I didn't read it that way and I don't know if it really fits, but I like it and think that's a clever way to see that scene.

I honestly think this season would have rivaled, if not bested, last season if it focused entirely on Ani.

Yes and no. There are a number of reasons why your slide might not lock back when the magazine is empty (an old mag can cause it, for example). If you're in a decent situation where you can swap mags and have time to stow the old mag, you might consider a reload instead to ensure you have a full mag. If you're on the…

I wasn't? Man, I really thought I was :(

There's a rhythm to it that Heat especially gets right.

There's a rhythm to it that Heat especially gets right.

I agree with that. My beef's (beeves?) are more from the place of being a pedant about guns, tactics, etc., but if you don't know anything about those you might not notice. Both shootouts do really well with the details that most people might notice even if they don't realize it. Even just the most basic…

Totally fair. I'm thinking stakes in terms of the plot itself. I can absolutely see people not liking this season; I'm still on the fence overall. Still hopeful it all shakes out into something rewarding.

Quick note of comparison: Both handle guns very well. Take, for example, Vincent checking the chamber of his handgun in the elevator and Woodrugh checking the chamber of his mid-fight. You don't see that in a lot of shows. Some shows about the military still think cordite is a thing you'd smell on a modern battlefield…

I think there were stakes to S2's shootout as well. Just because it was an ambush doesn't change the fact that they were going into enemy territory to get the guy who was potentially this season's "Ginger". In fact, like I said, the fallout from their failure to do so (he's shot and killed, of course), makes the…

I just rewatched the Ledoux part of The Secret Fate of All Life and when Reggie says, "Time is a flat circle," Cohle verbatim says, "What is that, Nietzsche? Shut the fuck up."

Hmm, you know what, I think you're right. My idea was predicated on the thought that they also showed parts of the lie version of the raid on Ledoux's as well as the real version, but they don't. My bad; it's been a while since I rewatched the first season.

Yeah, SEALs know how to peel.

Fair enough, but a big part of the flashbacks is that they blur the line between the truth and the fiction that Marty and Rust are telling Papania and Gilbough. 99% of the philosophical stuff Rust says are in flashbacks or when he's talking to the detectives. When he leaves them and he and Marty start working on the…

Said this at the time, but one thing people forget about Cohle is that a lot of his musings were a put-on for Gilbough and Papania. For example, the most famous line from that season ("time is a flat circle") wasn't something he thought of; Ledoux said it to him while he was guarding him as Marty searched the premises.

Yep, but with different degrees of fucked.

They absolutely could have made a tactical retreat, the same way they made a tactical advance, the same way any unit makes those. The leads were suppressing and moving as they should; the lesser characters who died early on broke cover when they shouldn't have, when no one was suppressing for them. Dixon was a great…

Oh, absolutely, and that's why I think these scenes might be some of my favorite. I'm definitely not arguing that it's unrealistic or that I would actually prefer to see a movie or show in which they made a tactical retreat (how boring that would be).

Note to fictional (and possibly non-fictional) police: Letting a criminal escape > dozens of dead cops/citizens.

The shootout scene falls into what is becoming either my least favorite type of scene or my favorite type of scene (I'm so on the fence): Police refusing to de-escalate a situation in spite of the ramifications. I mentioned this on an article about Heat a little while ago, but the shootout scene in the streets in that…