True Detective (season 1)

True Detective (season 1)

The promotional poster and home media cover art of the first season of True Detective, featuring Harrelson and McConaughey front and center.

Promotional poster and home media cover art
Starring
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes 8
Release
Original network HBO
Original release January 12 (2014-01-12) – March 9, 2014 (2014-03-09)

The first season of True Detective, an American anthology crime drama television series created by Nic Pizzolatto, premiered on January 12, 2014 on the premium cable network HBO. Its principal cast consisted of Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Michelle Monaghan, Michael Potts, and Tory Kittles. The season had eight episodes, and its initial airing concluded on March 9, 2014. As an anthology, each True Detective season possesses its own self-contained story, following a disparate set of characters in various settings.

Engineered as a nonlinear narrative, season one focuses on the lives of Louisiana State Police homicide detectives Rustin "Rust" Cohle (McConaughey) and Martin "Marty" Hart (Harrelson). Over a seventeen-year period, they must recount their investigation into the murder of prostitute Dora Lange and the histories of several other unsolved crimes, the perpetrator of which remains at large. During this time, Hart's infidelity threatens his marriage to Maggie (Monaghan), and Cohle struggles to cope with his troubled past. True Detective's first season explores themes of philosophical pessimism, masculinity, and Christianity, and critics have analyzed the show's portrayal of women, its auteurist sensibility, and the influence of comics and weird horror fiction on its narrative.

Pizzolatto initially conceived True Detective as a novel, but felt it was more suitable for television. The episodes, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, were filmed in Louisiana over a three-month period. The series received positive reviews from critics and was cited as one of the strongest dramas of the 2014 television season. It was a candidate for numerous television awards, including a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Drama Series and a Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television Film, and won several other honors recognizing outstanding achievement in writing, cinematography, direction, and acting.

Episodes

No.
overall		No. in
season		TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateU.S. viewers
(millions)
11"The Long Bright Dark"Cary Joji FukunagaNic PizzolattoJanuary 12, 2014 (2014-01-12)2.33[1]

Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, January 3, 1995. State homicide detectives Martin "Marty" Hart (Woody Harrelson) and Rustin "Rust" Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) investigate the murder of a prostitute, 28-year-old Dora Lange. Her corpse is found posed as if in prayer, her head is crowned with deer antlers, and her body is surrounded by twig latticeworks closely resembling Cajun bird traps. Hart and Cohle turn to a five-year-old missing-persons case of a child named Marie Fontenot. Around the same time, another child claimed to have been chased through the woods by a "green-eared spaghetti monster." At the insistence of his wife Maggie (Michelle Monaghan), Hart invites Cohle to dinner, but is infuriated when Cohle arrives drunk. While following up on the Fontenot disappearance, they discover another twig latticework.

Seventeen years later in May 2012, Hart and Cohle are separately interviewed about the Lange investigation by detectives Thomas Papania (Tory Kittles) and Maynard Gilbough (Michael Potts). Hart and Cohle have not spoken since an altercation a decade ago. The crime scene of a recently slain woman closely resembles the Lange murder scene, suggesting that despite Cohle and Hart's claims of apprehending the killer in 1995, the killer may remain at large.
22"Seeing Things"Cary Joji FukunagaNic PizzolattoJanuary 19, 2014 (2014-01-19)1.67[2]

1995. Animosity between Cohle and Hart flares after Cohle suspects Hart is cheating on Maggie. Reverend Billy Lee Tuttle (Jay O. Sanders), a celebrated evangelist and cousin of the governor, advocates a police task force focusing on "anti-Christian crimes," including the Lange murder. Hart and Cohle's investigation leads them to a remote ranch harboring runaway girls who work there as prostitutes. They find Lange's diary, which contains repeated references to "Carcosa" and a "Yellow King," at the ranch. In the wreckage of a burnt-out church Lange attended, they find a wall painting depicting a human figure wearing deer antlers.

In 2012, Cohle reflects on his daughter's death in a car accident, which led to the collapse of his marriage and his spending four years as an undercover narcotics investigator. His undercover career ended with a lethal gunfight, after which he was hospitalized in a psychiatric institution. After his release, Cohle requested a job in homicide and was partnered with Hart. Cohle reveals that he experiences brief, intermittent episodes of visual hallucinations caused by years of drug use while working as an undercover officer. Shots from 1995 show that Cohle occasionally suffers these hallucinations when he is with Hart, but he does not discuss them. Hart is now divorced from Maggie for reasons unrevealed.
33"The Locked Room"Cary Joji FukunagaNic PizzolattoJanuary 26, 2014 (2014-01-26)1.93[3]

1995. Hart and Cohle, after speaking with pastor Joel Theriot, learn that Lange was sometimes seen at church with a tall man with distinctive scarring. Their investigation continues in the face of pressure to turn the case over to Tuttle's new task force. Hart enters a jealous rage when he discovers his mistress Lisa (Alexandra Daddario) with another man. While researching old investigations, Cohle identifies symbols similar to the Lange case in the death of Rianne Olivier, which was classified as accidental. Hart and Cohle visit Light of the Way Academy, a religious school run by Tuttle that Olivier attended, but find it abandoned save for a groundskeeper. They discover that Olivier's boyfriend, Reggie Ledoux (Charles Halford) is an ex-con who was a cellmate of Dora Lange's ex-husband, Charlie, and has since skipped parole. The detectives put out an APB on Reggie Ledoux.

2012. The interviews continue, revealing Hart's questionable moral views and Rust's nihilistic sense of humanity.
44"Who Goes There"Cary Joji FukunagaNic PizzolattoFebruary 9, 2014 (2014-02-09)1.99[4]

In 1995, Charlie Lange (Brad Carter) says he showed pictures of Dora to Ledoux. Hart tracks down an associate of Ledoux and forces him to name the Iron Crusaders, a biker gang out of Texas for which Ledoux is now cooking meth. Cohle, who had been a member of the gang while undercover, takes personal leave to infiltrate it, saying he needs to visit his dying father. Lisa reveals the affair to Maggie, who leaves the house with their daughters. Hart confronts Maggie at her workplace; Cohle extricates him from a standoff with security officers. Cohle's contact in the Iron Crusaders, Ginger (Joseph Sikora), promises access to the gang's meth supply in exchange for Cohle's (who is known to the gang as "Crash") help robbing a rival gang. The robbery goes badly, with fatalities on both sides and rising chaos in the rival gang's neighborhood. Cohle is forced to take Ginger prisoner and escape in Hart's car.

In 2012, Hart and Cohle maintain the story of Cohle's sick father in the face of skeptical questioning by Papania and Gilbough.
55"The Secret Fate of All Life"Cary Joji FukunagaNic PizzolattoFebruary 16, 2014 (2014-02-16)2.25[5]

In 1995, Ginger introduces Cohle to DeWall Ledoux, Reggie's cousin and meth-cooking partner. DeWall refuses to do business with Cohle but unwittingly leads him and Hart to a meth lab hidden in the bayou. Hart apprehends Reggie, who makes cryptic statements about Carcosa. Hart kills Reggie in a rage after discovering two kidnapped and abused children in the compound. DeWall flees but dies after triggering a homemade booby trap. Hart and Cohle plant evidence to make it look as though an intense shootout has taken place, a scenario they report to a police investigation. They are hailed as heroes at the police station and in the press, and they receive commendations and promotions.

