True Detective season 1

The first season of True Detective, an American anthology

True Detective
crime drama television series created by Nic Pizzolatto,
premiered on January 12, 2014, on the premium cable network Season 1
HBO. The 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. Each following True Detective
season has its own self-contained story, following a disparate
set of characters in various settings.

Constructed as a nonlinear narrative, season one focuses on

Louisiana State Police homicide detectives Rustin "Rust" Cohle
(McConaughey) and Martin "Marty" Hart (Harrelson), who
investigated the murder of Dora Lange in 1995. During the
investigation, Hart's infidelity threatens his marriage to Maggie
(Monaghan), and Cohle struggles to cope with his troubled
past. Seventeen years later, they must revisit the investigation,
now seemingly related to a slew of other unsolved missing- Blu-ray cover
person cases and murders.
Showrunner Nic Pizzolatto
True Detective's first season explores themes of philosophical Starring Matthew
pessimism, masculinity, and Christianity; critics have analyzed McConaughey
the show's portrayal of women, its auteurist sensibility, and the Woody Harrelson
influence of comics and weird horror fiction on its narrative.
Michelle Monaghan
Pizzolatto initially conceived True Detective as a novel, but felt Michael Potts
it was more suitable for television. The episodes, directed by Tory Kittles
Cary Joji Fukunaga, were filmed in Louisiana over a three- No. of episodes 8
month period. The series was widely acclaimed by critics and
cited as one of the strongest dramas of 2014. It was a candidate Release
for numerous awards, including a Primetime Emmy Award Original network HBO
Original release January 12 –
March 9, 2014
Season chronology
nomination for Outstanding Drama Series and a Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television
Film, and won several other honors for writing, cinematography, direction, and acting.

Episodes
U.S.
No. No. in
Title Directed by Written by Original air date viewers
overall season
(millions)

"The Long Bright Cary Joji

1 1
Dark" Fukunaga
Nic Pizzolatto January 12, 2014 2.33[1]

Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, January 3, 1995. State homicide detectives Martin "Marty"
Hart and Rustin "Rust" Cohle investigate the murder of 28-year-old Dora Lange, whose
body was found in a sugarcane field outside of Erath. Her corpse has been staged
against a tree as if in prayer, with her head crowned with deer antlers and her body
surrounded by twig latticeworks closely resembling Cajun bird traps. At the insistence of
his wife Maggie, Marty invites Rust to dinner. Rust arrives drunk but opens up to Maggie
about the death of his own daughter. Their investigation leads them to Lange's ex-
husband Charlie, who tells them that during his last phone call with her, she talked about
meeting a king. While interviewing neighbors in Erath, Marty and Rust come across five-
year-old missing-persons case of a child named Marie Fontenot. They also hear of a
report of a child being chased through the woods by a "green-eared spaghetti monster."
While following up on Fontenot's disappearance, they discover another twig latticework,
ostensibly placed in recent times, inside her dilapidated playhouse.

In May 2012, Marty and Rust are separately interviewed about the Lange investigation by detectives
Thomas Papania and Maynard Gilbough. Marty and Rust have not spoken since an altercation in 2002. The
crime scene of a recently slain woman closely resembles the Lange murder scene, suggesting that despite
Rust and Marty's apparent solving of the case in 1995, the real killer may remain at large.

Cary Joji
2 2 "Seeing Things"
Fukunaga
Nic Pizzolatto January 19, 2014 1.67[2]

In 1995, Marty is revealed to be having an affair with a younger colleague. Animosity

between Rust and Marty flares after Rust insinuates his knowledge of this affair.
Reverend Billy Lee Tuttle, a celebrated evangelist and cousin of the Louisiana governor,
pushes the creation of a police task force focusing on "anti-Christian crimes." The task
force wants to take over Lange's case. Marty and Rust's superior agree to give them a
little bit more time before handing it over. Marty and Rust's investigation leads them to
The Ranch – a remote rural brothel employing runaway girls. One of Dora's friends at
The Ranch hands them Lange's diary, which contains repeated references to "Carcosa"
and a "Yellow King". Based on forensic evidence, Rust speculates that Dora's killer
hooked her on increasing amounts of meth and LSD in order to elicit hallucinations on
her. In the wreckage of a burnt-out church Lange attended, they find a wall painting
depicting a human figure wearing deer antlers.

