Hailed by critics and worshipped by TV fanatics, the 2014 American crime drama television series, True Detective, written and created by Nic Pizzolatto, is ambitious and revolutionary for its genre and TV entertainment itself. The first series of the anthology focussed on two homicide detectives, Martin Hart and Rustin Cohle, in their hunt for a serial killer spanning a time period of seventeen years from 1995 to 2012. The events triggered by the murder of Dora Lange in ’05 are told in retrospect by Hart and Cohle as they are interviewed separately by detectives Papania and Gilbough, providing not only a chronological unravelling of the case but also the impact it had on their professional and personal lives.
The sophomore season of the highly acclaimed television series has been subject to plenty speculation, especially inundated with casting rumors generating countless hilarious internet memes:
With Season 2 premiere of True Detective being one of the most anticipated events of 2015, here’s what you need to know:
THE PLOT:
The paths of three law enforcement officers from different cities intersect in the investigation of the murder of a corrupt local City Manager, Ben Casper, in the midst of the execution of a radical transportation deal involving a high-speed railway line connecting South California and North California that would transform the freeway gridlock in the state. Vince Vaughn plays Frank Seymon, a former mobster turned businessman leading the railway-line construction in order to gain financial profits. And corresponding to the tastes of Nic Pizzolatto, the second season of True Detective will not just have a dash of the Occult but entire portions of psychosis and degeneracy. The corpse of Casper is found on a desolate stretch of land on the Pacific Coast Highway near Big Sur, eyes burned out, castrated and satanic markings carved onto his chest.
THE DETECTIVES:
Rachel McAdams plays Ventura County Sheriff’s detective, Ani Bezzirides, a stern and principled officer sustaining drinking and gambling problems as a result of a troubled childhood. Friday Night Lights alum, Taylor Kitsch stars as a military veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and working as a highway patrolman. He also takes center stage in a sex scandal. I guess the amount of personal and emotional ravage is about right according to True Detective standards considering the ghost of a man Rust Cohle was. Also in the mix is Irishman Colin Farrell in the role of detective Ray Velcro whose loyalties are divided between the police department and a mobster he is indebted to.
THE ‘PSYCHOSPHERE’:
The second season of True Detective will move away from the state of South Louisiana laid down with marshlands and backwaters and to the 400-mile stretch of California between Los Angeles and San Francisco with much of the plot unravelling in a fictional town in California.Speaking of the location, Pizzolatto has remarked that the characters and the narrative will be established “in a new place with authenticity and resonance and an authorial voice consistent with this season. Dominant colors will change. South Louisiana was green and burnished gold.” Like the first season, the second season will be shot on location to capture what he calls“the psychosphere ambiance of the place”.
The first season of True Detective is set in South Louisiana.
SEASON PREMIERE:
The second season, it was previously stated, was scheduled to return in the summer of 2015. However, since filming began in mid-November of 2014 and is apparently still ongoing, the series’ return could be expected sometime later than that.
The first season of True Detective undoubtedly set a high standard, giving us one of the most memorable fictional characters, provoking with mind-numbing philosophies and conjuring dark and dreadful poetry against a setting marked with desolation. But, it remains to be seen whether its sophomore season will raise the bar or fall short of universal expectations.
By Mahima Verma
