HOW IS NO ONE WATCHING THIS?!?!

He's a good actor... but he's got this combination of a lisp and a back-of-the-throat vocal tone that's absolutely grating.


Also, this is a slow burn, almost painfully at times.

I'd classify it as a solid TV mystery, but not something that's so good I'm shocked that everyone else isn't in it.

That said, I'm all in, warts and all. My biggest concern was how they'd handle Holly, and they've done a solid job of that so I'm good.

I'm crying at Mendelthin

I'm a big fan of his books, but the adaptations are usually somewhere between shit, ass, and mediocre to me. There are exceptions, like Carrie, and Doctor Sleep was damn good overall.

The Outsider novel is a pretty engaging mystery, likewise until we get to the monster reveal.

What's wild is that my original post had your exact words on the subject, in that it does lose some luster once that part of the mystery is revealed.

So far this is the best, most overall faithful adaptation of a King book in ages. Everyone is putting in work, particularly Mendelthin, Cynthia Erivo, and Julianne Nicholson.

Particularly compared to 11 22 63, which was a poorly adapted dumpster fire IMO.

I haven't read the book and this has me tempted although we'll see how things go as far as the ending

I originally thought, coming in cold, it was going to be something more parallel universe-y or something else so when it was basically 'the boogie man' I was just a little let down.

I will say that for me Erivo is the weak link in the cast just because it feels like ACTING to me where Mendelson is so understated. It's really hard to pull off that kind of character and make them seem real and it's not for lack of trying on Erivo's part but she's unfortunately the weakest link for me (well her and Asshole Cop).

I'm a little cautious as things begin make themselves clear if they'll be able to sustain the quality and palpable dread of the initial episodes but even if not at least we'll have those. They were basically the best episodes of True Detective we've gotten since that show's first season.

>I'm a big fan of his books, but the adaptations are usually
>somewhere between shit, ass, and mediocre to me. There are
>exceptions, like Carrie, and Doctor Sleep was damn good
>overall.
>
>The Outsider novel is a pretty engaging mystery, likewise
>until we get to the monster reveal.
>
>What's wild is that my original post had your exact words on
>the subject, in that it does lose some luster once that part
>of the mystery is revealed.
>
>So far this is the best, most overall faithful adaptation of a
>King book in ages. Everyone is putting in work, particularly
>Mendelthin, Cynthia Erivo, and Julianne Nicholson.
>
>Particularly compared to 11 22 63, which was a poorly adapted
>dumpster fire IMO.

IMO Erivo's actually playing Holly in a muted way. From a real-world standpoint, she's a borderline superhero in the Hodges trilogy (Mr Mercedes). So from my standpoint, she's actually showing significant restraint, rather than going all Oscar(Emmy?) Bait with Holly's "spectrum" powers, so to speak.

But I could also be biased, being so happy for a solid translation that I'm accepting a mediocre performance.

Overall it's been really really good

It lost some of its luster as the PuttyFace Killah comes further into focus for me but
there's some brilliant work on display here especially in terms of Mendelson's performance, the score which is legit unnerving, and the sound design.

Last week's episode was probably the weakest for me.

The El Cuco/Grief Eater explanation brought it home for me because these families were completely falling apart for seemingly no reason.

of True Detective.

It is very tense and a lot of that has to do with the music and sound design.

I never read the book it is based on so I’m interested to hear from those who have what was changed for better or worse in this adaptation.

Question, has the main police officer dreaming when he saw his son and if so has this happened before because he didn’t seem to react shocked to see him.

>of True Detective.
>
>It is very tense and a lot of that has to do with the music
>and sound design.
>
>I never read the book it is based on so I’m interested to
>hear from those who have what was changed for better or worse
>in this adaptation.
>
>Question, has the main police officer dreaming when he saw his
>son and if so has this happened before because he didn’t
>seem to react shocked to see him.

havent read the novel either - im a bit worried about the reveal (ive never read a King novel but ive heard his stories end badly) - i have faith Bateman wont fuck this up

i think he was dreaming, or just lucidly imagined him, similar to when he looked at the kid he shot and saw his son.

man... the scenes when the people affected die and it pans to him (VERY EERILY) watching and walking away. whew.

i may re-watch the last two episodes, but im a bit confused on the dude who had the unloaded gun. they claim he's an 'accomplice', so is he similar to the other murder detective that threw the lamps in the forest? (LOL) - we better get clarification of what he was doing that for.

And what Play-Doh face was planning to do and that Play-Doh face killed those girls but he didn’t try to stop him, hooked him up with lamps, and he didn’t come forward to tell the police what he knew.

>havent read the novel either - im a bit worried about the
>reveal (ive never read a King novel but ive heard his stories
>end badly) - i have faith Bateman wont fuck this up


Episode 6 that aired tonight really flirted with disaster during the fight sequence. It felt like an entirely different show for five minutes.

