But astronauts don’t even go to the moon anymore’ We’re in more familiar territory here, the murky Californian underworld depicted by everyone from Raymond Chandler to James Ellroy, in cinema, television and video games, where everyone has grit under their fingernails, whatever side of the law they’re on. Most notably absent is that sense of the southern gothic, the antic unknown that set True Detective apart from the rest of the detective drama field. Gone, too, are Rust’s florid pronouncements, replaced by the terse, economical language of gumshoes and con men. Those time jumps between the past and the present that provided such a secure anchor in the show’s first season are absent here (though you suspect that might change in future episodes). It’s not just the location and characters that have changed, it’s the show’s genetic makeup. How much you enjoy this opening episode will probably depend on how easily you’re able to let go of that first season of True Detective. Yessir, we’re a long way from Carcosa, Toto. In their place shuffle in an entirely different pack of slumming-it A-listers – Colin Farrell! Vince Vaughn! Rachel McAdams! Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch) from Friday Night Lights! There’s a new setting, too, with the action now taking place amidst the strip malls and sleaze of Los Angeles County. If you somehow missed the memo, or the endless #truedetectiveseason2 memery, and were expecting the further adventures of Marty Hart and Rust Cohle, well, I’ve got some bad news for you: they’re gone to that big flat circle in the sky. In the back of a Cadillac, a man with sunglasses lurches back and forth, possibly asleep, possibly dead.
Welcome to Vinci, California, a (fictional) city lurking in the shadow of Los Angeles, and mired as much in institutional corruption as the smog generated from its power plants. Spoiler alert: this blog details events in the first episode of the second season of True Detective which airs on Sunday nights on HBO in America, and Mondays in the UK on Sky Atlantic at 2am and 9pm.įor the first season of True Detective click here.