In 2015, former detective Wayne Hays stands in his former police station, waiting for his son. He uses every tool in his possession to get what he wants from Henry, who is a detective just like Dad. He first tries charm (already demonstrated on the desk sergeant), asking his son, once so hungry for dad’s approval, “Where else am I going to go than Detective Hays?” He tacitly puts himself in his son’s hands, asking “You think I ought to walk around with a note? Whatever you think.” He tries to persuade his son the research is good for him, “for my head, I mean.”
Finally, face to face with Henry, he makes a plea. “It’s me. It’s my life. I tell myself the story, I tell the case in steps, and I remember… remember my life.” As in Robert Penn Warren’s Tell Me A Story, the poem Amelia was teaching when he first set eyes on her, he lives inside the story as the story lives inside him. “I’m being straight with you,” Wayne continues, “man to man, knowing I had a place here as you do. This right now is my way of staying alive.”
“Staying alive” is exactly—and only—what he’s doing. Sitting alone in his study, surrounded by books (including his wife’s) and a lifetime of research he can’t remember, Wayne Hays clings to life with an ever more tenuous grip. The gun from his nightstand now accompanies him during his nightly ritual of recording his thoughts for his morning self. And he has more frightening company still.
There’s nothing new and plenty clichéd about the story of the ’Nam survivor dogged by ghosts. But the effect of those figures quietly, swiftly flooding the room, their ready postures, their ease and silence, made my stomach drop with dread. And Ali’s portrayal of a man barely clinging to reality, trying to keep his increasingly random experience of time and memory in any sort of order, is as frightening as it is sad. With delicacy and power, he shows the interior experience, the deeply personal terror, the gut-gripping immediacy of it. This isn’t an old man to be felt sorry for; this is a man fighting tooth and nail to retain his memory, and himself, against a world where nothing remains stable, not even time.
The alarming crowd gathering around him in his imagination has long roots in Wayne Hays’ memory. It mimics the crowd that collects, then presses in, as he and Roland West speak to a suspect in Davis Junction, and another crowd of would-be vigilantes storming the home of Brett Woodard, who’s been seen speaking to children again, and suspected of worse. Each is awash in racial tension, and each tries to gin up its own peculiar form of dread. But the silent, imagined throng in Wayne’s study is more frightening than the actual, and ultimately underwhelming, groups pressing in around them in real life.
Patty Faber (Candyce Hinkle)— “a dear, good woman,” the priest calls their witness, and Hays echoes him ruefully—makes not, as the detectives have been saying, straw dolls, but chaff dolls. It’s a small distinction.
When asked about the man who bought her dolls, Patty Faber is can make no distinction between him and any other black man, except for his “dead” eye. “He was a Negro man, like yourself,” she tells Hays. He prompts her: Was the man handsome? Ugly? “Like I say, he was black,” that “dear, good woman” shrugs, bewildered that she’s expected to distinguish between one black man and another. She assumes the man who bought her dolls lives, along with his imagined nieces and nephews, “over the tracks in Davis Junction, with rest of them,” with all that implies about who is “them” and who is “us.”
The folks on the other side of the tracks make assumptions about race, too, but theirs are canny and necessary, learned from hard experience. When the detectives question Sam Whitehead (John Earl Jelks), a black man with one cloudy eye, about some children in the newspaper, their newest suspect doesn’t have to guess. “White children. If it was in the papers, it’s white children.”
“Just a couple of questions,” Det. Hays tells him, calling out to the thickening crowd. ““Be cool, y’all. It’s nothing. So far.” When West starts talking tough, Hays shuts him down. “Shut the fuck up with that shit,” he tells West, because that tough-guy cop talk can spark trouble. Irrevocable trouble. It’s a situation anyone familiar with American policing in black communities can imagine—has to imagine—going wrong in a hundred different tiny ways. But the scene itself is blunt, even flabby.
The confrontation at Woodard’s home is inevitable, and I credit Michael Greyeyes—especially his swift certainty of gesture—with making it as tense as it is. From the moment Woodard kicks off his boots to run, heedless of his bloody feet, he doesn’t waste a movement. FRONT TOWARD ENEMY, Woodard’s Claymore mine reads on its face, and “The Hour And The Day” (written by Nic Pizzolatto and David Milch), with its many face-offs, could wear that as its motto.
But “The Hour And The Day” also highlights the quiet manipulations an investigator exploits to extract cooperation or information. In the church, rather than having the priest introduce them as he announces their request for voluntary fingerprinting, Hays and West prowl the aisles, scanning faces with visible suspicion. As the unwilling confidante of Lucy Purcell, Amelia asks probing questions where someone else might offer empty reassurances. In the corridors of the West Finger PD, West parades Freddy Burns (Rhys Wakefield) past his friends in their interrogation rooms. And in 2015, Wayne Hays uses everything in his arsenal—now fading, but once formidable—on both his son and on Elisa, the documentarian working on the Purcell case.
