TRUE DETECTIVE - The Impact Review

Two cops Cohle ( Matthew McConaughey) and Hart (Woody Harrelson) are being separately interviewed about events that transpired seventeen years before. In differing ways they are not the men they were, but they are being asked to describe their working relationship and the details of a case they worked together.

We see the original investigation take place as Cohle and Hart are called in when a body of a young woman is found in the plains of Louisiana. She is tied, kneeling, to a tree with antlers strapped to her head and strange patterns of twigs hung in Blair Witch type collections around her. It looks like a cult or occult killing and it shakes the local community to its core. But the two cops are already a disparate partnership. Hart appears to be a by-the-book, but decent family man; Cohle is cold, insular, a damaged man lost in the fog of tragedies from his past. It's unclear how much progress they can make on their casde while they make so little progress on even the rudiments of their partnership.

But some crimes bring a cost beyond the immediate victims and the events transpiring will echo down the years in more ways than one...

Opening episodes of a new television series have to be judged as both a single entity and as the opening salvo of a much-longer campaign… they have to give you an idea of the characters, location, plot and tone. It’s a lot to impart and though more money is sometimes thrown at such premieres than the hours that follow it, it’s also true to say that even the most classic series or programmes have usually evolved for the better as they gather loyalty, interest and momentum.

True Detective is a difficult pilot to judge and review. Taken on its own merits it has a dusty, rural hue that positively reeks of freshly mown hay and desperation, each frame slightly darker than it needs to be and the troubled characters matching the sky that forever seems to be on the edge of a torrential downpour of unpleasant consequences. 

All that being said, True Detective moves SO slowly that if you squint your eyes ever so slightly it may appear to be running backwards. As an actor, the affable McConaughey never seems to be troubled for words – his recent acceptance speech at the SAG Awards was more like a stream of bizarre bongo-playing consciousness than a thank you – but here his character aches with the effort of every word, the kind of man who would probably be the most comfortable in a world of silence. When he does speak, the words are blunted razorblades of conversation. He's trying to have a conversation, but his mind is elesewhere and hurting.   When Woody Harrelson’s Hart finally gives him the ‘I know I asked you to open up more, but in hindsight that was a really bad idea...’ look, the audience is probably of the same mind.

Though steeped in the American South, this feels more European arthouse than one would initially suspect from the promotional trailers - the series actually being created by Nic Pizzolatto, better known for episodes of The Killing. HBO is an outlet that likes to take risks and it’s a dead-shot certainty that True Detective would never have made it onto a network in its current form. There's no doubt the show is determined to carve it's own niche and while one utterly applauds the bravery of bucking the trend and not tailoring itself to demographics, trends and network audiences, it won't succeeed purely on maverick bravado.

With all the talent on show, you may find yourself wanting to like True Detective more than you do, fuelled by the critics who will applaud its DNA rather than the result. Some will be instantly sold on the grim gravel and grits of the opener, others may find it’s a series that is slouching towards Bethlehem with too much of a laconic limp and missing a degree of urgency to go alongside its uneasy atmosphere. By the end of the first episode, I was of the mind to come back and see its second episode before fully deciding whether this was a show that I wanted to be with for the duration. At the moment – judged ONLY on the opener – it has all the qualities one would want, but rather than being the sum of its amazing parts, those parts seem to be standing around waiting for something to bring them together. HOW that happens will be key.

There will be much stroking of chins and applauding from the arthouse lobby, but eight weeks of True Detective as this RPM would likely put you in a coma.  A little less conversation, just a LITTLE more action, please... and this could yet be a classic.

TRUE DETECTIVE is showing on HBO in the United States at the moment and arrives in the UK on Sky Atlantic on February 22nd.