Really a solid episode.

Besides being another good episode, I really liked Roland's retirement house and dogs. That is where I want to be in 3 years but with only 2-3 dogs.

quote:

Originally posted by mdblanton:
Just watched last night’s episode. How I wish I could binge the whole thing. Same feeling I had when Band of Brothers first aired - waiting each week for the next episode to drop.

Really solid writing and acting in this season; on par with season 1 in my opinion.

Michael

Yes, this season is a good one.

quote:

Originally posted by ShneaSIG:
^^^^^^
I've been puzzling over this scene. Perhaps the shadowy men are all the people whose deaths Hayes feels responsible for.

And why the man in the suit (Roland?) is among them is really pestering me. Are we to think that Hayes killed Roland?

In speaking of the defining event of his life, Hays says something to the TV interviewer like "I used to think it was 'before Vietnam and after Vietnam', but later on, I realized it was 'before the Purcell case and after the Purcell case'".

Vietnam affected him deeply and even in his dementia, the memories are strong. Roland is 'behind' these memories because Hays cannot remember much of their time as partners even though he desperately wants to do so.

The intriguing take-away from last Sunday's episode is that although it's becoming clear that Hays and Roland killed a man in the woods many years ago, Hays can no longer remember the event except in the vaguest of terms. This is why he needs Roland's assistance.

Yes, this has shaped up to be a very good season, and in some ways, superior to the first season- for example, the segues between the different eras of the story are smoother and more artfully done than in the first season. However, in terms of characters, Matthew McConaughey's portrayal of Rust Cohle is one of the best things ever to grace the small screen. Hays is an interesting character, but he's not in the same league as Rust Cohle.

Great episode. Very balanced too in terms of action and dialogue, and some clues getting (mostly) nailed down. The final exchange of old Hays and West was touching. And I've got to say, Stephen Dorff is doing a damn fine job with his portrayal of Roland West.

I don't think anything will surpass season 1 for me but this season is very close.

I had doubts about the choice of Dorff after I saw his lame Vape commercial.
But he is doing a great job!

That scene caught me by surprise.
Raises more questions
I’m wondering how this will wrap up. There are a lot of unanswered questions and only two more episodes.

quote:

es, this has shaped up to be a very good season, and in some ways, superior to the first season- for example, the segues between the different eras of the story are smoother and more artfully done than in the first season. However, in terms of characters, Matthew McConaughey's portrayal of Rust Cohle is one of the best things ever to grace the small screen. Hays is an interesting character, but he's not in the same league as Rust Cohle.

There are several parallels, S1 an S3 and we of course hold all squeals up to the standard of S1. I look at them as separate and unique stories. I am enjoying S3 and even with only two episodes remaining, I can't predict the outcome. No trickery, just good story telling.

Casting as with S1 is excellent. I don't see any of the characters that are miscast or not up to the task of portraying the roll. Of course a lot of this has to do with directing.

Enjoy it while it lasts. I've a feeling that if there is a S4, it will be some years down the road and sometimes it's better go end on a high note.

I recognize that this is a rather pedestrian comment on TD S3, but I am blown away by the make-up artists and the aging of the actors in this series. The main characters as old men are remarkable and really stand up when the camera moves in close.

My question is just how many people did Hays and West kill back in 90? Did they kill Harris James, the Purcell mother, her brother, etc? Maybe that was the only way they saw justice being served... perhaps the bad guys got to Amelia bc she was getting too close and it pushed Hays/West over the edge.

RE: Para's posted pic: Looks like it's the chicken man what done it.

Maybe, maybe not.

Let's see:

The police officer who found the planted backpack wasn't in on it. The other officer, Harris James, was probably the one who planted it. His reward was a high paying job at Hoyt Foods. I think that Harris James is just what his job title says. I think he's head of security. Note that at least one of the shots of Tom entering the castle house was of a monitor for a security camera. I think we'll find out that this guy is security for someone in the Hoyt organization. That's another parallel with season one, but in the first season, it was a religious ministry, not a corporate tax shelter.

Harris James disappeared in 1990 and he's likely the guy that the Hays and Roland killed. The suggestion is that the TV interviewer knows this, but I don't think that's the case.

To me, the most pathetic person in all of this has been the father, Tom Purcell. In this last episode, the two detectives indirectly caused his death, and I think that Hays and Roland discovered this in 1990 and capped Harris James in the woods.

The last screenshot I posted shows the "pink rooms" referenced a couple of times in the series. This is where Julie was kept, and I think what Tom is looking at is perhaps a portrait of her.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: parabellum,

quote:

To me, the most pathetic person in all of this has been the father, Tom Purcell.

Yes. And so much of that is the excellent acting, direction, and dialogue. His life just sucks on so many levels.

Para's take makes a whole lot of sense to me.

I am thoroughly enjoying this season.

3 episodes in. Very good so far, and like the others I think it is similar to season 1 in many ways.

There are loads of online articles that recap the show and some discuss theories and things you might have missed on True Detective. But if you really like the show, as I do, here is, hands-down the best analysis and scene-by-scene observations. Obviously, spoiler central:

https://www.polygon.com/tv/201...is-james-pink-castle

quote:

Originally posted by Batty67:
There are loads of online articles that recap the show and some discuss theories and things you might have missed on True Detective. But if you really like the show, as I do, here is, hands-down the best analysis and scene-by-scene observations. Obviously, spoiler central:

https://www.polygon.com/tv/201...is-james-pink-castle

This is great! Thanks for the link!

So, now the story becomes clearer. The Hoyt family had a mentally deficient daughter and Julie was taken to live as the reclusive woman's daughter or playmate.

The overarching thing about Pizzolato's writing is an unbreachable slavery to the past. In seasons one and three, the characters move in and out of the events in their lives, slipping from one decade to the next in the blink of an eye. Pizzolato's "Time is a flat circle" corresponds to Vonnegut's characters becoming "unstuck in time".

This inescapable and ever-present past creates a sadness in the narrative and this is what we're left with, ultimately.

Marty Hart alludes to this in season one:

"You know the good years when you're in them? Or do you just wait for them until you get ass cancer and realize that the good years came and went? Because there's a feeling that- you might notice it sometime- that this feeling that life has slipped through your fingers. Like the future is behind you. Like it's always been behind you."



Over the course of a mere 8 or so hours, we see the maps of the character's lives, as if thirty years is a few hours and we are left- just as in real life- with an "is that all there is?" moment.

That feeling of pointlessness is more pronounced in this current season, given the main character's descent into dementia. Rust Cohle may have become an alcoholic living in the back room of a bar, but he retained his wits and his dignity and at the end of season one, there was a message of hope in the final scene. I wonder what that message could possibly be in the final episode of this season.