‘True Detective’ puts the character in character drama

Like the character of Rust, “True Detective” is bleaker than the sum of its elements might suggest. The unbalanced and co-dependent friendship, the ritualistic murder mystery, the devolution of the main character into a boozing, smoking mess: if this all sounds familiar, well, it is. Down to the title sequence (featuring Southern Gothic music playing over images of brooding men and the empty Louisiana landscape), “True Detective” appears to be another derivative of the popular anti-hero and procedural cop drama series.

But what sets “True Detective” apart from the glut of similar series flooding cable channels is that it is not really about the serial killer. “True Detective” is refreshingly more interested in telling the story of a man and a friendship broken by the hopelessness of humanity than solving another case of the week. In fact, when Martin and Rust are introduced, their case is already closed. A new set of detectives (and the viewers) must accompany the estranged Martin and Rust as they recount the events of 1995 and navigate their dark memories of the case that tore apart their friendship and their sanity.

And man, is this show dark. The episode is entirely humorless, and every loaded remark Rust makes to Martin is increasingly cringe-worthy. (When Rust describes a ghost town as resembling “someone’s memory,” Martin responds with just a hint of terror that his partner’s candor is troubling and unprofessional.) In this episode, all the discomfort builds to a dinner scene between Martin, Rust and Martin’s wife, Maggie (Michelle Monaghan, “Gone Baby Gone”), that is pitch-black grim. Rust arrives to Martin’s home with his hard-earned sobriety blown and his careful censor gone. He provides lovely dinner conversation by describing his experience of killing a man to Martin’s young daughters and recalls to Maggie that he also used to be a married father (that is, until his child passed away and his wife left him). But for these characters, who deal with death, destruction and the worst of humanity every day on the job, the pessimism is appropriate.

Martin and Rust themselves, brilliantly written by novelist Nic Pizzolatto, are dynamic enough to carry this character-driven drama. Gone are the days of McConaughey’s surfer-dude and rom-com charmer roles: his performance is intense and terrifying. Harrelson also holds his own as family man Martin. And although she is not around much in the first episode, Maggie seems curious, tenacious and interesting.

While the character drama is top-notch, the case itself is lacking in intrigue. Dora Lang is introduced as a dead prostitute used in a satanic ritualistic murder, but without more information about who she was when she was alive, it is difficult for viewers to care as much about her case as Rust and Martin do. Since “True Detective” will be an anthology drama, following the same characters and case for one season before switching to a new set of detectives and murder, the foundation for a good case is an absolute must. So far, the investigation is the weakest plot line in “True Detective,” which is pretty problematic for a show about, you know, detectives solving a murder.

Despite these shortcomings, the successes of “True Detective” ‘s pilot episode are reason enough to make it required viewing this winter. Uncovering the motivations of such interesting characters is reason enough to reopen the case and revisit the twisted darkness of “True Detective” for another installment.