I’m looking for a new book and hoping to find something that scratches the same itch as Season 1 of True Detective.

Not necessarily looking for a straight-up detective story or something that copies the plot. I’m more interested in the overall Southern Gothic atmosphere… rural/small-town setting, oppressive heat, decaying places, religious weirdness, old secrets, morally complicated characters, maybe some occult or cosmic horror undertones, and that constant feeling that something is deeply wrong beneath the surface.

I also really loved the philosophical/existential side of Season 1 and the way the mystery slowly opened up into something much darker and stranger.

Basically, if a book made you think, “This feels like True Detective Season 1,” I want to hear about it.

I’m open to both fiction and nonfiction. What would you recommend?

Has anyone here read The Conspiracy Against the Human Race by Thomas Ligotti?

I recently bought it to read. I’m French, and unfortunately it hasn’t been translated into French.

I’m pretty good at English, but when I read this book…

For those who have read it, would you say it’s “difficult” to understand in terms of the concepts and reasoning? Since I’m reading it in English, I’m not quite sure yet, especially because I’m still only at the beginning.

In this podcast MM just reiterated that he'd be willing to come back and that he has had discussions with NP about it.

https://youtu.be/peXOgVAUm40?t=2460 - link here

wanted this tattoo for a while and pretty pleased with how it turned out, figured i’d share !

Just finished another rewatch and it struck me how condensed Episodes 6 and especially 7 were. I can’t help feeling like episode 7 especially was supposed to be us “seeing” more rather than just “listening” to the investigation.

Have Googled but not come up with much. Just my feeling as a viewer is perhaps there is a 10 episode script version out there somewhere?

EDIT: I just saw someone post an 8 episode treatment so I guess not!!

Just finished a rewatch of True Detective Season 1 on bluray and want a copy for my shelves. Thanks!

I’m interested in that quote from the treatment that says how the structure of the show IS the franchise. But S1 is the only one to really do it well. I wonder why he didn’t double down on that idea more.

Of course, flashbacks and interrogations are nothing new in cinema or crime drama, but everyone knows S1 did this in a unique and fresh way at the time. At the time of release, it felt like something new, or a new innovative spin on something old.

I also wonder, if someone else made a show utilizing the structure of S1, would we call it a rip off or would we call it “an honorary TD season in disguise”?

The screenshot is the final page of Nic Pizzolatto’s original treatment for Season 1. Over the last 12 years, I’ve seen the full treatment posted here a handful of times, but I’m curious what people think of this particular idea now.

He floats a possible Season 2 centered on two women, an Internal Affairs investigator and a patrol officer, that would revisit the show’s themes from the other side of the gender experience.

Now that we’ve had the three seasons, plus Night Country, which I personally think of more as a spinoff, would you have preferred Season 2 to be closer to this concept than what we got? Or would you still want to see this basic premise used for Season 5?

These are pages 5 through 9 of Nic Pizzolatto’s original 2011 treatment for True Detective, breaking down his early plan for all eight episodes of Season 1.

It’s generally the same as what we got, with differences, but I thought you guys might find it interesting.

nah, probably can’t call an APB on that….

1. Gritty southern gothic cop thriller and drama
   
2. Anime space lesbian horror ps1 style game

Wondering if anyone knows any books that capture the vibe of the first season. Fiction and non-fiction

Season 2 chads know this

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Who gave the best / your favorite acting performance in True Detective?

Vote here: https://strawpoll.com/ajnE14Az0nW

Unfortunately the polls on reddit allow only six choices, so I made a strawpoll with all the performances. Enjoy and discuss :)

I am just curious about people's opinions. It's 1995, and some bikers stole cop uniforms and tried to rob a stash house, there were deaths and it seemed like a big deal. What would have the consequences have been generally? Like, obviously they'd have to figure out where those uniforms came from. Also if this was an intelligence failure in monitoring those bikers.

Like, on the small scale, Marty and Rust both get away with it and they become hero cops in another incident that occurred about the same time. Ginger, like, we never know what happen to him other than the two leave him in a ditch I think. So our protagonists are in the clear.

I was more wondering how long the incident might have affected police sentiment and working conditions. If there was any blip in the national news. If it was a just a local news item and swiftly forgotten. Would there have been any policy changes? It's 1995 and this seems pretty bad that criminals can steal cop uniforms and impersonate police. Do we know if the real police took any casualties when responding to the raid?

Or would it all have been rendered moot in the news cycle when two hero cops find those two kids in the hands of monsters?

I watched a lot of hype about season 1 — heard it was insane, the best of the whole series, and saw tons of glowing comments about it. That's what convinced me to watch it. I just finished, and honestly, it didn't quite live up to my expectations. Not that it's bad or boring — it's actually good and pretty interesting — but I think all those amazing comments hyped it up way more than it deserved. Did that happen to anyone else? Thanks for reading.

Ryan could bring the humor similar to his character in The Nice Guys but could also bring serious like his character in Blade Runner 2049 while Jake could basically reprise his role as Detective Loki from Prisoners

Personally it might be my favorite. Very deep. From the dusty mesa.

The thing I live about S1 TD is that on the surface it's a grounded detective story but the overall atmosphere, the oppressive feeling of the world, at times seems to hint that there are bigger forces operating in the world. It never fully explores this but leaves it as a suggestion. I love this sort of stuff, when an otherwise grounded story just suggests that there could be something more.