10 Best Episodes Of True Detective

The final episode of season one sees Cohle and Hart putting their fractious personal history behind them and taking the final step into the darkness to face the murderer, chillingly portrayed by Glenn Fleshler, in his own lair.

The effectiveness of TD lies in the power of its characters and not merely the heroes. The villain of the piece, Errol Childress, is as terrifying as Lecter or insane as Se7en’s John Doe – a twisted paedophile and cult-like figure. The vast, sprawling expanses of American ruralism are portrayed as breeding grounds for maniacs, corruption and warped religious beliefs, an uncontrollable wasteland of degradation and poverty that doesn’t abide by established laws of civilized society.

Cohle and Hart enter the grounds of the once impressive southern mansion, now a network of twisted branches and sinister wooden sculptures, a man made labyrinth of tunnels and ruins. As Hart finds Betty Childress, insane and abused, and living in squalor, Cohle tracks down Errol Childress in the ruins of the estate’s former slave quarters.

Both Hart and Cohle are stabbed and after a struggle, Cohle kills Childress with a bullet in the head. It’s a bittersweet victory, as both regret not catching Childress in 1995, yet it brings them closure on not only the case but also their own pasts digressions and losses.

As the detectives recover in hospital, Cohle has found some resolution to the grief he bears for his daughter and perhaps he and Hart might even become friends again. Unlikely though...