---
title: "True Detective"
year: 2014
kind: "series"
canonical: "https://film.one/tv/true-detective"
fi1m_score: 80
critics_score: 85
critics_reviews: 8
published: "2026-09-17T02:40:33.254753+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-17T02:40:33.453690+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# True Detective (2014)

Created by Nic Pizzolatto, Issa López · MPA TV-MA · Drama, Mystery

**Fi1m score: 80** · Critics 85 from 8 reviews

*In a sentence:* A great eight hours, then three attempts to remember how it did it

> The first season, eight hours of Louisiana, two timelines and McConaughey at his strangest, is about as good as television crime gets. What followed is uneven: one season we would spare you, two we would not. Start at the beginning.

## Synopsis

Louisiana, 1995. Detectives Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and Martin Hart (Woody Harrelson) are called to a burned cane field where a young woman kneels dead, hands bound, antlers crowning her head. Cohle is a newcomer from Texas who talks about the human race as a mistake; Hart has a wife, two daughters and a habit of not going home. In 2012, two other detectives interview each man separately about the case, and the accounts do not match. Each later season starts again elsewhere: Ray Velcoro (Colin Farrell) in California, Wayne Hays (Mahershala Ali) in the Ozarks, and police chief Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) in the Alaskan dark of Night Country.

## Review

Nic Pizzolatto’s anthology began on 12 January 2014 with eight episodes set in Louisiana, and the reputation of the whole thing still rests on those eight. Every season since has started over, with a new case, a new place and a new cast, and none has matched the first. We would send anyone to that first season without hesitation. We would send them to the rest only with directions about what to skip.

Season one gives us two detectives who cannot stand each other. Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) is a transfer from Texas who sleeps on a mattress in a bare flat and talks about consciousness as a wrong turn in evolution. Martin Hart (Woody Harrelson) is the family man who has stopped going home. In 1995 they catch a murder, a woman posed in a cane field with antlers on her head, and in 2012 two other detectives interview them separately about it. Pizzolatto wrote every episode himself, and the interviews are his best idea: two men telling the same story with different lies in it.

McConaughey has the showier part, and the speeches about time being a flat circle were quoted to death within a month of broadcast. What stayed with us was quieter. The older Cohle sits in the interview room with a six-pack, cutting the empty cans into small figures while he talks, and the camera keeps returning to his hands. We found that harder to watch than the corpses. Harrelson has the harder job, making Hart’s decency and his hypocrisy the same thing, and he is the reason the season works as a story rather than a lecture.

Cary Joji Fukunaga directed all eight episodes, which is rare in television and shows. Adam Arkapaw shoots Louisiana wide and flat, so the refineries and the marsh sit under the same grey-yellow sky, and Alex DiGerlando’s production design gives every interior the look of somewhere abandoned in a hurry. Alex Hall cuts between 1995 and 2012 without once leaving us unsure which year we are in. T Bone Burnett keeps the music low and mostly out of the way. And there is the raid in the fourth episode, one unbroken take of several minutes through a housing estate at night, which we watched holding our breath and which we still think is the best piece of direction the series has produced.

The season’s faults are the ones most critics named at the time. The women are wives, mistresses and victims, and the wives get one good scene each. Cohle’s philosophy is sixth-form Schopenhauer, and Pizzolatto plainly agrees with it more than he should.

Then season two moved to California, put Colin Farrell, Vince Vaughn and a great deal of freeway under Justin Lin’s camera, and lost its nerve. Vaughn’s Frank Semyon speaks in aphorisms nobody could say aloud without laughing, and we did laugh, and then we were bored, and then we were angry about being bored. Farrell’s Ray Velcoro is the one thing worth keeping. The third season, in the Ozarks, recovers most of the ground. Mahershala Ali plays Wayne Hays across three decades, the oldest of them with a memory that is failing him, and he is the equal of anything McConaughey did. Stephen Dorff, as his partner Roland West, is better than we remembered him being in anything.

The fourth season, *Night Country*, belongs to Issa López as creator, writer and director. Jodie Foster plays Liz Danvers, police chief of an Alaskan town where the sun has set for the winter, and Kali Reis is Evangeline Navarro, the trooper who will not let an old case rest. Florian Hoffmeister lights it by sodium lamp and snow, Fiona Shaw and John Hawkes fill out the town, and Foster is as good as she has been in years. We were unsure about the ghosts. López wants ghosts and police procedure in the same scene at once, and for six episodes she nearly manages it.

Start with the first eight hours. If they take, go to the third season, then the fourth. The second is for completists and for people who like watching good actors lose a fight with their dialogue. It carries an 18 certificate throughout, and the first season earns it.

