“True Detective” vs. H.P. Lovecraft’s “cosmic horror” The final message of the HBO series reinforces a dangerous American mythology -- that the end justifies the means JOSEPH LAYCOCK, Religion Dispatches

Topics: Religion Dispatches, Nic Pizzolatto, true detective, mythology, reviews, Social News, Life News, Entertainment News, News

Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey in "True Detective" (Credit: HBO/Jim Bridges)This article originally appeared on Religion Dispatches.

For the first seven episodes True Detective was actually a struggle between two modern and intertwined mythologies of evil. In last night’s finale one of those mythologies won in spectacular fashion.

Nic Pizzolatto constructed True Detective’s plot from a pair of sources, the first of which occurred in Ponchataoula, Louisiana, in 2005, when a former pastor told police that his

church had turned from “Jesus to the devil.” He claimed they’d been holding Satanic rituals for years that involved animal sacrifice and the molestation of children. Or, as Jezebel put it in its headline, “Did a Horrifying Real Satanic Sex Abuse Case Inspire True Detective?”

While the case in Ponchataoula generated headlines about Satanic cults on both sides of the Atlantic, the details of Satanic worship were wholly invented. Accounts of black robes, blood orgies, and the rest appear to have been an “atrocity tale” in which accused child molesters sought to gain sympathy with claims of Satanic brainwashing. Buried in the bottom of one story about the case was a report from an FBI agent that no pentagrams or animal blood were found at the church—even with a “cult informant” guiding the investigation.

The second source is the book The King in Yellow, written in 1895 by Robert W. Chambers. Part of the fin de siècle decadence movement, this work is an anthology of horror stories about a fictional play called “The King in Yellow,” which renders anyone who reads it insane. Chambers presents snippets of this play that allude to a forbidden city called Carcosa—a trope first introduced by Ambrose Bierce in 1891. The King in Yellow mythology has since been invoked by H.P. Lovecraft and The Blue Oyster Cult.

advertisement

Religion scholar Philip Jenkins has suggested these two sources—contemporary Satanic Panic and the “weird tales” of pulp horror—are connected. He suggests that it was the weird tales authors of the 1920s, notably Lovecraft and Herbert Gorman, who first introduced the idea of secret, murderous cults into the American consciousness. These authors combined the fascination for “superstitious rural folk” among America’s newly urbanized population with Margaret Murray’s thesis in The Witch Cult in Western Europe (1921) to spin stories of Pagan cults surviving in the backwoods of America conducting sacrifices in secret.

Weird tales have a way of coming to life. Chambers’ idea of a forbidden text that renders the reader insane influenced Lovecraft’s imaginary text “The Necronomicon . ”  Author Kent David Kelly has dubbed this literary device, an “imaginary source of revelation,” noting that one of the key features of texts like “The King in Yellow” or “The Necronomicon” is that they urge the reader to question whether the tale has a non-fictional foundation.

Indeed, self-proclaimed counter-cult authorities such as William Schnoebelen and John Todd have insisted that the Necronomicon is an authentic text used by Satanists to conduct human sacrifices. In some cases these claims have been presented to law enforcement during special seminars on “occult crime.” This is why analysis of shows like True Detective matters; sociologists know that fiction shapes the “plausibility structures” through which people assess stories of Satanic cults and other fantastic claims.

But while these two mythologies have influenced each other, they present “evil” in very different ways. Chambers and Lovecraft are the masters of “cosmic horror.” “The King

in Yellow” is dangerous because it threatens to destroy our understanding of the world; it opens the door to madness and the “wholly other.” In his work on religion and horror, Douglas Cowan explains that Lovecraftian stories appeal to “the fear of a change in the sacred order.”

By contrast, the modern mythology of Satanic panic reaffirms a vision of spiritual warfare, a distinction Timothy Beale described as the difference between a deified monster and a demonized monster. Confronting Cthulhu or The King in Yellow is an apocalyptic revelation that inspires awe and madness, but confronting a cult that murders women and children just makes us feel righteous about our convictions.

Throughout the series Pizzolatto dropped hints in his scripts that Hart and Cohle were pursuing a deified monster who would change the sacred order. There are Cohle’s existentialist musings that we are puppets being observed from a “fourth dimensional perspective,” and the cultist muttering that “time is a flat circle.”

