HBO’s True Detective (Sundays, 10/9C) is something of an anomaly in American television – every episode was written by series creator Nic Pizzalotto and every episode was directed by the same director, Cary Fukanaga. It’s a unique vision that features some of the best work by its leads – Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey. Which is saying one heckuva lot. My review includes a teaser for tonight’s episode, The Locked Room – check it out after the jump.
The basic plot of the series is the investigation of a very creepy murder in 1995 and a similar murder seventeen years later, in 2012. In the 1995 arc, the murder is investigated by detectives Rust Cohle (McConaughey) and Martin Hart (Harrelson). In 2012 Cohle and Hart are interviewed by detectives Gilbough (Michael Potts) and Papania (Tory Kittles) because of that similarity.
Where True Detective excels is in detail – both in terms of plot and character development. As we watch Cohle and Hart in 1995, we can see that the two play off expectations of buddy cop movies and TV series of the past – Cohle is dour, yet imaginative, determinedly single, and describes himself, philosophically as a Pessimist; Hart is a family man, gregarious to a fault and more of a by-the-book investigator.
As each new episode unfurls, we get more details about each that subvert the ‘type’ that we might have believed them to be – Cohle’s experience in undercover work shows him to be just as gregarious as Hart, but is it as much of an act that he can turn off at will, or a part of his psyche that he represses; Hart has been having an affair with a woman who could be a younger version of his, and is obsessed with her to an unnerving degree – with real world-type consequences.
These latter revelations about Cohle and Hart come in tonight’s episode, The Locked Room and are, as these things go, not huge spoilers plot-wise, but colors of the characters that are signposts that will eventually lead us, we can hope, to how the two became the people that we see in the 2012 interviews (which look suspiciously like interrogations) – Hart, still a detective and still trying to project that hard-working, by-the-book guy we are learning he isn’t; Cohle, a smoking, drinking, ragged recluse who has totally withdrawn from society.
In The Locked Room, Cohle and Hart find a definite clue linking to their homicide – in a manner that is as creepy as anything we’ve seen thus far. In the present, Gilbough and Papania still don’t seem to be asking the right questions – and they don’t seem nearly as worried about that as they do with their interviewees.
Every scene seems to mean something – there are no frills here. Already, there are moments that are calling back to the first two episodes in ways both expected and not. To give specifics might be a bit too spoilery, so intricately interwoven are all the elements Pizzalotto and Fukanaga are playing with.
On a purely physical level, the series looks amazing. From the bullpen the detectives work out of, to sweeping Louisiana landscapes, this is one beautiful (if beautifully dark) show to look at.
And while I haven’t said much about the plot threads from the detectives’ personal lives, it’s important to know that the balance between Cohle and Hart’s work and private lives is close to fifty-fifty. For every important development on their case, there’s some new information on their personal lives.
Though Harrelson and McConaughey carry the bulk of the series in terms of screen time, every single supporting character – down to the day players – is well drawn and well performed. Michelle Monaghan (Maggie Hart) and Alexandra Daddario (Lisa Tragnetti, Hart’s crush) are especially worthy of mention – though neither is used to full advantage, each is powerful in their featured moments.
It’s almost a shame that True Detective is set up as an anthology series with a new case and new cast every season. Detectives Cohle and Hart – and the worlds they live in, in both times, are fascinating. This season – and the screener I received for review (and which I didn’t get until after episode 2, Seeing Things) covers half of it, so that’s a good basis for judgement – is Sopranos/Breaking Bad/Mad Men good.
If you have HBO and somehow haven’t seen True Detective yet, you owe to yourself to catch up on this great, great show. Every new series of 2014 will be compared to True Detective and it has set the bar very high, indeed.
Final Grade: A+