True Detective, S.2

In preparing for True Detective Season 3, having skipped S2 due to hearing it was terrible, I wanted to go back and check it out (yes, I’m aware S3 has started, but I can’t deal with waiting week to week once I start a series, so I’m waiting to binge the whole thing.)

Now, I just finished watching True Detective, Season 2, and while I heard it was a big letdown from S1, I do and don’t agree with the teardown.

Is it a good detective story? Not really. I’ll be the first to admit that the plot isn’t super amazing, and it’s hard to keep track of what happened to whom, who went where, etc. etc. The entire plot of the corruption and why the main murder first happened at all is what kept me watching, but it’s not crafted as well as it could have been.

That said, this show is NOT about the plot. This season is about people, the traumas that define them, and what it looks like to either remain the same, or become a different person.

It’s a show about attachment. It asks who we are when all the material things are slipping away, and what is really important to us. It forces us to look deep within ourselves and ask “If I were them, would I really have done anything different?”

It questions toxic masculinity, sexism in the workplace and in Hollywood, and even in sexual misconduct workshops. It questions whether the ends justifies the means, and how what we are afraid of asking is often the question that will set us free.

Do the long, moody shots where actors are acting with their eyes boring? Maybe. Perhaps it’s my bias as a coach that I see that silence and tension as a key component to getting at deeper understandings of the self. Maybe the show was good for me, and not for others.

Either way, I liked it, and am looking forward to both rewatching Season 1, as well as waiting for Season 3 to finish so I can start watching it daily.

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