True Detective on HBO

[Luther Blissett]

Oh and I forgot about the Esalen Institute. I wonder if they were pissed when they saw the series finale of Mad Men.

They may have been sycophants, but I did hear from critics that Rachel McAdams's performance is great.

[Jerky]

Just watched the second season premiere of True Detective, and I have to say, I found it pretty underwhelming.

Also, it's a HAWK head mask that we see in that back seat shot, not an owl's head.

Anyway, watching episode two shortly. If I have any "interesting" observations about it, I'll report back here on them... you lucky ducks!

Cheers!
Jerky

[8bitagent]

I freaking LOVED the second episode tonight. Btw all the talk in the show of Guerneville, Sonoma County, the Russian River...animal masks, rich people, missing people....Nic Pizzolatto has to be leading us to Bohemian Grove right?
Won't give away any spoilers, but wow. No idea where the critics or season 1 fans are getting that this is a crappy season compared to last. Im already loving this two episodes in more than the second episode of season 1(it took about 3 or 4 episodes for me to really feel hooked last year)

[Wombaticus Rex]

Everyone who is unimpressed will be much, much more unimpressed by Episode Four, which is good.

It was a little fucking alarming how many people were rhapsodizing about that first season.

[Luther Blissett]

Definitely Bohemian Grove. I don't really seek out writing about popular media so I haven't seen much negativity, but I love it so far. Negativity would certainly be confusing, and I would have to chalk it up to groupthink. That last scene of episode 2 was golden, we were given a lot.

Crow's mask, maybe?

[Laodicean]

Also, it's a HAWK head mask that we see in that back seat shot, not an owl's head.

Raven.

[Zombie Glenn Beck]

Proverbs 30:17 "The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it."

[Forgetting2]

Well this certainly is ambitious. There's so much going on it kinda' feels like too much. Overall I'm diggin' it, but still struggling to pull it together. There's just so many allusions it's a bit dizzying. (Trying not to compare to Kubrick too much, where the allusions run extraordinarily deep, yet somehow it isn't dizzying.) There's so many themes and ideas floating around I'm not sure which ones to latch onto.

Sometimes I wish it wasn't quite so on-the-nose, as in Frank "goo in my hands," infertile Semen. (Also Vaughn as an actor isn't quite up to a speech like the one at the beginning.) If they bring back Caspere as a friendly ghost I might lose it.

That bird's mask does look mostly like a hawk, but the proportions are off, a little, or something, kinda like the black bird in the painting on the shrink's office wall, but different...

Maybe my tiny mind needs a tune up (Maybe I have a bias as I have an outline for a script I wrote about 4 years ago, set in a somewhat fictional L.A. and looking at some of the same topics.)

The ending was certainly a shocker, and I can only hope it becomes more than just that in subsequent episodes.

[8bitagent]

In both Episode 1 and Episode 2 of the new season of True Detective, there is repeated mentioning of "Guerneville, Sonoma County and Russian River". The exact place where Bohemian Grove converges

Monte Rio is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sonoma County, California along the Russian River near the Pacific Ocean. The town of Guerneville lies east of Monte Rio, and Jenner is slightly north-west. The population was 1,152 at the 2010 census, up from 1,104 at the 2000 census. Bohemian Grove is located in Monte Rio.

the last image we see in the True Detective Season 2 intro sung by Leonard Cohen looks eerily similar to the entrance to Bohemian Grove

Also, it's a HAWK head mask that we see in that back seat shot, not an owl's head.

Raven.

Yeah definitely a raven


Btw, in Episode 1 did anyone notice THIS in the house of the guy Velcoro beats up for harassing his sun?
framed photo of Luna Park in the entrance to the house:



I never heard of "Luna Park" in Sydney Australia. I guess 7 kids died in a terrible fire on the "Ghost Train" ride in 1979, lot of conspiracy theories since
as it being some sort of occult sacrifice to "moloch"

[vondardanelle]

definitely noticed that luna park picture in ep1. i migrated to sydney several years ago and luna park is such a weird thing. the harbor in sydney is ridiculously beautiful and it's always nice to just look at it when you can get down there, and as you scan the harbor you inevitably get to that evil clown, lit up like the sun. i've only been once and i loved it, but it definitely has a haunted vibe. never heard of that fire but hearing about it fits with the place. luna park made me think of PKD having that vision where roman times were superimposed on his current time-- i could imagine being there and seeing 1938 overlayed on your current reality, or that 1979 train fire superimposed on your reality, or that train fire happening again in the present. the place feels like scenes from the shining.

also though, i believe there are or were several luna parks around the world. the first may have been in NYC(?). ha, as i type this i turned around and remembered my wife bought a framed photo luna park that is hanging behind me. fwiw, really enjoying season 2 so far!

