I rewatch Season 1 about once every year or two.

Time really is a flat circle…

My favourite line from Season 1:
"Let's make the car a place for quiet contemplation"
My wife punches me every time I say it 🤣

I can't imagine the stress of being in charge of following up a masterpiece. Season 2 was always going to fall short.

One of the things I most liked about the first season is that it had a hint--a suggestion--that something supernatural might be going on. That possible presence is so subtle that it can be as easily explained--perhaps more easily explained--as mere natural goings-on. And yet the show left me with the feeling that there was something supernatural underlying everything. This was done so masterfully and nothing in the subsequent two seasons approached it. The new season... I've only seen two episodes, I'll see where it's going. But nothing will top that first season, it's perfection.

Nothing went wrong. Season 1 is a lightning in a bottle that can never topped by any piece of media.

The 4th season is absolutely nothing like the first 3 seasons. Which is not a good thing. There is no recollection or retelling of the case, everything is happening in the here and now, characters are unlikeable, the atmosphere of the town and  location is great tho but that's it. It's really trying to be badass female everything.
I haven't watched the show in years, but I can tell you season 4 isn't true detective, only in name, not spirit.

The difference is that Pizzalato spent YEARS imagining, crafting, editing, and retooling the original story. And HBO just wanted more seasons slapped out to maximize the show's popularity. In the long run, the only thing that matters is creative integrity and imaginative inspiration

Anything coming after Season 1 is inevitably going to be a downfall because it was literally the best single season of TV ever seen.

Fun Fact: The first season of True Detective was entirely shot on film

I think people don’t emphasize enough that Season 1, while not technically supernatural, had a creepy atmosphere where you couldn’t shake the feeling that the cult MIGHT not be totally full of $hit at times.  The ambiguity made it unique and deeper than most cop dramas.

The next two seasons totally lacked that.  Season 4 looks to have it back, but hopefully not too far in the other (overtly supernatural) direction.

Want to know what went wrong? McConaughey & Harrelson delivered a MASTERCLASS in acting - impossible to follow up after that

Fun fact, the script was originally intended to have McConaughey play the part of Woody Harrelson's character, but after reading the script, McConaughey insisted on playing the character he played.  Thank goodness.

A big difference between season 1 and 2 was that S1 had Rust with his abstract and bleak ideas, but it also had Marty to be the balancing act everyman who'd give him a tired look and tell him "Stop saying odd shit/I'm begging you to shut the fuck up." Rust was an anomaly in that world, where the other characters didn't know how to handle him.

Where in S2 it felt like every character was trying to be Rust. They all talked depressing & weird about life and they all had endless "odd shit" conversations with each other. Vince Vaughn straight-up talked like an alien. It didn't have the regular human element that made season 1 feel real.

And on top of that, Rust was actually FUNNY. Barely anybody in season 2 was ever funny.

So far season 4 makes 2 look like the Wire season 4.

There's a saying in the music business that sums up this problem pretty good it goes you have your whole life to write your first album but only 6 months to write you second

The 'newness' of season one can never be repeated. HBO had become a place where creators could go to produce great TV. Count off all the great shows from the previous decade: The Sopranos, The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, True Blood. True Detective was different in almost every way, telling the story of a murder investigation inside the story of the relationship between the detectives. No matter how much Pizzolato took from his influences, it was mesmerizing TV. That is hard to duplicate.

With all the actors in season 2, not finding a good story is criminal.

For me season 1 worked because it felt very dark and sinister with it's almost hidden underlying narrative. I think the setting helped a lot with that, just creepy locations. Season 2 just didn't pull me in. It wasn't the acting or the directing, it was the narrative and locations. It was a very different story.

I think upcoming series needs more Lovecraft and cosmic horror. Seeing normal rational humans grapple with unnatural malevolent forces was a big draw of s1 for me.

Season 4 of true detective makes season 2 look like a masterpiece. It was all over the place. Why on earth they haven’t gone with the original season 1 production crew is beyond me. Offer that director more money if you have to.