HBO
Every so often, someone will edit an NFL game down to just football action. No commercials, no TV timeouts, no huddles, no halftime, only actual plays, which trims three hours down to a neat 11 minutes. That’s kind of how True Detective felt in its second season. But with staring.
Or to quote Frank, “You bang down my door for a staring contest?” Here’s my impression.
*stares* *continues staring* *eye twitches, but still stares*
Existence is a toilet, and we’re the piss.
*stares some more*
The dialogue and action happened between angry stares, not the other way around. It was the moody equivalent of scaring someone by unexpectedly jumping out of a closet; they were frightened more out of instinct than because you did anything chilling. My original plan was to see, of the Big Four (Ray Velcoro, Ani Bezzerides, Paul Woodrugh, and Frank Semyon), who spent the most time staring this season, but it was quickly apparent that Frank was the runaway winner. Instead, I kept track of all the furious, silent stare scenes, and who they were between.
There were other moments of intense gazing, often between Ani and Ray, but those don’t count, because they were more likely to lead to sex (which they did!) than murder.
Ray vs. questions about his son
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Woodrugh vs. Lacey
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Ani’s sister vs. Ani
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Straight Woodrugh vs. gay Woodrugh
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Osip vs. Frank
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Frank vs. Ray
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Woodrugh vs. wind
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Everyone vs. everyone
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Frank vs. water stains
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Frank vs. Ray, part two
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Ray vs. Ray’s dad
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Frank vs. penis
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Frank vs. Ray, part three
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Stan vs. not dying
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Frank vs. Santos
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This guy vs. Frank
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Frank vs. Roy from The Office
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Woodrugh vs. Lacey, part two
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Frank vs. the Mexicans
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Woodrugh vs. his mom
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Frank vs. Ray, part four
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Ray vs. prisoner
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Ray’s son vs. not watching Friends
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Frank vs. the Mexicans, part two
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Ani vs. BOB from Twin Peaks
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Frank vs. Ray, part five
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Nothing is f*cking vs. everything is f*cking
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Frank vs. Blake
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Woodrugh vs. blackmailing
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Ray vs. Lenny
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Frank vs. the Mexicans, part three
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