*Fi1m score 80, published 17 September 2026.*

### Reviews we read (8)

- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Tim Goodman (90/100, inferred): The critic hails the magnetic performances by McConaughey and Harrelson, the assured writing and direction, and the beautiful sprawling sense of place, calling it a magnificent and magnetic series destined for year-end best lists. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/hbos-true-detective-starring-matthew-668182/)
- **Variety**, Brian Lowry (90/100, inferred): The critic finds the series a rich and absorbing eight-part drama that vaults into elite company with its multi-layered mystery, unconventional protagonist and singular voice unlike almost anything else on TV. [Read](https://variety.com/2014/tv/reviews/tv-review-hbos-true-detective-1201024636/)
- **The Guardian**, Sam Wollaston (85/100, inferred): Sam Wollaston finds True Detective a cracking, smartly written and performed murder mystery that is far more than the sum of its parts thanks to its complex structure and character study. He singles out the jaw-droppingly beautiful depiction of Louisiana as the real star alongside the lead performances. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/feb/22/true-detective-tv-review-sky-atlantic)
- **Vulture**, Matt Zoller Seitz (85/100, inferred): The critic finds the series unsettling and intellectually engaging as a pretext for philosophical inquiry rather than a straightforward murder mystery. They single out the strong performances by Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson along with the novelistic structure and direction for praise. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2014/01/tv-review-hbos-true-detective.html)
- **The Telegraph**, Chris Harvey (80/100, inferred): Chris Harvey calls True Detective the most ambitious TV drama for a long time, praising its writerly depth, cinematic flair from director Cary Fukunaga and brilliant acting from McConaughey and Harrelson. He highlights the luscious visuals and philosophical weight that set it apart from standard serial-killer procedurals. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/tv-and-radio-reviews/10654871/True-Detective-Sky-Atlantic-review-a-work-of-depth-and-cinematic-flair.html)
- **Empire**, William Thomas (75/100, inferred): The review praises the superb performances, sharp writing and eerie Southern atmosphere while noting the story is far-fetched and questioning the portrayal of female characters. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/tv/reviews/true-detective-review/)
- **Paste**, Shane Ryan (9.7/10): The pilot succeeds as a gripping, atmospheric series premiere that exceeds expectations through its strong writing and performances. The critic singles out the lead actors' portrayals of the mismatched detectives for particular praise. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/true-detective/true-detective-review-the-long-bright-dark-pilot)
- **Den of Geek**, Michael Noble (80/100, inferred): The critic calls True Detective a success and the first major new drama of 2014, praising its character-driven approach and strong writing and performances. They highlight the focus on the detectives' relationship and the novelistic structure as standout elements. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/true-detective-episode-1-review-the-long-bright-dark/)

## Details

- **Created by:** Nic Pizzolatto, Issa López
- **Creator:** Nic Pizzolatto, Issa López
- **Director:** Cary Joji Fukunaga, Issa López, Daniel Sackheim, John Crowley, Jeremy Saulnier, Nic Pizzolatto, Justin Lin, Dan Attias, Miguel Sapochnik, Jeremy Podeswa, Janus Metz
- **Writer:** Nic Pizzolatto, Issa López, Scott Lasser, Chris Mundy, David Milch, Namsi Khan, Graham Gordy, Wenonah Wilms, Katrina Albright
- **Story:** Issa López
- **Teleplay:** Issa López, Alan Page Arriaga
- **Cinematography:** Adam Arkapaw, Florian Hoffmeister
- **Editor:** Alex Hall, Brenna Rangott, Mags Arnold, Matt Chessé
- **Music:** T Bone Burnett, Vince Pope
- **Production design:** Alex DiGerlando, Ryan Warren Smith, Daniel Taylor
- **Costume design:** Alix Friedberg, Jenny Eagan, Alex Bovaird
- **Producer:** Peter Feldman, Aida Rodgers, Carol Cuddy
- **Cast:** Matthew McConaughey as Rust Cohle; Jodie Foster as Liz Danvers; Kali Reis as Evangeline Navarro; Fiona Shaw as Rose Aguineau; Colin Farrell as Ray Velcoro; Finn Bennett as Peter Prior; Isabella Star LaBlanc as Leah Danvers; Mahershala Ali as Wayne Hays
- **Certificate (MPA):** TV-MA
- **Release (the US):** 12 January 2014
- **Genres:** Drama, Mystery
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVQUcaO4AvE

## Where to watch in the US

- HBO Max: streaming
- The Roku Channel: add-on, hd
- Hulu: add-on, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: add-on
- Amazon Prime Video: buy, hd
- Apple TV: buy, hd

*Checked 2026-09-17.*

Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IS, IT, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TH, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Memories of Murder* (2003): Two rural detectives, one serial killer, and a case that ruins everyone who touches it. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/memories-of-murder.md)
- *Twin Peaks* (1990): The dead girl, the small town and the strangeness Pizzolatto was reaching for.
- *Red Riding* (2009): Yorkshire across three decades, corrupt police and a landscape as bleak as the bayou.
- *Top of the Lake* (2013): Jane Campion’s New Zealand mystery, slow and cold and led by a woman for once.
- *Zodiac* (2007), Fi1m 91: Fincher on the case that never closes, and the men it eats over the years. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/zodiac.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/true-detective