True Detective — TV Episode Recaps & News

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True Detective

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“How humanity pollutes the natural world has been a core True Detective inquiry, and Night Country confronts it by suggesting the land, especially in the corners of the world where humans were never supposed to survive, remembers things we forget. In Night Country, no one really knows why other people make the decisions they do, whether those choices are as mundane as turning down someone’s romantic overtures, as dangerous as demanding equal rights from the upper classes in a place with a colonial past, or as extraordinary as shedding one’s clothes and running out into the frozen tundra.” — Roxana Hadadi, “True Detective Crawls Back From the Void”

  1. Episode 8 Form and Void
    True Detective Recap: It’s the Little Things “Make flowers on me.”
  2. Episode 7 After You’ve Gone
    True Detective Recap: The Spaghetti Incident? Hart and Cohle ride again.
  3. Episode 6 Haunted Houses
    True Detective Recap: A Segway to Your Skull Some people claim that there’s a woman to blame, but Hart knows it’s his own damn fault.
  4. Episode 5 The Secret Fate of All Life
    True Detective Recap: Another Brick in Dewall Go to bed. This isn’t about you.
  5. Episode 4 Who Goes There
    True Detective Recap: Use Your Wet Noodle Through the halfway point, the show is still building toward something big, but first, a detour to a biker bar.
  6. Episode 3 The Locked Room
    True Detective Recap: Don’t Mind If I Ledoux Um, is that creepy dude carrying a machete?
  7. Episode 2 Seeing Things
    True Detective Recap: Wake and Cake “I’m police. I can do to terrible things to people with impunity.”
  8. Episode 1 The Long, Bright Dark
    True Detective Pilot Episode Recap: Fight for Your Rite HBO’s dark, philosophical murder mystery starts with a bang.
  1. Episode 8 Omega Station
    True Detective Recap: The Evil That Men Do Time to wake up.
  2. Episode 7 Black Maps and Motel Rooms
    True Detective Recap: Sad and Lonely People Nothing remains but the rot and decay of their poorest choices.
  3. Episode 6 Church in Ruins
    True Detective Recap: The Great Escape Befores and afters.
  4. Episode 5 Other Lives
    True Detective Recap: By Hooker, by Crook Taking down the one percent.
  5. Episode 4 Down Will Come
    True Detective Recap: Hey, Man, Nice Shot That escalated quickly.
  6. Episode 3 Maybe Tomorrow
    True Detective Recap: Caddy Remarks Everyone hates ecigs.
  7. Episode 2 Night Finds You
    True Detective Recap: Death Crow The most scintillating character in “Night Finds You” is SoCal itself.
  8. Episode 1 The Western Book of the Dead
    True Detective Recap: Caspere the Friendly Ghost There’s very little to laugh about 60 minutes into this several-hour journey.
  1. Episode 8 Now Am Found
    True Detective Season Finale Recap: Nobody’s Gonna Hear It But Us The mystery draws to a close, then the episode just keeps going, a fitting end to a season as much about the investigators as their haunting case.
  2. Episode 7 The Final Country
    True Detective Recap: Somebody’s Got to Remember The season rebounds in a big way with an episode that perfectly balances the central mystery with impressive character work.
  3. Episode 6 Hunters in the Dark
    True Detective Recap: Under the Pink The season’s central mystery has finally come a little more into focus, but there’s still a lot that doesn’t add up.
  4. Episode 5 If You Have Ghosts
    True Detective Recap: Hardships and Tribulations Mid-season drag sets in with an episode that repeats much of what we’ve already seen — with one big exception.
  5. Episode 4 The Hour and the Day
    True Detective Recap: Major Cognitive Dissonance Is this season of True Detective’s fractured chronology working for it or against it?
  6. Episode 3 The Big Never
    True Detective Recap: Maps and Legends The central mystery of the Purcell abduction remains captivating, if increasingly bogged down by bits that don’t push the narrative forward.
  7. Episodes 1 - 2 The Great War and Modern Memory / Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
    True Detective Recap: Into the Woods The Purcell case that will anchor this season begins simply enough — though this being True Detective, it doesn’t stay that way for long.
  1. Episode 6 Part 6
    True Detective: Night Country Season-Finale Recap: Ghost Town The sun finally rises for Danvers, Navarro, and the memory of Annie K.
  2. Episode 5 Part 5
    True Detective Recap: Bedtime Stories Pete now has his own tragic cover-up that will haunt him for the rest of his life.
  3. Episode 4 Part 4
    True Detective Recap: Night Country Now It’s getting more difficult to ignore the supernatural in Night Country.
  4. Episode 3 Part 3
    True Detective Recap: We Were Here Before Evangeline is beginning to feel the tension between her culture and her career, between who she is and what she does.
  5. Episode 2 Part 2
    True Detective Recap: The Slow Thaw Liz can no longer deny the connection between whatever happened at Tsalal and Annie’s unsolved murder.
  6. Episode 1 Part 1
    True Detective Season-Premiere Recap: The End of the World Issa López’s reimagined True Detective plunges Jodie Foster into perpetual darkness.

