VOD (3)
Seasons(5) / Episodes(31)
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Season 1 (2014) - 8 episodes
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Season 2 (2015) - 8 episodes
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Season 3 (2019) - 8 episodes
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Night Country (2024) - 6 episodes
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Season 5 (2025) - 1 episodes
Plots(1)
Touch darkness and darkness touches you. From HBO and creator/executive producer Nic Pizzolatto comes this searing crime drama series that follows troubled cops and the intense investigations that drive them to the edge. Each season features a star-studded new cast involved in cases that will have you on the edge of your seat. In Season 1, it was Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as two polar opposite cops on the hunt for a serial killer in Louisiana. In Season 2, a bizarre murder case brings together three law-enforcement officers (Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, Taylor Kitsch) and a career criminal (Vince Vaughn). (HBO Nordic)
(more)Reviews of this series by the user gudaulin (3)
True Detective (2014)
It doesn't often happen that I feel excited from the first shots of an opening and the initial tones of a ballad song accompanying intertwining images. With a series that rewrites the idea of what the detective genre and its protagonists should be and how they should function. The prevailing feeling while watching the series is uncertainty. It is felt not only by the confused detectives, who let the case slip through their fingers but also by the viewers, who are deprived of the usual support. What and who to believe when one of the investigators has a colorful drug past and an equally colorful alcoholic present, and the other is a testosterone-filled macho man who is never far from violence and has no problem hurting even his loved ones? Additionally, both are saturated with dirty pragmatism, which can only sprout in the destructive environment of the underworld of crime. The viewer sees too many contradictions between the depiction of the former policemen and the flashbacks that reveal their professional failures as former legends of the police force. True Detective is characterized by a sinister atmosphere supported by shots of gloomy swampy landscapes around the Mississippi. The series represents top craftsmanship in every aspect, starting with excellent camera work, through meticulous direction, to the animalistic acting of Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. The series is not valuable for its plot, but for its sophisticated storytelling, playing with form, winking at the viewer, and openly playing with jokes in the seriousness of the situation, straddling genres - ultimately, it is more of an existential psychological drama than a crime story. Last but not least, the excellent portrayal of well-written characters - the cynical glosses of bitter Cole have the attractiveness of a black hole and the power of a supernova explosion. The series has an ideal length - it does not get lost in the narrative fog and does not lose its momentum in side plots like many genre-related projects do. Although it has a slow pace, it is able to incredibly intensify the tension. Perhaps only in the last two episodes, when evil begins to materialize and takes on a specific human face, does the overwhelming feeling disappear a bit. True Detective seemingly resembles the successful Scandinavian series, but those usually allow fo a certain scriptural construct. They take place in stabilized countries with functioning institutions and minimal crime rates. The clash of American detectives with human misery, the brutality of motorcycle gangs, and the slimy manipulativeness of sellers of religious phrases look uncomfortably realistic. I consider True Detective to be an absolute pinnacle in its genre category, a benchmark that Pizzolatto's followers and challengers will find very difficult to surpass. Overall impression: 95%. //// Season 2: When reviewing the first series, I wrote that it would be difficult for others, including Pizzolatto himself, to surpass it, and it doesn't make much sense to argue about which of the two previous seasons is better. The second one is completely different. Different protagonists, different crimes, different locations, and a different atmosphere. However, there are characteristics that connect both series and will likely be typical for future continuations, which we will undoubtedly see. We have the complicated psychology of the investigators, who are sometimes more preoccupied with battling their own demons than with fighting crime, and the intricately structured storytelling, in which the first season used different timeframes more, whereas this one focuses on different perspectives of multiple characters, who doubt and don't trust each other. Very interesting is the setting of the atmosphere, where the second season is dominated by sun-drenched California, where one can easily get lost in the desert and come to harm in the jungle of Los Angeles. Even the thousand-year-old sequoias play their role in the end. This change in atmosphere is best characterized by the opening scene, which is colorful, and sunny, and Cohen's rendition creates an atmosphere reminiscent of a city's erotic club. The most important thing is that the second season is just as good for me as the first one, and those who want to see a continuation of the first season with its protagonists and the Louisiana swamps may have a problem with it. Like in the first case, I feel like I'm watching one of the absolute peaks of genre television series creation. The performances are luxurious, and the actors are clearly happy to exceed the limits of the roles they have been cast in by casting agencies. Pizzolatto, just like the directors, clearly drew inspiration from the classic noir genre and did an excellent job. The central theme is ubiquitous corruption, the penetration of crime into government administration, and the tricky game with one's own conscience and coming to terms with one's own failures. The opening scene is one of the best ever created as an intro. Personally, I prefer it over the opening of the first season, although this is a matter of personal taste and choice. I don't need to change my overall impression. Keep up the good work, I'm looking forward to the third season.
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Season 3 (2019) (S03)
The second season of the series, after it was discovered that a) Marty and Rust, as audience favorites, would not dominate the new case, and b) the atmosphere would be different, was met with reservations that quickly turned into categorical rejection. I consider it one of the greatest injustices of the television industry because, in my opinion, the sun-drenched and corruption-ridden California series was excellent and would have received a disproportionately warmer reception as a standalone project without being connected to the cult status of the first season. Nevertheless, it happened and Pizzolatto was faced with the demand to continue in the same style and atmosphere as the first season while also maintaining artistic uniqueness and not creating a mere copy. In terms of the screenplay, he can be satisfied. The emotional aspect works perfectly, and the typical characteristics of True Detective, focusing on the psychology of characters, an atmosphere of "uncertainty," darkness in human souls and actions, and the intertwining of timelines, have been preserved. The third season will appeal more to viewers who prefer a more intimate nature, rather than those who need it to be bloody and flashy. The series deviates from its gloomy and slow storytelling only in one brief segment; serial killers, diabolical psychopaths, and action scenes are nowhere to be found. What falls a bit short compared to previous seasons is the directing. After a promising start, it loses momentum and quickly falls into routine. The entire time, I had the feeling that this time I was watching a four-star series, but the cunning and manipulative Pizzolatto once again got me where he wanted me with the resolution. It may be subjectively weaker than the previous seasons, but considering the characters and their fate, I have to give the series an overall impression of 90%.
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Night Country (2024) (S04)
My commentary should start with something positive. I've been thinking for a long time about what I could say that would please Issa López, that I could give the show a thumbs up, but I couldn't do it. Yet I figured it out. The length. The modest six episodes saved the audience from more nonsensical screenwriting lapses, prevented us from spending more time with poorly written, untrustworthy characters, and prevented us from marveling at logical acrobatics in the plot. With a standard eight-episode length, I might have gone for just one star. If True Detective was exceptional in something, it was Nic Pizzolatto's screenwriting art, which was behind the previous seasons. The difference is overwhelming. The third season was marked by average direction, but Pizzolatto's influence saved the series from disaster. Issa López is a below-average screenwriter, but as a director, she knows what to serve to the audience so they don't feel bored, so she uses what she has seen elsewhere and is convinced it works. As viewers, you could play a game that she gathered inspiration from everywhere. For a moment, you feel like you are at Carpenter's scientific base from The Thing, for a while you face Nordic demons from The Terror series, and I could go on. Pizzolatto played with the audience, but it was a sophisticated game, while Issa López slides into cheap tricks to keep the audience's attention. The acting is average, as Jodie Foster struggles with her character, going directly against her acting type. I would consider the final resolution more of a disrespectful joke at the audience's expense. If you don't think too much about the plot, then the series deserves two stars. Overall impression: 40%.
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