Lt. West’s superiors are experts at double talk. Welcoming Hays to the 1990 task force, both West’s major and the AG linger over how hard Det. West had to work to convince them of Hays’ usefulness, and how little they expect from him. These two powerful men spend the meeting being as insulting as possible (“I hope your involvement does not portend to any damage to his reputation,” one says) while saying nothing that would sound inflammatory in a transcript. Whatever they know or believe of Wayne Hays that we do not, it’s discouraging if they believe justice is best served by snide deniability.
But, as the priest of the Purcell’s former church says in his sermon, “Justice is not ours to deliver. Justice is not in our power.” That’s a lesson to be learned from scene after scene in “The Hour And The Day,” and a lesson Wayne and Amelia Hays could profit from. It’s no good storing up snubs and returning them. It’s no use being “as happy for you like you were happy for me.” Their resentment and contempt for each other is as much a piece of armory as any of the booby traps Woodard sets up.
“The Hour And The Day” reveals an odd, but not surprising, gap in True Detective’s sympathies, and in Nic Pizzolatto’s. While Det. West drives him home from a bar fight with Lucy’s boss (and lover), Tom Purcell lashes out at everyone and everything, including “the one [racial slur] cop on the job,” only to repent. “I’m so sorry I used that word. Don’t tell him.” When West reminds him Hays has heard worse, from people who meant it more, Purcell offers the heartfelt response, “I’m sorry for that, too.”
Television tries to sell us unlikeable, difficult, bigoted men all the time. The cops of The Wire boast chasms of emotional and ethical emptiness. Tony Soprano throws around slurs like those slices of capicola he’s always poking into his maw, and so do his capos. But Tom Purcell does something different, and Scott McNairy, that inhabitor, makes every word of Tom’s remorse eloquent. It’s too easy, too simple, but it’s a glimpse of change, and of remorse, as something within reach.
But not for all. In a parallel scene, Lucy Purcell first confides in her son’s teacher, then chases her out of the house, yelling “you pickaninny bitch, you snooty cunt!” In a tirade of explicitly racist, sexist invective, she shows that in Pizzolatto land, at least for this episode, redemption is for long-suffering men, not the women whom they suffer.
This season, the writing and directing fall into a cadence that’s almost numbing. The one-two punch of literal violence and emotional violence is repetitive, even a sing-song rhythm. It’s impossible to know which trickles of misery—the Purcells’ vitriol, their neighbors’ explosive suspicions, the grinding poverty of Davis Junction, the smarmy contempt of the attorney general—are crucial to the story and which are mere filler, misery as texture. The acting is transcendent; the action is almost immaterial.
Stray observations
- In 1990, Roland West has a pronounced limp.
- “Would you have done it?” Hays asks his partner calmly, almost contemplatively. “Would you have shot one of them?” Roland West’s answer is no… but it’s a no that means yes. “If I thought it was between him and me? Then no. I could give a fuck what color he was.”
- In Wayne’s crowded study, there’s one figure in a suit and tie, and I wonder if this is the figure responsible for his “preoccupation” with being strangled by his own necktie.
- Her iffy uncle is long dead, but Julie Purcell is alive–and the image of her mother.
128 Comments
If I had to chose an episode of the four aired that I would’ve had to guess David Milch’s involvement, it’d be this one. Not just for the abundant racial slurs and microaggressions, but in his willingness to interrogate them… sort of.Can I say that I’m starting to give up on getting much of a conclusion to the mystery plot. The show seems pretty uninterested in providing much forward momentum so far. Fortunately, the performances are elevating the material, and making it engrossing. Ali is great, of course, McNairy is good, but even vaping pitchman Stephen Dorf is redeeming himself. It seems as though Carmen Ejogo is the only one left wanting, apparently by Pizzolatto’s limitations in fleshing out female characters..
No forward movement, you can say that again. This series could be smashed down into 4 or 6 episodes, and even that might be giving them too much room.Theyve had a cousin of the mother who drilled a hole in the wall of the boys room and wasnt talked to again, they didnt get into ny kind of interrogation of the priest.. they just skulk around, stare hard at people, and botch to each other about them while driving around. Why did no one say anyting to these actors at any point about how they re giving the same face, the same facial expressions or lack of them, in every scene? Ali looks left to right, right to left, constantly, in lieu of acting, and Dorf just looks ahead and might squint , to shake things up. Its like being stuck in purgatory with these two.
Calm down. Episode six is near, she’ll soon show her tits.
