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True Detective Season 2: 5 Things it Has to do Differently

By Reuben Levine

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Season two will premiere in January if everything runs smoothly, so we’re in full anticipation mode.

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The quality of True Detective’s first season can’t really be debated, but there are definitely some things that we’d love to see done differently.

Even though the first season was great, it wasn’t exactly perfect. Hint: we had some serious problems with how it all wrapped up. If True Detective wants to stay ahead of the pack, these are some of the changes we feel have to be made for it to succeed.

5. Female Character Development

Okay, so yeah, this one isn’t exactly fair. True Detective came under considerable fire for not properly utilizing their female characters, and we happen to agree. There is a large opportunity here to fix that and creator/writer Nic Pizzolatto seems to begrudgingly agree.

Rachel McAdams is currently up for the role of the female lead, but that hasn’t been confirmed yet. Hopefully she’ll be able to bring something new to the formula. We need a little bit of juice in this area for season two to overtake the first.

4. Not Another Rust Chole

We’ve been pretty firm on this one – we do not need another Rust Cohle. Having someone play the mysterious, philosophical mind-bender has been done and needs to stay that way. This goes for other aspects of Cohle as well, including his out-spoken nature.

It could be argued that True Detective eventually became the Rust Cohle show, and as well as it worked in the first season, it needs to change. We also believe that his flirtations with hallucination also went nowhere, leaving us to wonder why they were there in the first place.

3. No Interview Format

This became the defining aspect of the first season, as well as one of the most unique. We loved it. We also believe that it has to go. If True Detective is going to go all-out and switch everything up, the interview format can’t stick around. It worked for season one, but season two has to be a different beast.

True Detective will instantly lose some of its credibility if it sticks to this format. If you’re going to throw everything and the kitchen sink out the window, you have to follow through.

2. A compelling Villain

The Yellow King wrecked havoc on the lives of our heroes, and it was damn good TV. With all the creepy symbolism and allusions — which aren’t fully explained in the show — Errol Childress cast a long shadow over True Detective. All the way up until he didn’t.

Most of Childress’s eccentricities go unexplained. His obsession with The King in Yellow goes nowhere, and in the end he comes off as little more than your average southern psychopath. It was one of the most disappointing arcs of the entire season. We’re practically begging here, we need a more compelling villain. No more teases.

1. A Better Finale

The ending of True Detective, and we’re talking about the very finale, was unfulfilling. Incredibly so. It was a classy “everyone is okay in the end,” and a schmaltzy look up into the stars. Coupled with the disappointing Childress reveal, the ending of True Detective fell flat.

These are our top 5 things that need to change with the second season. Let us know your reasons below, especially if you disagree with ours!

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