Shame because everything else was probably the best episode of the season yet in terms of tension. The way they balanced the tone of Holly describing El Cuco to the squad and how who was reacting to what was fascinating. And how much they let that whole thing breath and really sink in for every character.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

im legit scared to watch these episodes, seems like anything can happen

I think so

It was fine (outside of the abysmal sequence w/ Asshole Cop) but the first two episodes of this show were so good it's insane.

I have a feeling this series unravels the more the mystery about Yung Coco is made clear

The shit with the iphone was eye-rolling writing. The old woman ass-beating was just straight out of a significantly worse show.

>It was fine (outside of the abysmal sequence w/ Asshole Cop)
>but the first two episodes of this show were so good it's
>insane.
>
>I have a feeling this series unravels the more the mystery
>about Yung Coco is made clear
>
>The shit with the iphone was eye-rolling writing. The old
>woman ass-beating was just straight out of a significantly
>worse show.
>
>

the mom in the apartment scene was straight out of It2 (an absolute disgrace to humanity and i liked part 1) - but I did enjoy the episode quite a bit up until then - it went by much faster to me than any other episode

im sitting here upset i dont remember the iphone scene

yeah i didnt hate that. i was able to believe the whole he sheds his skin "like a snake" thing. im sure when I watch again it'll look worse but my mind is dominated by that apartment scene getting ragdolled by air.

but i suppose this is vintage HBO, start off incredible and fall on your face as it goes. didnt expect it to be this quick tho.

I think the show's still great at building tension and I'm invested in all of these characters for unique reasons at this point.

The only complaint I can think of for that episode was that the plot is basically spinning its wheels at this point, but the shots of Jack/the bug on its back make it pretty clear that was the episode's major theme.

~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

this was def the weakest ep so far.

bit it does appear the writing and some of the decisions in the plot points are starting to suffer because of the subpar writing. It's a shame because all the actors/actresses are knocking the material out of the park. I can't think of a legimate weak link in terms of the performances, although I do think the divorced cop with the e.Coli redneck is a bit too one note, but that's because of the writing and not his performance.

just completely lost the mystique for me but i am a loyal fan

8 max

but after last night...

Some ephemeral, tear-drinking demon that devours families whole and leaves a field of decay in its wake? Cool, ripe for metaphor and exploration and fear.

Some bumbling guy that cannibalizes random strangers, howls like a wolf and attempts to take a kid from a heavily populated area?

For all the talk about how not-a-human Holly and Ralph had these past two episodes, they sure did a lot to undermine that by finally giving it a physical form and having it make very human mistakes and be afraid of very human problems.

At this point I can't back out, but this monster is officially a plot device that doubles a bit as a SVU monster of the week and I'm not sure Price & Co. can pull me back from that. I still love everything else, but I'm pretty comfortable throwing El Cuco in the scrapheap of also-ran fantasy villains/threats.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

Too late to back out, but it's going exactly where we feared it would. We hadn't read the book but just heard the rumblings of the direction of the thing.


>Some ephemeral, tear-drinking demon that devours families
>whole and leaves a field of decay in its wake? Cool, ripe for
>metaphor and exploration and fear.
>
>Some bumbling guy that cannibalizes random strangers, howls
>like a wolf and attempts to take a kid from a heavily
>populated area?
>
>For all the talk about how not-a-human Holly and Ralph had
>these past two episodes, they sure did a lot to undermine that
>by finally giving it a physical form and having it make very
>human mistakes and be afraid of very human problems.
>
>At this point I can't back out, but this monster is officially
>a plot device that doubles a bit as a SVU monster of the week
>and I'm not sure Price & Co. can pull me back from that. I
>still love everything else, but I'm pretty comfortable
>throwing El Cuco in the scrapheap of also-ran fantasy
>villains/threats.

But it didn't.

King lays out an engrossing mystery, until the monster reveal.

It sputters after that.

The inability to stick the landing is an unfortunate King hallmark.

He does it on 11 22 63 though. He nails that one, and that's his truest masterpiece imo.

He also hits a strong landing in Doctor Sleep. The book, not the movie.

>The inability to stick the landing is an unfortunate King
>hallmark.

once I found out this was based on a King book, I knew it was headed for an unsatisfying ending. that's his trademark.

I'm not one for sci-fi or fantasy-style books or movies so his work never really interested me. Same reason I've never seen Harry Potter nor like Lord of the Rings, etc.

But I loved the cast and had heard some good things so my wife and I gave it a chance. It's really well done otherwise for sure. But this past episode confirmed what we knew was inevitable, unfortunately.

give me a fuckin BREAK at that carnival scene. that kid was like at least 10 or 11. any of you willingly allow some masked dude hold onto your neck into a cave at that age? i remember how i was at 11. not happening. and of course he escapes a group of grown, angry men, trying to abduct a boy. if ever there was a good usage 'GTFOWTBS', this right here is it.

enjoying the acting immensely, as usual. cant really get over the monster doing velociraptor yelling tho, dont think i ever will.