By 2002, Hart and Maggie have reconciled and Cohle is dating again. While Cohle is consulting on a police interrogation, the prisoner asks for a plea bargain in exchange for information about Dora Lange's killer, who he claims is still at large and killing. He mentions the "Yellow King," which gets Cohle's attention. The prisoner kills himself in his cell before Cohle can investigate his claims. Cohle returns to Light of the Way Academy, where he finds dozens of twig sculptures and dark imagery on the walls.

In 2012, Papania and Gilbough tell Hart they suspect that Cohle, who they allege conveniently led Hart to every clue or lead in the case, has been orchestrating the killings. Cohle is also a person of interest in Rev. Billy Lee Tuttle's suspicious death two years earlier, which was around the time Cohle returned to Louisiana. Cohle walks out of his interview after the detectives accuse him.
66"Haunted Houses"Cary Joji FukunagaNic PizzolattoFebruary 23, 2014 (2014-02-23)2.64[6]

In 2002, Cohle links a series of missing persons to Tuttle-funded schools. A former pastor in Tuttle's ministries claims Tuttle covered up child molestation. Ledoux's surviving victim, now institutionalized with regressive catatonia, tells Cohle about a third attacker—a giant man with scars—and begins screaming when Cohle asks her about the man's face. Tuttle complains to the police department following a tense meeting with Cohle, who has been warned to cease his investigation and is suspended from duty. Hart begins an affair with Beth (Lili Simmons), a former underage prostitute whom he interviewed in 1995 while working on the Lange case. After Maggie discovers the new affair, she has sex with Cohle, because she knows that Hart would never forgive her for that. After she tells Hart, he and Cohle fight in the police station parking lot. Cohle quits the police force immediately after.

In 2012, Papania and Gilbough interview Maggie, who deflects their questions. Hart walks out of his interview in response to Papania and Gilbough's accusations against Cohle. Cohle seeks out Hart and they agree to meet and talk.
77"After You've Gone"Cary Joji FukunagaNic PizzolattoMarch 2, 2014 (2014-03-02)2.34[7]
In 2012, Cohle presents Hart with evidence of a cult he believes is responsible for the disappearance of dozens of women and children along the coast in Louisiana. Among the evidence is a videotape of the ritualistic rape and murder of Marie Fontenot by men in costumes and masks, which Cohle stole from a safe in Rev. Tuttle's home. Cohle denies killing Tuttle, speculating that others did it to prevent Tuttle from being blackmailed over the tape. Hart, shaken from watching the videotape, agrees to join the investigation. They learn that Tuttle had an illegitimate half-brother with the surname Childress, whose son had scars on his face. They also learn that their former colleague Steve Geraci (Michael Harney) was ordered by his boss, Ted Childress—then the sheriff of Vermilion Parish—to cut short his investigation of Fontenot's disappearance. Hart and Cohle accost Geraci to coerce the details from him, threatening him if he should try to go to the authorities or have them arrested. Gilbough and Papania ask the groundskeeper Cohle encountered at Light of the Way Academy in 1995 for directions to the burnt-out church. They drive off without noticing the lower part of his face is heavily scarred.
88"Form and Void"Cary Joji FukunagaNic PizzolattoMarch 9, 2014 (2014-03-09)3.52[8]
In 2012, the "man with the scars" is shown living in a large house in squalor with a female relative with whom he has a sexual relationship. He speaks cryptically in multiple accents and keeps his father's decaying corpse in a shed on his property. Later, he goes to work painting a school, where he watches children on the playground. Hart and Cohle extract details from Geraci by showing him the Fontenot tape. Hart thinks the "green-eared spaghetti monster" may have been the scarred man covered in green paint after painting a house in Dora Lange's neighborhood in 1995. They trace the paint job to a small business owned by William Childress that employed a man with scars on his face. They visit William Childress's home—the house where the "man with the scars" lives. Cohle pursues the man, William Childress's son Errol, through a labyrinth of trees and tunnels that Errol identifies as Carcosa. At the end, Cohle discovers an idol draped in yellow and covered in skulls, and briefly sees a spiraling vortex. Cohle is then attacked by Errol. Hart discovers William's decaying corpse and runs to Cohle's aid. Hart and Cohle fight Errol; they are both severely wounded but Cohle manages to kill him. Hart calls Papania and Gilbough to the scene and arrive with backup. Hart and Cohle recover in hospital while Papania and Gilbough connect Errol to dozens of missing-person cases and murders, including Dora Lange's. The Tuttles escape prosecution. Hart breaks down in tears when Maggie and their daughters visit him. Cohle reveals that during his ordeal he felt the loving presence of his dead father and daughter, and the experience has given his life renewed purpose. The two detectives reflect on the universal battle between light and dark.

Cast

Main cast

Recurring cast

  • Meghan Wolfe as young Macie Hart

Production

Conception

Before creating True Detective, Nic Pizzolatto had worked as a literature professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, DePauw University, and the University of Chicago.[9] Inspired by HBO's series The Wire, The Sopranos, and Deadwood,[10] he began working on a short story collection that he later published as Between Here and the Yellow Sea in 2006.[9] Several years later he wrote a full-length novel titled Galveston, published in 2010, and around the same time began preparing to write for television. His earlier attempts at television writing were unsuccessful because of a lack of money.[10] Pizzolatto's first major gig in television writing came in 2011, as a screenwriter for AMC's series The Killing. He credits the show with giving him a glimpse of the inner workings of the television industry. Pizzolatto grew increasingly dissatisfied with the series' creative direction, and left two weeks into staff writing sessions for its second season.[9]

True Detective was intended to be a novel, but once the project took definite form, Pizzolatto thought the narrative's shifts in time and perspective made the story more suitable on screen.[9][11] The writer pitched an adaptation of Galveston to two executives, and from May to July 2010 he developed six screenplays, including an early, 90-page draft of the True Detective pilot script.[9][10] Pizzolatto secured a development deal with HBO for a potential pilot series shortly thereafter.[9] He wrote a second True Detective script shortly after his departure from The Killing thanks to the support of production company and manager Anonymous Content,[9] who ultimately produced and developed the project in-house.[12] By April 2012, following a heated bidding period, HBO commissioned eight episodes of True Detective.[12] Pizzolatto did not hire a writing staff because he believed a collaborative approach would not work with his isolated, novelistic process, and that a group would not achieve his desired result.[13] After working alone for about three months, the final copy of the project script was 500 pages long.[13][14] Because the series is an anthology, each season possesses a self-contained narrative, following a disparate set of characters in various settings.[9]

Casting and crew

A photograph of McConaughey attending the 2014 Goldene Kamera Awards in Berlin
A photograph of Harrelson attending a screening of LBJ at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum
A photograph of Monaghan attending the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival
Top to bottom: Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson and Michelle Monaghan star in season one as, respectively, Rustin Cohle, Martin and Maggie Hart

