Season 3 Redeems 'True Detective'

True Detective’s second season wasn’t technically terrible, but it was a considerable step back from its awesome first season.  This 2019, after a hiatus of about 3 ½ years, the anthology crime drama series finally returns with its third season.  The new 8-episode story jumps around three time periods – 1980, 1990, and 2015 – and follows Arkansas State Police detectives Wayne Hays (Mahershala Ali) and Roland West (Stephen Dorff) as they tackle a missing children case  in the Ozarks.

The new season isn’t in the same level as the debut season, but it certainly redeems the show from its sophomore season stumble.  In a sense, it’s a “back to basics” of sorts as it once again employs elements that made the first one stood out – multi-timeline storytelling; a gritty, anti-heroic duo with great chemistry; an eerie, unsettling case with hints of the occult and elitist depravity; etc.

But more than these, it thrives because it has a multifaceted overarching mystery that is inherently fascinating and original (but inspired by true-to-life cases).

The narrative isn’t perfect, but the mystery and its revelations generally unfold in a stimulating manner, in my opinion.  Once in a while, it tends to succumb to “telling” instead of “showing” major information.  However, it never becomes too tedious or frustrating – even when it gets exposition-heavy.  It got me engrossed all throughout, and at the end, I was mostly satisfied with what was presented.

Mahershala Ali, to no one’s surprise, plays a huge part in making this show gripping.  His performance here is as compelling as ever.  It’s just understandable that he’s headlining the show solo.  After all, his character is the main protagonist, and he’s one of the hottest Hollywood names right now.  Still, I believe Stephen Dorff deserves to share the top billing with him – just as Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson did during the first season.  His performance is great, too; and his character, albeit a “sidekick” figure, does play a prominent part.

Due to how this season was promoted, I went into it mistakenly thinking that Mahershala Ali’s character would be investigating on his own.  As it turned out, he has a partner, and the case is a collaborative effort between them.

Anyway, Mahershala Ali and Stephen Dorff’s Wayne and Roland aren’t quite at the same level with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson’s Rust and Marty, but they nonetheless display splendid character dynamics as a duo (early contenders for Best TV Duo in the next Bernels).

Oh, speaking of which, (SPOILERS) it thrilled me to no end when it was revealed that seasons 1 and 3 are set in the same world.  Hence, it’s not impossible for Rust and Marty to team up with Wayne and Roland!

In the end, that’s just a bonus.  What matters above all is that True Detective pulls off another tremendous installment.  Hopefully, the next one is going to be solid as well – preferably, much better.

But, yeah, the possibilities now due to a True Detective shared universe should incite excitement.