When Pizzolatto explained in an interview that he was drawn to The King in Yellow mythology because True Detective is “a story about a story” I assumed that beyond the surface plot of two heroes hunting down a murderous cult, even this pursuit of a demonized monster would ultimately result in a moment of “cosmic horror.” In fact, when governor Tuttle was the first to raise the specter of Satanic cults, I had hoped the show would use the weird tale mythology to offer a critical look at the claims of Satanic panic.

But in the final episode, we find no hint of what Pizzolatto called “deranged enlightenment.” How long has the cult been active in Louisiana? What is the significance of Carcosa? Apparently these questions are irrelevant. Billy Childress is just an ugly, insane brute who destroys innocence because he’s evil. (In the words of his half-sister and lover: “He’s worse than anybody.”)

The heroes also shed their own moral ambiguity as Cohle’s stabbing grants him a kind of gnosis that his synesthesia and drug use could not. He realizes that there’s a difference between good and evil, that his daughter waits for him in heaven, and that all of his existentialist angst was wrong. We are left with a cosmos that is starkly Manichaean, neatly divided between good and evil. Instead of a hideous Lovecraftian revelation, the series ends with what Tolkien called a “eucatastrophe” in which evil is suddenly overcome at the last moment.

Of course, there’s nothing inherently wrong with a happy ending. But the final message of True Detective reinforces a dangerous mythology that’s already endemic in American popular culture. The brutal misogyny of the heroes, their willingness to commit all manner of felonies—this was not a Nietzchean tale of those who hunt monsters becoming monsters themselves. Instead, this is a moral universe where anything is justified as long as your opponent is “truly” evil and good “gains some territory.” This is about as far from Lovecraft’s cosmic horror as one can get.

More JOSEPH LAYCOCK.

The return of the anthology seriesPosted by Alex Frail on Wednesday, April 2, 2014 · Leave a Comment 

MCT

The recent success of “American Horror Story” and “True Detective” heralds the return of the anthology TV series. Both shows have managed to attract critical acclaim and high ratings throughout its runs on FX and HBO, respectively. Now more networks are green-lighting anthology shows for this year.

Anthologies are unique programs, but they’re nothing new to TV. They began in the 1950s Golden Age of TV and reserve one plot for each season. In other words, Season 1 tells an entirely different story than Season 2, linked only by an overlapping theme like horror or mystery. A few variations exist, like the most famous anthology, “The Twilight Zone,” which shrank each story to just one episode.

Before TV even existed, anthology programs enjoyed widespread popularity on the radio. In those days, horrors and sci-fi dominated the genre. Later on, programs like 1963’s “Espionage” focused on social commentary during the Cold War and exacerbated paranoia regarding the Soviet Bloc.

After a few decades of waning popularity, anthologies appear to be on a comeback tour. “American Horror Story” sparked the revival, for which “True Detective” carries the torch. This year has an adaptation of the Coen brothers’ “Fargo” in the works, as well as a British comedy “Inside No. 9,” which has been generating some overseas buzz.

Since an average season has about 13 episodes (or only eight, in “True Detective’s” case), the anthology season demands good writing. Mysteries can’t grow out of hand. Subplots can’t take over, which happens too often in long-running shows. Both “American Horror Story” and “True Detective” exemplify these assets of anthology TV.

Nic Pizzolatto wrote “True Detective’s” first season alone in his garage, compulsively plastering notes all over his walls as his hero Rust Cohle does in the show. His work graced the first season with a uniform tone and mesmerizing characters. Some episodes were better than others, but all of them enjoyed consistency.

“American Horror Story’s” first season was chock full of intrigue. Who was the Rubber Man? What’s up with that old maid? Or wait, she’s a young maid? Why is Denis O’Hare creeping in the garden?

These mysteries, however far out there they might have seemed, were never too far-gone because the writers had only 12 episodes to wrap it all up. The byzantine plot can never stray farther than what one season can reign back in. Think of the mess that “Lost” became once the island’s riddle escaped the writers’ ability to crack it. “American Horror Story” was a ton of fun, and the ending solved each riddle.

The short engagement tends to attract far bigger names than other shows that last several years. Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson and Michelle Monaghan, all highly pursued film stars, led the brilliant cast of “True Detective’s” first season. Watching them inhabit a role for more than just a two-hour film was a real treat. Each actor got to know his or her character more. The format resulted in some of the best work of their careers.

The anthology does possess one letdown, something I call the brevity factor. As brilliant as anthology characters can be, they leave us after only a few episodes. In British anthologies like “Black Mirror,” characters vanish after only one episode. Cohle and Hart were two of the best characters to grace our TVs this past year, but now they’re gone. After just eight hours (and what an eight hours they were), we won’t get to see the true detectives anytime soon.

