‘True Detective’ season 2 finale: How should Nic Pizzolatto react?

There are many things that we consider fascinating about “True Detective” as a franchise; its creator has to stand at the top of the list. Nic Pizzolatto was viewed at this point a year ago as a visionary, a genius. He was one of the boldest, brightest minds in television, and he single-handedly wrote a show that become a pop-culture phenomenon.

Now, the atmosphere has clearly changed significantly following season 2. Reviews are much more mixed; after reading some takes on the finale tonight, we find ourselves somewhere in the middle of the different camps that are out there on it. We know that some that feel like it redeems some confusing parts of the story, whereas others were frustrated by the confusion of it all and some storylines that felt as though they went nowhere. We do feel like that was somewhat of a point; as in any real investigation, not every story has a neat little bow waiting for you.

As critical as we’ve been at times about season 2, we also still feel that Pizzolatto deserves more credit than he has received for swinging for the fences. This story was not lazy, it was not mundane, and he tried things that we haven’t quite seen on television before. He also told a dark, gritty story without compromise that has beautiful moments. Much of the stuff with Ray in the finale was fantastic.

Will Pizzolatto spend much time addressing this season publicly? The answer to that is “probably not.” That just seems to be his nature. He was not in the first season that prolific when it comes to doing interviews, and he has been even more under-the-radar this summer. He did a Q&A for HBO Connect prior to the finale, but that is the only one we’ve seen.

In the end, we really do not feel sometimes like showrunners should be obliged to speak out after a finale anyway. The story is the story; to us, the more interesting part of this is finding out how the story came together more so than trying to deconstruct it. No writer wants to create their own intentional fallacy by telling viewers how they are meant to interpret some of their work.

We hope that there is a third season in the end, but only provided that Pizzolatto wants to continue, and he has the time to come up with something that is yet another big swing. Maybe this one will connect to a greater audience.

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