Current Shortcomings of True Detective Season 2

Copyright: HBO

I was trying to figure out what feels less than right in the new True Detective season. Like practically everyone, I really loved the Season one. From the first moment, it had that synergy of place and characters that was just magnetic in a sweaty, sticky, wrong way, but didn’t leave me feeling uncomfortable for a long time (maybe this is its only shortfall from being a truly groundbreaking show like The Wire).

Of course, I had big expectations from Season Two, especially because Collin Farrell (ever since I saw Tigerland, I am certain that the man is a great but underappreciated actor). But, at the same time, I knew that replicating the formula from the first seasons would be impossible, so I was just hoping for something interesting. 

For the first couple of episodes, I wasn’t even sure that anything feels wrong or inadequate. After all, just a year later, I forgot what happened in the first season’s episodes (for example, what exactly takes place in episode 3 in the first season?), so I told myself that this is a normal buildup process of the Pizzolatto type.

But after the episode five, I think I finally managed to transform vague feelings into words. It turns out that Season Two of True Detective simply misses many key moments from Season One, but fails to add other elements that could replace them when it comes to the pure factor of engagement found in the show. On the other hand, its characters do not succeed in hooking the audience with one major hook but try throwing many smaller ones, which don’t connect that well. Here are some of the key points of the current Season Two lack of engagement:

Season One had the Yellow king, a ritualistic murder and creepy drawings which were all powerful but unclear symbols. Season Two has none of these and even the main murder mystery is easily forgettable.

Season One had that strong idea that something in the show might be supernatural. Rust Cohle had his visions, the Yellow King had its presence and these blended into an atmosphere of eerie, dark wonder. Season Two has highways and illegal immigrants looking sad.

Character relationships are deeply undeveloped because of lack of screen time and too many character threads. For example, why would Ray Velcoro and Paul Woodrugh care about each other? In the first 5 episodes, they had like 5 minutes of mutual conversations.

Season One used direct narration to foreshadow and intrigue, without giving anything away in any meaningful form. Granted, the same pattern was a one-time trick, but Season Two didn’t try to pull its own trick so far.

Finally, Season One didn’t have Vince Vaughn, which was, in retrospective, a huge plus. Let’s face it, the man is just saying his lines and there’s none of that “I’m changing my career here” fire. Imagine him smiling a lot more and he could walk right into the set of Wedding Crashers 2.

This all does not mean that True Detective Season Two cannot become something great. But the window of opportunity for that is becoming smaller and smaller, while at the same time, the narrative turn that might be coming has only to become bigger and bigger so that it could really impress us.

Melody of Love (TV series)

Copyright:  KBS1

Daytime soaps long time ago became a world trend from many TV networks. South Korea, with its expanding film production and many promising names (Joon-ho Bong and his Snowpiercer is first that comes to mind) is also a big producer of TV shows in this format. Melody of Love is a perfect example. This soap opera focuses on characters and their emotional relationships, but also includes a lot of music as a background story.

The storyline of this South Korean daily TV show drama follows the lives of several young people. They are all in their twenties and trying hard to begin their real adulthood. But, this turbulent period is a challenge for them, both in their professional and personal lives.

The show focuses on three different families that are interlocked by several relationships. Gong Deul-im is a newcomer actress and a musician who is working hard at realizing her dreams of fame, even though her parents don’t approve her career choice.

Deul-im is romantically involved with Park Hyun-woo, an ambitious lawyer. Han Tae-kyung is a stage director and a leader of a drama company with whom Deul-im works, a man that presents him as a strict perfectionist focused strictly on his job. But in fact Tae-kyung will begin to have feelings for Gong Soo-im, Deul-im older sister. As their relationships become more interwoven, all characters in Melody of Love try to find personal happiness but also care about their family members, lovers and friends, mending any wrongdoings from the past.

From all of this, it’s easy to see how the intended audience for this TV show is; teenagers are the biggest group in my opinion, or those interested in South Korean contemporary family structure and relationship (obviously, dramatised to a point). To others, Melody of Love will probably seem like just another TV soap opera.

Hannibal - Season 2 Review

Copyright: NBC

I usually write about movies, but this doesn’t mean that I don’t watch TV shows. Currently, there are several that I enjoy and follow regularly, and one of them is Hannibal.

NBC TV show Hannibal had a giant task. It was supposed to bring the character of Hannibal Lector to the small screens and a regular TV show format, which seemed almost impossible. Sir Antony Hopkins, who is most famous for playing Lector, a brilliant psychiatrist and a serial killer, made the role iconic. But, Bryan Fuller and other people from NBC decided to give it a try. 

The resulting TV show is a stunning masterpiece of television drama. Now the series is in its second season. The storyline follows a Special Agent Will Graham, an FBI crime scene specialist, who has a very complex and troubling relationship with Hannibal Lector, in that time a free man and an FBI consultant.

  

Lector, who is brilliantly played by Mads Mikkelsen, is presented as a dangerous predator, but also an elusive target for the law enforcement. Laurence Fishburne, Eddie Izzard and Gillian Anderson are just some of the other fantastic actors present in the show. In the beginning I wasn’t very impressed with how Hugh Dancy presented Graham, but now he completely immersed himself into the role, and especially his character’s transformation.

During the second season, Graham becomes certain that Lector is in fact the Chesapeake Ripper, the main serial killer wanted by the FBI. I was worried that the plot will begin to fall apart offer the end of the first season, but it actually got much better and didn’t lose any suspense. Apart from a great script, the show includes a very refreshing focus on the visual aspect and presents a quality worthy of feature-length films. In many scenes, colors and unusual forms are joined to present the different emotional states and are a strong inducer of the eerie atmosphere found throughout the show. There isn't any beauty in real life violence, but in Hannibal, gruesome acts are often presented as pieces of twisted art.

With its peculiar storytelling and a terrific cast, Hannibal Season 2 should be watched by anyone who likes procedural police dramas, but also loves great cinema.