Is "True Detective" getting another season, or is it headed for cancellation?
While the first season — which starred Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson — was widely acclaimed and considered to be groundbreaking television, this season has so far been a letdown for fans. Despite big names such as Colin Farrell, Vince Vaughn, and Rachel McAdams making up the season 2 cast, the series appears to be leaving audiences confused as to what will happen next, and some critics are wondering whether the show will get better in future episodes.
Slate's television critic Willa Paskin recently said that she wanted to give the show the benefit of the doubt, but after this week's big shootout which ended the first part of the series, she's not so sure if the show will get any better.
Paskin confronted an issue that's been the dilemma of modern TV criticism — that critics should not pass judgement until they've seen an entire season of a show. While the episode 5 shootout did pull out all the stops, it doesn't erase the fact that the first four episodes got mixed reviews at best and were deemed to be unwatchable by the most vicious critics.
Paskin also pointed out that the show's muddled plot makes people want to give up on the show.
"Season 1 of 'True Detective' was hardly uncomplicated, but compared to what's going on in Season 2, it was as streamlined as a bullet," she noted.
While the last series of the show only had McConaughey's and Harrelson's stories intertwined with a murder case, this time, there are four back stories that audiences have to sift through. Season 2 has Bezzerides, Velcoro, and Woodrugh trying to solve the case of the Vinci city manager's murder, but the officers' personal dramas and stories appear to be obscuring the main plotline of the show, which is the murder.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the show's musical director T Bone Burnett acknowledged that fans have been critical of the season's slow start. On his reaction toward the haters, Burnett said that "there will be a lot of that", but "something else is coming" in future episodes.
Until then, viewers will have to see for themselves if the show's "something else" will redeem "True Detective," which could possibly result to a renewal for season 3.
"True Detective" airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO.
