So much this. I find myself doing other things while watching these episodes lately. Farrell's scenes are the only times when I completely focus, then feel sad for what could have been if they just casted better and had a tighter plot.

I'm not disagreeing that Mads is a total fox. But consider his fellow Danish actors, Viggo Mortensen and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. For whatever reason (maybe your conjecture about Nordic heads!) Mads' somewhat harsher features end up making him more of an 'acquired taste', whereas Viggo and Nikolaj have more universal…

He definitely has that "old-timey portrait of a European noble" thing going on. All I can say is it totally works for the roles he picks.

Because it's problematic and triggering when we deny a fictional character her basic rights.

Happy to see that the comment section of TD remains pleasingly schizophrenic with regard to loving or hating the show. If nothing else, the second season is satisfying a need I didn't know I had before now, namely a shirtless Taylor Kitsch.

There's definitely a question of how we are supposed to parse the reviewer's rating, more specifically, relative to what standard. Is it relative to other shows currently airing during summer? The past season of TD? Cops & robbers shows in general? The best of the best (The Wire, etc.)?

What bothers me more than anything is how hard it is to tell whether the writing for Vaughn's character is unforgivably bad, or whether it's just Vaughn who can't sell his lines. I feel like I've been buying everybody else's lines on the show.

This has probably been mentioned before (and I know it's gauche to compare TV shows on AV Club) but Another Period gives me strong Broad City vibes. And to its credit! The cast is pretty great and the hit rate for the jokes is pretty high (for me anyway). The little squabble that breaks out after "Blanche is a woman!"…

Oh, hush your bleating.

Incisive. Sounds like I'm gonna need a lot of snails!

This is exactly why these kinds of arguments— "just pretend it's not True Detective!"—annoy me. Increased expectations is, I feel, a reasonable price to pay for riding the wave of popularity that you get by being "True Detective". That wave grants the show the audience's goodwill for a few episodes, but sooner or…

It is my cross to bear that shows like How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory get 9+ seasons, yet Firefly and Hannibal are dead in the water.

I agree that the in-the-closet subplot doesn't seem especially relevant for a grown man living near LA in this decade. But I think the culprit is really creepy mama. From what we've seen, there is definitely an unhealthy warping of masculinity and sexuality going on there, and he'd probably be just as messed up if he…

Absolutely agree. Also remember the two detectives interviewing Marty and Rust serve as a kind of silent proxy for the audience as well, for most of the season.

It's at times like these that I wonder about the financial pull of Netflix and Hulu. Can they realistically compete with network TV when it comes to things like actors' salaries?

Oh my God Karen, you can't just ask a masked murderer if he has astigmatism!

I really think there are a couple of issues with the scripting, compared to Season 1. But I'm optimistic as we get to know everyone, things will be more engaging. My rambling thoughts:

More like a perfect example of, "what's the worst that could happen if I don't do my job? It's not like we're living through the apocalypse or anything."

Can I just say I really love the Daryl-Aaron dynamic and would 100% watch a spinoff of them going about their adventures with maybe a tiny romantic undercurrent of "will they or won't they" to keep us occupied?

Frankly it's the most succinct argument so far that Alexandria needed a change in attitude.