True Detective Season 2
Foxtel, 7.30pm, Mondays
THE stunning first season of True Detective was about as good as television gets.
So Season 2 faced a real challenge to reach the same dizzy heights – and I’m excited to report they’ve given it a fair crack.
Pleasingly, they’ve maintained the same high production values – but have chosen to strike out in a completely different direction.
Both the locations and the characters are wildly different to the first iteration of the show – but that sparkling script remains.
This time it’s the urban cesspool of Los Angeles under the microscope, not rural America.
Unlikely buddy duo Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey have been replaced by no less than three key cop characters. Colin Farrell is a burnt-out cop on the edge, Taylor Kitsch is a gay cop consumed by self-loathing, and Rachel McAdams absolutely steals the show as the third – this time obviously female – crimefighter.
You’ve never seen McAdams like this – she’s a kind of hard-drinking, tough-talking Calamity Jane catapulted into a man’s world.
McAdams is asked how she’s being treated on the task force. “Like a cheerleader on an oil rig,“ she deadpans.
Hard-boiled? This egg has been cooked for about three days.
The crime, the murder, it’s all irrelevant … the lens here is firmly focused on the cops.
The fourth main character comes from Vince Vaughn, who plays a career criminal. To say this is the best work Vaughn has ever done is sadly not saying much, but it remains a fact. Seems like Vaughn was destined for high-quality TV, not low quality movies.
The recent stunning shootout – in which McAdams led the team into a deadly ambush – was almost Game of Thrones-like in its intensity. Watch for her to be busted down to uniform in the wake of the debacle.
There’s nothing better on TV at the moment, so take a dip into the deep and dark for this weekly treat.
– Jason Beck