I feel pretty confident that the mystery will be unraveled. We’re only four episodes in. We’re slowly collecting clues just like the True Detectives.
Is this perhaps your first True Detective?
Perhaps not! Perhaps I’m missing something.
I want to say: We’re only four eps in. I feel the current pace isn’t exactly abnormal when contrasted with the previous two seasons.
But: maybe not! Perhaps the first season had more of a forward momentum at this point.
It’s been a few years for me…
Amelia is definitely involved with the murder/disappearance, all of her exchanges with Wayne are extremely suspicious, gleaning as much info about the case as possible, while simultaneously using him as a foil for her own actions. What better way to write a best seller than commit the crime and marry the best detective on the case? If she didn’t have anything to do with it, why did she commit suicide?
So, the son is definitely sleeping with the director, right? First he called her by her first name last week when he was upset, then this week we are directly called attention to the two wine glasses and Hayes’ assertion that he “interrupted” something. And the way he says, “if you HAPPEN to see my son.”
Emily, you were a lot kinder to this episode than I thought you would be. The procedural elements are slow, almost spinning in place because let’s be honest, a lot of these are going to be dead ends, so it’s becoming a bit rote. But yikes so much of the dialogue was so oddly stilted and over written. Example: Gummer I thought was doing terrific work and then forced to use “pickaninny”? A term archaic even in Arkansas during this period that it just hung in the air like a fart in Temple. And the stressed domestic scene between Ali and Ejogo was just bad writing and worse, ending with the equivalent of a toilet flush in Married With Children. Add the heavy handed specter of race which instead of being subtle and knowing in the first three episodes seemed to be underlined and hammered for the people half watching. Further, the two overlapping contrasted stories of “bad parenting” between the Purcells and the Hays, is not exactly new ground for any drama but it does leave open to see why the daughter has become estranged though again, not exactly compelling…….. The less said about the Viet Cong the better.I hope this was just a misstep because the acting is still top notch, the precise differentiation of three time lines excellent and sterling production values.
I have similar assessment of the episode overall. The observations on race were nice and subtle in previous episodes but seemed “very special episode” here. The fight between the Hays could definitely have been written better but that’s not even my biggest issue with the scene. It’s a tortuous sequence that adds little to their relationship that wasn’t already covered in the previous episode.
Scoot McNairy as Tom Purcell is giving a really strong performance and is probably one of the ones I’m most interested to see play out after Ali’s. Not my favorite episode of the season and not reaching the heights of the first for me, but I’m still generally enjoying it.
Scoot McNairy is an incredibly underrated actor, and I hope this season might change that.
“How can you wear that badge?”
“It’s got a little clip on it.”
Marry me, Mr. Ali.
I would have never thought that an unfortunate misunderstanding between black folk and police could ever wring even a bit of humor, but Ali and the writing were as great here as it was realistic. It was a nice break to the unforgiving tension, to chuckle for even a heartbeat.
Similarly, the scene with the ghosts and paranoia was really heavy, but then he turns to the ghosts and says something like “do they still make Camaros?” and I cracked up. Great relief of tension.
Yeah, more intimations that Amelia had something to do with the murder. She not answering about her past when Wayne asked her over dinner, that she also said she had been messed up. Then trying to tell a keening mother to talk to the detective if she knows anything, like putting it on her. (I didn’t hear what Lucy said right before she wept and thought for a microsecond she admitted something, but Lucy’s angry reaction a little later kiboshed that.) Starting from the first two episodes, I had the thought she might be the killer. And that’s probably why Wayne lost his memory: he found out and it so traumatized him that he blocked it, and the present day investigation is like Oedipus Rex, in he’ll be shattered by what he finds.A pretty good episode. The procedural elements don’t seem to matter as much as the very well wrought atmosphere. I’m riveted.
He divorced her by the second timeline of 1990. I doubt you get intermittent memory loss from a traumatic incident such as finding out your wife killed a couple of kids, and I doubt that he’d have not turned her in. His memory loss is consistent with Alzheimer’s, so if they use the former as an excuse for his memory, that would be really shitty.That whole dinner exchange was ridiculous. She keeps saying she was messed up and doesnt account for what she did in San fran, says stupid elliptical things like, “ A lot of people..” And he doesnt follow up on any of it, but she wants to know all about him..? Wtf? Again, this is not how people talk to one another. Not even in noir films.And i was just dreading through these 4 episode, when they were going to throw in the gratuitous fucking between him and her. Because we all knew it was coming, a bone to throw at the men watching this show, as per usual. And as per ususal, it was completely cringeworthy. Having her behave and talk the way she did through that argument and the come on. Give me a ffucking break. I think this show needs to take a dirt nap for good now, and Ill be happy to never, as in never ever, watch anything else written by this turd, Nick Pazzolotto.
