True Detective

Amazing atmosphere, great script, psychological complexity of the characters, brilliantly delivered by the two lead actors. True Detective is one of the most excellent series not only of this year. A crime thriller to which Se7en pales in comparison. (05/03/2014)

True Detective develops a multi-layered plot that jumps back and forth in time between flashbacks, in which two diametrically opposed detectives, who have a hard time getting along, investigate a ritualistic murder, and the present day, where these detectives are talking about a 17-year-old case to other detectives investigating a similar murder. The heart of the detective story, however, lies in the gradual revelation of the changing relationship of the two main characters, whose accounts differ at times, and the reason why both have changed so much over the years. In doing so, the series plays with the concept of the unreliable narrator. The precise performances of the two leads (which are among the best of their careers) make for a riveting watch. HBO series have always successfully portrayed the atmosphere of a given place and time, and this existential neo-noir delights in the way it manages to build a dark atmosphere in a sunny Louisiana landscape. All eight episodes had the same director (Cary Fukunaga) and were written by one writer (Nic Pizzolatto), which was unusual in television up to this point. It is therefore more of an eight-hour film divided into eight chapters. In fact, HBO plans to treat the entire series as an anthology (each season will have a different story, different characters, and a different director). (15/01/2014)

I'm probably the only one, but for me, this is possibly the biggest disappointment in a TV series in the past ten years. This is definitely not another Chernobyl, Mindhunter, Queen’s Gambit, or Money Heist. I haven't seen such an overhyped series in a long time. Maybe if I had watched it in 2014, I would have rated it differently, but in terms of Crime, Mindhunter and Night Stalker are on a completely different level of quality. Even the French crime drama from the same year, SK1, is much more intense. The only thing that can be praised are Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, who do a really good job in their roles, and the craftsmanship is also at a high level, but is that enough? Not for me. The most shocking thing is that there is only one murder throughout the series, and the introduction of the killer happens twenty minutes before the end, which is unforgivable in the crime genre. Ironically, the series should have begun where it ends. You hope for ritual occult murders that would add darkness, brutality, discomfort, and instead, they deal with typical family relationships, who's sleeping with whom, character development, and similar matters that absolutely didn't interest me. The only memorable scene in the whole eight hours is Daddario's breasts, and that is unfortunately shameful. In the end, the investigation and evidence collection play a supporting role (most of the time the series takes place at a station, in a car, or in someone's bed), and if someone finds rainy weather darker than mutilated corpses, then I must be living in a different world. Not to mention the slow and uninteresting pace. As a drama, I would be willing to give it a 7, but in terms of crime and thriller, it's a 4 for me, so a compromise somewhere around 5. (05/04/2021)

The moral imperative in me and the starry sky above me. A semi-ultimate dialectical existential detective story (until about the 5th part), followed by a procedural metaphysical thriller / horror, referring to the tradition of storytelling fools of the 19th and early 20th century. The conclusion is like a bromance written by Immanuel Kant. Overall, one of the most interesting projects in the history of TV, which suffers a bit from the imbalance of the script, but then balances it with perfect directing, set design and acting. If there is a consistent and meaningful counterweight to Scandinavian noir, it is True Detective. However, True Detective also properly teaches the "Nordic" combinatorics about straightforwardness. [90%] (12/03/2014)

After a very long time, I was able to downright enjoy a TV show. One season was enough to make me realize that you can still wonder about a story even despite the fact that the creators tell you a substantial part of it right from the start. True Detective’s selling points are its story and its atmosphere. Although the story itself seems like quite a classic plot at first glance, its narration is so perfect that it immediately etched itself in my mind. And not just because of the story itself, but, above all, because of the lead roles that Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson performed so perfectly. I haven’t ever seen them act better. In any case, thanks to them, this TV show has become one of the most intense show experiences I have ever had. (14/03/2014)