True Detective: Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
January 14, 2019 9:37 PM - Season 3, Episode 2 - Subscribe
Hays looks back at the aftermath of the 1980 Purcell case, including possible evidence left behind at an outdoor hangout for local kids; as attention focuses on two conspicuous suspects, the parents of the missing children receive a cryptic note.
Mahershala Ali does a great halfassed Jedi impression. Appropriate, because so far this season looks like True Detective: The Force Awakens, in that they appear to be taking great pains to give us lots more of the stuff we liked the first time around. That's fine with me. I'm pretty sure that by this point in season two we could already smell the flopsweat.
posted by prize bull octorok at 9:42 AM on January 15, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by prize bull octorok at 9:42 AM on January 15, 2019 [3 favorites]
Speaking of repeated tropes, is Hays supposed to be an alcoholic? The Wire-esque scene that starts the series, and him stumbling a little bit over the teacher's question of how often he drinks make me believe that may be the case. Also, in the establishing shot of the 2015 true crime series podcast, he has a bottle of what looks like whiskey on his night stand.
posted by codacorolla at 1:42 PM on January 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by codacorolla at 1:42 PM on January 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
Also, when he gets back home in 1990 after learning that Julie Purcell is still alive and spends the evening distracted, he takes care to mention to Amelia that he's not drunk.
posted by invitapriore at 9:48 PM on January 16, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by invitapriore at 9:48 PM on January 16, 2019 [1 favorite]
The spiral did stick out to me as a season 1 reference as well.
Looks like the cops have formed a task force this time around too, and political figures are involved with it.
But I am feeling like this season is looking up. The fallible memory angle made itself more apparent, especially in the last few minutes. Hopefully they go somewhere interesting with it.
posted by good in a vacuum at 10:38 PM on January 16, 2019 [1 favorite]
Looks like the cops have formed a task force this time around too, and political figures are involved with it.
But I am feeling like this season is looking up. The fallible memory angle made itself more apparent, especially in the last few minutes. Hopefully they go somewhere interesting with it.
posted by good in a vacuum at 10:38 PM on January 16, 2019 [1 favorite]
As I said in the episode 1 thread, I'm here for Mahershala Ali and boy, does he deliver! Great episode.
posted by Pendragon at 3:03 PM on January 17, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by Pendragon at 3:03 PM on January 17, 2019 [3 favorites]
I'm in the "looks good enough to me" camp.
I guess I wasn't supposed to be put off by our detectives kidnapping and seriously assaulting a man (because of past crimes, which I don't remember being clearly enough defined as max_child_abuse for me to go "yeah this guy doesn't deserve legal rights ever again!1!"). This isn't something I probably would have even thought about 15 years ago while watching some fiction but I dunno, times have changed, and now extra-legal stuff by authorities makes me cringe. Perhaps I missed some mitigating factor.
Was pleased with myself for recognizing the resemblance to Grace Gummer of... her sister (the Lucy character) based on seeing Grace in Mr. Robot. She looked so familiar, I thought, is that her with makeup? Can't be--but it is her sister Mamie.
posted by sylvanshine at 11:43 PM on January 18, 2019
I guess I wasn't supposed to be put off by our detectives kidnapping and seriously assaulting a man (because of past crimes, which I don't remember being clearly enough defined as max_child_abuse for me to go "yeah this guy doesn't deserve legal rights ever again!1!"). This isn't something I probably would have even thought about 15 years ago while watching some fiction but I dunno, times have changed, and now extra-legal stuff by authorities makes me cringe. Perhaps I missed some mitigating factor.
Was pleased with myself for recognizing the resemblance to Grace Gummer of... her sister (the Lucy character) based on seeing Grace in Mr. Robot. She looked so familiar, I thought, is that her with makeup? Can't be--but it is her sister Mamie.
posted by sylvanshine at 11:43 PM on January 18, 2019
Oh wow, I didn't even know there were two Gummer sisters until now. I saw her in this and was like "oh that's Meryl Streep's daughter from The Good Wife. Mamie something." And my friend was like "oh yeah, she's in Mr. Robot too!" Turns out we were wrong about almost everything, but DANG. Do those two look exactly alike or what.
posted by triggerfinger at 11:48 PM on January 19, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by triggerfinger at 11:48 PM on January 19, 2019 [1 favorite]
I guess I wasn't supposed to be put off by our detectives kidnapping and seriously assaulting a man (because of past crimes, which I don't remember being clearly enough defined as max_child_abuse for me to go "yeah this guy doesn't deserve legal rights ever again!1!"). This isn't something I probably would have even thought about 15 years ago while watching some fiction but I dunno, times have changed, and now extra-legal stuff by authorities makes me cringe. Perhaps I missed some mitigating factor.
