Last Sunday arguably the most awaited TV event of the year took place – the premier of the second season of True Detective. After the stunning and somehow unexpected success of Season One, millions of fans speculated if the show would be able to uphold its high standard. When you add the fact that the story and cast would be completely different, set in California instead of the Southeast, the doubts felt logical, if not inevitable.
Unfortunately, the first episode could not put these doubts to rest, on the contrary. While the season premier was solid, it was not much else – and this is simply not enough when you consider a phenomenon like True Detective. The bleak, pessimistic atmosphere was there, the emotionally broken characters were there, the murder and the body left in the middle of nowhere were there. But the most important attribute was missing – that undefined, magical extra ounce of genius that separates good from great.
So what was good?
From the opening theme song, through the wide outdoors shots of California’s industrial background – you have the unmistakable feeling that you watch True Detective. The first scenes immediately throw us in the nightmarish imagination of creator Nick Pizzolatto, with dusty back alleys, shaggy suburb houses for shooting webcam porn and a shady roadside bar, similar to a setting of a Quentin Tarantino movie. What I really liked about the first episode was the fact that we pretty fast got to understand that the main characters have inerasable scars from their past. In the case of Colin Farrell’s character – detective Ray Velcoro – it was the assault and rape of his wife. We are still to find out what lies behind the dramas of Paul Woodrugh (played by Taylor Kitsch) and Ani Bezzerides (played by Rachel McAdams)
I must admit I was very skeptical about Vince Vaughn taking on one of the major character, but I must retract
these doubts right away. Vaughn easily stole the show as the mobster kingpin turned legal businessman Frank Semyon. His doubts and lack of confidence as his transition goes by are further complicated by the apparent murder of one of his new business partners.
This is one more thing I personally liked about episode One. It threw us right into action and we already know who the victim is and we were partially acquainted with its background. I believe Season Two will rely much less on gothic modern mythology and go for a “Ray Donovan” or “Breaking Bad” style of storyline. This is of course a shot in the dark but I would not be disappointed if the show would take such a turn.
So what was bad?
The true originality and genius of the first season was the all-engrossing misanthropy and pessimism of Matthew
McConaughey’s Rust Cohle. I do not think we have ever seen such a character before on TV – thoroughly cynical, introvert, asocial, self-destructive, super-intelligent wreck of a human being. The thing is, either because of McConaughey’s brilliant portrayal or because of the smashingly powerful screenplay, all these attributes felt natural and inherent once you get to know his character. Cohle was believable in every bleak word he said, every agonizingly disinterested look – as if the next breath he had to inhale was just too much of an effort and it was not worth taking it.
I did not have this sense of belief and truthfulness while I was watching Farrell, Kitsch and McAdams. They all look like distorted images of Cohle, only for different reasons. Cohle’s misanthropy was deeply philosophical
however, almost dzen-like, rooted in the intellectual disillusion of the world, triggered by his daughter’s death. All the three characters in Season Two are obviously self-destructive, but the attributes of it manifest themselves in a very physical way. Velcoro is a drug and alcohol-addict, prone to sadistic violence; Woodrugh is suicidal for some reason we are yet to find out; Bezzerides also like to hit the bottle and has some strong sexual issues.
But all this goes a bit too far, as if the creators of the show are trying too hard to convince us that these characters are dysfunctional. That is particularly true in Velcoro’s case – his vicious assault against the father of the bully who molests his son probably looked for shock value but shot and missed for me.
What can we expect?
It is too early to tell. From my point of view we have a storyline that is more interesting and realistic than that of Season One. At the same time the characters are obviously not as well-balanced and deep as the previous year, so that might derail the whole show altogether. I would be bold enough to predict that the second season will be perfectly fine to watch and it will have its strong moments, but it will go nowhere near the phenomenal success of its predecessor. Time will tell.