In 2012, Rust 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, Rust requested a job
in homicide and was assigned to Louisiana, partnered with Marty. Rust 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 Rust occasionally suffers these hallucinations when he is with Marty, but
he does not discuss them. Marty is now divorced from Maggie for reasons unrevealed.

"The Locked Cary Joji

3 3
Room" Fukunaga
Nic Pizzolatto January 26, 2014 1.93[3]

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

2012. The interviews continue, revealing Marty's self-serving moral views and Rust's nihilistic views of
humanity.

Cary Joji
4 4 "Who Goes There"
Fukunaga
Nic Pizzolatto February 9, 2014 1.99[4]

In 1995, Charlie Lange admits he showed pictures of Dora to Ledoux. Marty tracks down
an associate of Ledoux's and learns that Ledoux only sells the meth he makes to one
client: the Iron Crusaders, a biker gang out of East Texas. Rust has connections in the
Crusaders from his days undercover. He decides to take personal leave days to begin to
infiltrate the Crusaders, telling his superiors that he needs to visit his dying father.
Meanwhile, Lisa reveals Marty's affair to Maggie, who asks Marty to leave the house,
devastating him. Rust convinces Marty to help him as he infiltrates the Iron Crusaders.
Rust's contact Ginger promises access to the gang's meth supply in exchange for Rust's
(who is known to the gang as "Crash") help robbing a rival gang. The robbery goes badly.
Rust kidnaps Ginger and barely escapes with Marty.

In 2012, Marty and Rust do not tell Papania and Gilbough about their escapade with the Iron Crusaders.
They each maintain the story of Rust taking leave to visit his father in Alaska.

"The Secret Fate of Cary Joji

5 5
All Life" Fukunaga
Nic Pizzolatto February 16, 2014 2.25[5]

In 1995, Ginger brings Rust to Dewall Ledoux, Reggie's cousin and meth-cooking
partner. Dewall refuses to do business with Rust, but unwittingly leads him and Marty to
their meth lab hidden in the bayou. There, Marty apprehends Reggie Ledoux, who makes
cryptic statements about "Carcosa." Before Rust was able to question Reggie, Marty kills
Reggie in a rage after discovering two kidnapped and abused children in the compound.
Dewall tries to flee but dies after triggering a homemade booby trap. Marty and Rust 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, Marty and Maggie have reconciled and Rust is dating again. While Rust 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 Rust's attention. The prisoner kills himself in his
cell before Rust can investigate his claims. Rust returns to the Dora Lange murder site
and discovers that the same tree is now adorned with twig sculptures and a large wreath
of vines and roots, all of them surreptitiously placed in relatively recent times just like the
twig sculpture in Marie Fontenot's playhouse found years earlier. Rust also returns to
Light of the Way Academy, where he finds more twig sculptures and dark imagery on the
walls.

In 2012, both Marty and Rust do not tell Papania and Gilbough about what really happened the night they
rescued the children and killed Ledoux and Dewall; they repeat the same report from 1995. Papania and
Gilbough tell Marty they suspect that Rust, who they allege conveniently led Marty to every clue or lead in
the case, has been orchestrating the killings. Rust is also a person of interest in Rev. Billy Lee Tuttle's
suspicious death two years earlier, which was around the time Rust returned to Louisiana. Rust walks out of
his interview after the detectives accuse him.

Cary Joji
6 6 "Haunted Houses"
Fukunaga
Nic Pizzolatto February 23, 2014 2.64[6]

In 2002, Rust 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 Rust about a third attacker—a giant
man with scars—and begins screaming when Rust asks her about the man's face. Tuttle
complains to the police department following a tense meeting with Rust, who has been
warned to cease his investigation and is suspended from duty. While shopping at a local
T-Mobile branch, Marty is recognized by store employee Beth, who happens to be the
former underage prostitute who had kept Dora Lange's diary in The Ranch back in 1995.
They start an affair soon after. After Maggie discovers the new affair, she tempts a drunk
Rust and has sex with him. After she tells Marty about it, he and Rust fight in the police
station parking lot. Rust quits the police force immediately after the fight.