For what it's worth, I got the sense from the tone of that scene and the surrounding context that it was indeed meant to be off-putting, although I'm still kind of tentative in my willingness to ascribe intentionality to Nic Pizzolatto's writing that way. Still, in the best of all possible universes, that scene plays off of a historical accounting of police brutality that has primarily targeted black people, a reading that I think is buttressed by some of the more subtle indications of institutional racism in the police force, like the resentful body language from the white beat cops that Hays issues commands to after first getting to the Purcell house, and some of the more explicit ones, like Hays' white partner aggressively dismissing Hays' concerns that the white people Hays is interviewing will hold back on account of his being black (if I remember right). I'm hoping that further episodes support that reading.
posted by invitapriore at 7:29 PM on January 20, 2019 [2 favorites]
For what it's worth, I got the sense from the tone of that scene and the surrounding context that it was indeed meant to be off-putting, although I'm still kind of tentative in my willingness to ascribe intentionality to Nic Pizzolatto's writing that way. Still, in the best of all possible universes, that scene plays off of a historical accounting of police brutality that has primarily targeted black people, a reading that I think is buttressed by some of the more subtle indications of institutional racism in the police force, like the resentful body language from the white beat cops that Hays issues commands to after first getting to the Purcell house, and some of the more explicit ones, like Hays' white partner aggressively dismissing Hays' concerns that the white people Hays is interviewing will hold back on account of his being black (if I remember right). I'm hoping that further episodes support that reading.
posted by invitapriore at 7:29 PM on January 20, 2019 [2 favorites]
I guess I wasn't supposed to be put off by our detectives kidnapping and seriously assaulting a man
Oh, I think we kinda were supposed to be startled by that. And also by the scene in the first episode of them slacking off on duty -- drinking and shooting rats -- before the missing-kids call comes in.
My suspicion is that a big part of the arc of this season will be a growing reveal that Hays is neither a good cop nor a good man. Which again is really a retread of season 1, but hey.
Maybe relatedly: it feels like Vietnam is casting quite a big shadow over the 1980 parts of this. Hays and West are both veterans; the trash-collector tells them about being changed -- damaged -- by his service there. Is the kids' father also a veteran? I forget. Anyway, I suspect that the exact nature of what Hays did in Vietnam is going to come more into play; and that it wasn't just tracking.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 12:18 PM on January 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
Oh, I think we kinda were supposed to be startled by that. And also by the scene in the first episode of them slacking off on duty -- drinking and shooting rats -- before the missing-kids call comes in.
My suspicion is that a big part of the arc of this season will be a growing reveal that Hays is neither a good cop nor a good man. Which again is really a retread of season 1, but hey.
Maybe relatedly: it feels like Vietnam is casting quite a big shadow over the 1980 parts of this. Hays and West are both veterans; the trash-collector tells them about being changed -- damaged -- by his service there. Is the kids' father also a veteran? I forget. Anyway, I suspect that the exact nature of what Hays did in Vietnam is going to come more into play; and that it wasn't just tracking.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 12:18 PM on January 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
I was pretty taken aback by the scene with the sex offender. It seems out of place. It was pretty brutal in an otherwise tame-ish show, and for no reason.
I will say that Scoot McNairy's (the father) performance in this episode blew me away. I loved (to hate) him in Halt and Catch Fire.
posted by FirstMateKate at 6:38 AM on January 23, 2019
I will say that Scoot McNairy's (the father) performance in this episode blew me away. I loved (to hate) him in Halt and Catch Fire.
posted by FirstMateKate at 6:38 AM on January 23, 2019
I can't say I was shocked by the sex offender scenes. They have no leads and are desperate to find the girl. The detectives in both previous seasons are severely damaged people. I would be shocked if they weren't here as well.
posted by Brocktoon at 12:54 PM on January 29, 2019
posted by Brocktoon at 12:54 PM on January 29, 2019
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posted by codacorolla at 10:17 PM on January 14, 2019 [1 favorite]