We did this over analyzing to ourselves

Things to love about the last episode:

Great resolution to both characters and their relationship
Great maze set design
Spooky thriller ending reminiscent of the ending in silence of the lambs

What I disliked was that they never explained the whole yellow king thing, or Audrey, or left us with anything wrt the other cult members
A cliffhanger about that would've made this show goat

False. Cohle had the same beliefs the entire series, only changing in the last scene. That is not "closure". It is betraying the character he played.

TD is going to be something that is way better to look back on and watch again for people who now know what they were watching. Instead of the insufferable posts about the plot of the crime and twists and how it didn't end with MM going out in a blaze of glory taking down the entire hierarchy of Louisiana with huge zomgwtf moments maybe there can be some discussion about character transformation and the actual themes of the show. The No Country for Old Men comparison is pretty perfect.

They found their monster, their debt as Rust puts it. There's no end to the violence/darkness. That's why Marty quit the force. That's why Rust wants to "tie off" the cycle of violence in his life - to finish this and get out. I don't believe he expected to survive. This is the largest sweeping theme of the series between those two characters. Rust did mention he wanted to get the rest; at this point Marty explicitly stops him. Marty at that moment knows what is best for Rust. It's over. No more chasing monsters in the dark. Acknowledge they exist. Live. We don't know how much of the case is solved eventually, just that Rust & Marty deliver their case to these other detectives. It's up to them and up to, ya know, society to seek full justice. Two men are not capable. And the whole thing was destroying them (specifically).

Sorry to be a nit but I just don't get why he had a British accent

Has anyone ever won an Oscar and an Emmy in the same year? MM gotta be a lock?

Was just one of his many many voices. He did like 5 of them in that one episode.

except No Country has zero character transformation and does not parallel TD in any way, other than MM and TLJ had a dream and both said "then I woke up".

my fav reddit post:

Incestual finger banging AND snipers! alright alright alright

Helen Hunt 1998

Yeah, he's a lock. Even if he was in the drama category with Cranston instead of the movie/mini series category he'd probably win.

Nope. Other Tuttles were just there for emotional support, it's all good now.

I actually thought that was one of the coolest things of the finale - apparently super intelligent squalor-living hoarder speaking in multiple accents is a pretty unique psycho.

You're being too literal. It's more about ending on a human moment and not some big "TADA!" or cliff hanger. It's just someone talking about the human experience.

The comparison is about an ending that was unsatisfying to some people who were watching the movie and missing what it was about.

They both end with some stupid speech after decent action

Lol no way he'd win over Cranston

Yes way even if you don't think so.

Yeah, the Emmys love movie stars and the Mcconaissance will last through the summer.

Clearly not his entire life. And he doesn't have the same beliefs in '95 as '12. In '95 he says these things but there's a disconnect between action and belief. After he quits the force ('05? I can't remember.) he's as far as I can tell trying to drink himself to death for 5 years (however long since he told the world to screw off). Something happens along the way where he feels obliged to come back to humanity and it starts with solving this case which he considers a debt. He's moved on somewhere between '10-'12 to a degree, when he returns from Alaska, and wants to tie it off. He reconnects with Marty and starts building a different kind of relationship once he pulls him over on the roadside. He hasn't entirely kicked the nihilistic outlook but he's taken steps. Right? And for whatever reason when he returns from death (not supposed to happen) he has a moment of catharsis. I mean, Marty does too. The two very different detectives from the start kind of merge into the same having shared the experience of the case. It changed them both. All of this is right there in the text.

"I don't like the text" is all well and good but it is all there.

Emmys also love Cranston and BB was one of the most popular and critically acclaimed shows of the decade

Not the biggest let down ever, and as has been said the first 40 mins was awesome, but the green painting was just the exact opposite way I would have liked to have had this show end.

Theres literally decades of investigations, and it is solved by asking a lady who painted her house green? Not only that, but I was thinking the green ears were because of the lawnmower earmuffs (is this not the case?) so it seems really bad from my perspective.

Agreed. Also why can't a near death experience drastically change a person? If there would ever be a catalyst for change...

Correct me if I'm wrong, and I could be misremembering, but isn't there an exact quote early on the show about how it's the smallest detail that can crack a case? Again, seems perfectly realistic to me. The Devil is in the detail.

Also Cohle had been looking at it over and over, and it's only when he got Marty's fresh eyes that they blew it open. I dunno, seems fine to me.

One way I believe the ending could've improved was to write less. There's an extraordinarily similar ending to The Straight Story but almost no words are spoken, you just see it in the face of Farnsworth and Stanton. The writer stepping aside can still get the entire thing across. That's my only small bit of nitpicking.

There are "spoilers" below (you can't spoil the movie though it ain't that kind of movie) where you can see what I mean, again it isn't the same exact thing but the theme is ~exact. You'd have to see the entire movie for the scene to have a major impact ya know context and such (it floors me every time)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CIOP-YkeyQ&t=2m38s

THAT is the ending True Detective went for and I think achieved