Television Review: True Detective - Season One

True Detective

Season One

2014

Drama/Crime

3.5 stars out of 5

In 1899, Joseph Conrad published “Heart of Darkness”. This seminal book excels in language (all the more amazing when you explore Conrad’s personal history), but it exceeds almost all other books in describing a literary motif and metaphor that has become a near standard for serious writing in English language fiction: the physical and spiritual core of evil. Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 “Apocalypse Now” may be the best use of Conrad’s metaphor, but True Detective, Season One makes good use of it, too.

In the full season 1 story arc of True Detective, we are exposed to a crime, criminals and a crime scene that seem designed by program creator/writer Nic Pizzolato to evoke the basest actions humans are capable of, and to do it in the midst of the swamp-like interior of various Louisiana bayeux. The season-long arc makes typical use of the Three Act Play: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. Although in True Detective, we watch Detective gets partner, Detective loses partner, Detective gets partner back (and solves crime) – not exactly original, but entertaining.

As noted in my review below for episode one, our Detectives are superbly played by Matthew McConaughey as Rust Cohle, and in a very mediocre fashion by Woody Harrelson as Marty Hart. A woman has been killed, others are missing (and in many cases, not even reported as being missing), and our two heroes are on a quest to find the murderer or murderers. As they dig into the crime, they find evidence that the crime is only part of a series of crimes, and that there is some evidence of a cover-up and of links to people in power. When the apparent leader is finally found, he is living in conditions that are so disgusting, so revolting, it makes one question whether he is even human; he clearly thinks he has evolved upward from such a state.

To Pizzolato’s credit, he has introduced (or re-introduced, if you want to consider the Marquis de Sade amongst others) the idea that there is a kind of ethno-centricity to pain and murder. That is to say, murder with a purpose is crime to some, but an act of art/religion/what-exactly to others? The person central to the crimes in this story is living in what to outsiders seems a nightmare, but to him, is the last stair-step to his vision of Heaven. Pizzolato adds further to the complexity and the horror of the crime by suggesting as some Eastern religions also assert that time is circular. We’ve all been here before, we’ll be here again; and worse, the crimes and sufferings of the past will come to haunt us once again. These are complex thoughts for a crime drama.

The program can be watched and enjoyed by adults for the depiction and resolution of the basic crimes, or by anyone interested in the cinematic splendors of the Louisiana backwoods. But, I think this is a rare television story line with deeper undercurrents. They can be read, and perhaps over-interpreted, but it is still fun to look for deeper meaning in a story that is seemingly so prosaic.

True Detective

Season One, Episode One

2014

Drama/Crime

3.0 stars out of 5

When I first learned a Woody Harrelson/Mathew McConaughey crime drama with gothic and perhaps metaphysical elements would be coming out on HBO, I was quite enthusiastic. Working forward in time from Carnivale and Deadwood to the best written program in television history, “The Wire”, HBO has shown they can produce and air drama that is not excelled anywhere, including the silver screen. In this case though, I was disappointed. There is some good acting by McConaughey but there are problems with writing, directing and editing.

Mathew McConaughey as Detective Rust Cohle is very effective playing a severely disconnected but brilliant detective. He is initially taciturn as befits his character’s stereotype, but then starts philosophizing in so thoroughly a misanthropic manner that his partner, Martin Hart must tell him repeatedly to return to his reticence. Hart is played by Woody Harrelson. Harrelson plays Hart in a very inconsistent manner: at first he is morosely mirroring the Cohle character, then he goes upbeat and tries to be Cohle’s friend, later back down again as he tells Cohle to “stop sayin’ odd sh*t”, then up again as a family man that’s worried about Cohle.  At times you can hardly tell the two characters apart, but then depending on script requirements, the Hart character veers off in some new direction. Is this bad acting, bad directing, bad writing or all three – I’m inclined to believe all three. Just consider the simplistic way both characters are named: “Cohle” is the sad, dark character, while the family man who thinks he isn’t also another misanthrope is named “Hart”.

There are multiple technical problems with this first episode. The pacing is the most problematic issue. The pacing drags all too frequently. Camera framing was also a problem, with various angles ranging from good to incomprehensible. Initially, the editing is confusing, but as the rhythm slowly develops, it does become better. The story is told with flashbacks and to some degree this works reasonably well – in fact, it is the best part of the writing.

The basis of this first episode is that Cohle and Hart in flashback mode investigate a gruesome murder of a part-time prostitute (a pross according to True Detective). The clever part is that a similar crime occurs 17 years later, and our two former detectives (now in a completely new incarnation in the case of Cohle) are asked by contemporary detectives to not only help them understand the new crime but help them explain it in the context of the older crime – committed by someone evidently no longer free to re-commit it. Well, that is an interesting premise. And on that note, I will bide my time with respect to this series, and hope that episode 2 and later episodes will improve in quality with respect to the writing and directing.