I don’t disagree with your take, but do think the sex scene served a purpose in telling us that this marriage is in more trouble–that they have sex instead of dealing with their problems.
Who is divorced in the 1990 timeline? The Hays are very much not divorced and Lucy is dead.
They are not divorced in 1990, that’s just the line she used on those cops who had the drugstore video.That said I mostly agree with your take, but I’m still going to watch because it’s gorgeous and Mahershala Ali is a riveting actor. This show seems a bit like Westworld — it’s got the trappings of “prestige TV”, but not any actual depth. Like the first season – you think all this odd-couple banter and gothic noir horror is going to lead to some greater meaning, but in the end it’s just a fuckin’ death cult or whatever (I don’t even remember much of the plot). “Time is a flat circle” is A) partially redundant and B) just a fancy way of saying “history repeats itself” which is not exactly advanced philosophy.In conclusion, “Two Guys Growl In A Car” is a land of contrast.
He read this review and decided to never write anything again, that’s how valued your opinion is
I think Amelia being involved in the murder is too implausible. Wouldn’t she be risking a lot by writing about it later? She seems smart enough to leave alone something like that.
I haven’t been in the “Amelia had something to do with it” conspiracy theory camp, but her asking Wayne on the 80s dinner date if Will’s death could be accidental made my ears perk. Could he have fallen on that bloody rock?Amelia’s visit to Lucy Purcell was also interesting. I’m not sold yet — it mostly has to do with my doubt that it will be hard to pull off satisfyingly — but now I think it could be a possibility. My only question is if she was involved why wouldn’t Julie out her in the 90s timeline? This could be all a red herring, but if Amelia is involved somehow, I’m curious to see how it will be done.
So you think there is something about Amelia?
Honestly I’m torn, but the show is definitely telling us something is up with her more than writing the book. The ghost/hallucination scene from the last episode was certainly cryptic. Whether everything with Amelia is a swerve or something more, I’m still not sure.
She either had to something to do with it, or there’s something else really wrong. There’s something off about her.
“…in Pizzolatto land, at least for this episode, redemption is for long-suffering men, not the women whom they suffer.”
Ugh. Fucking seriously? You’re trying to paint Pizzolatto as some kind of narrative misogynist from the scantest of evidence here. It’s an angle the review doesn’t need. This isn’t Jezebel.
Yeah, this is part of Jezebel and vice versa, since they are all part of the same, and women or feminists in general aren’t contained in a ghetto of Jezebel. Christ.Ill let anyone else handily wipe the floor with you on the fact that this series is pretty misogynist, through all 3 seasons. Im tired of you, already.
You seem to be confusing me noting the similarity to Jezebel-style articles with saying EVERYTHING is connected to Jezebel. Hrm. I only noticed a similarity, but sure, go with that strawman if you like.
As far as this other bullshit, doesn’t look like you have much backup here in ‘wiping the floor with me’. Don’t much care if you’re ‘tired’ of me, though. If you’re so tired, feel free to not read or respond to my posts. Isn’t it pesky and annoying when someone has a different opinion than you? Damn.
This is Kinja, everything is misogynist if it doesn’t agree with their views. that’s Jew owned media for you.
Especially considering Lucy Purcell literally doesn’t even make it to the 90’s story-line.
And as I pointed out elsewhere, the circumstances of the scenes were very different. Roland seemed to be offering Tom genuine compassion, which helped soften Tom’s perspective toward the people trying to help him. Amelia seemed to be connecting with Lucy, only to overplay her hand regarding her interest in the case, leaving Lucy feeling angrily betrayed. Lucy isn’t a very sympathetic character, but she displayed genuine vulnerability in that scene only to have it tragically shattered. I imagine Amelia really did care about her, but also couldn’t help trying to dig for more information.
Yeah, I got to say reading this review that bit came off as pretty tacked on.It’s almost like they have a mandate to use words that may trigger people to make comments in the section. Thereby increasing their engagement. Almost like they make money off of this stuff and this is their tactic to try to increase their footprint.But what do I know?
It’s like an old-timey ice cream vendor on a street in Hell’s Kitchen bellowing ‘Hot takes for sale! Get your out of context ridiculous hot takes here!’
It’s almost like they have a mandate to use words that may trigger people to make comments in the section yeah, like “this female character deserves better”
Not sure what you mean by this quote. Can you elaborate please?
Never mind. I see now that you are just trolling.
what gave you that impression?
What gave me that impression? And you have the nerve to call out someone else for a lack of self-awareness? Lol indeed.