In 2012, Papania and Gilbough interview Maggie who, now married to a wealthier man, deflects their
questions. Marty walks out of his interview in response to Papania and Gilbough's accusations against Rust.
Separated by rage in jealousy in 2002, Rust seeks out Marty and they agree to reunite and talk.

Cary Joji
7 7 "After You've Gone"
Fukunaga
Nic Pizzolatto March 2, 2014 2.34[7]

In 2012, Rust presents Marty with evidence of a cult (bearing similarities to Courir de Mardi Gras) he
believes is responsible for the disappearance of dozens of women and children along the coast in Louisiana.
Among the evidence is a videotape, which Rust stole from a safe in Rev. Tuttle's home, of men in costumes
and masks ritualistically raping and murdering Marie Fontenot (the missing-child case they briefly
investigated in 1995). Rust denies killing Tuttle, speculating that others did it to prevent Tuttle from being
blackmailed over the tape. Marty, 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 was ordered by his boss Ted Childress—then
the sheriff of Vermilion Parish—to cut short his investigation of Fontenot's disappearance. Marty and Rust
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 same groundskeeper Rust 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.

Cary Joji
8 8 "Form and Void"
Fukunaga
Nic Pizzolatto March 9, 2014 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 an incestuous relationship. Later, he goes to work painting a school and watches children on
the playground. Marty and Rust extract details from Geraci by showing him the Fontenot tape. Marty 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 facial scars. They visit William Childress's home and Rust pursues the
scarred man, Errol Childress, through a labyrinth of trees and tunnels that Errol identifies as Carcosa. Rust
briefly sees a hallucination of a sort of spiraling vortex before he is attacked by Errol. Marty runs to Rust's
aid and they both fight Errol. They are all severely wounded, but Rust manages to kill Errol via a gunshot to
the head. While Marty and Rust recover in the hospital, Papania and Gilbough connect Errol to dozens of
missing-person cases and murders, including Dora Lange's, finding several bodies buried in the yard. The
Tuttles escape prosecution, but are publicly disgraced. Marty breaks down in tears when Maggie and their
daughters visit him. Afterward, the two detectives reflect on the ongoing universal battle between light and
dark.

Cast

Main cast
Matthew McConaughey as Detective Rustin "Rust" Cohle, a troubled, nihilistic state police
detective and Hart's partner
Woody Harrelson as Detective Martin "Marty" Hart, a state police detective and Cohle's
partner
Michelle Monaghan as Maggie Hart (née Hebert), Hart's wife, later divorced
Michael Potts as Detective Maynard Gilbough, a state police detective interviewing Hart and
Cohle seventeen years after the murder of Dora Lange
Tory Kittles as Detective Thomas Papania, a state police detective interviewing Hart and
Cohle seventeen years after the murder of Dora Lange

Recurring and guest

Kevin Dunn as Major Ken Quesada, Hart and Cohle's superior in 1995
Madison Wolfe as young Audrey Hart, Hart's daughter
Erin Moriarty as teenage Audrey Hart
Meghan Wolfe as young Macie Hart, Hart's daughter
Brighton Sharbino as teenage Macie Hart
Alexandra Daddario as Lisa Tragnetti, a court stenographer with whom Hart has an affair
Michael Harney as Steve Geraci, Hart and Cohle's colleague, later the sheriff of Louisiana's
Iberia parish
J. D. Evermore as Detective Bobby Lutz, Hart and Cohle's colleague
Don Yesso as Commander Speece, Hart and Cohle's superior
Brad Carter as Charlie Lange, Dora Lange's convict ex-husband
Jay O. Sanders as Billy Lee Tuttle, an influential reverend
Lili Simmons as Beth, a young prostitute who knew Dora Lange
Shea Whigham as Joel Theriot, a traveling minister
Glenn Fleshler as Errol Childress, a groundskeeper at one of Tuttle's academies
Charles Halford as Reggie Ledoux, a drug producer
Joseph Sikora as Ginger, a member of the Iron Crusaders biker gang who has ties to Cohle
Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as DeWall LeDoux, Reggie's cousin and cook partner
Elizabeth Reaser as Laurie Perkins, a woman Cohle becomes involved with
 Paul Ben-Victor as Major Leroy Salter, Hart and Cohle's superior in 2002
Ann Dowd as Betty Childress, Errol's half-sister

