What I’m Watching: True Detective

True Detective: Season 2, Episode 2 “Night Finds You” (C+)

It seems to me that, more than anything else, the characters on this show this season are competing to see who can be the most truly miserable. Vince Vaughn’s Frank is the only one who has actually achieved any modicum of success in his life, climbing his way to the top and then struggling to stay there, and his opening story about being locked in a basement by his father for days, never knowing if he would return, was a fierce introduction to a brutally depressing episode, even by this show’s standards. The primary three investigators – Colin Farrell’s Ray, Rachel McAdams’ Ani, and Taylor Kitsch’s Paul – aren’t even happy when they’re indulging their own vices (primarily prostitutes), and it’s hard to find them smiling at any point. The case might be interesting eventually, but it’s difficult to latch on when there are so many barriers put up around these melancholy characters. I have to take a moment to express my continued displeasure with TVGuide.com, which put a story on their home page earlier this week titled “Did True Detective really kill Colin Farrell?” Contrast that with one of EW’s cover stories from a few weeks ago, “Did Game of Thrones really kill ______?” There’s no reason to run such a spoiler on a main site or cover, especially if the shock value is only worthwhile if you watched the episode. It would have been nice to experience the still strange surprise of this episode’s unexpected ending without knowing full well that it was coming. Given that it took until midway through season one for me to truly appreciate this show, I’m not going anywhere, but I’m not too pleased thus far.