A new drama series True Detective focuses on Martin Hart (Woody Harrelson) and 'Rust' Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) two detectives and former partners who worked in Louisiana's Criminal Investigation Division in the mid-1990s. In 2012 for reasons not immediately revealed the two are interviewed separately by investigators about their most notorious case: the macabre 1995 murder of a prostitute by a possible serial killer with disturbing occult leanings. As they look back on the case Hart and Cohle's personal backstories and often-strained relationship become... a major focal point. Episodes Comprise: The Long Bright Dark Seeing Things The Locked Room Who Goes There The Secret Fate of All Life Haunted Houses After You're Gone Void and Form [show more]
Let's get this out of the way from the start: 'True Detective' is a good show. A very good show. But it isn't perfect.
I was excited to read some of the reviews of the series while it was being shown earlier this year, which built the series up as a revolutionary new viewing experience, anchored by fantastic performances from the two lead actors, Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey. And whilst that's half-true (Harrelson and McConaughey are both excellent here), I was surprised to find when I watched it for myself on blu-ray that 'True Detective' is in fact a fairly conventional and traditional story - just one that's very, very well-told.
In a sense, it shouldn't really be compared to other TV shows so much as it should be compared to movies of the same genre. Because 'True Detective' is really more like one big eight-hour movie than it is an ongoing TV series: it has a clear three-act structure (with equally-significant segments taking place in 1995, 2002 and 2012), a well-defined beginning, middle and end, and is brought to us by a single writer and a single director, rather than the hodgepodge of talents that you normally find behind a TV series.
But whatever you compare it against, it holds up pretty well. From the start, there's a sense of real depth and intelligence to the writing of the two detectives, whether it's McConaughey's nihilistic and antisocial outlook as "Rust" - a one-time drug cop who's had a tough life for all sorts of reasons, as we soon discover - or Harrelson's self-deceiving "good ol' boy" Marty, who sees himself as the big family breadwinner and a good husband and father, even though he's anything but.
Through the eyes of these two mismatched partners, we gradually see the emergence of a sinister and cult-like murder mystery, which forms the backbone of the entire eight-episode series. But really, the show is as much about the two leads as it is about the murder, veering between certain scenes that really drive the plot forwards and others that are only tangentially related to the murder, casting more light on Rust and Marty's personal lives and motivations.
This is my first real criticism of the show: the pacing can be a bit erratic and uneven. After a few very slow-burning episodes at the start of the series that deal mostly with the characters, we get a frantic fourth episode that's heavy on action and intrigue, followed by an almost-as-exciting fifth, before things really slow down again in the sixth and seventh episodes for some more introspection before suddenly roaring to life again for a heart-pounding finale. That kind of variation in tone is a little more acceptable on a long-running series - where it can sometimes be interesting to change things up a little bit, and vary the tone - but when you're following one single, continuous and finite miniseries (especially if you're watching the whole thing through in quick succession on a blu-ray boxset), it can be a little frustrating.
My second problem is that the show really does a disservice to its female characters. Given that some of the most significant supporting characters are female (in particular, Marty's wife Maggie and their two daughters) and the show explicitly explores gender-related subjects including misogyny and sexual abuse, it's a real shame to see the women written so two-dimensionally. When Marty has affairs outside of his marriage, his mistresses are either sex-mad nymphomaniacs or bitchy harridans, depending on the needs of the story - and Maggie herself is ultimately short-changed by the series too, even though she does get one or two reasonably interesting moments towards the end.
Finally, I'd criticise the show for relying on such a conventional and derivative ending after so many episodes of complex buildup and intelligent, unpredictable plotting. The show's finale is a perfectly fine way to tie up the story, but it somehow doesn't feel like it fits the tone of the rest of the series at all, feeling more suited to a more conventional cop-buddy-movie than a dark and intellectually-complex series that's as much about the dark nature of humanity as it is about catching a killer.
But don't let these criticisms put you off too much: despite my complaints, this is still an excellent and refreshingly unpatronising thriller that never talks down to its audience, crediting viewers with enough intelligence to put a lot of plot points and character motivations together ourselves, and directed with real flair and fractured beauty by Cary Joji Fukunaga. On blu-ray, it looks utterly spectacular in places, rendering the sparsely-populated environs of coastal Louisiana as completely alien yet utterly beguiling in equal measure. And the make-up effects that are used to show the transformation of Marty and Rust over the 17-year period covered by the show are so brilliantly detailed and effective that they still hold up, even in high-definition.
With two such brilliant lead performances (McConaughey, in particular, is on a real high after similarly great turns in the likes of 'Mud' and 'Dallas Buyers Club'), a decent central mystery and some great writing and directing, 'True Detective' is well worth your time and attention. Just don't let the effusive critical praise get your expectations for the series too high - it's still just a TV show, after all.
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Please note this is a region B Blu-ray and will require a region B or region free Blu-ray player in order to play. All eight episodes of the critically-acclaimed US television series starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. The series follows two Louisiana homicide detectives, Rustin 'Rust' Cohle (McConaughey) and Martin 'Marty' Hart (Harrelson), as they hunt for a serial killer over a 17-year period
All eight episodes of the critically-acclaimed US television series starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. The series follows two Louisiana homicide detectives, Rustin 'Rust' Cohle (McConaughey) and Martin 'Marty' Hart (Harrelson), as they hunt for a serial killer over a 17-year period. The episodes are: 'The Long Bright Dark', 'Seeing Things', 'The Locked Room', 'Who Goes There', 'The Secret Fate of All Life', 'Haunted Houses', 'After You've Gone' and 'Form and Void'.
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