Pizzolatto began contemplating the lead roles while he was pitching the series to networks in early 2012.[9] True Detective's anthology format allowed him the freedom to employ film stars, who normally avoid television series because of their busy schedules, because the show only required actors to commit for a single season.[13] Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey were among the actors Pizzolatto considered for star billing. McConaughey, who had recently finished filming Killer Joe (2011), was contracted well before HBO commissioned the season.[11] Impressed with his performance in The Lincoln Lawyer (2011), Pizzolatto at first assigned him to play Hart, but McConaughey convinced him to give him the part of Cohle.[15] When asked in a Variety interview about his decision to switch parts, the actor replied, "I wanted to get in that dude's head. The obsession, the island of a man—I'm always looking for a guy who monologues. It's something really important as I feel I'm going into my better work."[16] To prepare for the role, McConaughey created a 450-page analysis—the "Four Stages of Rustin Cohle"—to study his character's evolution during the season.[17]

Harrelson was the season's next significant casting, brought on to play Hart at McConaughey's request.[18][19] Harrelson, who joined True Detective in part because of the people involved in the project, had worked with HBO in the 2012 film Game Change.[20] Michelle Monaghan agreed to play the season's female lead, Maggie, because she was compelled by the direction of the plot and her character's story arc.[21] Michael Potts and Tory Kittles completed the principal cast, playing detectives Maynard Gilbough and Thomas Papania, respectively.[22][23] Major supporting roles in True Detective's first season include Kevin Dunn as Major Ken Quesada, Alexandra Daddario as Lisa Tragnetti, and Brad Carter as Charlie Lange.[22]

Pizzolatto narrowed his search for a suitable director to Cary Joji Fukunaga, whom he knew from Anonymous Content, and Alejandro González Iñárritu. Fukunaga was formally appointed as director after Iñárritu pulled out of the project because of film commitments.[24][25] In preparation for his work on the series, Fukunaga spent time with a homicide detective of the Louisiana State Police's Criminal Investigations Division to develop an accurate depiction of a 1990s homicide detective's work.[26] Fukunaga recruited Adam Arkapaw, director of photography of Top of the Lake, as project cinematographer. Arkapaw came to the director's attention for his work in Animal Kingdom (2010) and Snowtown (2011), and was hired after the two negotiated a deal at a meeting in San Francisco.[27] Alex DiGerlando, who Fukunaga had worked with on Benh Zeitlin's Glory at Sea in 2008, was appointed as the production designer. Fukunaga said in an interview, "I knew what Alex accomplished in the swamps of Louisiana and given some money, how much more amazing he could be in building sets that would just be used for one or two days and be abandoned again."[28]

Filming

Initially, True Detective's first season was due to shoot in Arkansas, but Pizzolatto later chose to film in Louisiana to take advantage of state tax incentives and the area's distinctive landscape:[29] "There's a contradictory nature to the place and a sort of sinister quality underneath it all ... everything lives under layers of concealment. The woods are thick and dark and impenetrable. On the other hand you have the beauty of it all from a distance."[13] Principal photography took three months (between 100 and 110 days),[28] from January to June 2013.[27] Approximately five minutes of film were shot per day.[27] Production staff constructed various set pieces, among them a scorched chapel, Joel Theriot's tent revival, and the Louisiana State Criminal Investigations Division offices, the last of which they built inside an abandoned lightbulb warehouse near Elmwood.[30] For the Dora Lange crime scene, the crew filmed exterior shots at a remote sugarcane field outside Erath which, because it was partially burned, inspired what DiGerlando called a "moody and atmospheric" backdrop for the corresponding interior scenes.[30] The scene in which Cohle, taking Ginger hostage, escapes a housing complex amidst gunfire, was captured in Bridge City as a single six-minute tracking shot, a technique Fukunaga employed in Sin Nombre (2009) and Jane Eyre (2011).[31][32] Shot in seven takes, preparation for the scene was extensive and demanding: McConaughey trained with Mark Norby to master a fighting style for his character,[31] and the nature of the shoot required a team of stunt coordinators, make-up artists, and special effects crew on hand during its entire course.[32] Elsewhere, shooting took place at the old Kenner High School campus[30] and Fort Macomb, a nineteenth-century fort outside New Orleans.[33]

Fukunaga took cues from David Lynch's Twin Peaks to adapt his filming style for TV.[34] The entire season was shot on 35 mm film,[35] which production staff chose to achieve a nostalgic quality.[27] The season was filmed using a Panavision Millennium XL2 camera, and the choice of lens corresponded to the period when a scene took place. Scenes set in 1995 and 2002 were captured with Panavision PVintage lenses, which produced a softer image because they were made of recycled, low-contrast glass. As these scenes were written as a reflection of Cohle and Hart's memory, production sought to make them as cinematic as possible, to reflect what Arkapaw called "the fragmentation of their lucid imaginations back through their past."[27] To achieve this, they relied on wider lenses to exaggerate composition.[27] The 2012 scenes were shot with Panavision Primo lenses: the visual palette in comparison was sharper and had much more contrast, lending a modern aesthetic and, according to Arkapaw, pulling "characters out from their environments to hopefully help audiences get inside their heads."[27]

Art design

This image illustrates the superimposition of True Detective's title sequence in intermediate stages compared to the final product.
The design team used an assortment of low poly meshes to develop a 3D landscape for the show's title sequence, which were later meticulously superimposed. Digital doubles (such as this one of Hart shown in the upper left frame) were created in some cases to allow more texture.[36]

Joshua Walsh was responsible for creating True Detective's artwork. His work for the show consists of over 100 individual "devil's nests"—twig sculptures created by the killer—in addition to wall paintings and miniature sculptures of men made of beer cans, among others.[30] According to DiGerlando, Walsh's interests in hunting and taxidermy made him "the perfect dude for the job".[30] A blueprint for the devil's nests was not well established in the script, other than specifications that the structures be able to stand on their own and feature a spiral motif. DiGerlando and Walsh went with a tripod design that showed a spiral when viewed from the base, and contained ladder-like crossing elements that symbolized the killer's desire to ascend to a dark spiritual plane. Each design had subtle differences from one another.[30] DiGerlando cited the work of Henry Darger and James Charles Castle as strong stylistic influences and sought a primitive look for the sculptures, one that revealed the workings of a man with "some deep inner urge to express himself".[30] To reflect this, Walsh built devil's nests using mud, disposable children's clothing, reeds, roots, and other materials he felt the killer would use himself.[30]

The season's title sequence was a collaboration between director Patrick Clair, his Santa Monica-based studio Elastic, his Sydney-based studio Antibody, and Brisbane-based company Breeder.[36][37] The design team emphasized southern Louisiana's industrial landscape because it reflected the characters' traits and personal, inner struggles. Clair stated that from the start he had an "unusually clear" vision of True Detective's finished opening sequence.[36] Using Richard Misrach's photography book Petrochemical America (2012) as a template, the production team initially photographed the local scenery, and the resulting images were woven together to form the core of the title sequence.[37] By the time production began animating, they faced several problems: the photographic stills were too grainy and the footage was too jagged. As a result, many shots were digitally altered and slowed to about a tenth of their original speed, which, according to Clair, "evoked a surreal and floaty mood that perfectly captured what we were after."[36]

