True Detective Season Two is Slow and that’s Fine

By Reuben Levine | Jul 14, 2015

True Detective season two is now at the half-way mark, and that means it’s been on long enough now for people to know whether they like it or not. Yes, True Detective may majority pick up its pace in its second half but that’s not very likely. Nor would it necessarily be welcome — True Detective is slow, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Not currently, anyway.

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This almost glacial pace isn’t unique to True Detective’s second season. The first season was also a rather slow affair, though we’re not far enough away from it for some to approach it with so-called “rose-tinted glasses.” True Detective season two will never be able to recover from the early bad reviews that it got before airing; it would have taken a massive shower of almost universal praise to balance those out.

The slow tension and heavy darkness isn’t going to be able to hit the spot with everyone.

But what we’re learning now is that True Detective just isn’t for everybody. The slow tension and heavy darkness isn’t going to be able to hit the spot with everyone. Admittedly, True Detective was a little touch and go there for the first few episodes. Being slow is fine, but there also needs to be enough meat to back it up. To make it feel worth the extra waiting around.

The early episodes of season two didn’t really have that. They presented the promise of more, such as the bird man shooting in episode two. We haven’t seen the bird man since that episode, but it’s beginning to fade into the background. Season two has been able to become a compelling show based on the personalities and conflicts of its leads, which appears to have been the goal the entire time.

True Detective can be frustrating

True Detective can be frustrating. There are currently so many conspiracies and backroom deals going in that it feels a little superfluous. But that’s what True Detective is. As long as it can continue to create the kind of content as “Down Will Cone,” True Detective can be as slow as it needs to.

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