True Detective Makes Grantland’s Summer List

By Reuben Levine | Jul 24, 2015

True Detective season two is almost over, and so it’s just about time for it to start making the various summer lists. Again. Even though True Detective season two hasn’t been able to reach the critical heights of the first season, it has been slowly finding its way. Although it sometimes feels like Nic Pizzolatto is the one holding it back.

More from HBO

Grantland has started to put together their summer lists, and True Detective makes several appearances. But not all of them are good. True Detective doesn’t make their Best of Summer TV list, but Colin Farrell does “win” — these are just lists, after all — for his role as Ray Velcoro. Unfortunately, True Detective makes a few other appearances in less flattering categories.

For example, Kelly Reilly gets chosen for “Unintentionally Funniest Performance,” a category in which Vince Vaughn was also nominated. Her acting in True Detective is described as “unplugged,” which, to be fair, would probably count for much of the line delivery throughout the season.

True Detective’s second season isn’t going the way that many people thought it would

True Detective wins again for “Missed Potential,” and it’s hard to argue with that one regardless of how you feel about season two. This is the first best-of summer TV list we’ve seen so far, but it will probably set the tone for the others unless True Detective turns it around in a way that everyone loves. And that’s not very likely.

True Detective’s second season isn’t going the way that many people thought it would, but we’d argue that it’s still a compelling hour of television. It may have appeared unfocused and bogged down by Pizzolatto’s writing, but it’s begun prove its worth in the second half.

To top it off, Grantland created their own True Detective drinking game that would probably land players in the hospital. Our favorites include drinking “Every time Taylor Kitsch suddenly RAISES HIS VOICE TO EXPRESS PAIN,” and “Every time a crook uses the vocabulary of a thirtysomething English major (e.g., “louche” or “apoplectic”.)”

Though apoplectic is a fun word to say.

Next: Colin Farrell showed an exclusive True Detective clip on Jimmy Kimmel.

More from Show Snob