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McConaughey's getting most of the credit, but Harrelson is superb too. His character isn't as flashy as Rust, but he's still very compelling and maybe even more sympathetic. As irrational and hypocritial as Marty can often be, you can always understand where he's coming from.

 

I think what sets this apart from shows like Breaking Bad, The Shield, The Sopranos, Mad Men etc is that you know that both these guys, as messed up as they are, are essentially decent people at their core. You couldn't say the same Tony Soprano and Walter White. Weird as it sounds, that actually makes it feel kind of new by edgy cable show standards.

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Wha?

Man, I agree about Woody doing a good job in a thankless role, but I'd say it's a pretty big stretch to call Marty "sympathetic." He's the worst person on the show who doesn't sacrificially murder women and children. I think "pitiable" might be a better choice of words. Or just regular ol' "pathetic," the kind where you feel sad that someone is the way they are but not necessarily for them.

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Draper would have had too much self-preservation to blow Reggie Ledoux brains out. Regardless of what you think of vigilante justice, Marty basically risked everything because he couldn't stand that monster still living in this world. And it wasn't like he was planning to cover it up, he was too shell-shocked; Rust was the one took charge.

 

I would definitely call Marty a decent person.

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Draper would have had too much self-preservation to blow Reggie Ledoux brains out. Regardless of what you think of vigilante justice, Marty basically risked everything because he couldn't stand that monster still living in this world. And it wasn't like he was planning to cover it up, he was too shell-shocked; Rust was the one took charge.

 

I would definitely call Marty a decent person.

I'd say he legitimately wants to be a decent person, but he is deeply flawed, and his flaws make him far less than decent in my book.  It's one thing to be a cheat and a womanizer, but it is a whole other thing when his cheating and womanizing basically turns into him destroying the lives of his wife and mistresses.  He was brutal to his mistress and not much better to his wife and daughter.  It's safe to say that he has little to no respect for women at all.

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This episode:

 

1. The amount of things-not-shown that make your imagination take the worst turns

 

2. The dude mowing in a spiral

 

3. TOWNES MOTHERFUCKING VAN ZANDT

 

In the frozen hell that has been this season, with the cherry on top being tonight's utter disappointment of our house not getting sold so I can move somewhere better, at least there is True Detective. 

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I'd say he legitimately wants to be a decent person, but he is deeply flawed, and his flaws make him far less than decent in my book.  It's one thing to be a cheat and a womanizer, but it is a whole other thing when his cheating and womanizing basically turns into him destroying the lives of his wife and mistresses.  He was brutal to his mistress and not much better to his wife and daughter.  It's safe to say that he has little to no respect for women at all.

Yeah, I think this is right. Marty thinks he's a pretty decent guy. He even passes for decent in the right light, but, really, he's a terrible person. He knows less about human decency than the guy who thinks humanity should commit mass suicide. He's a physically abusive misogynist. I mean, he probably thinks he's "protective" of women, too, but all he really wants is to control and dominate women. A good woman - whether they're his wife, mistress, daughter, whatever - does what Marty wants, when Marty wants, and doesn't give him shit about it. And when they do, when he can't effectively tame the "crazy pussy" (and deep down, he probably rates all women in that category) any longer, he gets violent. Smacks his own daugher in the face, even.

"Getting very angry when one sees child abuse" seems like a very low bar for decency. I think all that really proves is that one isn't a deranged sociopath.

Dude is terrible.

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I'd say he legitimately wants to be a decent person, but he is deeply flawed, and his flaws make him far less than decent in my book.  It's one thing to be a cheat and a womanizer, but it is a whole other thing when his cheating and womanizing basically turns into him destroying the lives of his wife and mistresses.  He was brutal to his mistress and not much better to his wife and daughter.  It's safe to say that he has little to no respect for women at all.

Yeah, I think this is right. Marty thinks he's a pretty decent guy. He even passes for decent in the right light, but, really, he's a terrible person. He knows less about human decency than the guy who thinks humanity should commit mass suicide. He's a physically abusive misogynist. I mean, he probably thinks he's "protective" of women, too, but all he really wants is to control and dominate women. A good woman - whether they're his wife, mistress, daughter, whatever - does what Marty wants, when Marty wants, and doesn't give him shit about it. And when they do, when he can't effectively tame the "crazy pussy" (and deep down, he probably rates all women in that category) any longer, he gets violent. Smacks his own daugher in the face, even.

"Getting very angry when one sees child abuse" seems like a very low bar for decency. I think all that really proves is that one isn't a deranged sociopath.

Dude is terrible.

 

Him smacking hs daughter is probably the lowest of his sins against women, that is probably the most restraint he has shown.  I don't have a daughter, but I don't know how I would react if I found out my daughter was caught getting double teamed by two dudes in public.  That isn't even every dude's worse nightmare, because it just wouldn't occur to most guys that it would happen.  Are they insinuating that his daughter was abused at some point?  She was drawing perverted pictures at a very young age, she went above and beyond acting out sexually, and his wife alluded to her being medicated as an adult.  His reactions to the kids being abused also seems to be excessive too, especially taking into account that he is a homicide detective and probably should be a little desensitized from things by now.

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Are they insinuating that his daughter was abused at some point?  She was drawing perverted pictures at a very young age, she went above and beyond acting out sexually, and his wife alluded to her being medicated as an adult. 

Well, for a while I was thinking we were eventually going to find out his daughter had gone to one of the schools that had the Wellspring program and had maybe seen something fucked up she shouldn't have or been more mildly abused than some less fortunate girls, but here we are at the end, and nothing has come of it. So I guess that was wrong.

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I guess I'm a little softer on Marty because he is so simple most of the time.  Total lack of self awareness.  He is about as far from "steady cop" as he could possible be. He obviously is an ass for all the running around on his wife, but Maggie went above and beyond to destroy Marty's professional life so sympathy for her sort of ends there.  

This show has a pretty easy curve, though, when most of the other characters are child torturing, psycho cult murderers.  Still a Rust fanboy at heart, but Marty saying "that fucker is lying get the jumper cables!" was my mark out moment of last weeks ep.

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I always loved how Ghosts of Girlfriends Past appears to be the straw that broke the camel's back for McConaughey and convinced him to get his career back on track.

 

I would have thought it would have been Fool's Gold, but no. I guess the realization that Zombie Charles Dickens might come back from the dead for revenge for butchering his work scared some sense into him.

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One idea for season 2, is to do what American Horror Story did with Jessica Lange and bring back one of the actors for the next anthology (Playing a different role, obviously).

 

I would totally be up for seeing Harrelson again. McConaughey, too, although I'd imagine the scheduling might be a bit harder with him.

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