Creation of a 3D effect required the design team to use an assortment of low-poly meshes, or 3D geometric models.[36] Using a variety of animation and special effects techniques, these images were later superimposed "with painstaking care" to avoid a sterile, digitized look.[37] Clair said, "The most crucial thing to me was that this didn't feel digital, so we went to great lengths to incorporate as much organic imagery as possible."[37] For some stills, the design team created digital doubles to develop more texture. The sequence's final cut was polished using optical glitching and motion distortion techniques.[36] The Sydney Morning Herald included the opening sequence in a list of ten of the best title sequences on television.[38]

Music

Season one's opening theme is "Far From Any Road", an alternative country song originally composed by The Handsome Family for their 2003 album Singing Bones.[37] The True Detective soundtrack features a compilation of gospel and blues music, which were selected by Pizzolatto and T Bone Burnett. The pair opposed the use of Cajun music and swamp blues for the season's musical score because "it's already been done so much".[39] Burnett said the score was intended to be character-driven, rather than inspired by other crime fiction drama.[39] Songs by Bo Diddley, The Staple Singers, Grinderman, Vashti Bunyan, Townes Van Zandt,[40] and Captain Beefheart appear in season one. Burnett also composed original pieces with Rhiannon Giddens, who used a Swarmatron synthesizer, and Cassandra Wilson.[39] HBO released an abridged soundtrack album, featuring 14 tracks from True Detective's first two seasons, on August 14, 2015 through physical media and iTunes.[41]

Themes and analysis

Masculinity and depiction of women

Commentators noted masculinity as a theme within True Detective, especially as it pertains to its portrayal of women. Christopher Lirette of Southern Spaces said the show was about "men living in a brutally masculine world" and as such, women are depicted as "things-to-be-saved and erotic obstacles", similar to Double Indemnity (1944) and Chinatown (1974).[42] Slate's Willa Paskin said True Detective's depiction of its female characters—as sex workers, the deceased, and "a nagging wife"—seemed to reveal an intent to reflect the protagonists' "blinkered worldview and the very masculine, Southern cop culture they inhabited."[43] Some commentators saw Hart's characterization as a manifestation of this idea, evident through his conventional view of women as virgins and whores, as well as his treatment of Maggie and Audrey.[42][44][45] For example, when Hart confronts the two men who had sex with Audrey, he is in essence "charging other men a price for infringing on the daughter he sees, in a muddled way, as both deserving of protection and badly in need of being controlled."[44]

In a piece for Salon, Janet Turley said women "become reflections of the men", given the True Detective universe is observed through the lenses of the show's male leads.[46] Sam Adams of Indiewire contended that the season's central story focused on "the horrible things men do to women", many of which are never reported or investigated by authorities. Adams wrote, "No one missed Dora Lange. Marie Fontenot disappeared, and the police let a rumor stop them from following up".[47] Furthermore, he observed that the role of women is only more profound because Cohle is made to suffer by virtue of his ex-wife and deceased daughter, and Hart is unable to "deal appropriately with the women who are there".[47] According to Scott Wilson, a cultural studies lecturer at Kingston University, women are distinguished into three groups—what he calls "the superegoic, the obscene and the sacred".[48] Maggie, in Wilson's interpretation, is portrayed as the superegoic wife who "constantly makes demands on her guilty husband or partner tying him or her down and deflecting him or her from his symbolic role as police."[48] John Semley from Esquire argued that a significant part of the show's thematic center was alcohol, which functions as a "measure of manliness" that reinvigorates its male characters.[49]

The philosopher Erin K. Stapleton subscribes to the theory that Dora Lange's corpse serves to "provide the initial territory or orientation through which the communities of True Detective are formed."[50] It is through Dora's corpse that Cohle and Hart's partnership are first clearly articulated,[50] and in addition to their own bond, "the intimate knowledge" of her body is the basis of all of the other relationships in their respective lives.[51] Her narrative thus, by proxy, influences both men's character development as they dive deeper into their investigation.[52]

Religion

True Detective explores Christianity and the dichotomy between religion and rationality. Born into a devout Catholic household, Pizzolatto said that as a child he saw religion as storytelling that acts "as an escape from the truth".[53] According to Andrew Romano at The Daily Beast, the season alludes to Pizzolatto's childhood and creates a parallel between Christianity and the supernatural theology of "Carcosa": "Both ... are stories. Stories people tell themselves to escape reality. Stories that 'violate every law of the universe.'"[53] Romano believed this message is not critical of religion per se, rather it shows how the "power of storytelling" and religious zeal "can wind [you] up in some pretty sick places."[53] Jeff Jensen from Entertainment Weekly said the show becomes more self-aware through Cohle's harsh critiques of religion, which he viewed as a vehicle for commentary about pop culture escapism.[54] Stapleton observed that the crimes on True Detective—through its victims and the implications of sacrifice and sexual violence—"respond to the conservative Christianity from which they originate, and seek to exploit the opportunities for the pleasure of transgression such a structure offers."[55]

Theorist Edia Connole saw connections to Philip Marlowe and Le Morte d'Arthur's Lancelot with regards to True Detective's presentation of Cohle, all "knights whose duty to their liege lord is tempered with devotion to God."[56] Other aspects of True Detective likewise evoke Christian imagery, none more so than the show's opening scene, which Connole felt mirrors the crucifixion of Jesus.[57] The author and philosopher Finn Janning argued that Cohle's evolution illustrates an affinity between Buddhism and philosophical pessimism.[58] A self-proclaimed pessimist, Cohle is eventually changed by a near-death experience in the season finale, in which he has an epiphany seeing death as "pure love"; this echoes the Buddhist concept of rigpa.[58]

Philosophical pessimism and influences

A publicity portrait of Chambers, circa 1903
Pizzolatto used Robert W. Chambers' (pictured) The King in Yellow as the backbone for much of the season's story.

Critics have offered many readings of the influence of weird and horror fiction on True Detective's narrative, often examining the influence of Robert W. Chambers' short story collection The King in Yellow (1895) and Thomas Ligotti.[59] Allusions to The King in Yellow can be observed through the show's dark philosophy,[60] its recurring use of "Carcosa" and "The Yellow King" as motifs throughout the series, and its symbolic use of yellow as a thematic signature that signifies insanity, decadence, and mental illness.[61] Pizzolatto was accused of plagiarizing Ligotti because of close similarities between lines in True Detective and text from Ligotti's nonfiction book The Conspiracy Against the Human Race (2010)—accusations which Pizzolatto denied, while acknowledging Ligotti's influence.[62]

Other philosophers and writers identified as influences include Arthur Schopenhauer,[60] Friedrich Nietzsche,[62] Ray Brassier, Emil Cioran, and Eugene Thacker.[63] Mathijs Peters, in a piece for Film International, argued that True Detective probes Schopenhauerian doctrine through its approach to individuality, self-denial, the battle between dark and light, and so forth.[64] Ben Woodard noted the show's evolving philosophy, which examines a setting where culture, religion, and society are direct by-products of biological weakness. Woodward wrote, "Biological programming gets recuperated and socially redistributed visions, faiths, and acerbic personalities take the reins of uncertain ends creating a world where 'people go away'."[65] Even the setting, Fintan Neylan argued, emphasizes a world "where the decrepitude of human ordering cannot be hidden."[66] He stated, "This is not a place where hope fled; it is a place where hope could never take root. It is with these people and environs that the real horror is sourced."[66] Yet Neylan observed that Cohle's actions are not motivated by misanthropy, rather a drive to challenge "those who try to either disguise or manipulate this frailty of humans for their own benefit."[67] And in doing so, Cohle ultimately confronts "an entire philosophical history which has taken its task as that of sweeping frailty away."[67] Christopher Orr at The Atlantic said True Detective was "Fincherian in the best sense", a fusion of Se7en (1995) and Zodiac (2007), because of its subject matter, sleek cinematography, and "vivid, unsettling" aura.[68]

