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W hat is it that really drives us to get out of bed in the morning? Is it to "do good" or to "make a difference" and somehow improve things in a world that is constantly getting a little worse each day? If so then then why are we so fascinated with stories of murder, escaped convicts and devastation? What is it we are hiding?
Judging by the success of such "entertainment pieces" as Mad Max: Fury Road and season one of Nic Pizzolatto's True Detective (TD), we are a lot darker than our nicely groomed front lawns and our shiny SUV's with bumper stickers depicting representations of happy families, would have the public believe. If the first episode of season two of TD is any indication of things to come, Pizzolatto has somehow discovered what it is that we are truly searching for when our feet hit the ground each day.
What do California Highway Patrol Officer Paul Woodrugh (essentially "Ponch" from the tv series "Chips"), young and innocent looking female detective played by Rachel McAdams, Detective Ray (Colin Farell) Velcoro, and "criminal" Frank (Vince Vaughn) Seymon have in common? They are all deeply disturbed and self-destructive in fact, Frank is perhaps the straightest arrow of the bunch.
In just one hour of television we are introduced to a suicidal, albeit somewhat ethical, viagra popping, blow-job receiving cop played by Taylor Kitsch (the high-school football hero from Friday Night Lights); a sexy female detective who's got several problems with a) sex, b)her David Koresh-like father c)gambling and d)booze; a detective father of a pudgy son (the product of a rape, no less) who he's supposedly proud of, whose got issues with booze, abuse, and a brass knuckle he's most definitely quite fond of; and last but not least, a clean cut criminal who is married and attends parties looking like no less than a respected politician.
All are linked together by the murder of so and so in a setting reminiscent of a David Lynch movie that has shades of Blade Runner and Black Rain thrown into it seemingly just for fun.
Why will we tune in for more next week to watch an "entertainment piece"? Because behind the facade we are experts at staging in our daily lives is a dark side we are too afraid to indulge or much less admit to even having. Ironically, the criminal in the show opitimizes what each of us do every day: hide who and what we actually are.
Simply put, shows like this that show characters like us, both hidden and fully exposed, make us feel less alone and give meaning to the word "True" in True Detective.
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