TRUE DETECTIVE on HBO Season One recap, review, cast and character breakdown

As Marty says "You can't choose your parents and you can't choose your partner."

If you are a fan of great actors dong what they do best, continue to watch show and then read below...

If you have not seen this go BINGE and come back. Episode and Characters/Cast guide below with plenty of spoilers... Although unlike so much TV/FILM, even if you know what will happen the performances and journey captivate you, not some much the cliff hangers etc

"The writers have delivered the perfect pitch and Matthew hit it out of the park!!!" Me - below

(More about characters, cast and individual performances scroll down)

WATCH PARODY BY JOEL MCHALE and FRIENDS /  OUTTAKES

This show is all about dissecting the psyche of each character. At times the pace is slow but filled so well with powerful writing and acting, this show had me from the first down beat. The title is taken from the "True Detective" Magazines and pulp fiction genre.

At the time of writing this article I have watched episode 1-7 and eagerly awaiting episode 8. I watched the pilot twice. Took me a while to get my wife on board. I personally was hooked form the first preview i saw at the theaters last summer. We watched episode 3-6 in one day.

I am just learning now that this show will be anthology style. Similar to American Horror story, each season will be a different set of characters. Unlike American Horror Story, looks like the cast would change yearly. Torn about that. Woody and Matthew are so FRICKIN AMAZIN in these roles. BUT going to be hard to imagine in other roles they are so good.

This show is another example of how the best writers are now in TV. The worst writers are also in TV. So I feel bless to be able to watch the perfect storm of concept, writing, directing, casting and acting form top down...





SEASON ONE EPISODE ONE PILOT
"The Long Bright Dark" January 12, 2014

Its 1995 - Rust (Matthew McConaughey) & Marty (Woody Harrelson) arrive on the scene of a brutal crime scene that resembles Hannibal - and not just because of the antlers. A dead girl, Dora Lange,   is set up ritualistically in kneeling position with markings and cuts. The crime scene is littered with Triangular stick formations. "Caught a bad one today," says Marty to his wife later. Marty - the senior officer at the Louisiana State Police Criminal Investigations Division (CI / CID) - tries to be friendly and get the cold and distant Rust to open up - only to not like a single word. "Shut the F*** UP with the Sh!!" Rust is a brilliant crime scene investigator with a morbid surreal take on life and death. At times he resembles Rain Man and Sherlock Holmes with a touch of Suicidal Jumper. Usually people that talk this way are one bad day away from suicide. We learn about the death of his young daughter -who he sees as a ghost like figure everywhere and led to his bad divorce - and his years under cover. Rust does not do well at the station. Marty warns him he will rub folks the wrong way but Rust still talks the way he talks. Being the anniversary of his daughters death, Rust picks the day he was supposed to have dinner with Marty's family to have a drink. We learn the reason he is to tightly wound. He does not do well when he loses control. Hilarious moment when Marty stages an excuse for Rust to leave and Rust ignores the blatant "hints".  Another child was chased by the "green-eared spaghetti monster" and there a lot of references to "The Church" Dora Lange
The gritty vast expanse of farms and swamps is the perfect backdrop for the developing murder mystery as Rust goes looking for info and barbiturates from the local hookers. They follow leads to a missing girl, Marie Fontenot. They find another twig formation in a broken down playhouse.

2012 - A very different Rust & Cohle are being interviewed by CI separately. they have not seen each other since an alluded to incident in 2002. Rust is now a Bartender that drinks on his day off. Marty is now divorced and running a private investigation firm. Detectives Papania and Gilbough are investigating a new murder related to the 1995 affair. But we learn the 1995 crime was solved. New cops want to know what really happened in 1995 & 2002.

EPISODE TWO "Seeing Things" January 19, 2014
1995 - Rust and Marty continue to investigate the Dora Lange Murder. Rust - missing a filter - calls Mart out on cheating on his wife. "You smell like P...". Marty gets defensive and strains their already rocky relationship. Disoriented form the drugs he is taking, Rust gets pissy when Reverend Billy Lee Tuttle's "anti-Christian crimes" task force shows up to take over the case. Rust and Marty to keep the case but continue to rub the superiors the wrong way. The team follows a lead - from Rust's drug dealing hooker (turns down the sex) -






CAST/CHARACTERS
Matthew McConaughey as Det. Rustin "Rust" Cohle
So this is the year of Matthew McConaughey, right. And this performance should solidify him as the best actor in Hollywood. Only problem how do you top this? This is his Breaking Bad. Bran Cranston will now work non stop till he drops dead. But what will satisfy like Walter White. Same for Rusty Gohle. The writers have delivered the perfect pitch and Matthew hit it out of the park!!!

Woody Harrelson as Det. Martin "Marty" Hart
Woody plays the perfect anchor. Like a great comedy team, Matthew's work does not work without a dramatic straight man to hold it together performed on the same level of commitment. In 1995 he is the regular guy that unwinds at the bar and gets involved with the wrong girl. Even though he is already married. He redeems himself somewhat but falls off the wagon with booze and girls in 2002.

Michelle Monaghan as Maggie Hart
Michael Potts as Det. Maynard Gilbough
Tory Kittles as Det. Thomas Papania
JD Evermore as Detective Bobby Lutz
Dana Gourrier as Cathleen
Joe Chrest as Detective Chris Demma
Dane Rhodes as Detective Favre
Madison Wolfe as Audrey Hart
Kevin Dunn as Major Ken Quesada
Alexandra Daddario as Lisa Tragnetti
Anthony Molina as Detective
Tess Harper as Mrs. Kelly
Meghan Wolfe as Macie Hart
Don Yesso as Commander Speece
Jackson Beals as Detective Mark Daughtry
Jim Klock as Detective Ted Bertrand
Garreth Kruithof as Detective Jimmy Dufrene
Michael Harney as Sheriff Steve Geraci
Elizabeth Reaser as Laurie Perkins
Brad Carter as Charlie Lange
Lili Simmons as Beth
Jay O. Sanders as Billy Lee Tuttle
Shea Whigham as Joel Theriot
Christopher Berry as Danny Fontenot / Guy Francis
Alyshia Ochse as Lucy
Glenn Fleshler as Errol
Charles Halford as Reggie Ledoux
Joseph Sikora as Ginger
Erin Moriarty as Audrey Hart
Brighton Sharbino as Macie Hart