Some commentators noted further influences from comic book literature. Adams likened Cohle to the protagonist of Alan Moore's The Courtyard and drew parallels with Grant Morrison's The Invisibles for the show's brief exploration of M-theory with one of Cohle's monologues.[69] ComicsAlliance and New York columnist Abraham Riesman cited Top 10 as the inspiration for the season finale based on dialogue from the episode's closing scene.[70][71]

Auteurism

Another principal topic of discussion among critics has been True Detective's auteurist sensibility. Auteurism is a critical framework that assesses films or other works of art as reflections of the personal vision of individual authors, typically a director or writer.[72] At the helm of each of the season's episodes are Pizzolatto and Fukunaga—its sole writer and director—a partnership that provides the show a unique place in a traditionally collaborative medium where broad sets of writers and directors work in tandem.[72][73] Colin Robertson at The List saw Twin Peaks as the most notable artistic antecedent to True Detective's first season because both shows challenge crime drama cliches and "use the genre conventions of a whodunnit-style mystery as a sublimely subversive diving board, and leap off from there to tell a broader story."[73]

Reception

Viewership

True Detective debuted to 2.3 million U.S. viewers, becoming HBO's highest rated series premiere since the pilot episode of Boardwalk Empire.[74] Ratings remained steady and peaked at the finale, which drew 3.5 million viewers.[75] Overall, season one averaged 2.33 million viewers,[76] and its average gross audience (which includes DVR recordings, reruns, and HBO Go streaming) totaled 11.9 million viewers per episode, thus becoming HBO's highest rated freshman show since the first season of Six Feet Under 13 years prior.[77][78]

Reviews

The American press considered True Detective to be among the best television shows of 2014.[79] On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the first season holds an 85% rating based on 65 reviews, with an average rating of 8.5 out of 10. The site's critical consensus says, "In True Detective, performances by Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey reel the viewer in, while the style, vision and direction make it hard to turn away."[80] Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, reported that the show received "universal acclaim", with an average rating of 87 based on 41 reviews.[81]

The Daily Telegraph critic Chris Harvey declared True Detective "the most ambitious TV drama for a long time",[82] a sentiment echoed by Andrew Romano from The Daily Beast and The Atlantic's Christopher Orr in their reviews for the show.[83][68] Tim Goodman, writing for The Hollywood Reporter, identified the acting, dialogue, and sleek production as its most satisfying attributes.[84] HitFix's Alan Sepinwall agreed and said these qualities "speak to the value of the hybrid anthology format Pizzolatto is using here ... points to a potentially fascinating shift in dramatic series television."[85] In his review for Vanity Fair, Richard Lawson said the season successfully marries Fukunaga's sensibilities with Pizzolatto's script, producing "a captivating and offbeat tweak of a well-worn genre".[86]

The ensemble performances, chiefly those of McConaughey and Harrelson, were frequently praised by critics. Robert Bianco in USA Today wrote that the pair met, and occasionally exceeded, the performance expectations of the "golden age of TV acting".[87] David Wiegand of San Francisco Chronicle thought the two men were "in a class of their own",[88] and Los Angeles Times journalist Robert Lloyd felt their work was of "a very high order".[89] The Boston Globe singled out Monaghan for her work on the show,[90] as did Todd VanDerWerff from The A.V. Club, who wrote, "while her role is more thankless, she invests it with spirit".[91] Variety's Brian Lowry said the True Detective cast consisted of "fine players on the periphery".[92] RedEye, The Independent, and The Guardian also praised the ensemble performances.[93][94][95]

Not all reviews were enthusiastic about the season. The New York Times journalist Mike Hale and Chris Cabin at Slant Magazine believed the script too readily deferred to religion as its narrative backbone.[96][97] Gerald Peary of The Arts Fuse cited the writing as the show's main flaw,[98] so too did Michael Starr from the New York Post, whose opinion was that it at times progressed at a notably sluggish pace.[99] Hank Steuver of The Washington Post said True Detective failed to realize its own ambition,[100] and Grantland's Andy Greenwald said the narrative was not up to form.[101] On the other hand, Emily Nussbaum from The New Yorker commended the show's fluid style but condemned its portrayal of women, which she claimed revels in "macho nonsense".[102] James Poniewozik of Time felt that, sans for Cohle and Hart, the show's characters were flat and lackluster.[103]

Accolades

A photograph of Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey at the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards
Harrelson (left) and McConaughey (right) at the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards.

As the nominations for the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards approached, early media reports named True Detective among several potential miniseries candidates, due to a revision made by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences that recognized film and miniseries content as distinct categories.[104] By March 2014, HBO had submitted True Detective as a drama series contender,[105][106][107] an unconventional move given the show's anthology format and fierce competition from the likes of Breaking Bad and House of Cards.[108] HBO's decision was censured by FX president John Landgraf, who remarked to reporters at a press event: "My own personal point of view is that a miniseries is a story that ends, a series is a story that continues. To tell you the truth, I think it’s actually unfair for HBO to put True Detective in the drama series category because essentially you can get certain actors to do a closed-ended series – a la Billy Bob Thornton in Fargo or Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in True Detective – who you can’t get to sign on for a seven-year [regular drama series] deal."[109] Nevertheless, True Detective emerged as a frontrunner heading into the Primetime Emmy season, and in July 2014, was nominated for twelve awards; its closest rival, Breaking Bad, received sixteen nominations.[110] The series ultimately won five Emmy awards: Outstanding Directing (Fukunaga), Outstanding Casting, Outstanding Main Title Design, Outstanding Make-Up, and Outstanding Cinematography.[111]

True Detective was a candidate for a variety of awards, most of which recognized outstanding achievement in direction, cinematography, writing, and acting. It received four Golden Globe nominations, among them for Best Miniseries or Television Film, and a TCA Award for Program of the Year.[112][113] Among the show's wins include a British Academy Television Award (BAFTA) for Best International Programme, a Writers Guild of America Award in the Dramatic Series category, and a Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series (McConaughey).[114][115][116]

Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
66th Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Drama Series True Detective Nominated [111]
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series Matthew McConaughey Nominated
Woody Harrelson Nominated
Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series Cary Joji Fukunaga Won
Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series Nic Pizzolato Nominated
66th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards Outstanding Music Composition for a Series T Bone Burnett Nominated
Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series Alexa L. Fogel, Christine Kromer and Meagan Lewis Won
Outstanding Make-up for a Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic) Felicity Bowring, Wendy Bell, Ann Pala, Kim Perrodin, Linda Dowds Won
Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series Adam Arkapaw Won
Outstanding Main Title Design Patrick Clair, Raoul Marks, Jennifer Sofio Hall Won
Outstanding Art Direction for a Contemporary or Fantasy Series Alex DiGerlando, Mara LePere-Schloop, Tim Beach, Cynthia Slagter Nominated
Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series Affonso Goncalves Nominated
72nd Golden Globe Awards Best Miniseries or Television Film True Detective Nominated [112]
Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film Matthew McConaughey Nominated
Woody Harrelson Nominated
Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film Michelle Monaghan Nominated
61st British Academy Television Awards Best International Programme True Detective Won [114]
[117]
30th TCA Awards Outstanding New Program True Detective Nominated [113]
Program of the Year Nominated
Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries, and Specials Won
Individual Achievement in Drama Matthew McConaughey Won
4th Critics' Choice Television Awards Best Drama Series True Detective Nominated [115]
Best Actor in a Drama Series Matthew McConaughey Won
19th Satellite Awards Best Drama Series True Detective Nominated [118]
Best Actor in a Drama Series Woody Harrelson Nominated
Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries, or Television Film Michelle Monaghan Nominated
21st Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series Matthew McConaughey Nominated [119]
Woody Harrelson Nominated
67th Writers Guild of America Awards Dramatic Series Nic Pizzolato Won [116]
New Series Won
67th Directors Guild of America Awards Drama Series Cary Joji Fukunaga Nominated [120]
2nd Location Managers Guild Awards Outstanding Locations in a Contemporary Television Series Batou Chandler Won [121]

Home media release

On June 10, 2014, HBO Home Entertainment released the first season of True Detective on DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats. In addition to the eight episodes, both formats contain bonus content including interviews with McConaughey and Harrelson, Pizzolatto, and composer Burnett on the show's development; "Inside the Episode" featurettes; two audio commentaries; and deleted scenes from the season.[122] During its first week of sale in the United States, True Detective was the number two selling TV show on DVD and Blu-ray Disc, selling 65,208 copies.[123]

