True Detective Review

I really hate television.  Which is weird, because I watch a lot of it.  So, somewhere between work, 'pr0n' and the occasional video game, I to try to watch several shows, and I am open minded enough to check out new things.  Sometimes I'm impressed (i.e. Sleepy Hollow, Sherlock on BBC, Almost Human and Bates Motel), but most times I'm disappointed.

Normally, I won't watch non sci-fi/horror/supernatural types of shows because I'm easily bored.  But after the Clockwork Orangian urgings of my friend Regis Jack (check him out painfully and regret it later here), I started watching True Detective on HBO.

Created by Nic Pizzolatto, the plot has Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson playing detectives over the course of 17 years searching for a killer.  But are they really true detectives??  They do some very shady things within those 17 years... dare I say illegal things?  And after 17 years looking for someone, are they good detectives?  I call shenanigans at the show title.  Maybe Questionable Detective would be better.  Dangerous Detective.  Flaky Detective.... just throwing it out there.

First, I love me some Woody (and who doesn't??).  Woody Harrelson ('Detective' Marty Hart) does his usual great job being pretty much the same guy he usually is, only more intense (if you can believe that).  But Matthew McConaughey ('Detective' Rust Cohle) gets the wow..!  What an interesting character.  He kept my attention between his performance and the overall way this character was written.  But was it enough?

At first, I wondered if it would be a more serious and less freaky version of Twin Peaks (which I LOVED!).  But every time we got away from the mystery, and started to focus on Marty's family drama, I got bored.  And they spend a LOT of time focusing on his personal life.  Don't get me wrong, because the women that Marty is with are all pretty freakin' hot!  But, it all felt a bit weird because he spends a lot of the time recalling personal events with other detectives.   

Overall, I kept waiting for something to happen.  Each episode felt like it was building up to something, but delivered nothing.  I found myself saying, "That's it??" often.  I went from leaning forward to leaning back too many times (figuratively).  Otherwise, each episode is well put together, often very dark and sometimes very disturbing, and the acting is top notch.  The directing is also well done  Extra kudos going to episode 4 (Who Goes There) when Cohle hooks up with his old biker gang.  The entire ending sequence was shot very well (no pun intended).

Maybe you'll like this kind of thing, but it isn't for me.  There are only 8 episodes total, so it doesn't take too much time out of your busy schedule.  But if I'm going to watch something non sci-fi/horror/supernatural, I need it to really push me over the edge... like Breaking Bad *sniff*

Deeesher