Oh shit, them’s fighting words! This isn’t Jezebel, son.
fuck off to some MRA blog to read reviews if you don’t want critical thoughts on a show that has never written a good female character, incel
Not sure what you are even really trying to say. So maybe we should just run all scripts by you and the bloggers here first. That way we can make sure that every character on television is represented properly by the people that know best.The point of all of this is that sentence was incongruous to the rest of the article. They were giving a breakdown of the show and then interjected that sentence out of nowhere,IMHO. This is pretty normal for this blog and this blog network these days.They have an agenda now and they push it all of the time. ALL THE FUCKING TIME.Try not to forget that AV Cub was an offshoot of The Onion. Not Jezebel so if you find some people on here you dont like, well please take your own advice and go somewhere else.
They have an agenda now and they push it all of the time. ALL THE FUCKING TIME. oh, so you’re one of those feminist/gay agenda right wing dudes, eh? Figures…
Huh? You sure do get a whole lot out of a little bit. Tell me more about myself please? What kind of boy will I marry?Why the hell do you call yourself KinjaKilledTheAvClub but you are talking shit to me about the very same thing.I dont have an agenda but I will point out that this site is garbage, any damn time I want, because all they do now is use trigger words to get people to click and write in the comments.Sure as shit worked on you.Also it’s pretty damn funny that you dont actually have an opinion on anything you are just whining. Like a troll.You dont have to respond by the way but if you do I will always reply.
Before you start to formulate your pithy rebuttal I just wanted to say something from my personal experience.Not that it is any of your business but I lean pretty heavily to the left. I am only telling you this, because it is really none of your business, to let you know how moot anything you say is after that statement.It is so far off the mark that anything else you say is invalidated. You have already made it very clear the type of person you are and the type of assumptions you are going to make when you dont agree with someone.Please take some time to reflect and then formulate some sort of meaningful statement but, if history serves me, I already know what you are going to write.
*yawn*i’m not going to read your 20 long winded rants. And stop liking your own comments. it’s pathetic
HA! Because you have a short attention span, Troll. Just what I thought. I knew you cared.Sorry I wasnt liking my own comments on purpose. This comment system is a little fucked up for me. But I forget that you know every god damn thing. Can you tell what I’m thinking now Troll?
There you go. I went and liked your comments too. I hope you like fake stars.
OMG! You are such a little coward. Seriously you are such a damn sad sack I feel kind of sorry for you. Are you able to get out of the house at all? Do you have any contact with any real humans on your life?
I will explain it so you understand.
You’re literally complaining about a TV critic criticizing an episode of TV at this point.
That reply is to KinjaKilledTheAvClub. Not sure what they do for a living. My assumption is trolling.
ooooh, very scary. but i think i’ll stay right here, since it bothers you so much.
i’m the one bothered? lol, the lack of self-awareness…
Rachel McAdams’ detective in season two was the best and most sympathetic character on that season. On average, yeah, the show has not had enough good female characters, but to say “never” is a lie.
Whenever a woman from the A.V. Club reviews a show, you always have to take it with a couple of grains of salt. Women like Emily Stephens, Caroline, Siede, etc. are going to search for one incy, tiny part of the story-line / plot that might seem somewhat chauvinistic or sexist, and then grade the show accordingly. Thus, this episode (or others) might get an unjustified low grade due to Emily’s cloudiness and/or bias of said above. Really wish that Erik Adams would have continued to be the reviewer of this show. Or someone like Sean T. Collins, would have been ideal for this True Detective season
When the reviews do this bullshit it’s so fucking off putting. It’s wrongheaded, it’s meant to make the reviewer come across as the good woke ally.Never do the righteous writers here take into consideration a fucking story is being told. Nope. It’s all about pointing out “tropes” and bitching about tone deafness before seeing the whole story unfold.This whole site is garbage. It’s just Entertainment Weekly now. Championing and celebrating all the right things, no matter how awfully disingenuous it comes off.
I also note that “Stray Observations” recalls that West would have shot one of “them” if it was “him or me,” but doesn’t remember that he also said he was less likely to do so in a crowd of black folks, more likely if it was a crowd of white guys. Not because he’s such a good guy, I surmise, but because he knows which situation would cause him more grief, given 1980.
I figured we’d find out pretty quickly what caused the limp. You don’t ever wanna be within a football field of the front of a claymore when it goes off.
There were some great scenes in this episode – even if a lot of it was boring, cliched tripe.
Anytime I write anything like that about these HBO shows I get jumped all to hell. On this blog you can’t single out performers for praise and disparage anything at ALL about the story, writing, direction, cinematography…..
Did you know “Sharp Objects” was singularly the greatest piece of cinema ever written and filmed? Absolutely flawless. The A/V comments said so.
Ali and Dorff are great and will keep me tuning in no matter what. but yeesh there is like no damn story here four hours in.