References

Bibliography

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Kondolojy, Amanda (January 14, 2014). "Sunday Cable Ratings: 'Real Housewives of Atlanta' Wins Night, 'True Detective', 'Ax Men', 'Shameless' & More". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on November 4, 2015. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
  2. ↑ Bibel, Sara (January 22, 2014). "Sunday Cable Ratings: 'Real Housewives of Atlanta' Wins Night, 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians', 'Shameless', 'True Detective', 'Girls' & More". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on November 4, 2015. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
  3. ↑ Kondolojy, Amanda (January 28, 2014). "Sunday Cable Ratings: 'Real Housewives of Atlanta' Wins Night + 'Live From the Red Carpet', 'Curse of Oak Island', 'Sister Wives' & More". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on November 4, 2015. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
  4. ↑ Kondolojy, Amanda (July 17, 2015). "Sunday Cable Ratings: 'The Walking Dead' Tops Night + 'Real Housewives of Atlanta', 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians' & More". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on November 4, 2015. Retrieved February 11, 2014.
  5. ↑ Bibel, Sara (July 17, 2015). "Sunday Cable Ratings: 'The Walking Dead' Wins Night, NBA All Star Game, 'Real Housewives of Atlanta', 'True Detective', 'Shameless' & More". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on November 4, 2015. Retrieved February 19, 2014.
  6. ↑ Kondolojy, Amanda (February 25, 2014). "Sunday Cable Ratings: 'The Walking Dead' Wins Night, + 'Talking Dead', 'Real Housewives of Atlanta', 'True Detective' & More". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on November 4, 2015. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
  7. ↑ Bibel, Sara (March 4, 2014). "Sunday Cable Ratings: 'The Walking Dead' Wins Night, 'Talking Dead', 'True Detective', Oscars Red Carpet, 'Girls' & More". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on November 4, 2015. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
  8. ↑ Kondolojy, Amanda (March 11, 2014). "Sunday Cable Ratings: 'The Walking Dead' Wins Night, 'Talking Dead', 'The Real Housewives of Atlanta', 'True Detective' & More". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on November 4, 2015. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Walker, Dave (July 7, 2013). "Nic Pizzolatto, New Orleans-born novelist, discusses HBO's upcoming 'True Detective'". The Times-Picayune. Ricky Matthews. Archived from the original on November 4, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  10. 1 2 3 Romano, Andrew (April 4, 2014). "Inside the Obsessive, Strange Mind of True Detective's Nic Pizzolatto". The Daily Beast. The Newsweek Daily Beast Company. Archived from the original on November 4, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  11. 1 2 Goldberg, Lesley (January 9, 2014). "'True Detective': Five Things to Know About HBO's New Cop Drama". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 4, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  12. 1 2 Andreeva, Nellie (April 30, 2012). "HBO Picks Up Matthew-Woody Series 'True Detective' With Eight-Episode Orders". Deadline. Archived from the original on November 4, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Duelund, Theis (January 4, 2014). "Q&A: "True Detective" Creator Nic Pizzolatto is a One-Man Writing Army". Los Angeles. Emmis Communications. Archived from the original on November 4, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  14. ↑ Navae, Helene (August 23, 2014). "Til masterclass med Mr. True Detective" [To master class with Mr. True Detective]. Politiken (in Danish). JP/Politikens Hus. Archived from the original on November 4, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  15. ↑ Drumming, Neil (January 9, 2014). "'True Detective' director Cary Fukunaga explains the show's dark humor". Salon. Archived from the original on November 4, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  16. ↑ Littleton, Cynthia (February 18, 2014). "Matthew McConaughey on 'True Detective': 'I Wanted to Get in That Dude's Head'". Variety. Penske Business Media. Archived from the original on November 4, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  17. ↑ Ringen, Jonathan (March 4, 2014). "Matthew McConaughey Reveals the Four Stages of 'True Detective' Rustin Cohle". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 4, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  18. ↑ Ringen, Jonathan (March 3, 2014). "Matthew McConaughey on 'True Detective,' His Pal Woody, McConaissance". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 4, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  19. ↑ MacInnes, Paul (March 21, 2014). "True Detective: how we made the most talked-about TV show of the year". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Archived from the original on November 4, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  20. ↑ Radish, Christina (January 4, 2014). "Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson Talk True Detective, Why They Agreed to Do a TV Show, Working with Each Other, and More". Collider. Archived from the original on November 4, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  21. ↑ Radish, Christina (February 12, 2014). "Michelle Monaghan Talks True Detective, Joining the Show, Working with Cary Fukunaga, the Mood on Set, Future Projects, and More". Collider. Archived from the original on November 4, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  22. 1 2 Andreeva, Nellie (January 14, 2013). "'Texas Chainsaw's Alexandra Daddario, 'Twilight Saga's Elizabeth Reaser, 2 'Wire' Alums Join New HBO Series 'True Detective'". Deadline. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  23. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (January 14, 2013). "'HBO Series 'True Detective', AMC's 'The Killing' Add To Casts". Deadline. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  24. ↑ Borrelli, Christopher (January 22, 2014). "True voice brings 'True Detective' to life". Chicago Tribune. Tony W. Hunter. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  25. ↑ Stern, Marlow (February 26, 2014). "True Detective Director Cary Fukunaga's Journey from Pro Snowboarder to Hollywood's Most Wanted". The Daily Beast. The Newsweek Daily Beast Company. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  26. ↑ Brown, Emma. "True Director". Interview. Dan Ragone. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  27. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "HBO's True Detective Elevates the Television Drama". InCamera. Kodak. November 20, 2013. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
  28. 1 2 Hart, Hugh (January 6, 2014). "Director Cary Fukunaga on Conjuring the Louisiana Noir of 'True Detective'". Fast Company. Fast Company, Inc. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  29. ↑ White, Jr., Lamar (January 16, 2014). "Exclusive: Nic Pizzolatto's Louisiana". CenLamar. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  30. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Martin, Denise (March 6, 2014). "Devil's Nests and Beer-Can Men: The Origins of 13 True Detective Set Pieces". New York. New York Media. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  31. 1 2 Sullivan, Kevin (February 7, 2014). "'True Detective': How did they pull off that final shot?". MTV News. Archived from the original on September 24, 2016. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
  32. 1 2 Ahi, Mehruss; Karaoghlanian, Armen (April 8, 2014). "Interiors: True Detective". ArchDaily. Archived from the original on September 24, 2016. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
  33. ↑ Martin, Denise (March 10, 2014). "True Detective's Production Designer on the Fort". New York. New York Media. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  34. ↑ Kiang, Jessica (July 12, 2013). "Interview: Cary Fukunaga Talks HBO's 'True Detective,' Says Child Soldier Film 'Beasts Of No Nation' Coming Next". Indiewire. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  35. ↑ Cary Joji Fukunaga (director) (2014). "Making True Detective" featurette (Blu-ray). HBO. Event occurs at 7:51–7:53.
  36. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Perkins, Will (January 14, 2014). "True Detective (2014)". Art of the Title. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  37. 1 2 3 4 5 Rhodes, Margaret (March 7, 2014). "A Behind-The-Scenes Look at the Chilling Opening Credits Of 'True Detective'". Fast Company. Fast Company, Inc. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  38. ↑ Kalina, Paul (August 22, 2014). "How Patrick Clair won the Emmy for 90 seconds of True Detective". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  39. 1 2 3 Suebsaeng, Asawin (January 24, 2014). "T Bone Burnett on How He Chooses Music for True Detective". Mother Jones. Foundation For National Progress. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
  40. ↑ O'Neil, Luke (March 4, 2014). "True Detective's Mystifying Kurt Vonnegut Connection". Esquire. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
  41. ↑ Allen, Gavin (August 18, 2015). "True Detective soundtrack released: FINALLY the hit TV show's magnificently moody music is available to buy". Daily Mirror. Archived from the original on July 7, 2016. Retrieved July 7, 2016.
  42. 1 2 Lirette, Christopher (August 31, 2014). "Something True about Louisiana: HBO's True Detective and the Petrochemical America Aesthetic". Southern Spaces. Emory University. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
  43. ↑ Paskin, Willa (March 10, 2014). "True Detective Does Have a Woman Problem. That's Partly Why People Love It". Slate. The Slate Group. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  44. 1 2 Rosenberg, Alyssa (February 24, 2014). "Why Men Should Want 'True Detective' To Have Great, Nuanced Female Characters". Think Progress. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
  45. ↑ Lambert, Molly (February 24, 2014). "Her Looming Shadow Grows: The Complex Women of True Detective". Grantland. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
  46. ↑ Turley, Janet (March 9, 2014). "'True Detective' has a woman problem". Salon. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  47. 1 2 Adams, Sam (February 24, 2014). "Female Bodies and the Philbrosophy of 'True Detective'". Indiewire. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  48. 1 2 Shipley 2014, p. 160
  49. ↑ Semley, John (March 7, 2014). "Lets Talk About the Drinking on True Detective". Esquire. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
  50. 1 2 Shipley 2014, p. 170
  51. ↑ Shipley 2014, p. 164
  52. ↑ Shipley 2014, p. 173
  53. 1 2 3 Romano, Andrew (March 6, 2014). "'True Detective's' Godless Universe: is the HBO Show Anti-Christian?". The Daily Beast. The Newsweek Daily Beast Company. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
  54. ↑ Jensen, Jeff (January 12, 2014). "'True Detective' post-mortem: Unraveling the mysteries". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
