All of America is talking about the recently concluded smashing Season 1 of True Detective. Here's why we should be watching it too.
1) The Plot.
True Detective is a serial killer murder mystery, following an odd couple of detectives who can't stand each other & it involves long scenes with road trip philosophies, and a story told by both of them, in two timelines, (1995 & 2012) involving meth dealers, biker gangs, Satanists, affairs, religion and a few literary references.
2) Noir
How much noir do we get to see on TV or film? At any given point, anybody's top 5 favorite movies or TV shows will include at least 1 noir. We just don't talk about it as much as we do comedy or action. Alfred Hitchcock was the master of noir; in India it was Raj Khosla & Vijay Anand. Even Guru Dutt started his career with noir. This show is as noir, as it can get. It is derived from the Southern Mystery Noir faction, which generally include a series of brutal murders. Thrown in is the macabre & promiscuity. The makers have even shot it on 35 MM film, over digital cameras thereby making the viewer experience even more closely to a motion picture.
3) The Finale
Lost & Breaking Bad have had the maximum number of crazy theories floating around the Internet on how the turn of events would eventually pan out. The former met with negativity, the latter with positivity. True Detective has met with extreme polarization, it is either the best finale the show could have had or a giant disappointment? Love it or hate it, seldom has so much Internet space been devoted to a finale on its first season itself.
4) HBO
This is the network that has given us Girls, Game Of Thrones, The Newsroom, The Wire, Sopranos, True Blood, Boardwalk Empire, and Entourage, along with our early exposure to American movies on Indian television from the 90's. Enough said!
5) Season 2 – Two Female Detectives.
Creator, Nic Pizzolatto has teased that Season 2 of the show may have 2 female detectives. I am hoping they manage to cast Julia Roberts & Sandra Bullock in it, how else do you be on par with McConaughey & Harellson? Also, finally a season where female audiences will be naturally drawn toward.
6) Woody Harrelson
No matter how brilliant a performance is, we always tend to overlook it if there's a bigger star involved as a part of the cast. McConaughey as Rust is so magnetic, that we tend to overlook the understated brilliance of Detective Marty played by Harrelson. He is probably the only normal thing on this show. He drinks hard, cheats on his wife whenever he gets the chance, has a false sense of morality and doesn't like his father in law. His character is bound to be hated by all women, meanwhile men will perfectly understand what he's doing, in a way only a man can.
7) Matthew McConaughey
Till 3 years ago, if we spoke about this man winning an award, chances are we'd be talking about a Razzie. But in 3 years, this mercurial actor has won an Oscar for best actor (Dallas Buyers Club), & his filmography includes The Wolf Of Wall Street, Magic Mike, Mud, The Paperboy & Bernie. He has stated himself that he'd done enough mediocre work for a lifetime & now his focus would be on quality. Opting for True Detective truly resonates that feeling. He plays Detective Rust Cohle a captivating weirdo, and he makes his unlikely character convincing in all kinds of ways. His bleak, sometimes annoying proclamations are redeemed by brilliant deadpan cracks. He smokes hard, drinks harder and is a functional addict while being an under cover cop, thus making him a perfect prototype for any straight man to instantly develop a huge man crush on his character.
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