In interviews, however, Pizzolatto has said that he maintained the rights to the “True Detective” characters. So the door might not be closed on our battered heroes. Who knows, they might upgrade to the silver screen in the coming years.

Perhaps the anthology’s greatest strength can also be its Achilles’ heel. Since it is so short, writers must dive into their characters immediately or risk a lopsided season, one with a rocky first half that never finds its footing and a second half that irons out the wrinkles only to end too soon. A whole season could be a waste.

A classic like “Breaking Bad” found its stride as it grew, obtaining its legendary status during Walt’s endgame. What if we had only that first season? The writers were still trying to find their characters and to define what show “Breaking Bad” would be. Heisenberg might have ended up just a blip on the pop culture radar.

With the commercial and critical success of “American Horror Story” and “True Detective,” the anthology is on its way back to relevance. The anthology attracts excellence in writing and consistency, not to mention a few A-list names that would otherwise avoid the small screen. It’s a unique and enjoyable experience, at once more urgent than other TV and more intimate than film.

Alex Frail can be reached at afrail@umass.edu.

Decoding HBO’s True   Detective

“It’s just one story. The oldest…light versus dark”

If time is a flat circle, the obsession to uncover the darkest corners of the nightmares in our culture yesterday, today and tomorrow is futile.

The first season of HBO’s eight-episode drama True Detective ignited high public interest before the pilot episode aired. With an 11 million-view count, the highly anticipated finale caused the great crash of HBO Go due to the overwhelming fan base wanting resolution behind the gruesome mystery of Carcosa.

Written by novelist Nic Pizzolatto and directed by Cary Joji Fukunago the series focuses on Detectives Rustin Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and Martin Hart (Woody Harrelson) as they investigate the brutal, ritualistic murder of a woman in 1995. The two are reunited 17 years later by two other detectives trying to solve an identical murder suggesting the original killer from 1995 is still alive.

Poetically stylized and hauntingly menacing in the broad, tranquil grounds of rural Louisiana, True Detective far exceeds the procedural crime drama. It’s an investigation into the human character; searching for a creature you can’t see and hails on a dark philosophy suggesting that humanity is an error of evolution.

“To realize that all your life—you know, all your love, all your hate, all your memory, all your pain—it was all the same thing. It was all the same dream. A dream that you had inside a locked room. A dream about being a person. And like a lot of dreams there’s a monster at the end of it.” Detective Rust Cohle

 

The philosophical backbone behind True Detectives seems to go far deeper than the pages of the script. Inspiration, influences and theories have been identified to be in direct correlation with the storyline, or, at least, may have influenced writer Nic Pizzolatto.

Detective Cohle’s philosophical rhetoric in each episode (or even almost every scene) has not only spawned a hysterical meme tumblr, but also a closer look at the influence of the character’s grim overview of humanity. In horror writer Thomas Ligotti’s 2010 nonfiction work The Conspiracy Against the Human Race, Ligotti calls consciousness “the parent of all horrors” …a concept that could easily droll from the murmuring forewarning of Detective Cohle. While Cohle refers to humans as “biological puppets,” the same motif rings true in Ligotti’s writing on the nature of humanity in The Conspiracy Against the Human Race: “Now we know that we are uncanny paradoxes. We know that nature has veered into the supernatural by fabricating a creature that cannot and should not exist by natural law, and yet does.”

But the weird fiction correlation doesn’t stop there. We learn through the diary of the 1995 murder victim, Dora Lange, that she had met “the Yellow King” and mentions “Carcosa.” These both are referenced in Robert Chambers’ 1895 supernatural, weird short stories The King in Yellow; composed of ten short stories, the first four of which, “The Repairer of Reputations”, “The Mask”, “In the Court of the Dragon” and “The Yellow Sign”, mention The King in Yellow– a play that turns anyone who reads it insane. Sound familiar, right? The supernatural element of True Detective is blatant when Rust hears the booming voice throughout the maze. If this “Yellow King” is a supernatural force, and that ethereal vortex was not just another hallucination of Rust, a theory could suggest this to be completely evil entity not of this world. If that theory is plausible, this force could pass between human vessels warping their conscious—like Errol and the cult. An excerpt from The Yellow King is eerily identical to the crusade in True Detective:

Along the shore the cloud waves break,The twin suns sink behind the lake,

The shadows lengthenIn Carcosa.

