Every Main Character From True Detective Ranked From Worst To Best

15. Papania & Gilbough - Season 1

It seems strange kicking off a rankings list with someone(s) from the flawless first season, but out of all the main and overarching elements that made the first season so great, it would be fair to say that detectives Thomas Papania and Maynard Gilbough weren't exactly holding the pillars in place.

With two-thirds of the season told in flashbacks and from the perspective of Rust and Marty, Papania and Gilbough spend a majority of their time on screen (or behind a recording camera), passing each other questionable glances and interrogating the two lead detectives.

The fact that the case from almost two decades ago has been re-opened plagues many questions for us as the audience, and our hope is that Papania or Gilbough would have new information that could help Rust and Marty put the clues together.

Unfortunately, that isn't the case, and it would seem the two questioning detectives don't have anything besides suspicions and to speculate red herrings for us as an audience.

The first season was not about these two detectives solving the case, so I'll give them credit that they aren't entirely useless. But they offer no insight our main heroes didn't already know.