  55. ↑ Shipley 2014, p. 169
  56. ↑ Shipley 2014, p. 63
  57. ↑ Shipley 2014, p. 61
  58. 1 2 Janning, Finn (December 2014). "True Detective: Pessimism, Buddhism, or Philosophy?" (PDF). Journal of Philosophy of Life. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 3, 2016. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  59. ↑ Calia, Michael (February 2, 2014). "Writer Nic Pizzolatto on Thomas Ligotti and the Weird Secrets of 'True Detective'". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  60. 1 2 Calia, Michael (January 30, 2014). "The Most Shocking Thing About HBO's 'True Detective'". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  61. ↑ Hughes, Michael M. (February 14, 2014). "The One Literary Reference You Must Know to Appreciate True Detective". io9. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  62. 1 2 Leopoldo, Todd (August 8, 2014). "'True Detective' writer accused of plagiarism". CNN. Archived from the original on May 13, 2016. Retrieved May 13, 2016.
  63. ↑ Michel, Lincoln (February 18, 2014). "A 'True Detective' Reading List". BuzzFeed. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  64. ↑ Peters, Mathijs (2014). "'A Giant Gutter in Outer Space': On the Schopenhauerian Themes of HBO's hit series True Detective". Film International. Intellect Ltd. Archived from the original on September 24, 2016.
  65. ↑ Shipley 2014, p. 110
  66. 1 2 Shipley 2014, p. 81
  67. 1 2 Shipley 2014, p. 82
  68. 1 2 Orr, Christopher (February 11, 2014). "True Detective: The Best Show on TV". The Atlantic. Hayley Romer. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  69. ↑ Adams, Sam (February 21, 2014). "The Comic Books Behind 'True Detective'". Indiewire. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  70. ↑ Riesman, Abraham (March 10, 2014). "Was There a Hidden Comic Book Homage in the True Detective Finale?". New York. New York Media. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  71. ↑ Stewart, Adam and Mark (April 4, 2014). "The Expert's Guide To HBO's 'True Detective' And Weird Comic Book Fiction". ComicsAlliance. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  72. 1 2 Poniewozik, James (August 10, 2015). "True Detective, Louie, and the Limits of TV Auteurism". Time. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
  73. 1 2 Robertson, Colin (April 9, 2014). "Mad Men, True Detective and the rise of the TV auteur". The List. Archived from the original on September 25, 2016. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
  74. ↑ Adalian, Josef (January 13, 2014). "'True Detective': HBO's Best Premiere Since 2010". New York. New York Media. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  75. ↑ Faughnder, Ryan (March 10, 2014). "HBO's 'True Detective' season finale locks up a ratings high". Los Angeles Times. Timothy Ryan. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  76. ↑ "'True Detective': Season One Ratings". TV Series Finale. March 12, 2014. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
  77. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (April 15, 2014). "'True Detective' Now Most Watched HBO Freshman Series Ever". Deadline. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  78. ↑ Adalian, Josef (March 10, 2014). "Ratings: True Detective Soars With Finale". New York. New York Media. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  79. ↑ "TV Critic Top 10 Lists – Best TV Shows of 2014". Metacritic. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  80. ↑ "True Detective : Season 1 (2014)". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  81. ↑ "True Detective : Season 1". Metacritic. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  82. ↑ Harvey, Chris (February 22, 2014). "True Detective, Sky Atlantic, review: a work of depth and cinematic flair". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  83. ↑ Romano, Andrew (January 11, 2014). "'True Detective' Review: You Have to Watch HBO's Revolutionary Crime Classic". The Daily Beast. The Newsweek Daily Beast Company. Archived from the original on May 10, 2016. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
  84. ↑ Goodman, Tim (January 2, 2014). "True Detective: TV Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  85. ↑ Sepinwall, Alan (January 7, 2014). "Review: Matthew McConaughey & Woody Harrelson amaze in HBO's 'True Detective'". HitFix. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  86. ↑ Lawson, Richard (January 15, 2014). "Review: HBO's True Detective Is Mind Over Murder'". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  87. ↑ Bianco, Robert (January 9, 2014). "'True Detective': You have the right to remain dazzled". USA Today. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  88. ↑ Wiegand, David (January 9, 2014). "'True Detective' review: 2 stars shine brightly". San Francisco Chronicle. Jeffery M. Johnson. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  89. ↑ Lloyd, Robert (January 10, 2014). "Review: 'True Detective's' slow and steady pace a winning formula". Los Angeles Times. Timothy Ryan. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  90. ↑ Rodman, Sarah (January 9, 2014). "McConaughey, Harrelson make 'True Detective' arresting". Boston Globe. John W. Henry. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  91. ↑ VanDerWerff, Todd (January 10, 2014). "True Detective avoids pulps in favor of philosophy". The A.V. Club. The Onion, Inc. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
  92. ↑ Lowry, Brian (January 8, 2014). "TV Review: 'True Detective'". Variety. Penske Business Media. Archived from the original on November 7, 2015. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
  93. ↑ Wagner, Curt (January 9, 2014). "TV review: 'True Detective' mesmerizes". RedEye. Amy Guth. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
  94. ↑ Hughes, Sarah (February 18, 2014). "Is True Detective, starring Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey, the best US detective show since The Wire?". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
  95. ↑ Mumford, Gwilym (February 27, 2014). "True Detective recap: season one, episode one – The Long Bright Dark". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
  96. ↑ Hale, Mike (January 11, 2014). "A Coupling as Bizarre as the Murder". The New York Times. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  97. ↑ Cabin, Chris (January 8, 2014). "True Detective: Season One". Slant Magazine. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  98. ↑ Peary, Gerald (January 8, 2014). "Fuse TV Review: HBO's 'True Detective'—A Work in Progress". The Arts Fuse. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
  99. ↑ Starr, Michael (January 7, 2014). "'True Detective' needs dramatic jolt". New York Post. Jesse Angelo. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
  100. ↑ Stuever, Hank (January 9, 2014). "HBO's 'True Detective': A murky mystery, bogged down in a swamp". The Washington Post. Katharine Weymouth. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  101. ↑ Greenwald, Andy (January 8, 2014). "Resisting Arrest". Grantland. ESPN. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
  102. ↑ Nussbaum, Emily (March 3, 2014). "The shallow deep talk of 'True Detective'". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  103. ↑ Poniewozik, James (January 9, 2014). "Dead Tree Alert: HBO's Existential Detective Story". Time. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
  104. ↑ Lowry, Brian (February 20, 2014). "Emmy Rules Change Restores Movie and Miniseries Split". Variety. Penske Business Media. Archived from the original on May 10, 2016. Retrieved May 10, 2016.
  105. ↑ Littleton, Cynthia (March 25, 2014). "True Detective' to Submit as Drama Series, Not Miniseries, for Emmys". Variety. Penske Business Media. Archived from the original on May 10, 2016. Retrieved May 10, 2016.
  106. ↑ Travers, Ben (March 25, 2014). "Emmys Shocker: HBO to Submit 'True Detective' as Best Drama Series, Not Miniseries". Indiewire. Archived from the original on May 10, 2016. Retrieved May 10, 2016.
  107. ↑ Whipp, Glenn (May 15, 2014). "Gold Standard Emmy bids by 'True Detective' and 'Fargo' bend categories". Los Angeles Times. Timothy Ryan. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved May 10, 2016.
  108. ↑ Hunt, Stacey (March 25, 2014). "Emmys: HBO's 'True Detective' to Compete in Fierce Drama Series Category". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on May 10, 2016. Retrieved May 10, 2016.
  109. ↑ Hibbert, James (April 9, 2014). "Unfair' HBO knocked for 'True Detective' Emmy bid". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on May 10, 2016. Retrieved May 10, 2016.
  110. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (July 10, 2014). "Emmy Noms Analysis: 'True Detective', 'Orange' & 'Shameless' Fare Well Amid Category Brouhaha As Free-TV Slips To New Low". Deadline. Archived from the original on May 10, 2016. Retrieved May 10, 2016.
  111. 1 2 "True Detective – Awards & Nominations". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 13, 2015.
  112. 1 2 Swift, Andy (January 11, 2015). "Golden Globes 2015: Gina Rodriguez, 'Transparent', 'The Affair' Win Big". TVLine. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  113. 1 2 Hibberd, James (May 27, 2014). "TCA nominations: 'True Detective' starts awards season fight". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  114. 1 2 Ritman, Alex (April 8, 2015). "BAFTA TV Awards: Benedict Cumberbatch Gets Third Nomination for 'Sherlock'". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original on May 10, 2016. Retrieved August 18, 2015.
  115. 1 2 Prudom, Laura (June 20, 2014). "Critics' Choice Awards: 'Breaking Bad,' 'OITNB,' 'Fargo,' 'Normal Heart' Among Top Winners". Variety. Penske Business Media. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  116. 1 2 "Writers Guild of America 2015 Winners". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  117. ↑ "Bafta TV awards 2015: Winners in full". BBC News. May 19, 2015. Archived from the original on May 10, 2016. Retrieved August 18, 2015.
  118. ↑ "Satellite Awards (2014)". International Press Academy. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  119. ↑ Mitovich, Matt Webb (December 10, 2014). "SAG Awards: 'Modern Family', 'Thrones', 'Homeland', 'Boardwalk', 'Cards' Lead Noms; 'Mad Men' Shut Out; 'HTGAWM', Maslany and Aduba Get Nods". TVLine. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  120. ↑ "Winners of the 67th Annual Directors Guild of America Awards". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  121. ↑ "2015 LMGA Award Complete List of Winners". Location Managers Guild of America. July 14, 2015. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  122. ↑ Lambert, David (March 26, 2014). "True Detective – HBO Video's Official Press Release for 'The Complete 1st Season'". TVShowsODVD.com. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
  123. ↑ "United States Combined DVD and Blu-ray Sales Chart for Week Ending June 15, 2014". The Numbers. June 15, 2014. Archived from the original on September 23, 2016. Retrieved September 23, 2016.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/4/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.