Mismatched police partners track a ritualistic serial killer in 1995 Louisiana — and, nearly two decades later, rehash the case — in “True Detective,” a new HBO drama that is nothing like it sounds from that description, but so much more.
The eight-part series, created by Nic Pizzolatto, succeeds on every level, with two big stars doing some of their best work, twisty plotting, super-smart writing and atmospheric directing. Only 12 days into the year, “True Detective” secures a spot as one of the best new shows of 2014.
We meet Detectives Martin Hart, played by Woody Harrelson, and Rust Cohle, a skinny Matthew McConaughey, twice in the early minutes of the first episode. In 1995, just a few months after beginning their awkward partnership, they take the lead on a gruesome case, a young woman found dead, naked and bound, in a bizarre tableau.
Meanwhile, in 2012, when Hart has lost his hair and Cohle has let his go, we meet them again, as they are interviewed by contemporary detectives working a case that is somehow similar. In a format that should have been annoying but instead is illuminating, those interviews alternate with, and provide perspective on, the original investigation, which we watch unfold.
As we learn more about the victim, and ultimately the case, we also learn things, often unsettling, about our heroes.
Hart isn’t the solid family man we thought he was, we learn as Harrelson gets the obligatory premium-cable sex scene. Cohle, introduced as an eccentric visionary, seems both stranger and more sympathetic as he shares the loss of his daughter and the end of his marriage.
Questions begin to come into focus. What drove Cohle so far off the deep end and so disastrously off the wagon? What ended his partnership with Hart, who in 2012 has retired and put on a few pounds? Of course, we also want to know who killed a troubled young woman so hideously, and what it all meant — just not as much as we want to know more about Cohle and Hart.
Pizzolatto wrote all eight episodes of “True Detective,” and all eight were directed by Cary Fukunaga, who shows us a Louisiana that’s both beautiful and subtly strange, just like Pizzolatto’s story. Equally atmospheric is the music, supervised by the great T Bone Burnett, and crying out for a soundtrack CD.
In what is becoming a bit of a trend (think “American Horror Story”), “True Detective” is categorized as an anthology series. That is to say, if future seasons are ordered (and they will be), the plan is to tell different stories, with different stars.
But I like the idea some reviewers have been bouncing around: Remake the first season, having Harrelson and McConaughey switch roles. Trust me, you’d be happy to watch again.
&rule‘True Detective’
Four stars (out of four)
When • 8 p.m. Sundays
Where • HBO
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