True Detective

It's punchy, violent, and darkly funny.

True Detective Season 2 may not be subtle ("this is my least favorite life," a performer mournfully sings at the Vinci bar.) But the actors provide enough light to make it worth navigating the gloom.

It may be impossible for it to strike TV lightning twice, but True Detective in its second iteration definitely has a charge.

It is a rock-solid crime drama with film caliber production values, intriguing plotting and great performances.

It’s still the kind of show that makes TV viewers reach for phrases like “golden age of television drama.”

It’s difficult to like or root for any of the four, making this one difficult watch. Still, creator and writer Nic Pizzolatto has a knack for storytelling and character development. Especially intriguing is Farrell.

Pizzolatto's writing is not without its irritations, particularly his dialogue.... Ultimately, the characters are too fascinating to turn loose of–particularly Farrell's explosive Velcoro and his political godfather Frank Semyon (Vince Vaughn).

All of the lead actors dig deeply into their roles, with Farrell playing the wary, weary burnout to perfection, and Vaughn shifting into full-throttle intensity. The story is dark and atmospheric--just the way fans like it. Meanwhile, the first three episodes hint at enough buried secrets and fresh angles to indicate that the story still has a lot to give.

For now, my expectations are still high—probably too high for this show. But maybe you can’t truly hate True Detective unless you love it enough to let it disappoint you.

As the fine but far more dutiful early episodes of Season 2 suggest, if we're not careful, we'll get only the television we deserve.

True Detective is monochromatic and self-serious, but it builds suspense with finesse and has a keen appreciation for the poetry of political corruption and urban decay. That makes it intriguing, just not enthralling.

The new season of True Detective is, especially given the burden of expectations, remarkably solid. It’s not a belly flop. It lacks the obvious hook of its predecessor, but I still am eager to see how it develops.

You’ll probably miss the humor of the first True Detective but the brooding sourness of this one is fascinating in a different way, though it loses points for showing us a world that feels far more familiar than the one showcased in season one. When Ani, Ray, and Paul are drawn together as a unit, it takes a while to establish any kind of chemistry between them, because they’re all variations of the Mann-style, soul-sick badass.

Just about everything that made the first season of True Detective entrancing is missing from the second, wholly re-imagined second season. In truth, only the worst, most clichéd parts remain. And yet.... If you make it to the third episode, chances are you'll keep going.

"Potential," in fact, is the key word. It's definitely here, but "2" may also need all eight episodes to realize it.

These are all excellent actors, most of them trying to push themselves out of their comfort zone in the same way McConaughey and Harrelson did, but with more mixed results.... The second season has [Pizzolatto] at times contorting himself into doing things that don't play as well to his strengths, and at others cranking up his specialties.

The plot [in season one] was a means to an end, and that takeaway had much more to do with the characters than the crime. Season 2 keeps that crucial tradition alive, even as the plot gets in the way more often than it should.

If True Detective is going to be more than a vehicle for eclipsed stars trying to reignite their careers, Pizzolatto & Co. will have to dig deeper for a story that entertains--and impresses us as definitively as its predecessor.