The Simpsons Channeled True Detective on Sunday in “Cue Detective”

By Reuben Levine | Oct 6, 2015

Somehow, after many other television shows have gracefully (or otherwise) bowed out, The Simpsons continues as if it knows no fear of death. Last Sunday, a new episode premiered that brought some True Detective season one flavor to the proceedings. The first season would be the safe choice since season two still hasn’t been doing so well.

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The episode, titled “Cue Detective,” embraced a sense of nihilism not entirely unlike Rust Cohle’s from True Detective’s first season. It was a half-hour about embracing nothingness, something that Rust Cohle and his tiny mirror could probably get behind. Outside of some philosophical noodling, The Simpsons took little else from True Detective.

This isn’t the first time that The Simpsons and True Detective have crossed paths. While season one of True Detective was airing, the team behind The Simpsons shared a drawing of Homer as The Yellow King. The lovable oaf kind, not the murder-crazed Errol Childress kind, just to be clear. The Simpsons have been making pop-culture references for over twenty years, so it’s not strange at all to see something True Detective related.

We’re not going get into the eternal argument of whether or not The Simpsons are still actually good. Instead, we’re just going to choose to be happy that the spirit of True Detective continues to live on even after a second season that not even first season director Cary Fukunaga has watched.

You can watch a teaser for “Cue Detective,” below, and the full episode can be found on Hulu if that doesn’t do it for you.

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