The southern gothic anthology series, True Detective, gave itself some massive shoes to fill after its stunning first season. The chilling mystery followed begrudging partners Marty Hart and Rustin Cohle as they are assigned to investigate the cold-blooded serial rape and murder of children taking place in rural Louisiana. Both sufficiently flawed, Hart and Cohle's horror at the crimes and commitment to catching whoever is responsible creates a powerful, complex study on perspective and the ability of imperfect men to serve the greater good.
Hart and Cohle become partners in 1995, assigned to investigate the murder of Dora Lange, a Louisiana prostitute. Cohle's study of the crime scene leads him to believe Lange's death is neither the first nor the last of such killings. He quickly grows obsessive, and Hart, though hesitant to believe Cohle's worst-case scenario predictions, is equally appalled by the crimes. Their initial investigation runs its course, though it's dug up again seventeen years later as a new pair of detectives starts asking questions. What happened in those seventeen years that caused such a radical change in Marty's marriage and Rust's demeanor?
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Past Timeline
When Hart and Cohle take the case in 1995, Marty is adamant about his role as a diligent family man. He has two daughters and a loyal wife named Maggie. Rust, on the other hand, is a bachelor and a melancholy workaholic. He's sometimes referred to as the "tax man" due to his tendency to carry around a large portfolio and take detailed notes at crime scenes- as if he were doing taxes, not investigating a murder. Marty tries to bring Rust out of his shell, but often balks at Rust's disturbing answers to what Marty thought were harmless questions.
I think human consciousness is a tragic misstep in human evolution. We became too self-aware. Nature created an aspect of nature separate from itself. We are creatures that should not exist by natural law. We are things that labor under the illusion of having a self, an accretion of sensory experience and feeling, programmed with total assurance that we are each somebody, when in fact everybody is nobody. Maybe the honorable things for our species to do is to deny our programming, stop reproducing, and walk hand in hand to extinction. One last midnight, brothers and sisters opting out of a raw deal.
This was Rust's answer to Marty's question of if he's a Christian. Marty is stunned, having thought that every man in Louisiana was a Christian, and tells Rust not to repeat any of this to his family, who has insisted on having him over for dinner. Christianity, faith, and values, play an increasingly significant role as their investigation carries them into the heart of the Tuttle Church community. As they listen to a sermon, Rust's skepticism abounds.
Well, if the common good has to make up fairy tales, then it's not good for anybody... If the only thing keeping a person decent is the expectation of divine reward, then, brother, that person is a piece of s***, and I'd like to get as many of them out in the open as possible.
It's revealed that Rust's despondent nature is most certainly a result of the death of his young daughter and subsequent separation of his wife that happened before the events of the show. Yet it's also revealed that Marty's Christianity and 'common good' values are more aspirational than they are a reality; he's cheating on his wife, and risks everything when seeing his mistress with another man causes him to spiral. But despite their serious flaws, Hart and Cohle grow laser focused as they feel they're zeroing in on their killer.
The investigation into the Tuttle community led to the discovery of Reggie Ledoux, an ex-con and former boyfriend of a newly-discovered prior victim. Reggie's cellmate also happened to be the deceased Dora Lange's ex-husband, who admitted to showing a picture of Lange to Ledoux. Frantic to serve justice, Marty and Rust go to extreme lengths to get to Ledoux- and when they do, Marty kills him, overcome with rage after discovering him with two kidnapped children. The partners alter the scene to make it look as though their actions were in self-defense, and give a bulletproof story back at the station. They never reveal their secret, even years later when asked some probing, specific questions.
Present Timeline
Seventeen years later, in 2012, Hart and Cohle have parted ways from both each other and the police force. Yet they are brought back to the station by current detectives Papania and Gilbough, who ask them to recount their 1995 investigation. Their questions independently lead Marty and Rust to realize that the Lange case has been reopened. While being questioned separately, both former detectives recount identical iterations of their investigation. They also offer candid opinions on the other, though Marty ruffles at the nature of the questions seeming to implicate Rust. Despite the reveal of an altercation that has left Marty and Rust estranged since 2002, Marty refuses to entertain the idea that Rust is, in fact, involved in the reopened investigation.
