True Detective Three Should Have a Simpler Villain
True Detective needs a less complicated villain, but that doesn’t mean a poorly written one.
At this stage there’s no telling what’s going to happen with True Detective season three. Hopefully Nic Pizzolatto has taken some of the criticism of season two to heart, though it would be a difficult task to sift through all the hate to find some actual, meaningful criticism. Common problems, however, can be pinpointed more easily.
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For example, the second season of True Detective attempted to juggle a tad too much. Trying to track four main characters and an overarching plot is no easy task. Season three has a chance to do something different, and perhaps the best thing for it to do would be to go back to basics. That doesn’t have to mean a loss of complex characters, just how they’re handled and their external drama.
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While the cult angle in season two starting out in compelling fashion, there just wasn’t enough time to see it through. Yes, True Detective is more about the main characters than whatever case they’re tracking. But what if the case didn’t have anything to do with fetishistic cults or backwoods serial killers that have someone managed to outsmart everyone for over a decade?
A simple case, but a compelling villain. Netflix’s Jessica Jones does this well — Kilgrave’s motives are not new or terribly interesting, but the character himself is well-written. Not only that, but we see him often enough to get to know him and learn he is a force to be reckoned with. True Detective has a tendency to give the villains as little screen time as possible, ultimately leaving a hollow feeling.
A character doesn’t necessarily need a tortured past to be well-written. It just needs more focus.
Writing a character like Kilgrave is no small task, but Jessica Jones doesn’t make it feel that way. We’ve been harping on True Detective’s villains since the first season, and as long as their arcs feel contrived we will continue to do so. Pizzolatto needs to care more about his antagonists.
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