Was True Detective a supernatural thriller or was Rust just crazy?

One of the most debatable questions that fans of True Detective are pining over is whether or not the series qualifies as a supernatural thriller or if it’s just really depressing — or both. While there are some who say that the show is supernatural because of certain elements involved, others argue that this isn’t actually supernaturalism being portrayed and is rather the inner-thinking of a crazy person.

That’s the big question with True Detective as both sides of the argument can be argued. On the one hand, we did see some pretty crazy, transcendent stuff in the final episode of the season as well as at times throughout the first season. Mostly all of this involved Rust and no one else, as we didn’t see Marty tripping out and seeing wormholes that represent the darkness of death.

Instead, only Rust saw these things which begs the question of if they were real or hallucinated by him? The most vivid vision he has is in the cave while confronting Errol. This comes not only when he’s in a heightened state of awareness but also after years of killing his brain with his alcoholism. He’s not a sane man as he’s being interviewed throughout the show and we see the deterioration of his mental state as we flash back to everything he’s experienced and this too lends credit to the theory that the supernatural visions he’s having are simply hallucinations of what he wants to see and not what he actually sees.

It’s debatable on both ends of the theory, but there’s a lot of evidence to suggest that Rust is just crazy and seeing things. Then again, maybe he’s so crazy that he’s right and what he’s seeing is just being rejected by those not on his level of thinking.