That’s been my gripe with other HBO series (True Detectives,Sharp Objects). These are drawn out to crazy lengths, trying to excuse very languid and marginal writing as high art deserving of ten hours of film. They simply are not that good and could have been better if presented in a third of the time. They are wasting some great acting and cinematic chops for egotistical writers and directors, and greedy network execs.
Good Lord did Sharp Objects draaaaaaaag for many episodes and then it was like the night before a high school term paper was due: CRAM those last few episodes!
Seriously! That f***ing ending. WTH? While the credits were running? Sorry, no, that’s a cheap stunt after investing all those hours in drunken prose and moping leading nowhere. I caught so much heat for saying anything negative about that damned show. If it was on Lifetime starring anybody but Amy Adams – it’s “whatever”.
Yes! I was so annoyed I watched the whole thing, and then to have that ending. It was ridiculous.
These are bad takes.
Holy f****** hell I am so with you on Sharp Objects! What a lot of bother about nothing! They quite literally only had enough actual plot to fill three episodes at best. If you mention this to the fans, they’ll nearly always turn around and say, “It’s not really about the mystery… It’s about the atmosphere. The characters.” I’m sorry, but if that’s the only thing you’re interested in then make it a simple drama instead. Or, better yet, do what the best of crime television does and produce something that manages to develop its characters *and* tell a meaningful story.
I don’t think British television can even hold a candle to the best of American television, but I’ll at least give our industry credit for knowing when to just give a show three episodes and be done with it.
It’s obvious that the Ali character has Alzheimer’s based on what he
said to his doctor. That the doctor had an absence of diagnosis, and
Alzheimer’s is the disease that doesn’t show on a CAT scan. He also
wanders, which is a hallmark of it. So why then is he constantly
hallucinating? I don’t believe this is a symptom of it. Also, I find it
weird that they are showing a POV of Ali coming from across the street,
yet there are still those viet cong ghosts behind him.
NP
can’t write women. Like, at ALL. So I’m unmoved if he’s apologizing for
the N word through Scoot McNairy. Also, thats a cowardly as fuck thing
to do.Im sick af of these “I have the soul of a whore” female characters. And then Egojo’s angelic softspoken one, I knew was going to have guys jizzing their pants. PUH-lease.
I dont know how anyone can watch this series and not be annoyed by the kind of deliveries going on in them, that are so…clueless. Like Ali in the car, replying to Dorf, “Had a good buddy in the war.” (Pause) “Baptist.”Dorf: “What happened to him?”Ali: “Pucchgh.”What . The. (Pause) Fuck.Sorry y’all, thats bad writing, bad directing, bad acting.
Michael Greyeyes and Scoot McNairy are outacting everyone in this show by miles and miles. Only Greyeyes is a pleasure to watch, though.
I will say this for both Greyeyes and McNairy: theyree smart enough not to give ridiculous line readings, unlike Ali and DORF.
There are so many great performances, and there have been so many great scenes, but it’s not coming together to make a great show, at least so far.
The Wire doesnt have those kind of cops on it, at least not the actual protagonists. Bad example. The Shield was sitting right there for you, too.
So Henry is definitely sleeping with the Documentarian, right?
the Jews sure love themselves some white woman/black man action. So long as it don’t happen within their own crowd.
Whoa! Where did you pick that idea up? When Wayne suggested that she may see/talk to Henry later?
There was the one episode where Wayne walked in and Henry and Elisa (the documentarian) were talking pretty close to each other and seemed to quickly straighten up when they noticed he came in. Then in the most recent episode, Wayne made a couple of comments about Henry seeing or talking to Elisa again (I could be misreading it, but it seems like Henry kind of became uncomfortable when Wayne mentioned him talking to her), and then there was the two wine glasses in her room when Wayne went to talk to her and she said that she was alone. I’m not sure why else the person she was with was being hidden from us unless there was a tie to a character we know already and will come out in a later reveal. The only other possible outcome I could see would be if maybe Wayne’s daughter (Becca) is involved with her and/or the production somehow? I believe that she is in LA, so maybe she has a connection to Elisa somehow through that?
Thanks for the insights. I really need to pay closer attention. Your Henry theory sounds more plausible than the Becca theory though.
oooh that could be a thing, but also why is he so damn mean to his dad, man?
I mean there could be reasons hidden to us now, but Ali plays the sweetest older man, and I just want to punch the shit out of Henry for getting annoyed at him for having dementia.
Yeah there really is a weird coldness there. I guess it’ll all come down to what actually happened that got him off Major Crimes in the first place maybe or possibly what happened with the marriage between Wayne and Amelia (there’s some apparent strife there that we can see already). Something also drove his daughter (Becca) away from it all too, so there must be some underlying thing there that we just haven’t seen yet. Flashback Wayne didn’t necessarily seem like the warmest guy in the world and maybe the kids just resented him for that?
