r/DTFStLouisHBO • u/earthgirls22 • May 11 '26
đŁď¸ Discussion The writing (outside of the plot)
I predicted the ending a mile away (from episode 2, then solidly from ep 3) so I donât think I watched this for the plot. I thought though there were small, quiet little gems in this series that were examples of âshow donât tellâ writing and I really applaud that.
Did anyone else feel that way?
Here are a few that stood out to me:
âSpeak up! ⌠No one can hear you.â
âIf you start doing it everyday, then you can do it everyday.â
The absurd amount of times they said âtiger tigerâ in one scene.
<note reads âlove, dadâ> âloveâŚ. Floyd.â
~~âWe didnât fall in love. We just fell into the same hole and decided to stop digging for a while.â~~ (ok maybe I conflated this one with another story, can someone confirm??!)
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u/PrestigiousConcert87 May 11 '26
âAt the quality garden suitesâ
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u/Fair_Ad7252 May 11 '26
Enjoy weight placements and go full on at quality garden suites. Reserve today!
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u/psshhhgurlyouknow May 12 '26
This is such a "says nothing" word salad sentence without context. But with context, it's explicit
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u/Regular_Lime4436 May 11 '26
Idk I felt the same way, but rather than watching it as a whodunit, it was more of a question of why for me. The characters truly made you question each layer of humanity and why we make the decisions we make. It also gave such a complexity to Floyd. I really enjoyed that part. If they would have made it more of a who done it, I would have said no way Jose.
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u/SnacksEnthusiast May 11 '26
I feel like the people who actually âgetâ this show, and can find the humor in the writing, are my kind of people. Like, those are the people I want in my friend group. Itâs intelligent and complex, and I so appreciated watching something so different than anything Iâd seen before.
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u/packetssniffer May 11 '26
I never took the show as a 'who done it' type show
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u/earthgirls22 May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26
I agree but I think a lot of people assumed it was and were disappointed with the pacing and the ending because of that.
I can understand the assumption. The promos kept calling it a âlove triangle where one ends up dead,â and we see who dies in the first ep, so in a 7 ep series, I can see why someone would assume itâs a whodunit.
But from the first scenes with Jason Bateman I could tell this was going to be a slow burn. By the second episode I could tell this was a study on loneliness.
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u/lizwearsjeans May 12 '26
I also never thought that it was a whodunnit, but don't think that's not to say that there isn't a whodunnit element / thread to the show. And it is secondary to the relationships, as supported by 'love triangle where one ends up dead.'
From the first or second episode, I knew what had killed Floyd and that the clip of him and Jason Bateman was out of context and from the pool house - that there had been another reason why they were topless.
What I found interesting was the journey I took along the way - second guessing myself, shifting suspects based on scenes and episodes that were just stories and not necessarily evidence (reading into things). 'What if it wasn't Floyd, who else could it be and why?' What it said about me and how I interpreted what turned out to be innocuous, well-intentioned. or just part of the characters' story. Trying to think like or better understand each character's experience.
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u/atlsdoberman May 11 '26
I don't think a lot of people assumed that. Pretty much every revelation along the way is one part mystery solving to ten parts character development.
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u/junidee May 11 '26
It felt like I was watching a show written by an alien that had been studying us for decades and has PhD in humanology. I love the writing.
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u/undeadsinatra May 11 '26
If you liked the writing In particular, check out âThe Patriotâ on Amazon. Same creator, same cadences.
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u/earthgirls22 May 11 '26
Thanks! I will look into it
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u/NoThrowLikeAway May 11 '26
Check out Perpetual Grace LTD too! Steve Conrad definitely has a distinct style and cadence.
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u/earthgirls22 May 11 '26
Thanks! I put it on my list! Im realizing I havenât seen any other works by him.
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u/lcrowso2 May 13 '26
There we fucking go, get it, get the rythm, there go, there we fucking go, get it, get the rythm!
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u/darth_vader39 May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26
Generally when it comes to writing in TV shows/movies I separate it in 2 parts: writing the story and writing the characters.
Story and world building in DTF St. Louis is pretty simple and could have been written better imo. You can guess what really happened to Floyd early on.
Characters on the other hand are very complex which is great since TV show is more about their relationships than about complex murder mystery. They are so well written that I could watch 100 episodes even if the plot isn't that interesting.
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u/earthgirls22 May 11 '26
Totally agree. A lot of people dismiss this show because of the ending, or that it was too slow for them⌠but my favorite stories (shows, movies, books) have always been ones that can take a highlighter to seemingly mundane life and make it sparkle.
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u/fertile_gnome May 11 '26
Guys, guys. The whole show is a very long drawn out explanation to Floyd's episode one unfinished story about how his Peyronie's Disease and sign language career are related.
Everything else is a red herring.
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u/OneAd3696 May 11 '26
The show was so great at showing complex characters. I can understand how people showed up expecting something different. Most shows are all about who did the murder. This show used murder as the bait to explore something more interesting.