[RocketMan]

Very interesting! Thanks for the observations, guys...

Luna Park

Shadows on the sun
Another night's begun
It's always dark
in Luna Park
Wind across the moon
Electric storms and soon
a flying spark
in Luna Park

And when we're getting higher
we're happy
Somebody's eating fire
we're happy
The big wheel in the sky
will make you scream

Come on, join a line
The ghost train leaves on time
It's always dark in Luna Park
On the shooting range
the plastic prizes never change
So make your mark
on Luna Park

And when we're getting higher
we're happy
Somebody's eating fire
we're happy
The big wheel in the sky
will make you scream

Thunder. I wonder?
A storm will come one day
to blow us all away
like dust on the moon
In Luna Park
it can't be dark
too soon

A storm is coming soon
Like dust on the moon

Every night we go
to the latest horror show
and hear the screams
in Luna dreams
Fortune-tellers muse
on palms that bode bad news
The future's dark
in Luna Park

And when we're feeling scared
we're happy
With circuses and bread
we're happy
The whirling fair machines
are all we need

Thunder. I wonder?
A storm will come one day
to blow us all away
like dust on the moon
In Luna Park
it can't be dark
too soon

[Hunter]

It is definitely a ravens mask. There is a lot of speculation on reddit, which is a great place to read about TV shows like this, they do not miss ANYTHING, that this will probably be about some sort of bohemian grove eyes wide shut type thing but I am not sold on that because that is basically what last season was about, sex cults, human trafficking etc. So I while there are some hints that there is some strange sex shit going on with the missing city manager, which is obviously par for the course anywhere you go if you dig deep enough, I am not sure if that is what this will end up being about. Pillazzo if anything has made clear this series is an anthology and none of the seasons are connected to eachother and they each will have their own very different plots so it is hard for me to imagine that he is going to dip in to the sex cult, trafficking well again after just having done that the first season.

I have no clue what this will turn out to be but I am interested now. while I dont care much for Vaugn and I dont think he delivers some of his lines they way they should be delivered, I think this will unfold in to some very dark shit one way or another and while that usually does seem to involve strange sex cult shit I just think he is going to take it in another direction and not go there again so soon after just doing that last season.

[Wombaticus Rex]

it is hard for me to imagine that he is going to dip in to the sex cult, trafficking well again after just having done that the first season.

Huh. Have you seen the first two episodes?

I don't see how it can be avoided.

First season was about toxic masculinity, this season is definitely about toxic sexuality. It cuts through everything we've seen except for Frank Seymon's arc -- every other character. (There's also the fact that a family cult that abducts, tortures and murders children is a couple circles of Hell removed from the high society perversions and power plays being implied so far in Season 2.) Officer Bezzerides conversation with the psychiatrist, and the motorcycle cop's interaction with his mother, makes is pretty clear that Pizzolatto is exploring the jagged edge of "consent" -- there wasn't anything that subtle (or adult) within a billion miles of the Louisiana depicted in Season 1.

Sex and power. What else is a TV show about America going to cover?

[Hunter]

Here is something interesting, when they showed the city managers book collection most of the books where turned in such a way you could not see the titles but one book stood out. It is a good book too, RI kind of book:

[Hunter]

it is hard for me to imagine that he is going to dip in to the sex cult, trafficking well again after just having done that the first season.

Huh. Have you seen the first two episodes?

I don't see how it can be avoided.

First season was about toxic masculinity, this season is definitely about toxic sexuality. It cuts through everything we've seen except for Frank Seymon's arc -- every other character. (There's also the fact that a family cult that abducts, tortures and murders children is a couple circles of Hell removed from the high society perversions and power plays being implied so far in Season 2.) Officer Bezzerides conversation with the psychiatrist, and the motorcycle cop's interaction with his mother, makes is pretty clear that Pizzolatto is exploring the jagged edge of "consent" -- there wasn't anything that subtle (or adult) within a billion miles of the Louisiana depicted in Season 1.

Sex and power. What else is a TV show about America going to cover?

Well to be fair I did mention that SO FAR it does indeed seem to be headed in that direction but I am having a hard time believing that is what it will end up being about, I mean he just did that last season and he has said every season will have their own very different plots, so you are suggesting both seasons will essentially be about the same thing, high level sex cults, one in the back woods and one in the big city. I guess it is possible and you are right that is what sells. But then again, it is not far fetched that the city manager would be involved in some crazy sex shit, if you dig deep enough you will find that everywhere, so my argument was it may just be diversion but will eventually turn out to be something else, just as dark for sure but perhaps not particularly dealing with sex cults again.

You make some great points though, I really cannot argue with you on any of it, just adding my two cents.