Honestly, to me it seems like that was the original intent. Then for reasons he ended up officially signing on to direct just the first three episodes, and then he ultimately dropped out before production was completed. Honestly, it seems like working with Pizzolatto is AWFUL.
Pretty sure he was supposed to do half the season, and while they claim it was scheduling that led him to only doing two, he has hinted that it wasn’t necessarily smooth going. I would definitely assume it’s Pizzolattos fault
I know they've said that officially, but signing on to do half a season or three episodes just strikes me as kind of odd. I can see going with one director for the whole season, or also if by the end after working with various directors one person directed three episodes that season, that makes sense, but signing on to do the first three or the first half of the season just seems odd... I know the traditional ways of televion have kinda gone away though .
Random thoughts--- I liked it. Fans of Saulnier's slow-burn will appreciate moments in episode one. Visually it's pretty great. Would have loved his touch for the entire series. The cast is good. Ali is a different type of lead. He's soft spoken and thoughtful. His rapport with his partner (Stephen Dorff) is good and different than the two leads in season one who are often at odds. Carmen Ejogo steals scenes. Scoot is good but kind of a deadbeat he plays often. Really cool to see Ray Fisher get some bigger work too. Story wise - it feels samey which isn't entirely bad. I guess there's only so much you can do with the format. Pizzo critics will probably hate at least a few lines. It takes place over three decades with the most current one following Ali's character being interviewed for a documentary about headline-making case he worked on. I kind of groaned when I realied the set up because it feels like it's been done to death at this point but there are some interesting elements to it that got me invested. It takes place in the Ozarks and mentions where I live in each episode so that's a fun thing for (mainly) me. Main takeaway is that this feels like the followup most fans expected after season one.
If the only criticism is that it draws close comparison to the tone set by season one, I'm all in. That's exactly what I want from this show.
Definitely a solid start. I like the unreliable narrator element they've established with Wayne's dementia.
Those were my immediate first thoughts. I just finished a rewatch of Paradise Lost today oddly enough.
First two episodes were very good. A solid start. Acting is phenomenal, but it usually is with this show.
in my cynical moments I feel like this show was only ever really good for the directing and the acting, and Nic drives away every good director he works with but it was okay?
I'm deep in an S1 hole. Man, I remember how invested I was in all of the occult shit and symbolism. It's a shame they boned that ending
I thoroughly enjoyed the first two episodes. Definitely a slow burn so far, but I felt it was engrossing the whole time. Acting is phenomenal so far, particularly Mahershala Ali, but I thought the cast was strong across the board. If I had one critique, it's that the sense of place does not come through as strongly as it did in Season 1. Granted, there's still plenty more episodes, and it's certainly an improvement over the basically just LA setting of Season 2, but I felt the unmistakable and deeply evocative atmosphere of where the story was taking place in Season 1 much stronger right from the first frame. I do think Cary Joji Fukunaga is phenomenally talented, but I also think he got a fantastic opportunity that it doesn't seem like some of the other directors did. For the most part, TD has brought in very strong directors who have done excellent work elsewhere. I would love to see what someone like Daniel Sackheim would have done had he been given this entire season to direct similar to how Fukunaga directed all of Season 1 right from the get to. I loved the way Season 1 felt all of a piece, like one long story divided into 8 parts. I'm not trying to undersell Fukunaga here, it's just a thought that's always stuck out to me that he had somewhat of a unique opportunity with Season 1.