Production

Conception
Before creating True Detective, Nic Pizzolatto taught 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] He published a novel, Galveston, in 2010, and began writing television
scripts. 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 it more suitable for television.[9][11] He pitched an adaptation
of Galveston, 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 soon after his departure from The Killing
thanks to the support of production company and manager Anonymous Content,[9] which 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] with a budget of $4–4.5 million per episode.[13]
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.[14] After working alone
for about three months, the final copy of the project script was 500 pages long.[14][15]

Cast and crew

Matthew McConaughey (left), Woody Harrelson (middle) and Michelle Monaghan (right) star in the first season
of True Detective.

Because the series is an anthology, each season has a self-contained narrative, following a disparate set of
characters in various settings.[9] Pizzolatto began contemplating the lead roles while he was pitching the
series to networks in early 2012.[9] True Detective's anthology format required actors to commit to only a
single season, so Pizzolatto was able to attract film stars who normally avoid television series because of
their busy schedules.[14] 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.[16] 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."[17] 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.[18]

Harrelson was the season's next significant casting choice, brought on to play Hart at McConaughey's
request.[19][20] Harrelson stated that he joined True Detective partly because he wanted to work with certain
people involved in the project, with whom he had previously collaborated in the 2012 HBO film Game
Change.[21] Michelle Monaghan agreed to play the season's female lead, Maggie, because she felt
compelled by the direction of the plot and her character's story arc.[22] Michael Potts and Tory Kittles
completed the principal cast, playing detectives Maynard Gilbough and Thomas Papania,
respectively.[23][24] 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.[23]

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 due to film commitments.[25][26] 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.[27] 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.[28] Alex DiGerlando, whom 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."[29]

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:[30] "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."[14]

Principal photography took three months (between 100 and 110 days), from January to June 2013, with
approximately five minutes of film shot per day.[28][29] 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 light bulb warehouse near Elmwood.[31]
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.[31]
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 had employed in Sin Nombre
(2009) and Jane Eyre (2011).[32][33] 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,[32] 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.[33] Elsewhere, shooting took place at the old Kenner High School campus[31] and
nineteenth-century Fort Macomb, located outside New Orleans.[34]

The entire season was shot on 35 mm film,[35] which the production staff chose to achieve a certain texture,
as well as a "nostalgic" quality.[28] 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."[28] To achieve this, they relied on wider lenses to
exaggerate composition.[28] The 2012 scenes were shot with Panavision Primo lenses: the visual palette in
comparison was sharper and had much more contrast, lending a "modern, crisp feeling" to the images, and,
according to Arkapaw, pulling "characters out from their environments to hopefully help audiences get
inside their heads".[28]

Art design
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—along with
wall paintings and miniature sculptures of men made of beer cans,
among others.[31] According to DiGerlando, Walsh's interests in
hunting and taxidermy made him "the perfect dude for the job".[31]
The design team used an assortment
A blueprint for the devil's nests was not well established in the
of low poly meshes to develop a 3D script, other than specifications that the structures be able to stand
landscape for the show's title on their own and feature a spiral motif. DiGerlando and Walsh went
sequence, which were later with a tripod design that showed a spiral when viewed from the
meticulously superimposed. Digital base, and contained ladder-like crossing elements that symbolized
doubles (such as this one of Hart
the killer's desire to ascend to a dark spiritual plane. Each design
shown in the upper left frame) were
had subtle differences from one another.[31] DiGerlando cited the
created in some cases to allow more
texture.[36]
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". [31] To reflect this, Walsh built devil's nests using mud, secondhand children's clothing,
reeds, roots, and other materials he felt the killer would use.[31]

