“True Detective,”Season 1” by Nic Pizzolatto, 2014
Much ink has been spilled this year on True Detective, Night Country, Season 4 because Jodi Foster and other women star in a cold, dark Alaska town haunted by the murders of indigenous women and a bunch of ostensible scientists. The Tuttle Corporation and the spiral symbol carry over from Season 1 in this season. So far it's weaker than Season 1 and a chunk too full of shamanic, magical bullshit. It's just not enough to stick woman cops into the mix, put some black lines on chins and sprinkle it with Inuit mysticism. The series Alaska Daily and the film Wind River actually made a better case about the frequent murders of indigenous females. The last episode is a disaster of disconnected horrors, topped by a wishful bucket of revenge. Pizzolatto himself called it 'sloppy.' At least Alaska natives get in on Season 4. That's its only plus. Anyway ...
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| Rust drinkin' Lone Star |
True Detective, Season 1 featured Woody Harrelson as Marty, a violent, lazy good 'ol boy cop that cheats on his wife but is at bottom a decent guy. The standout is Mathew McConaughey, hard as that is to say given the scene chewing he's done in so many films. This time he plays Rust, a depressed philosophic loner who's an expert at solving murders and getting real confessions. His switch to being a long-haired alcoholic part way through is riveting.
There are the usual amount of cop/detective tropes in this series, designed to get us to identify with or feel for the cops: 1. A troubled marriage for Marty and too much alcohol for Rust – i.e. flawed cops. 2. Dead, mutilated or kidnapped women & children. 3. In the key chase scene Rust goes it alone – of course. 4. Obstructive cop bosses trying to derail the investigation. 5. Rust is the typical TV genius cop, like no real ones. 6. Murders staged in lonely, rural places – in this case Louisiana swamps, bayous, fields or woods. 7. Fraught buddy cop relationship that gets better between Rust and Marty. 8. Overly lengthy, too complicated case that wears on itself.
This one introduces another familiar cliché – the creepy, barefoot swamp peon with mental problems. It also highlights the most common cliché – a rich family, in this case the Tuttles - one of whom is the governor, another running the top fundamentalist sect and schools in the state, and behind it all their large capitalist Tuttle conglomerate. The Tuttle clan have massive pull among politicians, press and police, and are also evidently ritualistic abusers and perhaps killers of children. It is as if their exploitative and corrupt authoritarianism gets translated into secret murderous pedophilia - their picture of Dorian Grey. They get off scot free behind their symbolic animal masks like the rich nearly always do, while the peons pay. The masks might remind one of Squid Game where the rich killers also wear animal masks.
Of most interest is Rust's atheism and the connection between religion and child abuse. Given the Southern Baptist, Catholic Church and Boy Scout child sex abuse waves, this is not fiction. But I do not recall a chief character making atheism such a central part of his point of view. “Sentient meat” is Rust's term for humans – i.e. we're just conscious animals. Characters in other series briefly mention they don't believe in God, or don't go to church, or something like that. Then this comment competes with scenes of conservative, overdone religious marriages, funerals and churches like everyone in TV U.S.A. is in the Sicilian Mafia living in 1950. Rust pounds his atheism to the point where Marty cautions him over and over not to offend the Bible Belt sensibilities of the rubes. Rust is a 'pure' atheist who does not link religion to class or oppression, as most of the believers we see are poor, working-class folks. He treats them kindly nevertheless, but not the preacher head of the fundamentalist schools. This considerate treatment of hated atheism is rare in the conventional zone of cop shows. This season ranks above other 'detective' stories if only for the characterizations, Rust's weird circular philosophy, his atheism and the embedded anti-rich politics that allow it to rise above the Louisiana tropic of tropes.
What is not rare is the repetition of the 'evil corporation' theme in so many movies and streaming series. It seems to have almost no impact on the actual political situation either because only a select class, 'liberal' or educated group watches this stuff or the divide between culture and actual politics is canyon-like, with viewers segmenting the two in their experience. It becomes more like an 'in group' wink of shared knowledge. It clearly implies that 'cultural struggle' is nearly always inadequate to actually changing anything. Will Season 4 change anything about male chauvinism, racism, murdered tribal members or toxic mining? No, not in the real world.
Trope Bingo for your next detective screenplay or viewing:
1. A conflicted lead cop or detective, preferably divorced, with alcohol, drug or emotional problems.
2. Or perhaps he/she is near retirement, but needs to make 'one last case.'
3. The lead cop is always a kind of genius, no matter what.
4. If with children, a problematic teenage daughter who never listens.
5. If married, a bad relationship, partly due to the job.
6. If female, a hard-bitten but kind feminist.
7. Dead, kidnapped, imprisoned or mutilated women or girls or children are the victims.
8. Murders preferably located in lonely areas or rural communities - 'exotic' locations preferred.
9. Nearly all witnesses lie or omit key information repeatedly.
10. Witnesses that are always too busy to answer questions.
11. Many red herrings and suspects.
12. A boss who obstructs the investigation for either political or CYA reasons.
13. A forced police partner relationship that is fraught but gradually gets better.
14. There will be autopsies with victims lying on tables with a 'V' cut.
15. Always send the lead detective out alone on perilous assignments.
16. There can never be too many complications.
17. The crime is many times connected to money or a sociopath of some kind.
18. The actual killer is revealed in the last minute
19. A round at the bar is required.
20. The substitution of solving an individual murder for broader social justice.
P.S. - This season was probably based on more than 3 dozen female bodies found south of Houston, north of Galveston along I45. Locally one of the areas where bodies were found became known as the killing fields.
Prior blog reviews on this subject, use blog search box, upper left, to investigate our 17 year archive, using these terms: “detective,” “Squid Game,” “Trapped and Detective Series in General,” “This Rancid Mill,” “Streaming Run-Down,” “Redbreast,” “Gorky Park” (Smith); “Comrade Detective,” “Blood Lake,” “Karl Marx, Private Eye,” “Red Harvest” (Hammett).
Some of the books listed above are available at May Day.
The Cultural Marxist / February 13, 2024
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