I LOVE what they did to S04! /s
With S04 we get none of that "boring" detective show that was S01-S03 with all its fancy procedural policework, well-written dialogue, complex characters and their focus on the main mystery that we as viewers get invested in and tangled up with.
No, no.
We finally get the highly unoriginal Netflix soap opera with dialogue written by a teenager (I mean, who needs all the "fancy talk" of earlier seasons, right?), with one-dimensional characters who all have a "daaaark and hidden past" that are revealed episode by episode (so we can slooowly check on our "overused trope" bingo chart which stereotypical dark past each character has) and a writer/director that is bold enough to drop all this "fancy detective stuff" and gives us viewers what we always wanted: a soap opera with loooots of drama, frequent yet dime-a-dozen interpersonal conflicts and pointless supporting characters that all have pointless storylines that are not connected to the case at all and just use up valuable screentime (this is a good thing because otherwise we would have to watch the "booring" detective stuff and casework and such...).
I love how they realized that no one is watching a show called "True DETECTIVE" to enjoy the interesting cases, the mystery and the detective aspect so they (very intelligently) don't even waste screentime on it, the mystery and the case itself is used as a mere backdrop, maybe 10% of the show is about the actual cases, so the rest of the 90% can be used to have some more saucy drama and soap opera conflicts.
I also love how formulaic this season is, here is how most episodes are "written":
Then finally R-E-P-E-A-T, so we can go back to the begininng of this circle.
I love how the writers of this show actually implemented the idea from the first season that "time is a flat circle" by making all their episodes follow this circular structure where we feel like we go in circles with nothing is happening and by also making this season as flat and boring as they could. This just shows the genius writing, the humbling respect and the deep knowledge the creators must have for the original brand.
So all in all 10/10, amazing soap opera with no bs "detective stuff".
With S04 we get none of that "boring" detective show that was S01-S03 with all its fancy procedural policework, well-written dialogue, complex characters and their focus on the main mystery that we as viewers get invested in and tangled up with.
No, no.
We finally get the highly unoriginal Netflix soap opera with dialogue written by a teenager (I mean, who needs all the "fancy talk" of earlier seasons, right?), with one-dimensional characters who all have a "daaaark and hidden past" that are revealed episode by episode (so we can slooowly check on our "overused trope" bingo chart which stereotypical dark past each character has) and a writer/director that is bold enough to drop all this "fancy detective stuff" and gives us viewers what we always wanted: a soap opera with loooots of drama, frequent yet dime-a-dozen interpersonal conflicts and pointless supporting characters that all have pointless storylines that are not connected to the case at all and just use up valuable screentime (this is a good thing because otherwise we would have to watch the "booring" detective stuff and casework and such...).
I love how they realized that no one is watching a show called "True DETECTIVE" to enjoy the interesting cases, the mystery and the detective aspect so they (very intelligently) don't even waste screentime on it, the mystery and the case itself is used as a mere backdrop, maybe 10% of the show is about the actual cases, so the rest of the 90% can be used to have some more saucy drama and soap opera conflicts.
I also love how formulaic this season is, here is how most episodes are "written":
- 3-5 minutes of the beginning they briefly address the cliffhanger from the last episode which usually leads to a dead end (what a complex and intelligent way of storytelling, right?)
- 45-50 minutes of force-fed... ehm, I mean highly interesting... soap opera drama where we can see our characters develop... well.. okay, maybe not develop, but mostly just existing and slooowly revealing to us their boring dark and hidden pasts and their unoriginal dark and hidden past conflicts with each other (yaay)
- 5 minutes at the end of each episode where the case is actually moved forward (just a single baby step forward) but is also left at a cliffhanger to protect us viewers from ever getting truly interested in the story (and maybe even to stretch out the otherwise seemingly very thin plotline... but who needs that, right?)
Then finally R-E-P-E-A-T, so we can go back to the begininng of this circle.
I love how the writers of this show actually implemented the idea from the first season that "time is a flat circle" by making all their episodes follow this circular structure where we feel like we go in circles with nothing is happening and by also making this season as flat and boring as they could. This just shows the genius writing, the humbling respect and the deep knowledge the creators must have for the original brand.
So all in all 10/10, amazing soap opera with no bs "detective stuff".
