True Detective on HBO

[Hunter]

Several posters on reddit have pointed out that there seems to be some sort of middle eastern and/or russian undertone to a lot of what is going on so I wonder if he may dip in to terrorism or the russian mob for example. This all centers around a big land deal with a lot of money in play and a lot of people involved.

I personally did not notice the middle eastern things but I was not able to watch as closely as I would have liked and will do so when I rewatch the first two episodes, but there was a lot of discussion about this over at reddit.

[Hunter]

Here is one such post on reddit discussing the name of the institute mentioned in the show so far, the Panticapaeum.


"So I know the institute has been talked about a length but I did some research on the significance of that name and how it may or may not tie into the plot. What I found interesting was that Panticapaeum was just another Greek city that doesn't seem too important. So why use that name? Well first of all what stood out to me was its location in modern day Crimea(Ukraine/Russia). There were many rulers over this state but longest was the Bosporan Kingdom. Bosporus ruled over it as a Roman client kingdom. The main economy prior to Bosporus was crafts and coin minting. But after the state started to become very wealthy. How? From slave trading. A small class of Bosporians became incredibly wealthy from exporting slaves. They were so wealthy that many were buried in elaborate tombs called kurgans. Kurgans are underground cavities that have a structure that looks like a slight mound covered with grass. Sometimes just looking like a normal field. These tombs were filled with all sorts of riches from the slave trading era of The Bosporan kingdom otherwise known as Panticapaeum.
So does the name of the institute referring to a slave trading kingdom in Russia that got so rich they buried their wealth underground have anything to do with the Russian mob and possible slave trading cult connections. I'd say yes. Maybe there is a kurgan in that land they don't want found."


Not sure that I agree with THIS but it is interesting nonetheless and could be a lead as to where things are headed.

[Hunter]

Interesting article here about the Panticapaeum Institute in True Detective:

http://www.vulture.com/2015/06/true-det ... itute.html

I think somehow this place is going to play an important role in this season.

[Wombaticus Rex]

Agreed - that, too, cuts through multiple character arcs. Even the alcoholic mayor:

Frank:
...that hit and run? Your son's face was so coke-dusted he looked like a clown.

Mayor Chessani:
Hah. You're telling me. My son, I fear, is losing his fucking mind. Like his departed mother. Some people can't handle ... the deep trip. I fear he is a Destroyer. In my day, you understand, it was about consciousness expansion. Tracing the unseen web. Children are a disappointment...

There's a lot of dead wives in Vinci.

[Hunter]

Vinci is an interesting name too, I read that he based it on the very real and notoriously corrupt City of Vernon, California, does anyone know anything Vernon, CA? Supposedly a pretty corrupt place in real life and this is based on it.

Also, the City Of Vinci literally means City DaVinci, probably means nothing but DaVinci does have all sorts of occult shit going on in his works and life.

[Wombaticus Rex]

Vinci is an interesting name too, I read that he based it on the very real and notoriously corrupt City of Vernon, California, does anyone know anything Vernon, CA? Supposedly a pretty corrupt place in real life and this is based on it.

That's hardly an internet rumor (Bielefeld is real!) and it's been my subtext for the show the whole time. There's nowhere else in Los Angeles County remotely like it.

Vernon Means Business! Their actual fucking motto is "exclusively industrial." I thought Vinci was lowballing it, with that Bezzerides crack on representing "a city with 95 residents" but apparently Vernon has a mean 112 these days.

It's worth noting that Pizzolatto was in California working on True Detective (and apparently an optioned screenplay for his novel Galveston?) when the 2011 scandal in Vernon went down that nearly wiped the city out, if not for...well, corruption in plain sight. Basically, every single detail of exposition from the first two episodes = the actual city of Vernon, CA.

Animal heads not included.

If season 2 plays out anything like the real story, expect the Attorney General's office to be vastly more corrupt than Vinci city government, and expect that mayor to survive, exactly like he expects to.

[Hunter]

Cool info Mr Rex, thanks for the tips, makes things much more interesting!

[NaturalMystik]

Well this certainly is ambitious. There's so much going on it kinda' feels like too much.

Agreed... IMO It's trying too hard to be everything. Super artsy, super edgey, super dramatic, super mysterious, super shocking... Super meh... But i'll give it to the 4th episode as suggested.

[IanEye]

[Zombie Glenn Beck]

Going back to the Circles of Hell thing. Nic is easing us into something, First Dutroux, now the Bohemian Grove. Whats the end game here? Not for this season but for the series. Just how deep is he going to go?

[Hunter]

Going back to the Circles of Hell thing. Nic is easing us into something, First Dutroux, now the Bohemian Grove. Whats the end game here? Not for this season but for the series. Just how deep is he going to go?

Good question. I cannot even imagine what is ahead, both for the current season and the next after. One thing for sure is he is going to have a heck of a time meeting the expectations that the first season created, he set the bar very, very high with that one. I am not even close to giving up this season, I like what I see so far, this is made for a patient higher minded audience and not those who want zombies, vampires, blood and gore right out of the gate. He is taking it slow but I fully expect this to unfold in to something very dark and heavy.

[divideandconquer]

I like the second season, but the ending of the first season kind of killed any expectation of what subsequent seasons might reveal? This season will end either whitewashing the true nature of the establishment elite or just short of revealing its sinister side. It's a tease...the show deliberately offers itself up as a true exploration of the dark matrix that surrounds us all with the full intention of glossing over everything in the end.

From brekin:

It created a earnest exploration of very disturbing real life material that hadn't been handled or showcased in a wide or intelligent way-- and ultimately cartoonized it with its "that's all folks" and philosophy for dummies ending. Captain America used true conspiracies when it didn't need to and didn't botch the job. True Detective relied solely and wholly on true conspiracies as its whole reason of being and audience draw and bungled it completely. Without the material True Detective was exploring it would have just been another dumb cop show chasing serial killers (which it became basically) with the happy, good guy ending. You can't even argue that it was fulfilling and sticking to its pulp-noir roots, because those genres usually defy the happy pat ending without ambiguity. And don't tell me it was ambiguous. Light and Dark? And the light is winning? (as I believe he mumbled.) You don't get more black and white than that. And dare I say cartoonish.

[Wombaticus Rex]

Yes, we all look forward to Brekin's forthcoming book of media criticism, This is All Crap, Ye Thick Wankers: Meditations on the Spectacle.

Season 1 ended with the death of a poor, inbred killer in a state run by his rich, equally perverse cousin, who escaped not only charges but any investigations whatsoever. It's all right there onscreen.

I've known a lot of people who wanted Chinatown to end differently, too.

[BrandonD]

Yes, we all look forward to Brekin's forthcoming book of media criticism, This All Crap, Ye Thick Wankers: Meditations on the Spectacle.

Season 1 ended with the death of a poor, inbred killer in a state run by his rich, equally perverse cousin, who escaped not only charges but any investigations whatsoever. It's all right there onscreen.

I've known a lot of people who wanted Chinatown to end differently, too.

Season 1 certainly didn't end with the message that everyone is good and the world is alright. The disappointment is that they took the "lone nut" angle, which is the angle generally taken when portraying evil in high places.

However, what they seemed to be alluding to the entire time was the "large interlocking web of corrupt ritual weirdo elites" angle, which is almost never seen in serious big budget dramas. So it really felt like a cop-out at the end.

[Rory]

It's interesting to see the continued misreading of what events portrayed, even after its been pointed out what actually occurred.

There was an investigation towards the cousin. It was kiboshed and they went after the one significant actor who wasn't insulated by wealth and privilege.

It wasn't a cop out. It was the time old tale of reality