Strange is the night where black stars rise,And strange moons circle through the skies,But stranger still isLost Carcosa.

Songs that the Hyades shall sing,Where flap the tatters of the King,Must die unheard inDim Carcosa.

Song of my soul, my voice is dead,Die thou, unsung, as tears unshedShall dry and die inLost Carcosa.

But beyond the theories that may have influenced the show, and also aided in revealing the grim world we live in, True Detective novelist Nic Pizzalatto carries the secret behind the subtext of his work.

“I don’t want to restrict an audience by telling them that ‘this means this’ and ‘this means this.’ My intentions are the inalterable definition of things. For people who thought Cohle’s philosophy was simply hogwash, be aware that you’re calling Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche hogwash. Just be aware of that. That is not, in fact, a college freshman stoned eating a pizza talking about life; that’s Arthur Schopenhauer’s thoughts on life. But I thought that was part of the tension within Cohle. It might not all fall into relief until you’ve watched all eight episodes, but yes, these things are eloquently stated, and they do make sense, and they are no more or less true than the story Preacher Theriot is telling you during the tent revival service. Somebody asked me, ‘Well, what does this all mean?’ Obviously, as an artist, I hate questions like that, but I could tell they were asking for a governing theme that could encompass everything else that happened. And so I had to think about it. And to me, if there’s one governing thing in True Detective that encompasses everything that is happening in True Detective, and that the show is telling you — constantly, the show keeps telling you — is

that everything is a story. Cohle tells you that who you think you are, your identity, is a story you tell yourself. He tells us that religion and philosophy are stories we tell ourselves. Cohle describes them as cathartic narratives, but in confession he’s so good at getting confessions from suspects because he gives them room to create a cathartic narrative. Hart says an investigation is the act of trying to put together a story after the fact, and when he goes over his story in episode 5, you can tell that Hart used to tell himself one story and now he tells himself another story. The show was never concerned with the supernatural, but it was concerned with supernatural thought, and it was concerned with supernatural thinking to the degree that it was concerned with storytelling. So if there was one overarching theme to True Detective, I would say it was that as human beings, we are nothing but the stories we live and die by — so you’d better be careful what stories you tell yourself.” via HitFix

If it’s stories Pizzalatto wants us to focus on questioning our faith, existence and purpose, theories jumping passed supernatural thinking into supernatural beings goes against what Pizzalatto is trying to project.

“There’s never been anything I didn’t love that I didn’t connect with on a personal level because to some degree, I projected upon it. That said, I think I’ve made clear that my only interest in the Chambers stuff (Robert W. Chambers wrote The King in Yellow) is as a story that has a place in American myth. And it’s a story about a story that drives people into madness. That was mainly it. Beyond that, I’m interested in the atmosphere of cosmic horror, but that’s about all I have to say about weird fiction. I did feel the perception was tilted more towards weird fiction than perhaps it should have been. For instance, if someone needs a book to read along with season 1 of True Detective, I would recommend the King James Old Testament. I wouldn’t tell anyone to go buy Robert Chambers. It’s not that great a book. Joseph Conrad and William Faulkner I think are in there far more than Chambers or Lovecraft. But again, I guess I hope that these 8 chapters, once the totality of it is evident, it might provoke a re-evaluation. But if it doesn’t, I’m very happy with the reaction we’ve had. It couldn’t have been better. I’m just surprised by it. I remember talking to you three months ago and having to convince you: ‘This just sounds like every other show,’ ‘I know, I know.’ And now my wife read a comment the other day that said I live out in the desert, and I run some kind of cult. (laughs) I don’t know what I can say about that. I think this show answers everything it told you to ask. The questions it didn’t tell you to ask are questions best left to one’s self.” via HitFix

Can you tell me anything at all about season 2?

