If film director David Fincher had a time machine that could take him back to the year 1995, I'm positive that he would have scrapped his idea for releasing Se7en and instead opted to produce a series exactly like this one. True Detective is a unique hybrid that seems less in the tradition of television crime dramas that tend provide instant gratification and more tailored towards the conventions of the cinematic medium. The first episode invites the viewer on a journey that follows the lives of detectives Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and Martin Hart (Woody Harrelsen) as they navigate through a particularly perplexing homicide case. A woman named Dora Lange is found bound and ritualistically murdered in a field in rural Louisiana. Told retrospectively through a series of interviews from the year 2012, both Cohle and Hart account for the events that occurred following their assignment to the Lange case back in January 1995. From the very first interview with Detective Hart it is clear that the other detectives interviewing him are more than a little interested to know about the relationship that he had with Cohle. Known as the "taxman" by the other detectives, Cohle is a highly intellectual but introverted man who is well known for his ability to take notes and draw conclusions from even the minutest details in the crimes he investigates. Cohle also comes across as an extremely unhinged, pessimistic and emotionally disturbed man who we come to discover is carrying the demons of a deceased child and a broken marriage. Cohle's characteristics seem to put him at constant odds with his fellow colleagues including Hart who can't seem to rationalize his lack of faith in humanity. Angered by Cohle's utter indifference to the world around him, Hart comically exclaims that the car should be "a place of silent reflection from now on".
Hart is a straight forward detective who appears capable of separating his personal life with the testing conditions he faces at work. Pressure from Hart's wife (Michelle Monaghan) forces him invite a reluctant Cohle to dinner. Unfortunately for Hart, Cohle makes a terrible first impression by arriving at the house completely intoxicated. Hart's worst nightmare is realized now that his work relationship with Cohle has struck a very personal nerve. Their partnership is further strained when they begin to face pressure from the media and religious leaders in the community to solve the case with haste. The case it seems has negative connotations that extend all the way up to the governor's office. Back in the interviewing room it is revealed that the investigators asking the questions are currently working on a more recent case that appears to have the exact same modus operandi as the 1995 homicide of Dora Lange. Cohle explains that this cannot be possible as the true perpetrator had already been caught back in 1995. Ending on a cliff-hanger, we are left asking how Cohle and Hart caught the murderer back in 95' and what the 2012 re-emergence of the case means for their original investigation.
I feel that the dynamic between the personalities of these two characters and the case which seems to bear little clues but which holds their fragile relationship together is creating a series which has a strong driving force. I am personally excited to see the next episode as I am genuinely curious to see how all of these different timelines will come together. I don't want to say this prematurely but True Detective feels like a crime series done right for once. Please enter the rabbit hole with me as I follow the series with reviews of each episode. The next one will be shorter in length I promise!
4/5
Hart is a straight forward detective who appears capable of separating his personal life with the testing conditions he faces at work. Pressure from Hart's wife (Michelle Monaghan) forces him invite a reluctant Cohle to dinner. Unfortunately for Hart, Cohle makes a terrible first impression by arriving at the house completely intoxicated. Hart's worst nightmare is realized now that his work relationship with Cohle has struck a very personal nerve. Their partnership is further strained when they begin to face pressure from the media and religious leaders in the community to solve the case with haste. The case it seems has negative connotations that extend all the way up to the governor's office. Back in the interviewing room it is revealed that the investigators asking the questions are currently working on a more recent case that appears to have the exact same modus operandi as the 1995 homicide of Dora Lange. Cohle explains that this cannot be possible as the true perpetrator had already been caught back in 1995. Ending on a cliff-hanger, we are left asking how Cohle and Hart caught the murderer back in 95' and what the 2012 re-emergence of the case means for their original investigation.
I feel that the dynamic between the personalities of these two characters and the case which seems to bear little clues but which holds their fragile relationship together is creating a series which has a strong driving force. I am personally excited to see the next episode as I am genuinely curious to see how all of these different timelines will come together. I don't want to say this prematurely but True Detective feels like a crime series done right for once. Please enter the rabbit hole with me as I follow the series with reviews of each episode. The next one will be shorter in length I promise!
4/5