True Detective S1E2
WARNING: This review contains spoilers.
HBO has a real winner in its stable.
The dark, chilly buddy-cop show should not work. This genre has an exhaustive legacy, so another cop thriller about a brilliant, troubled introvert and his rambunctious local-boy-made-cop would be expected to yield a watchable "been there, done that" product.
But True Detective delivers. And much better than you would expect. Powered by the performance of Matthew McConaughey. McConaughey is a hot ticket right now, coming off accolades for Dallas Buyers Club. And he continues his renaissance here.
Detective Rust Cohle is an intense man. Thanks to the flashbacks/flashforwards, you get that he is a divorced man who lost his young daughter in a traffic incident in front of his home. This event likely led to his divorce. You don't yet know whether he may carry more responsibility for his loss. After his daughter's death, he became an undercover narcotics officer, and he obviously took a few drugs. Maybe took many drugs, since he is suffering from the effects years later.
Cohle is also not happy that the politically-charged investigation of the murder of Dora Kelly Lange. Because of the right Reverend Billy Lee Tuttle, Cohle and Hart must navigate an anti-Christian-crimes task force. And Cohle expresses himself above his pay grade, leading to conflict with the task force members and his boss, Major Quesada (Kevin Dunn). But he extracts information during the investigation well, using pressure point moves and hitting people with toolboxes to gain the intel he seeks. His methods lead to Lange's diary.
Hart is occupied with his extramaritial activities, his job, and his home life, leading to conflict along the way. He, as suspected, is sleeping with a young court clerk. And he is having difficulty with his in-laws. And his wife. Cohle instigates a confrontation between he and Hart, by chiding Hart on his appearance after spending the evening away from home. Which leads to a physical altercation where it is strongly implied that Cohle would not suffer the short end of the stick.
Hart and Cohle follow clues in Lange's diary to an old, burned-out church. Where they find a mural on the wall of a woman with deer antlers. Stay tuned.
As I mentioned earlier, this show should not work. But through the first two episodes, it does. Carried by the considerable acting talent of McConaughey and Harrelson. Both actors are demonstrating how compelling television can be, in the capable hands of two A-listers. But the writing and pace are top shelf as well, and its just fun to sit back and watch these two great actors delivering a fresh perspective on a tired trope. This is "great show" stuff.
Looking forward to where this show will lead this season, especially considering it should progress as a mini-series.
Random Thoughts:
- No Clarke Peters this episode.
- I like Kevin Dunn as the hard-ass boss.
- The flashback/flashforward is really working for me. And in a better way than Orange is the New Black.
What did you think?
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