Nic Pizzolatto: Okay. This is really early, but I’ll tell you (it’s about) hard women, bad men and the secret occult history of the United States transportation system.Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/true-detective-creator-nic-pizzolatto-looks-back-on-season-1#24gdZatZPJJtTFzq.99

Nic Pizzolatto: I don’t want to restrict an audience by telling them that “this means this” and “this means this.” My intentions are the inalterable definition of things. For people who thought Cohle’s philosophy was simply hogwash, be aware that you’re calling Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche hogwash. Just be aware of that. That is not, in fact, a college freshman stoned eating a pizza talking about life; that’s Arthur Schopenhauer’s thoughts on life. But I thought that was part of the tension within Cohle. It might not all fall into relief until you’ve watched all eight episodes, but yes, these things are eloquently stated, and they do make sense, and they are no more or less true than the story Preacher Theriot is telling you during the tent revival service. Somebody asked me, “Well, what does this all mean?” Obviously, as an artist, I hate questions like that, but I could tell they were asking for a governing theme that could encompass everything else that happened. And so I had to think about it. And to me, if there’s one governing thing in “True Detective” that encompasses everything that is happening in “True Detective,” and that the show is telling you — constantly, the show keeps telling you — is that everything is a story. Cohle tells you that who you think you are, your identity, is a story you tell yourself. He tells us that religion and philosophy are stories we tell ourselves. Cohle describes them as cathartic narratives, but in confession he’s so good at getting confessions from suspects because he gives them room to create a cathartic narrative. Hart says an investigation is the act of trying to put together a story after the fact, and when he goes over his story in episode 5, you can tell that Hart used to tell himself one story and now he tells himself another story. The show was never concerned with the supernatural, but it was concerned with supernatural thought, and it was concerned with supernatural thinking to the degree that it was concerned with storytelling. So if there was one overarching theme to “True Detective,” I would say it was that as human beings, we are nothing but the stories we live and die by — so you’d better be careful what stories you tell yourself.Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/true-detective-creator-nic-pizzolatto-looks-back-on-season-1#vlkdw2eMUJFuYC7E.99

Nic Pizzolatto: I don’t want to restrict an audience by telling them that “this means this” and “this means this.” My intentions are the inalterable definition of things. For people who thought Cohle’s philosophy was simply hogwash, be aware that you’re calling Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche hogwash. Just be aware of that. That is not, in fact, a college freshman stoned eating a pizza talking about life; that’s Arthur Schopenhauer’s thoughts on life. But I thought that was part of the tension within Cohle. It might not all fall into relief until you’ve watched all eight episodes, but yes, these things are eloquently stated, and they do make sense, and they are no more or less true than the story Preacher Theriot is telling you during the tent revival service. Somebody asked me, “Well, what does this all mean?” Obviously, as an artist, I hate questions like that, but I could tell they were asking for a governing theme that could encompass everything else that happened. And so I had to think about it. And to me, if there’s one governing thing in “True Detective” that encompasses everything that is happening in “True Detective,” and that the show is telling you — constantly,

the show keeps telling you — is that everything is a story. Cohle tells you that who you think you are, your identity, is a story you tell yourself. He tells us that religion and philosophy are stories we tell ourselves. Cohle describes them as cathartic narratives, but in confession he’s so good at getting confessions from suspects because he gives them room to create a cathartic narrative. Hart says an investigation is the act of trying to put together a story after the fact, and when he goes over his story in episode 5, you can tell that Hart used to tell himself one story and now he tells himself another story. The show was never concerned with the supernatural, but it was concerned with supernatural thought, and it was concerned with supernatural thinking to the degree that it was concerned with storytelling. So if there was one overarching theme to “True Detective,” I would say it was that as human beings, we are nothing but the stories we live and die by — so you’d better be careful what stories you tell yourself.Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/true-detective-creator-nic-pizzolatto-looks-back-on-season-1#vlkdw2eMUJFuYC7E.99

Outside of the questions, debates and theories, one thing is certain–this is grade-A work. From the haunting character of rural Louisiana that is as serene as it is haunting as the eyes of our mystery, to the best performances given by McConaughey and Harrelson, it’s hard to find error on any level. Let’s bypass the Emmy’s and instate a new law that awards True Detective with everything. Oscars and fun coupons for everyone involved!

Despite McConaughey’s fling with disasterous romantic comedies of the past, his 2014 Oscar along with a great list of more serious roles from the past few years, has solidified him at the top. Now I can firmly believe in his craft and appreciate that there is no challenge he can’t meet with any given character.

“Woody and I have always done comedy together. As Woody puts it: He hits the ball to me, I hit it back harder, he hits it back harder than I hit it to him, and we volley back and forth. That’s part of the beauty of us, and that’s part of the beauty of our friendship. But this is about opposition. This is about not being on each other’s frequency. Russtiiiinnn Cohhhhlllle. You know, I’ve been able to find such clearly identifiable characters, whether it’s Mark Hanna in Wolf of Wall Street or Ron Woodruff in Dallas Buyers Club. Look at Dallas in Magic Mike and Joe in Killer Joe – these are characters with such clear obsessions. I’ve said this before, but that’s what I’ve been choosing: Somebody who I could get drunk on their obsessions. Characters that live on the fringe — they’re all a little bit on the outskirts of civilization. I find a certain ownership and freedom in that.” Matthew McConaughey via Rolling Stone

A second season for True Detective has already been green lit. What we know already is that it won’t feature McConaughey nor Harrelson nor the creepy marshes of rural Louisiana. All

writer Nic Pizzolatto can reveal right now is that the next season will be about “hard women, bad men and the secret occult history of the United States transportation system.”

