TV shows we love: True Detective

First things first: True Detective spans four seasons and I’ve only managed to watch the first one so far. No matter how great or not the first instalment is (spoiler alert: it is!), I promised myself to watch the remaining three soon to ascertain whether, as is sadly often the case, the quality of the entire opus decreases.

The series shouts Louisiana from the very first scene. The kind of Louisiana reminiscent of voodoo and cajun. Stagnant, murky swamps, scorching highways and a general sense of uneasiness make it impossible for the viewer to remain detached.

The feeling that something bad is about to happen at all times constantly radiates from the screen. On top of that, the chemistry between the two main characters, detectives Rustin Cohle, played by perhaps the best Matthew McConaughey ever seen on TV, and Martin Hart, an inspired Woody Harrelson, is sky-high.

While Cohle mutters nihilistic sentences and treads the fine line that divides insane delusions from epiphany, Hart struggles to separate his middle-class life from his true depraved self.

In a nutshell, the two detectives, who investigated the murder of prostitute Dora Lange in 1995, are called to revisit their work 17 years later, along with several other unsolved crimes.

Cohle is now a social wreck, an alcoholic and, if possible, even more delusional than before, while Hart has managed a successful career, although his family, a big part of his life, left him.

Much of the narration relies on flashbacks, but the true goal of the investigation is not just catching the serial killer of women and children whose terrifying rituals stun the viewer both at a physical and at a mental level, but to save the two detectives’ broken and corrupt souls.

Yet the more linear plot is not secondary. On the contrary, it’s compelling, explicit, obsessive, and holds the whole story together.

True Detective is a continuous and astonishing whirlwind of surprises, capable of alternating poetic montages, hypnotic sequences and adrenaline-fueled long takes. It captures the purest noir essence, blinding us at first, just to make us see the whole, horrible, terrifying and depressing picture at the end.