10 Reasons Why Season 2 Of True Detective Is Actually Awesome

Some of the biggest criticisms of Season One were aimed squarely at its depiction of women as being, almost without exception: victims, nagging housewives, or oversexed teenagers. 

It was a breath of fresh air, then, when audiences were introduced to Rachel McAdams' character, Detective Ani Bezzerides. Yes, it became apparent that she was also a victim of abuse at the hands of a dominant male, but this was never reductive of her character. She was independent, sexually dominant, and as much of a badass as Frank or Ray, if not more so. Not once was she portrayed as a damsel in distress or used as a plot device to bring the heroic male out of hiding. 

In Season Two, viewers were also encouraged to feel disgusted at the sight of women being traded as objects in Frank's clubs, scenes that were notable for their relative lack of female nudity - a far cry from Woody Harrelson's lingering sex-scenes which featured heavily throughout Season One. 

The secondary female characters were also portrayed with thought and attention: from Officer Paul Woodrugh's (Taylor Kitsch) wife and mother, to Frank's wife, Jordan (Kelly Reilly), to Detective Davis (Michael Hyatt), every female character was portrayed as a rational, thinking human being within a world dominated by irrational, unthinking me. With that in mind, it was a fitting end to the season that it should find Jordan and Ani facing the world together, free of the dangerous men in their lives.