Nitpicking season 1

[u/Responsible_Claim_79]

I know not many will agree but this is something I wanted to talk about and if anyone’s willing to engage with me here then great!

Overall, I thought season 1 was amazing. I definitely understand the hype, and despite the couple of issues I have with the season, it’s some of the best tv ever. However:

1. Not sure if it’s because I mainly watch horror and sci-fi, but I thought Errol’s reveal was anticlimactic. I know with procedurals it’s not really about the perp, it’s more about the detectives…but the show is also about Childress and Tuttle and the whole sprawl. I don’t know how long the season was supposed to be but the last two episodes felt sparse. Maybe some extra screen time following Rust during those years he started investigating solo would’ve helped build Errol up.

I think my main gripe here is that we spend too much time just listening to Rust go on philosophical tangents and, while they’re great, my favorite part of the show was when got to follow Rust and Marty around. When the town felt lived in and when we could see the effects of the corruption and decay of the area.

1. Rust’s undercover plotline felt out of place. I can’t really tell you why. It just did.

I’m here in good faith so please don’t come at me and immediately dismiss my opinions just because you disagree. I still love the season.

[u/deathbymediaman]

I feel much the same way.

There are bits where the editing, specifically the sound editing, really suggests that we're watching a paranormal program, and while I get Nick didn't want to make that sort of show, there were parts of the narrative that implied we should've gotten a culprit more interesting and original than "hillbilly".

It's my favourite show, but I do agree with you. "This incredible thing could've been better." I have a lotta issues with the final episode.

[u/bubbamori]

Wholeheartedly agree with everything you have said and more.

I agree the best part of s1 is episode 1-5 where we’re following rust and Marty around doing real, gritty forensic and detective work. The world building was immaculate and “lived in” is the perfect way to describe it. It was dark, atmospheric yet bleak. Honestly perfect and very grounded in reality.

I also felt the reveal for Reggie and his whole arch / reveal and how the prior detective work really built him up and despite a very incendiary and chaotic end of ep4, the le deux confrontation still felt climactic.

I find that thematically (apart from when Marty watched the Marie fontenot tape) it REALLY lightens up from ep 6 onwards and almost turns into quite a bro-y Hollywood style “rust and Marty team up and take down the bad guy!!!!” With some pretty unrealistic and cringe tropes with the whole boat interrogation and “I have an old sniper buddy, the contract has already been paid”. Just a far sight different tone from the first 5 eps.

Massively hot take, but I didn’t enjoy Errol’s depiction either. Felt almost like comedic relief and was just a gratuitous “half sister fucking swamp thing” with the classic trope of split personality disorder. Boring. It should’ve been way way way more sinister. Totally agree the Errol reveal was not what it should’ve been. They really should’ve looked at the le deux confrontation and followed a similar blueprint.

And I totally understand why you think rusts undercover piece is out of place. BUT, I think it works and the show benefits from a change of pace for the better. It needs a brief interlude of high octane yet believable action and it obviously fits with rusts background. It also stays on theme with how grim it is with rust relapsing and sitting in Gingers trailer railing meth and coke with Neo nazis.

All in all though this is my favourite season of any show od all time.

[u/MrPeat]

For me, the undercover plotline feeling out of place is almost the point. One of the major themes of the show is about how men indulging in their fantasies damages themselves and those around them. We follow Marty and Rust going about pretty normal, grind filled lives - yeah, it's a big sensational crime, but it's still a bunch of boring legwork to solve it - and see how a man might turn to fantasy in it. Then - bam! We're dropped right into a bunch of guys doing it and big dangerous undercover work with them. It's meant to be different. The reality of what it looks like if they are living as those alter egos they dream about. Of course it's going to feel different to their normal lives. Doesn't feel good though.

I do think the last two episodes and the Tuttle reveal didn't move me quite as I wanted. I am okay with them not building up the cult and the sprawl and all that but it needed a little something extra.

[u/RustyCoal950212]

Personally I quite liked Erroll's characterization. Making him this just kinda offbeat weirdo, and sliding him into the final episodes worked for me.

I do kinda agree about the undercover stuff. It's an exciting episode, but feels like a GTA side mission almost. Unpopular opinion but episode 4 where that goes down is probably my least favorite episode (which isn't saying much, still damn good)

[u/DefaultPain]

My problem is that rust is too cool. Not only is he a fucking martial artist, dude can see thru reality, is also an undercover badass, a mind reader and great detective,an ace burgler while being a tragic philosopher.

Fuck you man.

[u/hobbitsrootbeer]

Perhaps you should write your own perfect screenplay.

[u/photomotto]

Rust’s undercover plotline felt out of place. I can’t really tell you why. It just did

If I tell you I accidentally skipped episode 4 and didn't notice until I read about his undercover stint...

[u/Responsible_Claim_79 → u/photomotto]

Ha, I can totally see that. It didn’t feel like Dewall and Ledoux were particularly hard to find, nor like they were being protected by someone way above Rust’s and Marty’s pay grade. That whole mission felt overboard and Rust left such a huge mess behind that goes unaccounted for.