebook and Morning Glory). Colin Farrell’s relationship with his son? The secretly gay biker cop? The sad bar a la Mo’s? A plot involving no one is quite sure. Water rights? Natural gas rights? The darkness and moodiness and music are great. I watched every minute. The fact that Vince Vaughn was the strongest member of the cast tells you what phony lines and intentions the writers gave the others. I loved watching 2 in the same way I loved Austin Powers.

I find these reviews dense in hard to understand criticism and light in light. I will watch it and decide if I like it or not when it is over. I loved season 1, was reasonably entertained by season 2 and I just wonder is the critic aware of the other stuff available on television?

Season 1 was visually compelling, but overall I did not find it worth all the time invested in watching the series. Season 2 was such a dismal mess....will happily miss Season 3 and not look back based on this review. Streaming services offer so many fantastic choices. I don’t have time to waste.

Vince Vaughn miscast in Season Two? Could not disagree more with Mr. Poniewozik's assessment. Vaughn is an actor of great range and can convincingly play broad even slapstick comedy as well as a gang boss, as he did in S2 of True Detective. I found him to be totally believable and his characterization to be both complex and layered. I am looking forward to S3. I thought the first two seasons were compelling with production values as high as those of a major motion picture.

I have maintained that True Detective season 1 ruined other tv for me because I saw what good tv should be. I didn't like season 2. Then several years later I watched and found it much better than I thought when I treated as a different story. Excited for season 3.

Season 1 was one of the best-ever series. Season 2 was poor compared to Season 1 - except for Rachel McAdams. But If Mahershal Ali is half as good in Season 3 as he was in Moonlight and Green Book, it will be worth your time just to watch him. I'm in.

Every season seems to be a new ripoff of the British Red Riding series. Certainly that was true of the first series and it sounds like this new production as well. The Red Riding series had moments of being visually stunning, while True Detective seems to think dark and muddy does the trick. I will at least give series 3 a try, but it sounds like another disappointing remake.

I enjoyed the second season quite a bit, and plan to rewatch it after having finished the first season rewatch. Maybe my palate is different, but the flaws of the second season didn't stand out anymore than those of the first season. I felt like season 2 was touching a different part of the elephant, and the one thing I'm hopeful for in this new season is that we get a bit closer to understanding what's motivating the monster behind theses stories. I hope the writers have something really unique for that moment because both series seem to depend on it a great deal.

I thought season 1 was fantastic. The reviewer called it “noir”, I call it Southern Gothic, and if season 3 is anything like season 1, then I won’t miss a single episode. I struggled through season 2, finding it very clumsy. So, I’m glad to read that some of the themes of season 1 are rekindled in season 3.

Bottom line: if I'm a semi-snobby viewer of the best that streaming has to offer, but have never seen this show, is season 3 the way to go?

Thanks for this review. I loved Season 1 like everybody else, but have no need to watch the same plot outline, character types and scenery.

Season 1 was inarguably great. Season 2 maybe not but who can deny the staying power of some of those scenes - my husband and I still quote lines from the final scenes. Vince Vaughan’s final scene! Come on ! Unmissable! Go away TV critic and leave us alone so we can watch Season 3.

Sounds watchable. The first season was really terrific overall, gripping and groundbreaking. I got warned off the second season so I never watched a minute of it. But I'll give this one a shot, it's like watching a good batch of Law & Order episodes; of course it will stick to the formula exactly, but it'll be good acting and an entertaining few hours.

Based on the strange way the different fictional worlds seem to affect our view of each - my way of saying that abandon your expectations, because they are unfair - I have cause to be optimistic for this season. It seems the best TD characters are people who would not likely be TD viewers in our world. So glad to see other people who appreciated Season 2. Sure, it was not season 1, but few things are.

As far as I am concerned, if it is just a copy of season one I'll be thrilled. TD season one was one of my favorite seasons of any tv show ever. I'm not sure why being similar is a bad thing.

"Season 1 told us that time is a flat circle...Season 3 proves it." So, the writers still don't understand Nietzsche? Cool.

I was the rare viewer who enjoyed S1 but failed to recognize any originality. S2 was C+ at the most - Vaughan and Reilly's acting was just embarrassing. The themes have been gone over again and agin. Pizzolatto might want to invite a few more people into the room.

I understand how a reviewer of TD Season 3 would feel compelled to compare the first two seasons to the new offering airing Sunday. But the temptation to do so is another rabbit hole that risks prejudicing an unbiased viewer to underwhelming expectations. For me, I found the first 2 seasons easily able to rest on their own strengths & weaknesses, as well as a totally unique vibe within each. It's a basic consensus that the first season was some of the finest television ever produced & soon set the bar unrealistically high for any continuation of the namesake. I can accept that there will be some parallels drawn between seasons, characters, production & dialogue, that's all inevitable. But I believe the best way to appreciate a heavily anticipated show with such a powerful lineage is to separate the hype from any predictions of disappointment...more easily said than done, I know. The success of any type of art, film, music or television program finds its worth with the audience's willingness to put aside the past and to view it as a singular offering before weaving it into mythic content.

More than anything, this review makes me think about how season 2 (not to mention Vince Vaughan) has been unfairly maligned. Critics and viewers set their expectations so high that it had no chance. Rewatching it, and taking it on its own merits, I quite enjoyed it. Thus, I'm not so sure that comparing S3 to either of the previous is a profitable endeavor.

I don't know how Season 1 of "True Detective" could ever be topped. The weird yet compelling story line constantly yet slowly pulled me in like water running down a drain. The performances by Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson were breathtaking. I am still shocked that neither won an Emmy for their performance. Even though Season 2 of "True Detective" was much different, it still drew me in every Sunday to see how the story line unfolded. I don't think I ever saw a finer performance by Colin Farrell than in that show. Rachel McAdams was equally awesome. I have been holding off on viewing Season 3 of "True Detective" because thus far, every review has been flat and/or uncomplimentary. But critics have gotten things wrong before and I am hoping they got this season wrong too.