True Detective / Cosmos

[MightyPen 67414]

Wow; it's been a while since I've looked forward to a couple of continuous hours of great TV, but tonight was one such evening. Both at 9pm:

 

a) The last episode of True Detective

Okays, so I was late coming to this particular party; I just watched the preceding season over the last week, and watched the final episode tonight.

 

It's been a hypnotic journey through a sprawling mystery in Louisiana spanning two decades, and told in a braided narrative of past, more recent past, and present. Plus, brilliantly shot and directed, not to mention strikingly well acted.

 

Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson both do brilliant work. McConaughey's performance stands out more because he's given a character with much more to work with; deep philosophy, draining nihilism, catastrophic past and a singlular obsession with the series' central mystery.

 

But Harrelson does a similarly remarkable job with a more familiar and "safer" character, defined mostly by a burning anger and fidelity issues. The series takes a sometimes brave look at the way two people can claw at their relationship and burn it to the ground. And yet, years later, still recognize the shadow of their ongoing connection.

 

Did anyone else here watch this?

 

The second treat was:

 

b) The first episode of the new Cosmos

I remember being a young teen when Carl Sagan's original Cosmos aired on PBS in 1980. I watched the whole series again a few years ago; but when I tried again this year its age was showing. They've just begun to air a new series that follows the template of the original but promises to take its own journey. I was a bit worried that Neil DeGrasse Tyson, whose jovial 'buddy" persona sometimes resembles "Chuckles the Astronomer", might not be able convey the depth of the ideas Cosmos explores in the way Sagan did all those years ago. But in the end I think he did fine, and I'm really curious to see how they spend the remaining 12 hours.

 

So... if you haven't watched True Detective, I encourage you to go back and watch it now that the season is done. And if you didn't watch the premiere of Cosmos, I recommend you start watching next week. (But PVR it and watch it later; the commercials would be irritating as hell if you had to actually watch them.)

[Guest Ou**or**n]

I too was late to the True Detective party, catching it just over the last two weeks. I just finished watching the finale. Absolutely awesome show and true testament to the power of TV given great writing, acting and direction.