True Detective Season 3: 8 Ways To Fix The Show

2. Deeper Characters

True Detective Matthew Mcconaughey
HBO

Paul Woodrugh was a troubled cop, closeted homosexual, with an army past he couldn't outrun. Ray Velcoro was a troubled cop, with issues about his son and problems with substances. Ani was a troubled cop, with daddy issues and problems with substances. Frank Semon was a troubled gangster, who wanted to go straight. Outside of all the characters being troubled, and miserable, they were about as deep as a puddle.

They were all pretty much the same, you could interchange any of their arcs or lines of dialogue, and it wouldn't have made too much difference to the shape of the story. There wasn't really anything there to really say 'this is who these characters are', and even less to explain why you should care about them.

This is a show that's mostly about the characters, that just so happened to forget to properly write them. It needs to offer a range of people, not just identikit cops with different problems but the exact same outlook. There was a great contrast between Rust Cohle and Marty Hart, and even though it doesn't need to do exactly that again, having characters who can show they're different to the others, and deserve you caring about them, with a lot of depth and complexities, is a must for Season 3.

Contributor
Contributor

NCTJ-qualified journalist. Most definitely not a racing driver. Drink too much tea; eat too much peanut butter; watch too much TV. Sadly only the latter paying off so far. A mix of wise-old man in a young man's body with a child-like wonder about him and a great otherworldly sensibility.