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 they felt it was
overdone.[39] Burnett said the score was intended to be character-driven, rather than inspired by other crime
fiction drama.[39] Songs by Bo Diddley, Melvins, Primus, The Staple Singers, Grinderman, Wu-Tang Clan,
Vashti Bunyan, Townes Van Zandt, Juice Newton, and Captain Beefheart appear in season one.[40][41]
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.[42]

Themes and analysis

Masculinity and depiction of women

Commentators have noted masculinity as a theme in True Detective. Christopher Lirette of Southern Spaces
said the show was about "men living in a brutally masculine world" and women are depicted as "things-to-
be-saved and erotic obstacles" à la Double Indemnity (1944) and Chinatown (1974).[43] 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".[44] 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.[43][45][46] 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".[45]

In her piece for Salon, Janet Turley said that the women "become reflections of the men", given that the
True Detective universe is seen through the eyes of the show's male leads.[47] Sam Adams of Indiewire
contended that the story was about "the horrible things men do to women", many of which are never
reported to 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".[48] He said the role of women was
more profound because Cohle suffers through his ex-wife and deceased daughter and Hart is unable to
"deal appropriately with the women who are there".[48] According to Scott Wilson, a cultural studies
lecturer at Kingston University, women are categorized as "the superegoic, the obscene and the sacred".[49]
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".[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 is first clearly articulated 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.[50][51] Her narrative thus, by proxy, influences both men's character development as they delve into
the case.[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 has opined that 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 in 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 evoke Christian imagery, including the opening scene, which
Connole felt mirrored 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, however, 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

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 in 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 and decadence.[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 Pizzolatto denied, while
acknowledging Ligotti's influence.[62]

Other philosophers and writers identified as influences include Arthur

Schopenhauer,[60] Friedrich Nietzsche,[62] Gilles Deleuze,[58] Ray
Brassier, Emil Cioran, and Eugene Thacker.[63] Mathijs Peters, in a piece
for Film International, argued that True Detective probes Schopenhauerian
philosophy through its approach to individuality, self-denial, and the battle
between dark and light.[64] Ben Woodard noted the show's evolving
philosophy, which examines a setting where culture, religion and society
are the consequences of biological weakness. Woodward wrote,
"Biological programming gets recuperated and socially redistributed Pizzolatto used Robert W.
visions, faiths, and acerbic personalities take the reins of uncertain ends Chambers' (pictured) The
King in Yellow as the
creating a world where 'people go away'." [65] Even the setting, Fintan
backbone for much of the
Neylan argued, emphasizes a world "where the decrepitude of human season's story.
ordering cannot be hidden".[66] "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] 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] 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 major topic of discussion among critics has been True Detective's auteurist sensibility. Auteurism
(from the French auteur, "author") is a critical framework in which films (or other works of art) are assessed
as reflections of the personal vision of individual authors, typically the director or writer.[72] Authorship of a
television series is most commonly ascribed to the showrunner, usually a creator of a series who fills a dual
role as head writer and executive producer. For example, the crime drama Twin Peaks (1990–91) is often
interpreted as a product of the contrasting visions of its co-creators, David Lynch and Mark Frost, each of
whom exercised varying degrees of control over the course of its first two seasons and later sequels.[73]
Colin Robertson at The List saw Twin Peaks as the most notable artistic antecedent to True Detective's first
season, seeing that both shows challenge generic 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."[74]
From the perspective of auteur theory, the first season of True Detective is
noteworthy for its reliance on only a single screenwriter and a single
director: not only did Pizzolatto serve as showrunner, but he and Fukunaga
were at the helm of each episode as sole writer and director,
respectively.[73] The partnership of a sole writer and sole director was
virtually unique in the traditionally collaborative medium of television
production, as most series involve a writing staff and a set of several
directors working in tandem over the course of a season.[72][74] Scott
Timberg at Salon noted that Pizzolatto's previous writing experience was
not in film or television but literary fiction, a "more purely auteurist form"
for which total creative control by an individual author is the norm.[75]
Cary Joji Fukunaga (pictured
Fukunaga did not return for the second season, which instead featured six in 2015) directed the first
directors across eight episodes, and Pizzolatto retained control of the season in its entirety, with
writing. Met with mixed reviews, season two prompted critics to reevaluate Pizzolatto as the sole writer.
the "auteurist" perspective on the previous season. A critical consensus held Such an arrangement is
that, in hindsight, the response to season one had overestimated the extent extremely uncommon in
of Pizzolatto's individual creative responsibility. [73][72] Ryan Lattanzio at American television
production and prompted
IndieWire posited that Fukunaga's direction of the first season in its entirety
auteurist readings.
had resulted in a consistent vision that counterbalanced "Pizzolatto's
tendency to overwrite, and undercook".[76] Conversely, Brian Tallerico of
RogerEbert.com recognized the common view that Fukunaga had provided "balance" to "Pizzolatto's
overwriting" but argued "the balance came equally" from Harrelson and McConaughey playing against
type in serious roles, as both actors were "widely-known as 'laid-back dudes,' often in comedies as much as
drama".[77]

