Is "too dark/pessimistic" a valid criticism?

Is "too dark/pessimistic" a valid criticism?

no, "bad actors/bland screenplay" is.

Not really in and of itself. All you're doing is describing the tone. If the tone is wrong for the material thats one thing.

Then why was there hatred for TD season 2?

Only if you're talking something that was either marketed as feel-good or upbeat or made for children

Could never understand all the hate towards season 2. It was much more down-to-earth and immersive than season 1. Honestly, i would have liked season 1 much more if Rust wasn't such an edgelord.

Because it had bad actors and a bland screenplay, jees learn to read, Caspere knew this.

>down to earth
>hot little blonde cop who drinks straight whiskey and is the first in on raids

ohh the realism

I liked Rust - he's quite different to other characters you see on tv. Whilst he's edgy, his ideology is at least portrayed seriously, rather than just for gags (i.e Rick and Morty).
One complaint I always see about season 2 is "too many characters". I thought they did well with 4 characters though - they're all interesting (some more than others), they're very different to each other yet have thematic similarities. I didn't really think I cared about all the characters, until I actually felt sad at Paul's death. The cast are fully realised and all change/develop throughout the season.
I really don't understand the backlash, and it's an insult that HBO actually apologised for it.

season 1 was cool for the horror feeling and old forbidden cult theme, simple cops going against something much bigger and ancient

pizza thought it was about being edgy and completely missed the point

The acting was fine it just had too many storylines for a single 10 episode or w/e season. The main storyline wasn't interesting like the occult southern gothic stuff from S01 and it was wrapped in a bunch of convoluted side character shit.

>convoluted
You do realise it's a neo-noir, right?

Honestly it would have been kino of they dropped the young cop/lady cop and just went with Vince and Colin's storylines.
Both of them put forth pretty good performances and 4 storylines to follow is just too much shit for a show like this

>pizza "tv has a diversity problem"

Do you think that adding diversity just allows execs to not care as much about the show, s1 was just a bunch of white guys so they needed to bring so they actually had to try and make the show good and not just ride the diversity train to approval.

No, is that a common criticism of season two? Season one was far darker in themes so I don't get that.

I feel like a lot of the criticism is just a direct comparison to season one, totally ridiculous as they only share the name and a crime-setting and have nothing to do with each other. Season one also doesn't catch much heat for it's rushed ending and lack of explanations. I guess another season was planned for the two but didn't happen for some reason?

>pizza thought it was about being edgy and completely missed the point
Most people were watching it because it was edgy, fantastic and the buddy cop chemistry between Rust and Marty was great. It's after the 4th episode with the shoot out that people started thinking of it as something greater than it was. People were disappointed by the ending but didn't say anything.

With S2 there were no fantastic elements and no chemistry between anyone till the final episodes. So all we had was edginess. It wasn't as coherently shot obviously because of the multiple directors v/s one. Still had some great moments but there wasn't any economy of storytelling so it was like reading a dense novel instead of watching a TV show (and I mean this in a bad way). Ultimately those of us who stuck with the show experienced some gut-wrenching moments with the male protags dying in horrible but heroic ways but that's about the only memorable parts apart from ASSPEN?

Are we getting a S3?

>and no chemistry between anyone till the final episodes
The Farrell/Vaughan scenes are present from the first episode user.
>only memorable parts
There were plenty of memorable parts
>the dream
>the shootout
>the party
Those were all fantastic, with other scenes also being great. I can't believe that people actually say the shootout is bad - not only is it genuinely horrific to watch (you really feel the situation escalate and become a massive fuck up) but it also showed you where 3 of the main characters were 'at'.

It's not about diversity. S1 had two guys with great chemistry working as long time partners. S2 has some backstory between Vaughn and Farrell but little else. So why are we supposed to care about these characters then? Because of how sad their lives are individually? They could've had an established couple with a guy and a woman and if they worked well the show could've worked. Hell they could've had the gay guy with a straight best friend on the force who doesn't know about his gayness and if done well that could've worked. But the 4 characters didn't care about each other and didn't care about themselves (apart from vaughn) so why would anyone else.

you are wrong, there is a reason the yellow king and carcosa were such good memes

>"undeveloped script with glaring holes"
>"lifeless or hamfisted acting"
>"endless cliches"

those are concerns

I loved s2, I thought the characters were all great, the plot sadly not so much

>The Farrell/Vaughan scenes are present from the first episode user.
But did they like each other? Hate each other? Did they challenge each other like Rust and Marty did? Interaction isn't chemistry. Vaughn owned Farrell, that's not a relationship.

>There were plenty of memorable parts
Somewhat memorable. Nothing like the S1 shootout, shooting at god or the scenes with the yellow king's victims or the illusions.

I'm as big a fan of S2 as you're going to find unfortunately. I thought it had some great moments and despite it's flaws was one of the best things on TV at the time. It just doesn't compare to S1 even despite being better in some regards.

season 2 shootout > season 1 shootout

just cause it's one take doesn't mean I have to like it more
season 2 made me feel a lot more anxiety and was more important to the plot, the whole thing with the cocaine gang was just a stupid side-quest in s1
and we already knew rust was a badass so it's not like we needed another scene of that

>But did they like each other? Hate each other? Did they challenge each other like Rust and Marty did? Interaction isn't chemistry. Vaughn owned Farrell, that's not a relationship.
What do you mean? Farrell may have been working for Vaughan, but they got along. Vaughan had some concern/interest in Farrell's personal life, and openly spoke about his own problems. Off the top of my head, they clash when Velcoro demands to know who shot him, as he believes he had been informed by Frank. Frank has sympathy for Velcoro, and allows him to stop his work in the slum(?) that Frank owns. Then there is another great scene - Frank and Velcoro's chat in Frank's house.
I thought it was pretty clear that they had history, and their relationship is strained throughout the story - especially when it turns out Frank gave Velcoro the wrong guy.
>I'm as big a fan of S2 as you're going to find unfortunately
It would appear you're the 2nd biggest fan.

rust was presumptuous as fuck

That's not an excuse for implementing a bunch of poorly constructed and uninteresting storylines. The problem with this season is the viewer stops caring about these storylines after the characters are introduced and the whole thing collapses.

This.
The only things that hurted season 2 was the add of the gay cops and the girl cops because Pizza had massive backslash over lack fo "diversity" in season 1
They fucked up his show then were the first to stand in line to sack him for their bullshit

I didn't see Season 2, why was it hated so much/

It is when the show or movie is simply trying to be edgy and has no emotional grounding to back up all it's "dark" themes or ideas. (See: BvS, True Detective S2)

What did Casper knew about?

No, the fact that they found all the evidence in an unguarded blue folder in the first room they checked, is though.

>Is "too dark/pessimistic" a valid criticism?

Do you specifically mean when people say this in regards to TD Season 2?

If so, in a way, yes. It didn't do it right, it came across as an artificial way of upping the drama, not a dark story naturally unfolding.

This is a really bland criticism

this. it was all setup and no payoff.