Because he was probably a shitty dad when they were growing up. Distant, detached, focused on his police work and it seems like this case never left him. Sure he’s trying to make amends now, but that shit stays with you.Source: my father was a cop. And a vietnam veteran. And an African American cop during this time period.
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Dementia is tough for family members; particularly when you hear a loved one who was once highly perceptive repeat the same questions over and over [and over]
My mother and I have gone through that with my father, who died of brain cancer. Without going into too much detail: it was a highly stressful time in our lives—especially my mother’s.
But: I’m also betting there is more to Henry’s behaviour than just dealing with the stress that is a loved one with memory problems. Something[s] about the case…
Yes! I just posted the same! The clues are slight but they’re definitely there.
This 100%. Thought that from the second he said “Elisa” when he thought she was going too far during the interview
There definitely is some type of close familiarity there
If Wayne’s police career was such a shit-show wonder why his kid is also in the business?
Maybe it was just the David Milch writing (could definitely hear his voice in the dialogue this time out) but I liked this episode quite a bit. Last week’s felt like wheel spinning, but I enjoyed this one even with little forward movement on the central mystery.Am I alone in thinking Woodard went out of his way to talk to some kids hoping to force the confrontation at the end of the episode?
I got that impression, too. There’s no way he just happened to be walking along the same strip of road where one of the attackers lived; it really felt like it was intentional.
Besides the duffel bag, who the hell sets up such a deadly booby trap for a
place with nothing to steal? Notice that the detectives just walked in
before, when they searched the place. Plus, he didn’t use the go-kart
because he planned to run through the field and get to the house to “welcome” his pursuers.
Woodard was sort of suicidal before. Now, he’s on a, “I’m going down and I’m taking you all with me.” mission.
He had that duffel bag of weapons ready to go. Didn’t he?
I wonder if Julie Purcell will be played by Grace Gummer?This season has been pretty decent for me so far- I’m still engaged with the story and looking forward to seeing more.
I wonder if Julie Purcell will be played by Grace Gummer?
That would be cool.
The seemingly obligatory scene of Hays’ courtship of Amelia is set to “My Foolish Heart” from Bill Evans’ landmark set at the Village Vanguard. This is the second time I’ve seen somebody try to sneak this recording in as background music in the last few weeks. Alas can’t for the life of me remember the other movie/show that used it. Help!
So, does anyone else suspect that Henry is having an affair with Elisa? There was a fleeting moment of familiarity between them during the taping in a previous episode, and there was a little oddity in Wayne thinking Elisa had company and she claiming she was alone in spite of there being (I believe) two full wine glasses on her nightstand.
Maybe she is a two fisted drinker?
I can respect that.
As awful as Lucy’s words were, I thought it was clear that she was so upset because she suddenly realized she was being used instead of offered true, selfless compassion. And from the viewer’s perspective, we know that this is the beginning of Amelia’s greater interest in the case, so Lucy’s anger wasn’t totally off-base.
Yeah, and none of those insults she hurled at her were racist or did I miss something?
“Pickaninny” is a slur although I had to look it up to be sure of that.
Ah, thanks. I never knew what that word meant and after looking it up, eesh!, yeah, that’s a bad one.
I bumped on the priest, in 1980, using the term ‘African American’. I don’t think that was a common expression in 1980, especially among white, middle aged men. Perhaps I am incorrect though.
Agreed. That stood out to me more than any of the inappropriate racial terms thrown around this episode. I took it to maybe mean he had something more to hide too, and was covering up for it by doubling down on the political correctness.
Perhaps. I took it simply as an anachronism.
The cast is nothing short of amazing. Dorf is absolutly killing it… I love this season.
in the ‘Vietnamese ghost’ scene there was a girl with a bullet wound in her head right? I saw her and assumed it was important, but no reviews mentioned this, nor did any of my friends seem to notice it. I’m not crazy am I?
I have failed to stay awake during every episode so far this season.This is every bit as bad as S2, in my opinion.
I agree. Well acted, but seriously fucking sucks as compelling television.
Black people being racist is canny. Ok, whatever moron.
Amelia is way too cool for school. Something weird going on there.
During the ‘Vietnam ghost flashback’ scene there was a girl with a bullet wound in her head right? None of my friends who watched noticed it, and none of the reveiws mention it, but it’s definitely there. I’m not crazy right? I wonder if that has any significance?
God can you not with the social justice bullshit? Like, I can’t even catch up on an episode recap without feeling like I’m reading a freshmen gender studies paper. Just hire some people with some ideological diversity please? These millennials aren’t up to the task of informing us without lecturing us.
