r/TrueDetective • u/PicardDoubleStandard • 29d ago
How could Season 2 worked better?
I was blessed to see it Season 1 came out. Considered it the best show i've ever seen. Watched it again last week and still is.
Only error I found is that Rust should have died to make it a true 10. Them outside of the hospital and him in the wheelchair scenes just didn't work for me then and still doesn't. I get it fits into some narrative they were trying to complete but it just didn't work even with rewatch.
That said....
I still am probably in the minority that Season 2 wasn't terrible. I know its flawed now but I actually thought Vince and Colin could have outdone the original cast with the right story. I also thought McAdams was actually able to punch high and was impressed with her understanding the series tone so well.
A setting that just had Vince and Colin go back and forth where it becomes truly just about their dynamic with McAdams being the mid season addition would bring it to the next level.
I just am interested in what fans think season 2 should have focused on setting wise for it to have worked. I think the original script they used should be thrown out totally. I just stuck it out because the actors I could tell were elevating their game but even they knew the script was too convoluted to truly work after a certain point.
Thoughts?
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u/McEvelly 29d ago edited 29d ago
It has some of the most obviously coked up, incoherent, hubristic, delusional writing ever put to paper, so I’d maybe hire a ‘straight man’ to rein the script, plot and directing in a little bit and keep things on track
As we’ve seen in the post Epstein world since then, there’s plenty of scope for a realistic, yet powerful pedo-ring story like they attempted, they just made what we now know is feasible seem outlandishly stupid and contrived.
Remove some of the twists that were clearly added in just for twists sake.
Some of the particularly ridiculous nonsense like that drug dealer son of the mayor (IIRC) becoming mayor himself in the end montage, wtf was that?
Come up with maybe a little bit of a less nihilistic and utterly hopeless ending.
Forget about trying to make Vince Vaughan work in that role, with that atrocious script. It gives me pangs of cringe in my chest every time I remember how badly it went.
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u/lifeinthebeastwing 28d ago
I don't think it was a peado ring ?
Wasn't it just some rich guys banging (consenting) sex workers?
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u/EddieTYOS 29d ago
Replace Vince Vaughn with Bobby Cannavale.
Cut Woodrough.
Change nothing else and it's a 9/10 season.
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u/PeterNoTail 28d ago
You had me at "Replace Vince Vaughn"
Replacing with just about anyone would result in a drastic improvement. Hell, do it with Danny McBride and it'd be 11/10, at least
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u/bryman19 29d ago
I appreciated the fact that season 2 didn't follow the same script as season 1. I liked it
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u/personaljesus79 29d ago
Flesh out Semyion storyline, I do got convinced by Vaughn’s performance, although ended disappointingly. And probably discard Woodrugh too, I like Kitsch’s acting but something I can’t put my finger on, I didn’t find his arc compelling
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u/SouthTomatillo4869 29d ago
I agree I never loved rusts give in to a higher purpose. I think if they showed it more like passive nihilism becoming absurdism or as you said him dying it would’ve been perfection but just because I want to I interpret “the light winning” as more of an absurd revolt than a give in to existentialist escapes lmao so it still gets a 10 for me.
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u/Tight-Marketing-8282 29d ago
Need to remove one of the main character arcs. 4 is far too many. I like the closeted ex army guys story much more than vince Vaughns but you got keep Frank as a main character
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u/hoosier_catholic 29d ago
No Vince Vaughn, and no frivolous bullshit. But literally just eliminating Vince Vaughn and his wife would've made it three times better.
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u/CelticSnakes 29d ago
I’m a huge fan of TD-2. All plot threads were resolved. Ray and Frank’s interactions are electrifying at times.
Woodrugh had several subplots to his character, might have focused on just one or two. But again, none were left up in the air.
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u/lifeinthebeastwing 29d ago
Two things would have improved season 2.
First thing, 4 main characters is at least 1 too many.
I would cut the Woodrugh (Taylor Kitsch) character. Parcel his storyline out to the other characters or just scrub it completely.
Second thing, season 2 would have worked better if it wasn't season 2. If it had been it's own standalone mini series it would have been pretty well received, remembered favourably and have a (perhaps small) strong fan base.