‘True Detective’ episode 3 review: Will Marty destroy his own marriage?
There are too many cop shows. There we said it, but “True Detective” is more then just a cop show and digs deeper then just the case Marty and Rust are working on. Just when you think you might have them figured out they throw a curveball at you and you’re left wanting more… and boy do we ever want more.
The series is slower paced then most other cops shows, but we are completely engrossed because of it. In three episodes we still haven’t had a lot of movement on who was behind the murder of the girl with the antler crown, but in this week’s episode we were introduced to a Jesus revival group that have some ties to her (as in she used to go to their services and some of the women saw her with a tall man who had a scarred face). When an old case pops up involving a girl with a tattoo that might be linked to the case they are working on, they dig deeper to find out that this girl was involved with a man named Reggie Ledoux who has skipped parole, has a past with drugs (the same that both girls were drugged with) and sexual assault. Is this their man? Even if he’s not their guy he’s a creepy, scary looking man and we can’t wait to see more of our first bad guy.
The meat of this episode was all about Marty and watching him torpedo his own life. We were first lead to believe that Marty had it all with the perfect wife and two little girls, but we’ve now learned that things aren’t what they seem behind closed doors. He is cheating on his wife (with a woman that looks very much like her, guess he has a type), his wife is unhappy and likely suspects he’s not being faithful and one of his very young daughters is drawing some sexual pictures that have them concerned. Throw on top of that Marty’s unbridled jealousy over his affair moving on with another man and you have a road map leading towards certain destruction. Marty is convinced that he is in love with both of these women, but it’s clearly ripping him in two.
We loved the scene lawnmower scene between Marty and Rust and how quickly Marty laid down the law about Rust ever being at his house when he’s not there or “mowing his lawn” so to speak. We’ve seen a nice connection between Rust and Maggie, so it wasn’t too much of a surprise to see her reach out to him when she wanted answers about her husband (of course Rust didn’t get involved and claimed to know nothing). Marty in the future has no wedding ring on so we suspect he and Maggie don’t make it.
As much as we dislike cops shows (and mob shows if we are being totally honest here), this series is breathing life back into a genre that has been done to death. It’s gritty, heartbreaking, with layers upon delicious layers of story. Grade: A
What did you think of this week’s episode of “True Detective” and are you happy with the pacing of the show or do you feel that it’s too slow for you? If you are looking for some more great TV updates then be sure to sign up for our newsletter.
Photo: HBO