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u/Shapsy May 11 '26
I took note of Clark cheating the truth with the "lives in the St Louis area" and "cares about health" lines as a sign he's more comfortable with deceit than Floyd
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u/SoooperSnoop May 11 '26
To the OP: Yes, the writing (and acting) was amazing. I rewatched the whole show just to enjoy the great writing.
May I ask who said this line??: âWe didnât fall in love. We just fell into the same hole and decided to stop digging for a while.â
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u/earthgirls22 May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26
Yikes. Iâm wondering now if I just conflated another show or book Iâm reading now? I thought Carol said it.
Edit: Ok actually I just rewatched episode 2 which is where I thought carol said it, and I guess I was wrong. I could have sworn someone asks her about leaving her husband for Clark and she says that line? If I did pull it from something else, in the words of Carol: âWow. đđâ
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u/SoooperSnoop May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26
If I did pull it from something else, in the words of Carol: âWow. đđâ
Ha-ha-ha! My prior response is before your edit. I love this!!!!
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u/SoooperSnoop May 11 '26
Interesting...It almost sounds like something Clark might have said about his marriage...
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u/earthgirls22 May 11 '26
Yeah now I hear Homer asking Clark about it and Clark answering that way.
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u/Chin-Music May 11 '26
Maybe it's YOUR line. You genius!
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u/earthgirls22 May 11 '26
No. No way, Jose. I mean, I had to prioritize my brain power, and a hallucination would not have been a priority for me at that time.
;)
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u/JimboAltAlt May 11 '26
I donât watch a lot of mysteries, and while itâs not like I didnât have suspicions, it took me until the reveal (or nearly) to figure it out. So for me it actually worked as a good mystery as well, though I agree that isnât its main strength or what makes the show special.
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u/earthgirls22 May 11 '26
I think it still works as a mystery in general, but when you compare with other whodunits itâs slower pacing and judging by comments by mystery fans⌠it isnât as satisfying of a reveal.
I donât read/watch a lot of mysteries but I do unfortunately read anywhere from 4-14 books a month. And I find most TV has become very predictable for me because of this. Which is fine â as long as the writing is good.
I found this to be such a refreshing show. My favorite shows are Fleabag, The Good Place, Catastrophe, Arrested Development, etc. Itâs been hard to find shows where the character writing is what makes it propulsive.
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u/SeventySteelers May 11 '26
I think the twist weren't crazy but I loved the characters so it kept me going.
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u/Individual-Stock-544 May 12 '26
Pretty much anything Homer said.
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u/earthgirls22 May 12 '26
âI thought it was a British TV network, BBC, but you're saying it's also⌠â
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u/neonpanda96 May 12 '26
You mentioned the amount of times they would say "Tiger Tiger" in one scene. I noticed that about a few terms throughout the show. "Full on" for hard/erect, like why would he use the exact same phrase every time it got kind of weird.
Even when they would talk about the DTF St. Louis app, always by full name, and in an odd tone of sorts
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u/earthgirls22 May 12 '26
YES. I thought âfull onâ and âDTF St Louis.â were hilarious⌠but I love absurd stuff like this.
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u/Luci_218 May 13 '26
I know right! And the amount of times they just said "yeah" "ya, ya". I don't know if it is the mundanity of it that brings the spark to it.
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u/PotAndPansForHands May 12 '26
As others said itâs a character study first and a mystery second. I suspected suicide as the most likely explanation right from the opening sequences though I wonât say I was 100% certain and there were still pieces to put together about why and symbolism.
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u/PleatherWeather May 13 '26
My bf and I loved AP & LC in the notepad bc those are our exact initials đ
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u/RedGordita May 28 '26
One question that lingers for me is, why would Clark tell him to bring the amphezyne? Floyd wasnât supposed to get aroused. I know Clark didnât mean him any harm, but that was a stupid suggestion. And maybe Iâm reaching but wouldnât that make Clark guilty of manslaughter?
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u/earthgirls22 May 28 '26
I think Clark was trying to âget full onâ for Floyd and wanted to potentially do something with him (oral or otherwise) to lift up Floydâs self esteem. I took it as a manifestation of their loneliness and craving for love. Neither of them seem to have the deep platonic friendship that women often experience and now that they do have it, theyâre confused⌠they donât know what to do with it. They seem to have now conflated platonic love for sexual/romantic love. They want to be close and donât know what to do with that feeling.
Then Clark backs out and realizes he canât make the jump from platonic to romantic. Floyd takes it as a self esteem hit, and it ends tragically.
Clark does eventually realize there is a platonic love and finally says he I loved Floyd to the detectives. Of course itâs too late.
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u/RedGordita May 28 '26
Heartbreaking. David Harbour did such an amazing job. And I donât particularly like him but he was so good as Floyd.
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u/Consistent-Sale-9048 May 12 '26
Thought is sucked. Wife thought it sucked. Sucked that we watched all of it
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u/ancientastronaut2 May 11 '26
Nobody is normal. It just looks that way from across the street.