Throughout its four seasons so far, True Detective has provided plenty of brilliant episodes for fans of the crime anthology show. Season 1 is generally recognized as True Detective‘s best season, with the dynamic between Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey making the most of a compelling mystery, but the show’s other seasons also have plenty of great moments.
True Detective season 5 is currently in the works, although very little is known about the cast or the story. Since the past four seasons have taken place across different time periods and different places, it’s hard to know what to expect from the next chapter. No matter what happens, season 5 will face a tough challenge living up to the standards of True Detective‘s very best episodes.
10 Season 1, Episode 1, “The Long Bright Dark”
Rust And Marty Partner Up To Solve Dora Lange’s Death
The very first episode of True Detective starts things off strong, as Rust Cohle and Marty Hart begin their partnership and their investigation. It’s impressive how much of the show’s absorbing style is baked in to the very first episode. While some other shows take a little while to get up and running, True Detective doesn’t need any time whatsoever to start delivering classic episodes.
The very first episode of
True Detective
starts things off strong.
“The Long Bright Dark” is impressive for the way that it introduces the central mystery and the main characters simultaneously with equal importance. Rust and Marty’s philosophical back-and-forth is established from their very first car ride together, but there’s still the suggestion that both men are hiding things. True Detective‘s first episode also has the shocking, visceral impact of the first crime scene, framed in a no-frills way that almost makes it look ordinary.
9 Season 2, Episode 8, “Omega Station”
Season 2 Ends In Style
Season 2 is often cited as the weakest season of True Detective. Following on from the seminal first season was always going to prove a challenge, and the high expectations hinder the first part of season 2. Gradually, season 2 starts to tell its own story, and although it is a step down in quality overall, there are a couple of standout episodes which show the potential of the new cast and the new case.
True Detective
season 2 almost makes up for its muddled story right at the end.
Many of the best mystery shows are judged based on how they wrap things up at the end, and the finale is a highlight of True Detective season 2. The episode has plenty of great moments throughout, including the station shootout, Ray’s chase through the woods and Frank’s tragic death march in the desert. True Detective season 2 almost makes up for its muddled story right at the end.
8 Season 4, Episode 4, “Night Country: Part Four”
Danvers Finds Otis Heiss
True Detective‘s controversial fourth season takes a slightly different approach, with more horror and more of a gesture toward the supernatural. It’s also the shortest season of the show, with just six episodes instead of the standard eight. Night Country has survived some review-bombing and hateful online vitriol, mixed in with some tempered, valid criticisms, to achieve a series-best 93% score on Rotten Tomatoes and 19 Emmy nominations.
Episode 4 of
Night Country
is one of the season’s highlights, with some of the most thrilling horror that the show has to offer.
Episode 4 of Night Country is one of the season’s highlights, with some of the most thrilling horror that the show has to offer. Danvers’ discovery of Otis Heiss, living in an abandoned dredger and scurrying through the dark ice caves around the edges of town is a terrifying reminder that Danvers only knows a fraction of what is happening around her. “Night Country: Part Four” also has some touching personal moments, like Hank waiting at the airport for a woman who isn’t coming, or Navarro’s sister’s haunting death. Night Country ends with a lot of mysteries yet to be solved, and this makes it all the more intriguing.
7 Season 3, Episode 1, “The Great War And Modern Memory”
The Purcell Children Go Missing
Mahershala Ali delivers an outstanding performance in season 3 of True Detective. His presence is so powerful that it overshadows the other detective working alongside him on the case, played by Stephen Dorff. The season opener manages to convey a lot of information and jump around between the three different timelines without ever losing its vitality. Ali provides a constant presence that anchors the drama.
The season opener manages to convey a lot of information and jump around between the three different timelines without ever losing its vitality.
The scene in which the Purcell children cycle through their small town, passing by every suspect about to enter the drama, is a brilliant way to set up the season’s central mystery. Here are two innocent children being watched as if they are gazelles passing through a pride of lions, summing up how the townsfolk soon tear each other apart while searching for a monster in their midst. “The Great War and Modern Memory” ends with the perfect twist, as it is revealed a decade later that the girl is still alive.
6 Season 1, Episode 5, “The Secret Fate Of All Life”
Rust And Marty Realize That Their Case Isn’t Solved After All
“The Secret Fate of All Life” seriously raises the stakes in True Detective‘s first season. After a lengthy investigation leads Rust and Marty to the home of Reggie Ledoux, they find two children who have been ritualistically abused for weeks, with one of them dead. Marty shows a flash of his righteous anger, and he shoots Ledoux dead before arresting him. He and Rust cover up the killing to make it look like a shootout, while the surviving child is rescued.
Rust and Marty are suddenly forced to reckon with the fact that their own mistakes and complacency have let a killer run loose.