“We all got what I call a life trap, this gene-deep certainty that things will be different, that you’ll move to another city and meet the people that’ll be the friends for the rest of your life, that you’ll fall in love and be fulfilled. Fucking fulfillment and closure, whatever the fuck those two… Fucking empty jars to hold this shitstorm, and nothing is ever fulfilled until the very end, and closure…No. No, no. Nothing is ever over.” Detective Rustin Cohle

Share this:

Twitter Facebook 14

Email Print Reddit Tumblr Pinterest

Loading...

14 Comments

Filed under Reviews

Tagged as Cary Joji Fukunago, HBO, Louisiana, Matthew McConaughey, Nic Pizzolatto, True Detective, Woody Harrelson

14 responses to “Decoding HBO’s True Detective”

1. CMrok93

April 2, 2014 at 10:35 am

Truly a great show. The ending disappointed me a bit, but everything leading up to it was pretty awesome nonetheless. Nice post!

Reply

o Courtney Young

April 2, 2014 at 10:37 am

Thanks! I read that a lot of people were disappointed, but I have yet to understand why? What conclusion were you looking for? I thought it wrapped up together well.

Reply

CMrok93

April 2, 2014 at 10:40 am

I felt like it was too neat and tidy. Maybe too much for what had already been hyped-up for so damn long. I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me.

Courtney Young

April 2, 2014 at 10:45 am

I can see where you’re coming from…people wanted a twist or something, but it was ultimately a story of the two characters journey and transformation from the 1995case to present day. The case/mystery was really a backdrop and vehicle to progress the characters.

2. david young

April 2, 2014 at 10:49 am

Thought it was the best series on television since “The Soprano’s”. Matt and Woody’s back and forth dialogue locked me in. The story was tremendous, but the episode where Woody’s wife entices Matt just to get back at her husband was stunning. Who saw that coming? You are right; an emmy alone will not do the actors or this series justice.

Reply

o Courtney Young

April 2, 2014 at 10:55 am

Thank you! There was so much depth to the show that I could have written something entirely on the characters of the show.

Reply

3. Rachel

April 2, 2014 at 1:50 pm

This is a great post! I like how you thought of the show in a more deeper context, which it should be. While watching the finale I was a bit disappointed because I wanted to know more about the killings, but the last few scenes changed my mind. It’s the characters that really mattered and that I cared for, not so much the crimes.

Reply

o Courtney Young

April 2, 2014 at 1:53 pm

Thank you! There’s a lot to digest with True Detective, and the forums following the show are endless!

Reply

4. Alex Withrow

April 2, 2014 at 2:32 pm

Holy hell this is a great write up. I loved everything about the show – from start to finish, thought it was perfect. I really enjoyed those extended quotes from Pizzalatto. They helped add some perspective to things, which, in the case of this show, is a very welcome thing. Great job!

Reply

5. Courtney Young

April 2, 2014 at 3:52 pm

Thanks so much, Alex! Reading interviews with Pizzalatto gave me a much greater sense of clarity, because I had a lot of questions initially once it wrapped…his quotes definitely pointed me in a different direction of focus.

Reply

6. Brittani

April 2, 2014 at 4:03 pm

Excellent post for an excellent show! Seriously, great job. I absolutely loved the first season, and I can’t wait to see what comes next. It’s going to be so hard to follow.

Reply

o Courtney Young

April 2, 2014 at 4:09 pm

Thanks, girl! I also read somewhere about SoCal being the rumored location for season 2. Not sure how that will look, but we’ll see!

Reply

7. sati

April 2, 2014 at 4:32 pm

Oh, excellent write up, well done! I’m really hoping they get some awesome actresses for season 2, hopefully Winona Ryder – she needs a proper comeback!

Reply

o Courtney Young

April 2, 2014 at 4:36 pm

Oh my God…stop everything. Is Winona rumored???? That would be so victorious for us <3 and her.