Papania and Gilbough's questions grow increasingly pointed, suggesting the worst of both Marty and Rust: that Marty merely followed Rust's lead throughout the case, and that Rust led him on the path he wanted Marty to follow. The new detectives also drop a final bombshell: they believe that Rust was involved in the recent killing of Reverend Tuttle. Marty is certain this isn't true, so certain, in fact, that he breaks the decade-long silence between the two of them.
Despite the bad blood between them that seems to be caused by Marty's current separation from Maggie, the two of them connect over the same thing that has always brought them together: the fact that someone is still murdering children. Rust takes Marty to a frightening looking storage unit where he's spent the last decade independently investigating the case. Despite his agonizing obsession, it's Marty that finds the key link in evidence that leads them to their suspect.
Galvanized with the adrenaline of discovering a new clue, the pair waste no time diving back into the case and arriving at the suspect's property. With no cell service and not a badge among them, they're truly on their own this time. Rust encounters their man- Errol Childress- who leads Rust into a maze of underground tunnels. Marty, who had been looking for a landline phone inside the house, isn't too far behind. When Rust comes face to face with Childress again, Childress rushes him with a knife, stabbing him through the stomach.
Marty burts in and shoots Childress in the chest and shoulder, seemingly to no effect. Childress then throws an ax head-over-handle that buries itself in Marty's chest. He's fighting for his life when Rust manages to gather the last of his strength and shoot Childress in the back of the head. The two collapse, with Marty holding Rust's head in his lap. Later, they recover in the hospital together, with Marty having made peace with Rust for who he is. The story ends with them as genuine friends.
What Happened In Between?
Through some less cohesive flashbacks, it's revealed that Rust began to spiral once he began to believe that Ledoux was the wrong man- and the real killer is still out there. He dated a bit, but soon reverted to his obsessive, solitary ways to an extent like never before. In 2002, the year of Rust and Marty's falling out, Maggie discovered Marty's second (known) affair. To make things easier for herself and poison Marty against her, she seduced a drunk and depressed Rust, having sex with him in his house. It had its intended effect; Marty instigated a brawl with Rust in the police station parking lot, and the two didn't speak again for ten years.
Marty, for his part, reconciled with Maggie for a time after this. He made an effort and, in fact, some progress, but his unresolved anger issues remained. His oldest daughter grew rebellious, sneaking out and sleeping with boys. Marty responding by slapping her and calling her a whore, as he did Maggie when he found out about her and Rust. Marty and Maggie had been separated ever since, as they were in the present timeline when he openly admitted his faults and hoped that he had given her the space to heal and move on.
The 2012 Rustin Cohle is no longer the Tax Man. His appearance and obvious loss of his battle with alcohol do much of the work of putting the pieces together; his obsession with the case also became something of an unraveling. In those years, he lost the shred of hope that helped him stand up straight in the face of the darkness that he was well aware of. In his time on the police force, Rust became known as the one who could get a confession out of absolutely anybody. But after Ledoux's death, perps started getting in his head, planting the seed that he had gotten the wrong guy. He began having unprofessional outbursts and withdrew until his 2002 fight with Marty, after which he promptly quit and began dedicating himself wholly to solving the case.
It ultimately becomes clear that their reunion was what Marty and Rust both needed. Marty needed a purpose, something to push him to be decisive; Rust needed a fresh pair of eyes and, though he would never admit it, a friend. The unspoken optimism that carried Rust through these eight episodes returns in the show's final moments as the pair have an unsolicited smoke break under the stars in the hospital parking lot.
Well, once, there was only dark. If you ask me, the light's winning.
True Detective
Taking inspiration from the hard-boiled mystery genre, True Detective has told four separate stories about complicated men and women getting to the bottom of intense cases, all the while uncovering the darker sides of humanity. The latest season, Night Country, stars Jodie Foster and Kali Reis, and takes place in chilling Alaska.
- Release Date
- January 12, 2014
- Creator
- Nic Pizzolatto, Issa Lopez
- Cast
- Matthew McConaughey , Woody Harrelson , Rachel McAdams , Colin Farrell , Vince Vaughn , Stephen Dorff , Mahershala Ali , Jodie Foster , Kali Reis
- Seasons
- 4
- Streaming Service(s)
- HBO Max
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