Forget it, Jake, it’s AV Club.
The dialogue is a thick as Mississippi mud… my wife and I are constantly going, “What’d he say?”…and then we guess at it for the 30 seconds it takes before the other character in the scene responds. I really don’t watch too many regular movies anymore, but when I do they are going to seem like they’re running at Alvin the Chipmunk speed by comparison. How in the hell have they been telling complex stories in 100 minutes for all these years? Now we ten to twelve hours of TV to do the same damned thing….
I watch tv with closed captioning on. I’m getting old, but my hearing isn’t that bad. It just helps me “keep up” when the dialogue is thickly accented, etc.
David fucking Milch, this was a cut above, really gives me hope for the season. Given that Sarah Gadon is one of the best actresses working today you know there is something more going on with her.A lot of y’all are flapping your fingers.
still a pretty good season but sad that Sarah Gadon was a red herring.
jesus, it took me the whole morning to finish reading this review. keep it short next time
No show ever written or filmed could ever live up to the impossible standards this reviewer holds.
You want gritty reality? Here’s how it SHOULD read through:
You’re an anonymous teacher coming to the door of the home of a murdered student, with his belongings. The drunken mom invites youin and immediately says to you,“I have the soul of a whore.” You reply, “Hey, uh, that’s great. Ok. I’m just gonna let myself out over here. Don’t get up.”
“Patty Faber (Candyce Hinkle)— “a dear, good woman,” the priest calls their witness, and Hays echoes him ruefully—makes not, as the detectives have been saying, straw dolls, but chaff dolls.”
Holy fuck this is a hack job of a sentence. How are you a professional writer?
The Wire may have had some philandering fuck ups but Jimmy and Bunk were never unlikeable. They were downright charming and were actually pretty solid allies for Kima and most of the other female characters. They were hopelessly flawed but that’s the fucking point. That’s the issue I have with Av Clubs version of “woke” it asks characters and shows to be perfect and always say exactly the right thing. That’s not real life and its shitty television. I also dislike how it always seems to be coming from white people. Sorry but white people do not get to decide what is racist and what is not. Its fucking patronising. Its one thing to point out flaws in a story its another to try and arbitrate standards. Ironically in trying to be “woke” your coming across as vaguely racist. Also if your going to keep reviewing shows like this at least hire a few more POC. Otherwise your just using us to further your clicks. One thing I noticed about this show and actually like is its treatment of Woodward. Usually Native Americans exist in a story to be Native American or their race is ignored. We tend to be in shows to explain our culture to white men or to show the terrible legacy of colonialism. Representation like this, where race informs the characters story but is not the whole story is rare for Native Americans. Does the show fall down a bit when it comes to women? Maybe but it also tries to reflect the real world which lets down women all the time. Realistically a mother of a lost child is less likely to receive redemption than their father. Mother are still assumed to be more responsible for their children. There’s a difference between the show being sexist and a show depicting sexism. I think in Lucy’s case its intended to be the second one. It does it with Amelia in a different way too. I suspect had she been born twenty years later she would have made a good cop. Part of her arc seems to be her and her husband realising that.
This article is specifically criticizing the episode for making the male fuckups likable and the female ones unlikable.
1) Likeable is subjective, personally I don’t find West likeable. He’s a racist, its of the patronising, poor sad black people, your one of the good ones variety but its still racism.2) I don’t think the show is thinking of characters in terms of female versus male. I think the show is making both Purcell’s sympathetic. I just think Mrs Purcell is meant to be more guilty than her husband. I suspect one way or an other she introduced her son’s killer into his life and she is realising that. I also think the show was contrasting her with Amelia as someone who got out versus someone who didn’t. Lucy if she had the chance to go to Berkeley and experience free love and feminism would probably be a much happier empowered person. Contrasting her with Amelia who was changed and empowered by the Black Panthers was deliberate. I don’t think he show wasn’t trying to say Lucy is an evil bitch, they were just trying to show how the changes of the sixties and seventies had passed her by somewhat. Again there is a difference between the show being sexist and having a bias that informs the writing and the show portraying how sexism impacts the characters. I think with shows that strive for realism its inevitable that they will stray into anti-feminist tropes because we don’t yet live in a feminist utopia. I think expecting shows to only portray a sanitised feminist version of the word is counter productive. After all if female characters never suffer injustice or unfairness because of their sex that’s just hiding the problem isn’t it?
You should be writing this review
100% agreed. Great post, thank you.
My wife swears the photo on West’s desk of a woman in the 1990 timeline is the same woman West is hitting on at the church in the 1980 timeline. Future wife?
Regarding the clip on ties; does Hays start wearing normal, knotted ties in the later timelines?