Cop car philosophizing
In the last few years, HBO has developed something of a specialty in TV shows set in a decaying southern landscape. Louisiana is the state of choice to represent a land of rich history, myth, and decadence. True Blood was the first to tap this vein with its campy vampire allegory, followed by the more realistic post-Katrina Treme, and now the haunting crime drama True Detective.
True Detective flaunts the southern gothic motif every chance it gets. The story is populated with dilapidated houses, long-abandoned churches, tent revivals, huckster preachers, corrupt politicians, and a populace hiding dark secrets. There is a crumbling plantation-style house so cluttered with the moldering relics of family history that William Faulkner would probably roll his eyes.
The show revolves around the relationship between two ill-matched detectives working on the case of their careers: the ritualized and sexualized murder of a woman in a small bayou parish. The detectives are Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey, displaying in riveting fashion his transformation from rom-com pretty boy to serious actor) and Marty Hart (Woody Harrelson). Given the setting, the murder seems highly predictable, tinged with hints of cultish fetishism, misogyny, and misplaced religious enthusiasm. The show elevates the story, however, with surprising narrative techniques and breathtaking cinematography.