“The Secret Fate of All Life” feels like an ending for a little while, but there are some lingering mysteries which sit at the back of Rust and Marty’s minds years later. The reveal that Ledoux may not be Dora Lange’s killer after all sends the case in a different direction after seven years of inactivity. This changes the entire outlook of the case, as Rust and Marty are suddenly forced to reckon with the fact that their own mistakes and complacency have let a killer run loose for seven years.
5 Season 2, Episode 7, “Black Maps And Motel Rooms”
Ray And Ani Finally Connect The Dots
The best episode of True Detective‘s worst season shows that the show can still deliver plenty of action and intrigue even when it isn’t reaching its full potential. The penultimate episode makes up for a long stretch in season 2 in which there is very little plot development. The seemingly disconnected cases of season 2 finally come together in “Black Maps and Motel Rooms,” setting up an exciting finale.
What’s most impressive about “Black Maps and Motel Rooms” is that it breathes new life into storylines and characters that seemed long dead.
What’s most impressive about “Black Maps and Motel Rooms” is that it breathes new life into storylines and characters that seemed long dead. There’s an urgency and a compelling pace that were both sadly absent throughout the early stages of season 2’s neo-noir shaggy dog story. After holding up an assortment of puzzle pieces to the light, the penultimate episode was the one which finally started to fit some of the pieces together, and an interesting image started to appear.
4 Season 4, Episode 1, “Night Country: Part One”
Detective Danvers Searches For The Missing Researchers
The first episode of a new season is always vital, as it has to introduce a new setting, new characters and a new mystery all at once. Night Country‘s season opener faces the unique task for True Detective of having to establish an eerie new tone too, but it achieves every one of its goals. Jodie Foster’s Detective Danvers comes into view, and she has to put her considerable personal issues on hold as she investigates a bizarre mystery.
Of course, there is an earthly explanation, but it’s the presence of doubt that makes
Night Country
‘s case so intriguing.
True Detective season 4’s links to season 1 have been criticized, but Night Country works best when it marches to the beat of its own drum. Disconnected from other seasons, there are moments in the season opener when the most likely solutions to the disappearance of the Tsalal researchers might be supernatural ones. Of course, there is an earthly explanation, but it’s the presence of doubt that makes Night Country‘s case so intriguing. It evokes real-life mysteries such as the Dyatlov Pass incident and the case of the Mary Celeste, both of which show that humans tend to fill any information gap with wild theories.
3 Season 3, Episode 7, “The Final Country”
Hays Pursues His Own Investigation After Tom’s Death
The penultimate episode of season 3 is arguably the closest that True Detective has come so far to recapturing the magic of that first season. “The Final Country” makes perfect use of some storytelling quirks from season 1, especially by weaving together the different timelines. True Detective has always been obsessed with the way that the past can affect the future, and season 3 shows choices and their consequences happening simultaneously.
The penultimate episode of season 3 is arguably the closest that
True Detective
has come so far to recapturing the magic of that first season.
“The Final Country” gestures to the first season, but the appearance of Rust and Marty in a newspaper headline is more than just fan service. This hints at one of the broader underlying themes of True Detective: the idea that searching for truth and justice in a world riddled with selfish evil is a fool’s errand. The detectives, be they Rust and Marty or Hays himself, can only do what’s right for their own conscience.
2 Season 1, Episode 8, “Form And Void”
Rust And Marty Finally Find The Real Killer
True Detective season 1’s finale cemented the show’s reputation as a modern classic, with a satisfying end to the case that also tied perfectly into the stories of its two main characters. Rust and Marty finally find out who the Yellow King is, and they uncover the cult responsible for the death of Dora Lange. The season finale pays off all of season 1’s most agonizing teases, such as the girl who described being chased by a green-eared monster.
True Detective
season 1’s finale cemented the show’s reputation as a modern classic.
The breathless chase through Carcosa, the labyrinth of trees and stonework, is a great action set piece. It’s also the perfect encapsulation of the show’s twisty plot. Rust and Marty have no choice but to take blind turns into danger if they want to find out the truth. Although the season ends with some bittersweet revelations about the personal lives of the two detectives, they can at least put their biggest case to bed after 17 years.
1 Season 1, Episode 4, “Who Goes There”
Rust Infiltrates A Biker Gang
“Who Goes There” isn’t just the best episode of True Detective; it’s also one of the best episodes of TV that the medium’s so-called Golden Age has managed to produce so far. It has a potent blend of personal drama, hair-raising action and unpredictable mystery. Rust takes some sick leave so that he can infiltrate a biker gang as part of his rogue investigation into the Ledoux family continues.
“Who Goes There” isn’t just the best episode of
True Detective;
it’s also one of the best episodes of TV that the medium’s so-called Golden Age has managed to produce so far.
“Who Goes There” shows that Rust will stop at nothing to solve his case, even if that involves stealing cocaine from a police evidence locker, lying to his superiors and joining a violent raid on a rival biker gang’s territory well beyond his jurisdiction. The intense shootout that consumes an entire neighborhood is a masterpiece of tension and kinetic action, portrayed in one long take by director Cary Joji Fukunaga.