>give me a fuckin BREAK at that carnival scene. that kid was
>like at least 10 or 11. any of you willingly allow some masked
>dude hold onto your neck into a cave at that age? i remember
>how i was at 11. not happening. and of course he escapes a
>group of grown, angry men, trying to abduct a boy. if ever
>there was a good usage 'GTFOWTBS', this right here is it.
>
>enjoying the acting immensely, as usual. cant really get over
>the monster doing velociraptor yelling tho, dont think i ever
>will.

I'm picturing you sitting in a nursing home at 80yrs old still cursing out this episode lol.

was the first irredeemable episode IMO. Nothing to truly enjoy about what I saw. None of the anecdotes from that characters connected with me and the appearance of El Cuco was a solid dud. The show appears to get worse and worse and things wind down.


I hope this is the last season for this show as I don't see this improving even if an anthology type is arranged going forward.

That was hands down the worst episode of the season. From a writing/directing standpoint it was atrocious. There were a number of scenes that were utterly superfluous:

-The drive to the chicken shack w/ the stop on the road
-The chicken shack scene
-The wife in the driveway (which was so clumsily staged/filmed)
-The left-behind wives
-The endless scenes of those little motherfuckers and their dad lost in the cave
-Holly teacher bf Mr. Sentient Dollop of Mayonnaise about the Spanish Civil War
-Anything with the brother being the absolute worst. Over and over again
-The weird cutaway to the brother loading the gun in the back seat while the lawyer yells at him to stop. Seriously, I thought 'Is he gonna shoot Marvin in the face?!'

So this has turned into "Not IT" but fails to do all of the things that IT does to set up the characters. They basically made a group of Losers out of secondary/tertiary characters and it has halted any momentum the series had. As a result, they're forced to use cheap tricks to try inject some sense of tension like the prolonged flashback, Mendelson's wife almost hitting a jogger.

It was, I believe, the shortest episode of the season but seemed to be the longest. Oh btw, if you use a significant chunk of your episode showing kids in peril only to reveal about midway through that it's a flashback you undercut any tension you've tried to establish. And it all feels like a giant waste of time.

Mendelson's character has been robbed of any agency and Holly is there just to explain away things about "Not Pennywise" that she can't possibly know even if she's Sistapedia. The asshole brother is has all the answers they need when he is not being an asshole or working out in his defunct yard gym.

Was this the penultimate episode of the show? I have no idea anymore because until the last few minutes/cliffhanger it felt like a midseason episode in terms of pacing, structure, and endless revelations of new information.

I'd honestly be happy if the show ended w/ the gunshots over a black screen. At least that'd be interesting.

LOOKS LIKE MY TRAINWRECK POST WAS EXTREMELY VALID AND PROVIDED EXCELLENT FORESHADOWING

you called it

I'm barely half-watching these episodes now. it's OK not to be as great as the first third of the season, but now it's just bad TV for all the reasons outlined above.

I'm probably just getting to the finish so I can bitch about it.

So bad

That whole shootout sequence was comically bad.

MOTHER NATURE!!!!!!!!

Fuck this show.

>That whole shootout sequence was comically bad.
>

How it could end on two events that are completely devoid of tension. The shootout reminded me of every complaint I've ever heard about action movies being boring to people who just can't follow what's going on and who's where in the scene. It was so contrived. The pseudo-Mexican standoff too, I was just constantly wondering why anybody was doing anything they were doing, it was almost a parody.


>Fuck this show.
>
>

"Who's Terry?" would've been the perfect last line for this show, just for one last twist of the knife of a reminder how great the first half of this show was.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

It's as if the first half of the show was True Detective Season 1 and the second half of the show as True Detective Season 2

I didn't look to see who directed the final episode but it was exactly what you said. Devoid of tension. That final jump 'scare' and the mid-credits stinger were equal parts unnecessary and cheap.

What a clusterfuck.

i figured, ya know, wow, someone yells that to our socially awkward Velociraptor, maybe after they kill it, maybe after it kills a main character....

ah! I see! it is yelling at our detective friend that is chugging Jack and yelling Mother Nature after shooting at a car.

i cant even process what happened in the cave. I have no idea what the kids and the town searching the caves had to do with our current character plight.

well done HBO, showing the boulder throw down preview of our accented Lead Detective. that is like previewing a boulder falling on Cersei.

im glad we are all agreeing it was awful, and watch-just-to-laugh-at-its-terribleness. congratulations to us all.

But they definitely fumbled in the red zone. Can’t say I enjoyed much past the explanation of E Cuco. The finale was almost funny.

cynthia erivo was great. **spoiler below **





from the looks of it, there will be a second season with her
being the outsider, can't wait to see this.