'True Detective' Retro Recap: 'The Long Bright Dark'

​Written by John Edward Betancourt

Sometimes you're simply late to the party, whether you like it or not and that's exactly what happened to me when it comes to the first season of True Detective. I heard great things about it, was told on several occasions that I need to check it out as soon as possible, but I simply never got around to it, at least not until season two. That was of course a season that the fans more or less turned their backs upon, so much in fact that HBO is discussing the possibility of shelving this show indefinitely or cancelling it, so I thought it was high time to revisit this fascinating look into modern crime, by finally settling in to watch season one, right from the beginning.

"The Long Bright Dark" certainly had a familiar feel to it from the get go with its own enchanted and haunted credits sequence, but really that's where the comparison and familiarity to the second season ends. Because it doesn't take long for us to realize that we have traveled into an ugly world, a modern nihilistic dystopia where the beauty of the Bayous of Louisiana merely serve as a facade. Because behind those beautiful sunsets and gorgeous swamps are flawed individuals; raw and ready to do bad things on instinct alone. It's a primal world, one rarely seen in detective serials and one that instantly draws you in. 

It's the characters that sell this world and its design and the vibrancy of each and every one of them allows the uninitiated to understand exactly what drew so many people in to watch this series. There's not a moment wasted by anyone on screen and every single person in this world fascinates you to no end, especially our pair of detectives, Hart and Cohle. These two men are deeply flawed, deeply disturbed on some level or another. But despite all of their flaws, at their core, these are truly good men who try to do good things. Whether or not they always succeed at that, is another blog for another time, but the bottom line is that there is something relatable in both of them on a fundamental level that makes them the only likable characters in a  disturbed world. 

Which brings us to the most chilling moments of the show, which of course come from the grand case presented before us when the men discover the mutilated and desecrated body of Dora Lange, and this is the centerpiece of this episode because this murder takes some bold risks for a detective story. For starters it presents us with a cold and calculated human sacrifice, something that has been done in crime stories before, but never like this. In other similar tales, the story often finds a way to divert from the sacrifice with alternate motives, but not here. Dora was given up to Heaven knows what and the show never shies away from that, and the lack of respect for her body and her death somehow burns an image in your mind long after the show has ended. 

But the other great risk that the show takes when it comes to the case...is that the case fades into the background from time to time to focus on our detectives and let us get to know them and that's a hell of a risk that manages to pay off. Part of you is wondering when we will get on with it and get to the case at hand and those thoughts simply melt away as you find yourself entranced by the struggles of the two men trying to find the answers. Either way, I'm hooked. This was a wonderful beginning to the show, one that sets the stage in subtle fashion and does just enough to jar you and disturb you and it really is a wonderful piece of television. So it's high time then that I excuse myself because there are seven more episodes to go, and I have to know how this unique story ends. Until next time.

---