*There will likely be spoilers mentioned in this post, not that it matters considering the whole “I’m still offline” thing
Now that the third season of HBO’s True Detective is now in the books, I feel the compulsion to write some words about it.
Firstly, the show has completely redeemed itself from the terrible celebrity circle-jerk known as the second season of True Detective. Although this line was pretty classic, there’s no mistaking that it was an utter bomb, especially in comparison to the first season. I can’t really take Vince Vaughn seriously, and there’s no doubt he always has to try to get in some wisecrack into whatever role he’s doing, no matter if he’s supposed to be a cold and callous hustler.
Frankly, when I saw the initial teasers for season three, and how it only seemed to have the star power of just Mahershala Ali, I thought to myself that this might have some promise. I’d been high on Ali after how much screen presence he demanded in Luke Cage and House of Cards, and I figured he seemed like the just right balance of recognizable actor without making himself bigger than the show itself.
Overall, I will say that S3 of True Detective was pretty outstanding. Considering the plot of the show was basically three different timelines, several of the show’s actors like Ali and Stephen Dorff were playing triple-time, and really flexing their acting chops portraying their characters in three different decades. For me, their scenes together really capture the bond between two men who have served, been partners, and lifelong friends on top of it all, and I felt that the show’s strongest moments often involved the two of them having intense and meaningful discussions.
The story did an excellent job of slow-releasing the characters and the revelations of the multiple plots going on throughout three different decades, all trying to solve the same murder/disappearance case, and at the end of every episode, I would always proclaim that “all the pieces of the puzzle haven’t been revealed yet!” And despite the fact that the series took place in three different eras, all the clues were still drawling a pretty linear path towards the same goal.
However, as much as I enjoyed the season as a whole, it wasn’t without flaws; obviously this is talking about the ending of the series that left me about as satisfied as eating 95% of a Willy’s burrito – the show never really finished, because there were some pretty large things left unexplained!
Namely, whatever happened to Amelia Hays? All throughout the 2015 timeline, it’s made pretty clear that Amelia is dead. Obviously, Wayne wouldn’t have an entirely intact office of personal effects if they simply divorced, so the only explanation is that Amelia died at some point. But how?? Did it have to do with the search for Julie Purcell? Did Amelia or Wayne get too close to the truth, and she was killed as a result? Did Wayne know how she died but forgot it due to his dementia?
All these questions, that I’m fairly sure numerous people out there were really eager to find out, left completely unanswered.
Some other things, like Wayne’s son pocketing the scrap of paper with the address on it, are also left unresolved, but are easier to digest in the possibilities that could come from such things. It could lead to actual answers, as well as Roland West also learning of the truth, but it’s like the show ran out of budget and was forced to cut to an immediate ending right then and there.
I get that there’s a lot of metaphor in the endings that likely relate to Wayne’s dementia, and in one hand I can see the correlation, but in the other hand, it’s a very convenient cop-out to not have to explain a whole lot of things that leave viewers like me feeling very unfulfilled and very unsatisfied with the ending. It’s like the episode could have been anywhere from 8-15 more minutes tying up loose ends, but it feels like the show ran out of money or something.
Either way, I still think about the show a whole lot, even days after it had been completed, and that in itself is often times the mark of something remotely decent. Overall, S3 has renewed my faith in True Detective, and there’s plenty of reason to be optimistic if the show comes back for a fourth season, as long as they remember that it’s not the stars that make the show as much as it is compelling storytelling and rock-solid writing.
