'True Detective: Night Country' writer-director Issa López deep dives into her biggest cinematic influences. #truedetective #hbo Connect with Deadline online! / deadline / deadline / deadline
"Writing is horrible and I hate it. I would never write another word if I could, but I'm the only crazy person who writes the stuff that I write, so I'm doomed". Issa López
If you hate writing, you have no business writing. If you are a TRUE writer, you know that writing is something you have to do because you love doing it and there is nothing that comes close.
Issa López threw five books and four shows into Chat GPT and asked the artificial intelligence to create Night Country so that every modern day progressive woke clone would clap. It's mindless and without complex nuance storytelling. She is perfect for Hollywood.
It was not a True Detective, it should be called something else. No matter how much homages you pay to the ever beloved season 1, it won’t make it a good film, if it’s not done right. Inconsistencies, sometimes just bad acting performances, chaos in side plots and a terrible ending are the ingredients to failure. The art department did a wonderful job though.
I find her very relatable and likable here, very intelligent and down to earth. I like her. TD4 fell flat for me because of the character writing, the script, the dialogue. It's abysmal, the worst of any TD. The opening, i felt was magnificent, though (for me) that was largely piggybacked off of Ferris Bueller's Day Off and The Beatles. It had amazing potential and the paranormal / supernatural was it's greatest strength (until the ghosts/ spirits started talking). Sadly they chickened out of seeing this supernatural way though. Back to the characters, when there's no one to be engaged with, what urgency is there for the viewer, no matter the outcome? The cast was stellar! It was a poor script and character development (or lack thereof) that I'm sad to say does make this one of the worst TD's. I've seen all of them at least 3 times and this one I doubt will ever see as many viewings. I was (optimistically) into it until episode 4, and 4 and 5 really dragged. No character development, at least none by way of likability or relatability. It takes the worst traits of authority figures (i didn't like that in TD1 too) and put it on our 2 protagonists. Guys, girls and anyone inbetween isn't going to be likable with this character writing. Such a shame. I really hope they have better writers for season 5. Maybe she just directs and doesn't write so much dialogue?? I dont know. Give us relatable characters with interesting life philosophies. This makes for engaging and edifying viewing. It wasn't all bad but I'll reiterate again it was the character writing that ruined this season. It had other weaknesses but this is what ruined it. It had other strengths that could of flown so much higher with better character writing. What a shame. My recommendations for serieses with actually interesting characters would be 'Feud - Betty Davis and Joan Crawford, The Serpent; Mindhunter, The Bridge (all seasons and Sofia Helin is an actually complex and interesting character) Fringe (Anna Torv is another brilliantly cast and written lead), The Curse (Emma Stone as a co-lead is absolutely magnificent, it's awkward but still relatable on a human level), and my last one isn't crime orientated but adding it for it's diverse cast and brilliant writing 'Beef'. (Last last one might also check out 'Tin Star'.) And Don Mckellars 1990s movie 'Last Night' I've leaned quite heavily on what some may call 'woke' but I generally agree with most wokeness. This season of TD didn't feel woke at all :/.
It baffles me that Issa Lopez has convinced herself that she is capable of original thought and creating new ideas. Season 4 of True Detective was FULL of almost identical copies from season 1. How can she feel good about that?
She's very relatable and likable, i like her. But TD 4 fell flat for me because of the character writing. It's abysmal, the worst of any TD. The opening, i felt was magnificent, though (for me) that was largely piggybacked off of Ferris Bueller's Day Off and The Beatles. It had amazing potential and the paranormal / supernatural was it's greatest strength (until the ghosts/ spirits started talking). Sadly they chickened out of seeing this supernatural way though. Back to the characters, when there's no one to be engaged with, what urgency is there for the viewer, no matter the outcome? The cast was stellar! It was a poor script and character development (or lack thereof) that I'm sad to say does make this one of the worst TD's. I've seen all of them at least 3 times and this one I doubt will ever see as many viewings. I was (optimistically) into it until episode 4, and 4 and 5 really dragged. No character development, at least none by way of likability or relatability. It takes the worst traits of authority figures (i didn't like that in TD1 too) and put it on our 2 protagonists. Guys, girls and anyone inbetween isn't going to be likable with this character writing. Such a shame. I really hope they have better writers for season 5. Maybe she just directs and doesn't write so much dialogue?? I dont know. Give us relatable characters with interesting life philosophies. This makes for engaging and edifying viewing. It wasn't all bad but I'll reiterate again it was the character writing that ruined this season. It had other weaknesses but this is what ruined it. It had other strengths that could of flown so much higher with better character writing. What a shame. My recommendations for serieses with actually interesting characters would be 'Feud - Betty Davis and Joan Crawford, The Serpent; Mindhunter, The Bridge (all seasons and Sofia Helin is an actually complex and interesting character) Fringe (Anna Torv is another brilliantly cast and written lead), The Curse (Emma Stone as a co-lead is absolutely magnificent, it's awkward but still relatable on a human level), and my last one isn't crime orientated but adding it for it's diverse cast and brilliant writing 'Beef'. (Last last one might also check out 'Tin Star'.) And Don Mckellars 1990s movie 'Last Night' I've leaned quite heavily on what some may call 'woke' but I generally agree with most wokeness. This season of TD didn't feel woke at all :/.
As a Tolkien's hardcore fan, I thought that nothing would be worse than Amazon's Rings of Power. The worst TV series ever... before this "TD season 4" came out.
