At long last, "True Detective" returned on Sunday night. And even though it's been known for more than a year that Matthew McConaughey and Woddy Harrelson would not be reprising their roles from season one, and that this season is totally different, and that it won't be taking place in the delta, people are still complaining.
Overall, the second season has already received mixed reviews from TV insiders that have seen more than one episode.
My first impression was that this season is not going to be as dark as the first. That's not a bad thing, but it was a large part of season one that became the show's MO. By default, a show set in Los Angeles is going to be harder to portray as macabre than one in the Mississippi Delta, though.
The best part of season one, besides the superb acting and on-screen chemistry between McConaughey and Harrelson, was the setting, so I understand the gripes fans have. Given the change of setting, I expect the macabre of season one to be replaced with more of a noir feel this season.
The first example of this is that in Sunday's episode, we had to wait almost 45 minutes to finally get a glimpse of a corpse that the season will heavily center on. At first glance, the crime scene does not seem to be as obviously attached to the occult, which was also a staple of the first season.
As much as fans are going to judge and compare the acting chops of Vince Vaughn, Tyler Kitsch, Colin Farrel and Rachel McAdams to McConaughey and Harrelson, season two has a great ensemble, which is more promising. Each of the characters seem to have separate storylines this time around. The intertwining of them leading up to an eventual collision, especially the working relationship between Vaughn's and Farrell's different yet similar characters, should keep viewers on the edge of their seats as the season moves along.
That all being said, leading up to the scene where crime boss (turned psuedo-legitmate business man?) Frank Semyon's (Vaughn) buddy Ben Casper is found dead after ditching an important business meeting, the episode had some very odd, out-of-the ordinary moments, even for "True Detective." This really can't be overstated enough.
We've yet to meet a morally "good" character in two seasons. Farrell's Detective Ray Velcoro isn't going to change that. Exhibit A: look at what he did to the father of a kid who bullied his "son." That's after Velcoro, who has a drinking problem like seemingly all of the show's characters, showed up at the school parking lot and bullied his son into ratting out said bully for cutting up a pair of his son's sneakers. Weird.
The oddities don't end with Velcoro. McAdams' character, Ani Bezzerides, has a complicated family situation (once again, like seemingly all of the show's characters). After raiding a house where she discovers her sister is working as a webcam model, Bezzerides decides to pay her dad a visit. The one positive here is that her dad is the leader of what sure looks like a cult, which will probably play a big part going forward.
The actual conversation they have sheds light on some of Bezzerides' issues, like how her mother died, but it was a rare moment in the show where vital information is being laid out before the viewer. It wasn't odd in the way Velcoro donning brass knuckles to jump an innocent father was, but the show is known for always making the viewer guess — like when Paul Woodrugh (Kitsch) is aimlessly speeding on his motorcycle trying to kill himself. No context was given for that.
The two biggest bright spots so far are Vaughn and McAdams. Vaughn has nailed his early portrayal of a villain. Likewise, McAdams in a role unlike anything she has done before is quite promising, and she proved it in the first 60 minutes.
More than anything else, the message in "The Western Book of the Dead" was that this season is going to be very different from the first. Say goodbye to the minute-long aerial shots and hello to close- up portraits. Prepare for the world of a mob boss trying to have a hand in a sector of the transit authority, rather than one where a mysterious Yellow King calls Carcosa home.
