The Mystery of True Detective’s Villain
Spoiler Alert: Hopefully all of you have seen the season finale, but if you haven’t, consider yourself warned.
We should hopefully be hearing news about True Detective’s second season in the coming months, which means that it’s a great time to really dig into the season one finale, For and Void. The event that viewers had been patiently waiting for played out in spectacular fashion, but there was an undeniable tonal change which is worth addressing. The first season spends most of its time concerned with the mystery of The Yellow King, and does a fantastic job of creating a palpable atmosphere of dread. It’s difficult, however, not to fumble such a huge reveal. Movies and TV shows do it constantly; they spend so much time building suspense that the major reveal is a let-down. You end up wondering if they even knew what they were doing in the first place.
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Thankfully, True Detective does not wholly fit in the majority. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that there isn’t something missing. True Detective isn’t really about the villain, it’s about Rust and Marty. That makes for some seriously compelling television for some time, but then you’re left to wonder what this insane gardener and possible savant is really all about. Well, you never really find out. For some people, that’s probably just as well – he is an insane killer and most were probably happy just to see him dead. But you can tell that there’s something more there. Errol Childress is much more than your average psychopath, but his own personal story is shrouded.
In a series that excelled in character development, it’s a little disappointing to see the major evil force get mostly glossed over. So much time is spent building an atmosphere around him that his eventual reveal and take-down are not as fully satisfying as they could have been. The way that he effortlessly changes accents in the season finale is both disturbing and fascinating; this is a man with a story. In the end, however, it’s not his story, it’s Rust and Marty’s. It’s possibly the weakest chain in the entire first season, but even then it’s not enough to really bring it down. Let us know what you thought of Errol Childress and the season finale below. Were you satisfied, or did you wish ole’ crazy Errol was given more time to flesh out his story?