True Detective shootout divides viewers

During its first season, True Detective ended its fourth episode with a single-take shootout that was praised for its audacity, craftsmanship and ingenuity. (Grantland called it “the night TV changed.”) On Sunday’s True Detective episode, the fourth of this divisive second season, another shootout occurred, this was one as messy and jagged as the first season’s was sleek and smooth.

After tracking a watch stolen from Ben Caspere to a criminal named Ledo Amarilla, the three true detectives of this story (Rachel McAdams, Colin Farrell and Taylor Kitsch) engaged in a violent shootout with Amarilla’s associates in broad daylight. The failed raid and its aftermath leave scores of people dead — not just W. Earl Brown’s DGAF cop, but many civilians as well. The episode ends on a freeze frame of the three leads standing over the carnage.

Needless to say, Twitter had reactions.

https://twitter.com/JakeTallon8/status/620463606379839488

Others were more into discussing the freeze frame.

Read Jeff Jensen’s full recap of the episode here.