It Took Women to Save True Detective

CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR SEASON 4: NIGHT COUNTRY

Season four of True Detective finished with a bang this past weekend. 

After an overall Rotten Tomates score of 92 percent that surpasses season one (91 percent), it did a lot of things right. Especially comparing it to the very much disliked season two (47 percent). 

When True Detective first came out in 2014, many found the unusual approach of mixing the mystical with a police procedural enticing. Paired with two very different main characters, Rust Cohle and Marty Hart and just the right amount of outside interpersonal drama, it made the, even then, overly saturated genre of detective TV feel fresh. 

What many forget, however, is how much of season one was driven by the question of “what makes a (good) man?" This a question many male viewers could find appealing, and everyone else is used to seeing it in classic films and television. 

Stripclubs, cheating husbands, and arguably flat-falling female side characters that exist to be desired, choked, or killed are the foundation on which season one's B-plots are built. And for three seasons, male characters have defined True Detective. 

Despite Rachel McAdam's solid performance in the second season, it appears that writing female characters is not one of Nic Pizzolato's strengths. 

Season four then went into the hands of Issa López. Something that Nic Pizzolato was apparently not happy about. What prompted his emotional response to the newest season, while he was rather quiet about the failure of season two, is up for debate. What can be said, though, is that season four, Night Country, is not as different from season one as some might think. 

Season one arguably focused on the male experience of injustice, love, and community in a southern rural area, while Night Country went for the female perspective in northern rural areas.