An ongoing exploration of the dark and gritty reboot
In a previous blog post, I investigated the possibility that George R.R. Martin took inspiration for Arya Stark's storyline from the song "Dire Wolf," by the Grateful Dead. I'm far from the first person to make connections between Martin's words and the Dead's lyrics, as this has been a topic of speculation and deduction for years. But …
Continue reading Is There a Connection Between Bran Stark and “Uncle John’s Band”?
You should avoid reading this unless you've seen seasons one through five of Game of Thrones. It's obvious. I know. It's cheap and easy. It's the cheapest joke this blog has ever made. It's so obvious that when you google "Jeb Bush Stannis Baratheon," the first thing you see are articles like this and this and …
Continue reading Is Jeb Bush Becoming the Stannis Baratheon of the 2016 Election?
I'm one of the lone defenders of True Detective's second season. So far, I can count on one hand the people I know who actually liked it. While I disagree with many of the complaints and criticisms that have been leveled and hurled against it, I'll admit that some of the complaints were grounded in …
Continue reading What Would Christian Bale Do in Season Three of True Detective?
In a previous post, I've argued that no one should call a show good or bad until the end is known. Which means, now that the end is known, we can decide if True Detective's second season was good or bad. People love complaining about how confusing the plot of this season was. And I won't …
Continue reading What Would Faulkner Say About True Detective Season Two?
Well, Season Two is over. Whether you are satisfied with the ending or not, chances are that you are a little bummed that you don't get to watch it next week. Lucky for you, we have a list of things to watch and read if you are a fan of True Detective. Time might be a …
Continue reading Thirteen Ways to Fill the Flat Circle After Season Two of True Detective
Enjoy fan theories? Check out more fan theories here, or buy D. F. Lovett's novel The Moonborn here. A recent scene in True Detective got me thinking about something I haven't thought about in a long time: Friends. In probably the saddest scene of the second season, Ray Velcoro and his son Chad eat pizza in silence …
Continue reading True Detective vs. Friends: Did Ross Geller Lose Custody of His Son?
In a previous post, I mentioned Herodotus's lesson, to "call no man happy until he is dead." My specific application of his lesson in that case was to say that the biggest issue with HBO's Ballers is the tendency for the episodes to end on soft, conflict-free notes. But I also failed to bring the …
Herodotus told us to call no man happy until he is dead. The same is true of television: no series, no season, no episode can be called good until it is over. All endings matter. And it is for this reason that the first episode of HBO's Ballers is good, while the subsequent two are bad. …
A few years ago, I wrote a blog post called The Maramduke Fart Paradox, in which I discussed the strange search engine terms that lead people to this website. Among them was "keanu reeves girlfriend 2011," "mob bosses with sunglasses," and a wide variety of questions about the '90s film Blank Check. Well, the search terms …
So far, so good, for Season Two of True Detective. Except for one aspect of the first episode that didn't work for me. There are four main characters in this season, double the number of the first season. None deserve the label of protagonist. And of the four, none serve less of a purpose in …
Continue reading How Taylor Kitch’s Paul Woodrugh Should Have Been Introduced in True Detective