HBO continues its streak of cinematic, grand scope, big picture television with True Detective, which runs its season finale this Sunday after a short (eight episodes only) but critically acclaimed season. True Detective has turned out to be one of HBO’s best performers ratings-wise and critics-wise, with fans leaping onto the show, its unusual narrative style, and its stars with a lust that betrays our strong cultural desire for smart, insightful character studies on modern television.
Has everyone else finally realised the potential for television? I think they might have!
The name (and parts of the show) is an homage to the True Detective serials of old, but this is a smart, updated version, in which parallel narratives eventually merge and build to a head. In 1995, detectives Rustin Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and Martin Hart (Woody Harrelson) are investigating a brutal, mysterious murder that’s been staged in a way that might be familiar to Hannibal fans. In 2012, investigators on another case with similar characteristics want to know if the previous investigators caught the wrong killer, and everyone’s paths cross in a series of interrogations.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking this is a police procedural, because it’s not. Yes, this season’s arc has been about the identification and pursuit of a killer, but the focus is truly on the characters and their development, and in particular, the convergence, divergence, and convergence again of their relationship. This is an examination of the deep, complex, and sometimes tormented relationships men form with each other.
True Detective has been (rightly) criticised for including almost no female characters, and for giving those with screen time very flat, dull personalities and characteristics. This is normally something that I would find deeply irritating, as a critic who resents the underrepresentation of women in pop culture, but there’s something deeper going on here. Pop culture often shies away from delving deeply into male relationships, choosing to remain superficial and on the playful side of the ‘bromance,’ making such relationships into jokes. The refusal to delve below the surface reflects a tension that many members of society have when it comes to imagining men in deep relationships with each other—and True Detective is willing to go there when it comes to exploring Cohle and Hart’s relationship.
They aren’t buddy cops, though there are moments of levity and the sort of backslapping, jocose, all in good fun male culture we’re used to on film and television. They’re something deeper and more authentic, and it makes the drama compelling. This is about storytelling, and it’s particularly about pushing the limits when it comes to exploring how stories are told and how viewers or readers interact with them.
There is much to be read between the lines of True Detective, where every immaculate detail of dialogue (somewhat unusually, Nic Pizzolato writes alone), set dressing, costuming, and lighting reveals something…or does it? At times, there is so much meta bound up in True Detective that some critics say they fear it may have become an elaborate joke or trick on viewers, twisting perceptions and asking people to challenge what they know, and think they know.
As this season draws to a close, the penultimate episode was surprisingly ordinary, at least for HBO, a network infamous for absolutely destroying viewers and then gently putting them to bed afterwards with the final episode. It was, indeed, deceptively quiet. This suggests that we may be in for some explosive revelations, twists, and turns in the final episode, even as we’re also saying goodbye to a familiar and distinctive cast.
For here’s another thing that stands out about True Detective: in a world where even tight serial dramas can tend to drag on for season after season, this show promises that each season will be its own encapsulated arc. Though HBO has not officially announced a second season yet, no doubt it will, and when it arrives (Pizzolato says he’s already started writing for it), it will feature entirely new characters and new settings—including, allegedly, a stronger woman cast member.
What lies ahead on the next season, beyond hints dropped here and there, isn’t clear, but one thing is certain. This is a new narrative style for modern US television, and it’s one that might well work to the advantage of its engineers and creators. Thanks to the surge in smart, cinematic television, with even networks like NBC starting to explore television as a more serious art form, it’s taking more and more to stay compelling, competitive, and engaging. True Detective is emerging at the front of the pack with an in-depth character study paired with storytelling innovation, and it could be an effective path to further success for the show—which is already enjoying some added publicity thanks to McConaughey’s Oscar win on Sunday night.
I predict some serious awards for this show, because it’s turning too many heads to be ignored.
A series to savour and not devour in a box set frenzy. One of the most atmospheric shows ever.