Your screen is awash with crime series, and solving the ritualistic murders of women is something last year's newcomers, Hannibal and The Following, do quite well. Both feature brilliant investigators with intense personal problems.
On paper, the new series True Detective sounds redundant: two homicide detectives (Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey) are solving the occult-like murder of a prostitute, and one of the detectives is a messed-up genius. What's so unique about that?
First, there is the big-name cast. Both Harrelson and McConaughey are award-winning actors, with McConaughey possibly on his way to Oscar glory later this month for Dallas Buyers Club .
Unlike Hannibal and The Following, True Detective doesn't look polished. More in style with another brilliant cop show, The Wire, the picture is slightly grainy, which gives it an indie movie feel. It's a style that works well for a show set around the dirty swamps of Louisiana, a place that is as much a character as its actors.
The series is well written: the dialogue is as philosophical as it is humorous and the storyline creeps up and wraps itself around you.
Harrelson plays Marty Hart, a married father as conservative as the people in his town, but also the only person willing to give McConaughey's Rust Cohle a chance in life.
The story unfolds over eight episodes, and you'll be hooked.
- 'True Detective' is on M-Net (DStv 101), Fridays at 9.30pm
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