Kelly Reilly has been in the entertainment industry for three decades already, and throughout that tenure, she has had her fair share of good and bad roles. While there have been some glamorous ones that elevated her status and made her a household name, there were also some other projects that just didn’t sit well with her fans.
Some might as well throw in the name of Yellowstone here, which kicked off with a good start but couldn’t quite maintain its momentum by the time it reached the end. But while that series was one, there was another project that Reilly starred in that has been a forgettable journey for everyone: Season 2, aka the worst season of True Detective.
Kelly Reilly’s one project in front of which even Yellowstone is bearable
Kelly Reilly as Beth Dutton in Yellowstone. | Credits: Yellowstone / Paramount Network.
Yellowstone was expected to be, perhaps, yet another worthy addition to Kelly Reilly‘s resume. This was especially true after considering show creator Taylor Sheridan’s exceptional success with pieces like Sicario and Wind River, which inevitably boosted fans’ confidence in him. Unfortunately enough, that’s not how it all played out.
While the rest of the series was still bearable, the finale of the neo-Western show seems to have ruined that chance for it to be remembered among Reilly’s better pieces. If anything, the best it did was spark divided opinions among fans as it continues to get tossed between being considered a gritty ranch drama or just, really, well-shot cowboy soap.
And yet, that’s far from the lowest point in her career. Instead, that distinction is held by none other than True Detective season 2, where she embodied the role of Jordan Semyon, wife to Vince Vaughn’s crooked businessman. Despite the groundbreaking first season, the show just couldn’t live up to the expectations with the second outing that fell flat.
For one, season 2 had the chance to outperform its first season, considering how it had a brilliantly star-studded cast filled with talents like Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, and Taylor Kitsch, besides Vaughn and Reilly. However, it not only fell short but also turned out to be a puzzling, over-stuffed entry in the acclaimed anthology series.
Why True Detective Season 2 became a forgettable experience for everyone
Kelly Reilly as Jordan in True Detective season 2. | Credits: True Detective S2 / HBO.
Even though season one of True Detective had set the expectations of fans and viewers high, the second installment didn’t feel like anything more than a season crammed with corruption, trauma, and monologues that went nowhere. This is because it lacked the clarity, focus, or the slow-burn existential dread that hard-launched season 1.
Reilly’s character, Jordan, for one, was supposed to be the tough, sharp-tongued, smart wife who is struggling with infertility and Vaughn’s criminal unraveling. But in a place where she could have truly shone, she wasn’t given much as the script pretty much buried her under, with little to do beyond supporting her husband’s brooding arc.
Instead of focusing on building something tight, the show appeared to try too hard to be edgy, and it got lost in a maze of political corruption and weirdly serious conversations that didn’t really go anywhere. And Reilly was among the ones caught in this creative confusion, ending up sidelined in what could’ve been a career-defining role for her.
That said, in front of this respective anthology series, Yellowstone might as well be forsaken for its excessive drama and soapy arcs, for at least it knew what it wanted to be. Not to mention, as compared to the strong and fiery performance she delivered as Beth Dutton in it, her role in True Detective was just… plain forgettable.
So yeah, to put it in a nutshell, in case you weren’t really a big fan of Taylor Sheridan‘s neo-Western drama that ruined its ending, just know that Kelly Reilly has actually been through worse. Much worse.
