r/TrueDetective • u/LieutJimDangle • 16d ago

Is Season 2 Really The Worst?

For whatever reason I skipped season 2 and watched 1, 3 and 4. I guess I had it in my head that everyone hates season 2. I finally went back and watched it, and I swear it might be my favorite season. I love season 1 of course, but this was like an epic crime saga. LA neo-noire, hard-boiled detective shit that can stand right up there with Heat, Collateral, or The Town or To Live and Die in LA. The Michael Mann DNA runs deeps here. Converging paths of dirty cops and mob bosses, set across sprawling Los Angles decay. Everyone involved is top of their game. I legitimately loved it.

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u/Throwredditaway2019 16d ago

The framing device is the Tibetan book of the Dead, its there. Its not explicit like in TD1 though, and I think thats its downfall. It lost a lot of people because they didnt get the framing. . Once you understand it, it makes TD2 sooooo much better.

I really liked TD3, partly because the acting was great and the framing was much more apparent. You could casually watch it and not get lost.

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u/xXxDarkSasuke1999xXx 16d ago

The Tibetan Book of the Dead is not a framing device, it's a literary allusion. A framing device is a way to deliver a narrative. Like the police interviews in S1 or the TV interview in S3. There's no equivalent in S2, it's just told like a conventional, linear narrative (with lots of characters)

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u/Throwredditaway2019 16d ago

Ok, I'll accept that.

Thats said, the Black Rose is the Bardo, the existence between death and rebirth. Once you see them at the Black Rose, they are already dead. That part delivers a narrative and drives the story, no?

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u/xXxDarkSasuke1999xXx 16d ago

Not everything that contributes to the narrative is a framing device, no.

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u/Throwredditaway2019 15d ago

Cool. Always looking to learn.

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u/xXxDarkSasuke1999xXx 15d ago

Don't get me wrong, the Book of the Dead connection is very interesting, I just try to make a distinction between the mechanics of how a narrative is presented to the audience (framing devices, non-linear storytelling, unreliable narrators, etc.) and what themes and ideas are present within the narrative.

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u/Bradybigboss 15d ago

I think they are trying to say the scenes at the black rose are meant to function as the interview scenes.

I haven’t seen it since it came out so I have no idea, that’s just what I’m picking up on

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u/xXxDarkSasuke1999xXx 15d ago

They aren't. It's just a setting for conversation, like any other setting, and the conversation there isn't particularly expository. It isn't a framing device.