Episode Title: “Who Goes There”
Writer: Nic Pizzolatto
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Previously on “True Detective”:
So far, most of the positive reaction to “Who Goes There” has been centered on the amazing six minute tracking shot that closes out this episode. It’s an outstanding sequence and an impressive achievement, but it’s not the only reason that “True Detective” deserves every accolade that it’s been receiving.
“True Detective” thrives almost entirely on the strength of Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson’s performances as Rust Cohle and Martin Hart, respectively. Their characters are horribly flawed men who are riveting to watch. There has been some criticism leveled against this show for its depiction of the supporting cast, particularly Maggie Hart (Michelle Monaghan) and Lisa Tragnetti (Alexandra Daddario). Part of that is valid, as neither Lisa nor Maggie has been as well defined as either of the two male leads.
However. this story belongs solely to Cohle and Hart. We don’t even get to see the other side of the story from the point of view of the killer. “True Detective” locks us in on these two men, for better or worse. They may lie to the 2012 investigators, Thomas Papania (Tory Kittles) and Maynard Gilbough (Michael Potts); but we see events unfold perhaps as they really happened. Although it’s hard to tell if “True Detective” will eventually pull the old “unreliable narrative” trick on the audience. We see enough to know that Hart and Cohle have reasons to lie in the past and to maintain that fiction in the present.
Since the first episode, Papania and Gilbough have been looking at Cohle as if he may the murderer in 1995 and in 2012. Their questions to Hart seem to be leading their investigation in that direction. “Who Goes There” pokes the first serious hole in Cohle’s story as he tells the detectives that he had to take some personal time in 1995 to deal with his sick father. The truth may actually come back to haunt both Cohle and Hart in 2012.
From this point on, there are full spoilers ahead for “Who Goes There” So if you haven’t seen last night’s episode of “True Detective” then you should probably skip this review or else Cohle will be finished talking to you like a man.
For all of his awkwardness, Cohle is developing a talent for making Hart follow his lead. Cohle is not really honest with his partner. Instead, he tells Hart whatever he thinks that Hart needs to hear in that particular moment. And if that means telling Hart that Lisa was “crazy pussy” or that Maggie might take him back, then so be it. Cohle can be surprisingly manipulative, but it’s all in the service of his own survival.
Of course, Cohle’s talent for bulls*** doesn’t extend to Maggie, and she throws Cohle’s rationalizations back into his face. Maggie even manages to emotionally wound Cohle by bringing up his failed marriage. Rather than answer Maggie, Cohle simply retreats and spins his fiction for Hart.
“Who Goes There” was the breaking point for Hart and he has no one but himself to blame. Hart badly mistreated and disrespected Lisa by barging in on her home and threatening her date while drunk out of his mind. Hart won’t even acknowledge that he was wrong when Lisa confronts him about it; leading Lisa to opt for the nuclear option: telling Maggie about their affair.
Among Hart’s many problems is the sense of entitlement that he has for the women in his life. Hart seems to truly believe that he emotionally owns them; which is why it comes as such a hideous shock to him when they demonstrate that he doesn’t. Maggie immediately leaves him with their kids and Lisa openly defies him. Hart can’t even hide behind his badge when he confronts Maggie at the hospital in a misguided attempt to get her back.
If Hart had any sense of self-reflection, he’d see that his problems are entirely of his own creation. When Cohle points this out to him, Hart angrily calls him the “Michael Jordan of being a son of a b****!” He’s not wrong, but Hart’s also a strong contender for that title.
On a lighter note, Hart has the best jokes of the episode when he tells Charlie Lange (Brad Carter) that he sympathizes with him for having to listen to someone saying insane things everyday. Their second interrogation of Charlie seems to further paint the enigmatic Reggie Ledoux as the prime suspect in the death of Dora Lange. Charlie mentions that Ledoux was sporting a spiral tattoo much like the one on Dora’s back and he may have had connections with devil worshipers. Cohle even implies that Charlie may have gotten his ex-wife killed by showing Dora’s sexy photos to his then cell-mate, Ledoux.
Because Ledoux is so well hidden, Cohle comes up with a scheme to reestablish his former cover within the biker gang known as the Iron Crusaders. Towards that end, Cohle takes some “personal time,” steals some cocaine out of a police evidence room and he almost eagerly embraces his old junkie lifestyle in the hopes of finally catching Ledoux. To keep Hart on task as his unofficial backup, Cohle allows him to move in and he even feeds Hart some false hope that his family life can be restored.
Hart also doesn’t fully understand just how dangerous that Cohle’s plan really is. Cohle may not even care. He barely protests when his former contact, Ginger demands that Cohle help him with a smash and grab from a local drug dealer and his associates. When it inevitably becomes a clusterf***, it’s down to Cohle’s uncanny knack for survival to pull himself and Ginger out of the chaos.
Getting back to that tracking shot, it was definitely the highlight of the episode and even the series to date. Director Cary Joji Fukunaga raised the tension to a new level and it holds up even in subsequent viewings. It’s going to be hard to top that.
“Who Goes There” marks the halfway point of “True Detective” and it seems like the story is still slowly unfolding at its own pace. By the end, Hart and Cohle have Ginger and they may not be done hiding secrets from their present day counterparts. But the long game of the series has been really impressive. I’m fully invested with this show and I can’t wait to see where “True Detective” takes us from here.
