Vince Vaughn’s 8-Part Detective Thriller Series Is Aging Better Than Anyone Would’ve Expected

While Vince Vaughn’s 2015 crime thriller series might have been a critical disappointment upon its initial release, time has been surprisingly kind to this HBO show. The sheer number of detective shows and crime thrillers on the market means that it can be tough for a series to stand out in such a crowded marketplace. This was even more true in the early 2010s.

The success of The Shield and The Wire changed the face of cop shows, making the role of detective a more morally murky one than ever before. The line between cops and criminals became so blurred that some shows, like Low Winter Sun, were criticized for focusing on outright monstrous detectives. However, 2014’s True Detective season 1 was praised for finding a masterful balance.

True Detective Season 2 Was Never As Bad As Its Reputation Suggested

Written by Nic Pizzolatto, True Detective season 1 focused on Woody Harrelson’s Marty and Matthew McConaughey’s Rust Cohle, two mismatched detectives who put their personal issues aside when they reunited to solve a cold case that previously derailed both their lives. Gritty, grim, but powerful, this unique blend of psychological drama, police procedural, and echoes of Lovecraftian horror was critically adored.

As such, the pressure was on for Pizzolatto’s True Detective season 2 to live up to the show’s well-earned critical acclaim a year later. Sadly, with only 12 motnhs to pen the next installment of the series, the screenwriter dropped the ball with a needlessly convoluted, almost comically bleak story of three different police departments converging on a complicated LA-based conspiracy.

Rachel McAdams’ Ventura County Sheriff Detective Sergeant Ani worked with Colin Farrell’s Vinci Police Department Detective Ray to solve a murder when Taylor Kitsch’s California Highway Patrol officer Paul found a body on the side of a highway. If that sounds like a pileup of jurisdiction crossovers, it won’t surprise readers to learn that this was the show’s main issue.

To make matters even more complicated, Ray was secretly in league with Vince Vaughn’s mercurial mob boss Frank Semyon, a criminal who had been left devastated by the death of his partner. Compared to the acclaimed True Detective season 1, this story had too many characters, too many plot threads, and just too much going on.

True Detective Season 2 Has Aged Better Than Expected

However, while True Detective was admittedly nowhere near as good as season 1, a re-watch proves that the show was also nowhere near as bad as many reviews suggested at the time. It might be the weakest of True Detective’s four seasons, but it remains fun to see Farrell, McAdams, and Vaughn in a moody detective show.

Not only that, but Kitsch and McAdams in particular offer some compelling turns, while Vaughn is a revelation as the box boss undergoing a crisis of faith. For all of True Detective season 2’s flaws, every time the comedy veteran appears onscreen, viewers can see the ghost of a better show in his conflicted, tortured central turn.