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.[78] Ratings remained steady and peaked at the finale, which drew 3.5
million viewers.[79] Overall, season one averaged 2.33 million viewers,[80] 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
earlier.[81][82]

Critical response
The American press considered True Detective to be among the best
True Detective, coming as
television shows of 2014.[84] Many critics complimented the work of
it does after what was
both lead actors,[85][86][87] often singling out McConaughey for further
arguably the best year for
praise,[88][89][90] with his work described as "jaw-droppingly great"[91]
dramas in at least five
and "simply magnetic".[92] Some reviewers singled out simple
years ... just puts an
conversational scenes, often in claustrophobic interiors, as some of the
exclamation point on the
best acting in the series.[87][93][94] The characterization received mixed
topic of excessive quality.
reviews: Cohle's speeches, described by HuffPost as "mesmerizing – Tim Goodman, The
[94]
monologues", and by Vanity Fair as dense and interesting Hollywood Reporter.[83]
material, [89] were criticized by the New York Post as "'70s-era psycho-
babble" which slowed down the story.[95] Several critics viewed the
portrayals of women as stereotypical: "either angry or aroused",[96][97] though Michelle Monaghan was
praised for her performance in a "thankless role".[96]

Pizzolatto and Fukunaga, as sole writer and director of the entire series, were able to exercise much stronger
control over the show than is usual for a TV series, which let the show take risks: the pacing, dialogue, and
cinematography all departed at times from the expectations for a television drama.[91][98] Pizzolatto's scripts
drew occasional criticism as "self-consciously literary" and overwritten,[99][95] and several journalists
attributed mistakes in the script to Pizzolatto's inexperience in writing TV drama.[87][90] Despite the
criticism, the Daily Telegraph and Uproxx described the season as "ambitious"[100] and "dense with event
and meaning".[91] The flashback structure also divided critics: it was described as "impressively
seamless",[90] and "a major asset",[101] but the fragmented approach to storytelling was considered a flaw
by others.[91][89] Uproxx praised Fukunaga's atmospheric and "hauntingly beautiful" cinematography,[91]
and The Boston Globe complimented the "spare, hollow, percussive" soundtrack,[102] with Uproxx
crediting the creative control the two men wielded for the quality of the result.[91]

The story of two mismatched detectives working on a case was described by several critics as a
cliché,[103][97] though many reviewers felt this was made into a strength: The Daily Beast, for example,
described the narrative as having "the potential to be revolutionary",[103] and the Grantland reviewer felt
that "the form is truly radical and forward-thinking", though he added that "the content is anything but".[96]
Emily Nussbaum, writing for The New Yorker, was also critical, considering the real story to be "a simpler
tale: one about heroic male outlines and closeups of female asses"; she described the philosophical
monologues as "dorm-room deep talk" and argued that the show had "fallen for its own sales pitch".[97]
Other reviewers were more positive: comments ranged from "as frighteningly nervy and furious in its
delivery and intent as prime David Lynch",[104] to "one of the most riveting and provocative series I've ever
seen".[103]

