True Detective Season 3 Premiere Review: 7 Ups & 3 Downs From Episodes 1 & 2

4. Seamlessly Handling Three Timelines

It's always something of a risk when a series decides to play with multiple temporalities, and True Detective's third season isn't just going for two, but three different timelines. Having two worked for Season 1, but will Season 3 be able to juggle a trio of them?

The short answer is yes. The main story plays out in 1980 - the day Steve McQueen died, we're told over and over again - with Detectives Hays and West investigating the disappearance of the Purcell children. It then follows that up in the 1990s, with Hays - now married to schoolteacher Amelia (Ejogo) and with two kids of his own - being made aware of new evidence. Then there's 2015, with an older Hays - in his 70s, with Ali under some incredible make-up work - giving an interview to a documentary filmmaker, the Purcell story becoming the subject of a true crime series in a nice meta touch.

What's impressive, though, is how Pizzolatto weaves all of these timelines together. Each period stands on its own, with important contributions to the story, but it's able to seamlessly transition between them, and often will overlay dialogue from one period on imagery from another, adding to the idea of how much this season is about time, memories, and our perception of them. It could've easily been an unnecessary gimmick that was forced in to recapture Season 1's magic, but instead, they all offer up their own piece of the puzzle, and come with three distinct performances from Ali to help.