The Latest on True Detective

  1. watch this
    ‘True Detective Pikachu’ Is Here to Haunt Your DreamsPika pika!
    By Rebecca Alter
  2. close reads
    True Detective and the Wave of Crime TV About Murky MemoryFrom fictional dramas to real-life docuseries, the biggest crime shows of the moment want us to reassess the past.
    By Jen Chaney
  3. guides
    33 Essential Neo-Noirs, From Jackie Brown to Gone GirlA guide to the most political and stylish genre of film and TV.
    By Angelica Jade Bastién
  4. explainers
    A Very Simple Guide to True Detective’s Multiple TimelinesConfused by season three? Here’s a chronological guide to all the major events of True Detective’s grisly mystery.
    By Brian Tallerico
  5. close reads
    True Detective Season 3 Was a Blistering Case Against True CrimeThe occult dolls, spiral signatures, and prosecutorial misconduct were seductive catnip, not clues to help crack the mystery.
    By Kenny Herzog
  6. spoilers
    Who’s the Killer in True Detective Season Three?The HBO drama serves up a lot of answers, but which ones are the full truth of the Purcell case?
    By Brian Tallerico
  7. explainers
    How True Detective’s Third Season Connects to Its FirstThe HBO drama has drawn a clear line between the current season’s Purcell case and the events of season one.
    By Brian Tallerico
  8. lines of inquiry
    True Detecting True Detective: Let’s Lay Odds on Who the Killer IsWith just one episode left, the series has introduced a bunch of new characters, and with them, new possibilities.
    By Keith Phipps
  9. close reads
    True Detective’s Third Season Is Twin Peaks’ True HeirBy taking the right lessons from the apotheosis of small-town murder mysteries, the HBO series has distinguished itself beyond its central whodunit.
    By Sean T. Collins
  10. special effects
    True Detective’s Old-Man Makeup Was Inspired by The Nutty Professor and AmadeusThe makeup artist behind True Detective season three reveals the secrets of a special-effects feat.
    By Calum Marsh
  11. the crime scene
    Why 2014 Was a Watershed Year for TV CrimeFive years ago, True Detective kicked off a golden era for prestige limited crime shows.
    By Jen Chaney
  12. tv ratings
    True Detective Season 3 Premiere Scores Solid RatingsThe first episode has already been watched 2.3 million times.
    By Josef Adalian
  13. backstories
    3 and Half Years Later, True Detective Is Back. Why Did It Take So Long?“[It] was no sure thing that we were going to do a third season.”
    By Josef Adalian
  14. tv review
    What Is True Detective, Really?The third season of HBO’s crime anthology has another bona fide star in Mahershala Ali, but it doesn’t answer this fundamental question.
    By Matt Zoller Seitz
  15. true detective
    Mahershala Ali’s True Detective Character Was Written As WhiteHow Ali convinced Nic Pizzolatto the character could be black.
    By Hunter Harris
  16. winter preview 2019
    Winter TV Preview: True Detective, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and 7 More Shows to WatchA complete guide to the TV shows worth seeing this winter.
    By Devon Ivie
  17. trailer mix
    The True Detective, Season 3 Trailer Stars Mahershala Ali, Multiple TimelinesThe show returns to HBO in January.
    By Jackson McHenry
  18. hair
    Mahershala Ali Looks Very Good, Very Concerned in New True Detective PhotosAnd let’s meet Stephen Dorff’s wig.
    By Jordan Crucchiola
  19. the industry
    Director Jeremy Saulnier Leaves True Detective Season 3 After Two EpisodesHBO released a statement announcing the change, citing “scheduling issues.”
    By Halle Kiefer
  20. the industry
    True Detective’s Renewed Third Season Will Be Set in the OzarksThe next season will have three different timelines.
    By Tim McGovern
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