I'm going to open my review with a blunt opinion: True Detective Season 1 is one of the finest, most perfectly crafted pieces of art in television history and I will fight you over that.
Now that we've got that out of the way, I think it goes without saying that beginning this review with some kind of brief overview of season 1 would take a lifetime too long and send me on a thousand different tangents, none of which are relevant to the subject at hand.
Almost 18 months have passed since we were first introduced to Marty Hart, Rustin Cohle, and a satanic cult with murderous tendencies in the murky bayous of Louisiana. That universe is gone now, as the anthology continues in an entirely new world with a casting bill twice as long as the last and a story that will certainly prove to be a complex web of serendipidously connected stories. We've got a lot to explore, so let's get to it!
[SPOILERS AHOY!]
Let's begin with a quick breakdown of every major character we come across in the Season 2 premiere, 'The Western Book of the Dead'
Ray Velcoro (Colin Ferrell): A burnt out, emotionally traumatized, "seen-way-too-much-shit" detective working for the city of Vinci, a fictional suburb of L.A. who serves as the inside-man/muscle for...
Frank Semyon (Vince Vaughn): A former mobster-turned-legit businessman, currently running Vinci's casino scene and working to transition into big time real estate investment through a major California railway, who's primary benefactor (city manager Ben Caspere) has mysteriously disappeared.
Paul Woodrough (Taylor Kitsch): A California Highway Patrol officer with an obviously shady past who finds sole release through his job and the sensation of flirting with death.
Ani Bezzarides (Rachel McAdams): A roughened LAPD officer in pursuit of a missing person as she battles with a host of unknown personal demons stemming from her family which includes a pornstar sister and a father who oversees a Hare Krishna enclave.
See all that info? That's all covered in the one episode. Every character's story is introduced and briefly tapped into in the span of one hour, and that's not even including some of the more important supporting cast! Herein lies the gamble that Pizzolatto has wagered with Season 2 of True Detective. By doubling the major cast size, the new season walks a fine line between crafting a Game of Thrones-esque mural of interconnected stories and a potentially clumsy, convoluted mess; a police drama equivalent of 'Love Actually'.
I say this fully aware that the season is only one episode deep and there is plenty of time for everything to eventually make sense. Then again, I'm forced to compare 'The Western Book of the Dead' to its Season 1 counterpart 'The Long Bright Dark' and the focused, irresistible chemistry between Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey. Right off the bat, we are introduced to a fascinating and relentlessly back-and-forth dynamic between Marty's tough-as-nails but folksy down-home persona and Rust's nihilistic, hopelessly bleak outlook of the future and life itself. It was fun from the very beginning to see Marty incredulously endure Rust's endless barrage of twisted personal philosophies stemming from a past of dangerous self-destruction, always retorting with the sort of sarcasm and frustration you'd expect from a classic buddy-cop flick.
This duality of personalities maintaining a perfect balance and providing a rich flavor to its character development is part of what made Season 1 such a thrill to experience. Here, Pizzolatto may be risking not only biting off far more than he can chew, but sacrificing that very sort of chemistry between characters for the sake of adding complexity.
There is, of course, plenty to admire in this new chapter of the modern noir universe we've come to love. The acting is characteristically on point, with Colin Ferrell's Velcoro and Vince Vaughn's Semyon leading the pack. Their dynamic seems to be what will drive the bulk of this season's story, though there is plenty of potential for Kitsch and McAdams to grow in equally intriguing fashion. On their own, each story develops at a good pace, and I think it's fair to say we can expect the full range of arcs to flesh out in a meaningful way. It's only a matter of whether or not we as a viewing audience can retain the barrage of information we're subjecting ourselves to.
The cinematography is downright gorgeous, which is once again something we've come to expect from True Detective. We're treated to some fantastic shots of the interchanges on the outskirts of L.A., and the final shot panning back from a seaside ledge where our heroes finally meet upon the curiously displayed corpse of city manager Ben Caspere is certainly the winner of the episode. There is a particularly effective scene towards the end, where Semyon and Velcoro are seated at opposite ends of a long booth in a seedy dive-bar. It's a moment of teasing emotion. There is a lot we have yet to learn about the relationship between Velcoro and Semyon, and a single dimly lit image tells us more than dialogue alone can explain.
Finally, some credence is obviously owed to the writing. At the end of the day, True Detective is and always will be Pizzolatto's brainchild. The fact that he can tap into the deepest, darkest psychological fears of his viewers with utter ease remains abundantly clear. He's instilled that haunted apprehension in every major character, the kind that was on full display with Matthew McConaughey's performance in Season 1. But again, this brings us back to the greatest potential pitfall of this season: We have four major story lines, each driven by a deeply disturbed character that displays a different part of Rust, yet there is not a Marty in sight. Of course whether or not one will develop later on this season has yet to be seen, and we all know that Pizzolatto has done more than enough to prove that we the viewers are in capable hands.
Final Verdict: 70/100 (WRAP)
Season 2 premieres with an incredible amount of ambition. Dense and complex to a fault, but displaying the acting talent and razor-sharp dialogue we've come to know and love from True Detective. Although it risks suffocating beneath the mountain of story arcs it has developed, 'The Western Book of the Dead' serves as a fine prologue for what will no doubt be an entertaining thrill ride of a second season.
-Ben Krein
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