Last night, the third season of HBO’s anthology series “True Detective” premiered and presented audiences with a brand new cast and story with oscar winner Mahershala Ali (“Moonlight,” “Greenbook”) starring. According to USA Today, the season takes place 5 years after the first season.
The show’s previous two seasons starred oscar winner Matthews McConaughey (“Dallas Buyers Club,” “Interstellar”) and Woody Harrelson (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”) as well as Colin Farrell (“Widows,” “InBruges”) and Vince Vaughn (“Fred Claus,” “Four Christmas’s”).
Creator Nic Pizzolatto returned as the writer of the show along with the series well-known strangeness to its stories. According to a report from The New York Times, this season makes you forget the second season, which was considered poor and is favorably compared to season one.
Back to its roots
“True Detective” is back for its third season which is set in The Ozarks in different time periods and tells the story of Wayne Hays, a lawman and his partner Roland West who are investigating a kidnapping of a boy and girl. The season brings back the strangeness that made the first season so great. The Landscape has shades of the first season too. For example, when Hays discovers the boy’s body, there are strange voodoo dolls near where he was found dead with his neck broken.
This is similar to the landscape of Louisiana in the first season.
Ali is great
Oscar winner Mahershala Ali is great as lawman Wayne Hays. He outacts anyone who he shares his scenes with. His performance is just so mesmerizing to watch on the screen you can’t take your eyes off of him. You can tell how he is feeling even when he doesn’t say a word.
He may very well get an Emmy later this year for his work on the show.
Different format
In season three the format is a little different from past seasons as three different timelines are shown related to Hays’s investigation and his personal life. They take place in 1980, 1990, and 25 years after his investigation in his older day.
This format makes for unique storytelling and creates an intriguing story for Ali’s character. The story traverses back-and-fourth from each timeline and we as an audience get to know Hays as a person as well.
Story
Season three of “True Detective” has an engaging story for viewers. The story follows Hays and his partner Roland West, played by Stephen Dorff who are investigating the kidnapping of a young girl and boy. I am surely engaged and can’t wait to see what the season has in store moving forward and what other clues that will lead us to the who the suspect is. “True Detective” airs Sundays at 9 P.M. E.T. on HBO.
Verdict
Overall, intriguing premise, great acting by Ali and Pizzolatto’s writing make for a great start to season three. “True Detective” is finally back to its roots from season one which is so refreshing to come back to.
