‘True Detective’ episode 4 review: Matthew McConaughey finds another gear

Tonight’s “True Detective” came on HBO with big expectations, as it had to match the first three that came on earlier this year. Did it succeed? Definitely, though what may surprise you is that the biggest star of the entire episode may be the cinematographer.

We’ll start with the negative for this week: We really did not find anything when it comes to the whole “biker” story to be particularly interesting. That has already been done so well on “Sons of Anarchy,” and not everything was mapped out enough for us to get every little part of what was going on. But as Rust Cohle’s plan started to fall apart and the bullets started flying, that is where things truly started to build up and get going somewhere great. His entire extraction / escape scene is one of the best few minutes of any show we’ve seen in some time, and it was truly involving from start to finish. Thanks to the lack of camera cuts, we never felt like we were being stripped away from the action.

Cohle did leave this mission with at least one trophy in an effort to get to the center of this mystery, even if we don’t really feel like we are really that closer to solving it than the beginning. This episode was almost more about the lives of these two main characters, as we also saw Hart finally lose his wife when his mistress dropped the bomb on what the two of them have been up to. We have no sympathy for Hart at all, since there are at times moments where we feel like Rust, despite his problems, is actually the more moral man. We feel like had things not panned out the way that they did, Hart would have continued to sleep around. With all that being said, that hospital scene featuring him being restrained was beyond pathetic, and one of the more uncomfortable moments of the season.

“True Detective” is a fantastic show, and this episode was yet another little reminder of that. Even when there is a story that at times does not fully grab us, there are isolated moments and performances (especially Matthew McConaughey) so exemplary, the cream still rises to the top. Grade: A-.

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Photo: HBO