Accolades
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.[105] By March 2014, HBO had submitted True Detective as a
drama series contender,[106][107][108] an unconventional move given the
show's anthology format and fierce competition from the likes of Breaking
Bad and House of Cards.[109] 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
Harrelson (left) and
is a story that continues. To tell you the truth, I think it's actually unfair for
McConaughey (right) at the
HBO to put True Detective in the drama series category because essentially 66th Primetime Emmy
you can get certain actors to do a closed-ended series – a la Billy Bob Awards
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."[110] 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.[111] The series ultimately won five Emmy awards: Outstanding Directing (Fukunaga),
Outstanding Casting, Outstanding Main Title Design, Outstanding Make-Up, and Outstanding
Cinematography.[112]

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.[113][114] 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).[115][116][117]
 Date of
Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
ceremony

Critics' Choice Best Drama Series True Detective Nominated

June 19, [116]
Television Best Actor in a Drama
2014 Matthew McConaughey Won
Awards Series
Outstanding New Program Nominated

Program of the Year Nominated

True Detective
July 19, Outstanding Achievement [114]
TCA Awards in Movies, Miniseries, and Won
2014
Specials
Individual Achievement in
Matthew McConaughey Won
Drama

Outstanding Music
T Bone Burnett Nominated
Composition for a Series

Outstanding Casting for a Alexa L. Fogel, Christine

Won
Drama Series Kromer and Meagan Lewis
Outstanding Make-up for a Felicity Bowring, Wendy
Single-Camera Series (Non- Bell, Ann Pala, Kim Won
Prosthetic) Perrodin, Linda Dowds

Outstanding
Primetime
August 16, Cinematography for a Adam Arkapaw Won
Creative Arts
2014 Single-Camera Series
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Main Title Patrick Clair, Raoul Marks,
Won
Design Jennifer Sofio Hall
Outstanding Art Direction Alex DiGerlando, Mara [112]
for a Contemporary or LePere-Schloop, Tim Nominated
Fantasy Series Beach, Cynthia Slagter

Outstanding Single-Camera
Picture Editing for a Drama Affonso Gonçalves Nominated
Series

Outstanding Drama Series True Detective Nominated

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Matthew McConaughey Nominated

Drama Series Woody Harrelson Nominated
Primetime August 25,
Emmy Awards 2014 Outstanding Directing for a
Cary Joji Fukunaga Won
Drama Series

Outstanding Writing for a

Nic Pizzolatto Nominated
Drama Series

Best Miniseries or
True Detective Nominated
Television Film

Best Actor – Miniseries or Matthew McConaughey Nominated

Golden Globe January 11, [113]
Television Film Woody Harrelson Nominated
Awards 2015
Best Supporting Actress –
Series, Miniseries or Michelle Monaghan Nominated
Television Film
Outstanding Performance Matthew McConaughey Nominated
Screen Actors January 25, [118]
by a Male Actor in a Drama
Guild Awards 2015
Series Woody Harrelson Nominated
 Directors Guild
February 7, Outstanding Directing – [119]
of America Cary Joji Fukunaga Nominated
2015 Drama Series
Awards

Writers Guild of February Dramatic Series Won

Nic Pizzolatto [117]
America Awards 14, 2015 New Series Won

Best Drama Series True Detective Nominated

Best Actor in a Drama
Woody Harrelson Nominated
February Series [120]
Satellite Awards
15, 2015
Best Supporting Actress in
a Series, Miniseries, or Michelle Monaghan Nominated
Television Film

Location Outstanding Locations in a

March 7, [121]
Managers Guild Contemporary Television Batou Chandler Won
2015
Awards Series
British Academy
March 10, Best International [115]
Television True Detective Won
2015 Programme
Awards

Home media
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 series on DVD and Blu-
ray Disc, selling 65,208 copies.[123]

See also
Satanic panic

References
Bibliography

Shipley, Gary J. (2014). Connole, Edia; Ennis, Paul J.; Masciandaro, Nicola (eds.). True
Detection. Schism Press. ISBN 978-0-692-27737-9.
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External links
Television portal

Official website (https://www.hbo.com/true-detective/season-1)

True Detective (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2356777/episodes?season=1) at IMDb

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=True_Detective_season_1&oldid=1231370343"