As a former Christian who knew the deep theological aspects of the Bible and now a happy, peaceful atheist who still is spiritual, this show meant a lot to me. The theology in this show is used to point to universal concepts while also seeing the hypocrisy of some religious people. I dont think the show attacks Chrisitianity. I believe it attacks the evils of man. It shows that life is a hellscape for most and that if your life has even just a few decent things in it, it's worthy being grateful for.

The first season of this show has burrowed inside my brain snd I can't shake it.

The part where Rust is talking about a world where "nothing is solved" and then when Marty is talking asking "Do you know the good years when you're in them...?" are the deepest parts that always get to me. Season 2 had some really deep stuff as well especially Frank Semyon (Vince Vaughn) and then season 3 also was very deep.

One of the things I loved about this season was its references to rather obscure (anymore, anyhow) writers, such as Ambrose Bierce (Carcosa, Hastur), RW Chambers (the King in Yellow, 'No mask?!'), and HP Lovecraft. Throw in Christianity, Nietzsche, the 'moral absolutes' of both Marty and Rust, an amazingly eerie - yet perfectly 'normal' setting - and this is one of the most deeply layered shows I've watched. The writing and acting are outstanding, and the time-jump device actually worked, instead of being distracting. Great show. :)

If Rust is the prime mover then Marty is the personification of the normative against which Rust must move. Without the sane, the insane cannot be framed, light and dark, life and death.

I honestly think subverting lovecraft/cosmicism in this manner is one of the greatest achievements in contemporary fiction. It turns this pointless meandering about subverting that which is just, true and beautiful on its head and utilizes the ultimate inversion of what's true just and beautiful to do so.

Excellent use of Collin Stetson at the end there my dude. His music is so slept on

Very glad you take into account the fundamental goodness of the protagonists, or rather the desire to do good.

There has never been a show or movie that has hit me so hard to my core as a human/man/Muslim then true detective… soon as episode 8 finished… it was only a couple of hours before I had to rewatch the entire thing. For so many reasons. For me the one line that you really and truly hear rusts “frustration” with everyone and everything is when he quits and walks out and says under his breath “fuck this world man” that one line you truly get connected with rust… and how his intentions to solving the case is way above and beyond everyone else including Marty . Number one show of all time for me. No question

What a cool idea to blend Lovecraft to True Detective

Whoa, this is fascinating AF. The thing is there have always been monsters in meat suits like Childress. (His surname is no accident.) Maybe that's one truth Lovecraft and then Nic Pizzolato, McConaughey, and Harrelsen were hoping we'd think about. The "Childresses" of the world are coming out of the shadows. We need more Rust Cohles and Martin Harts.

This was an awesome video series and I enjoyed it! I also think True Detective season one has a lot of Buddhist symbolism even though Buddhism is never blatantly mentioned. Rust's former character as a pessimist reminds me of Buddhists who think final nirvana is death and lights out no consciousness. But his reform to an optimist at the end reminds me of Buddhists who believe final nirvana is helping other sentient beings and forms of consciousness achieve joy and peace. Time being a flat circle is also very reminiscent of Buddhist samsara.

I noticed that during their fight in 2002 Woody is thrown at Matthews car and destroys the brake light. When Matt pulls over Woody we see the brake light is still broken. This shows that Rust refuses to stop, and that he hasn’t moved on even 10 years later 'Time is a flat circle.' “Everything we've ever done or will do, we're gonna do over and over and over again.” It’s just a reminder of a broken man doing what he’s always done because he can’t stop.

For anyone wondering about the song at the end its a pitched down version of Colin Stetson's Among the Sef

True Detective's mention of the trap of reliving one's life on repeat reminds me of Nietzsche's idea of eternal return ,this can be used to motivate positive behaviour, not necessarily despair.

I think the point of the theology in true detective is that the real world is so much worse than what the imagination can create.

Well done!

Well done.

Wow!!! What a great analysis and overview, Awesome content

Masterful!

Kyrie elison is a beautiful song, nice to see it incorporated into a video

Great Video!

I’m a little late to this video, but thank you for posting! Was shocked to see people missing the Lovecraft elements, was thinking about making a video about it until i saw yours.

Marty absolutely wasnt just a background character. Cole was a man tested by God that lost his faith, Marty was a man blessed by God that had faith..both had to confront their own darkness. Cole's was internalised and was destroying himself, Marty's was externalised and destroyed the people around him, both were tools of a higher power and part of a bigger plan.

Very interesting observations; the sacred and the propane. 🤔

appreciate the colin stetson music

Such an underrated channel!! Keep up the good work!!

Bring Rusty back for season 4, all out war against the outer gods.

Top!

I found this out of remembering true detective having lovecratifian elements and its almost been a year since this has been released. Time is really a flat circle.

“Earnest urge to merge”

That editing is unbelievable. Fucking phenomenal

Tnx

Great video and editing. (What was that gregorian hymn song?) True Detective season 1 is one of the best series ever created. Entertaining but deep, great acting. Your vid deserves more views.

Dude, as a H P Lovecraft fan, I appreciate your contribution! True Detective Season One might be my all time favorite live action series with Lovecraftian themes...It is so perfect, but I really wished to see some otherworldly beings at the end and hence, some madness:D

I love this show and am excited to discover this channel, this was an excellent commentary. Rust acts the way I wish more Christians would act. True detective reminds me of the parable of the two sons. The Parable of the Two Sons 28 “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ 29 “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. 30 “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. 31 “Which of the two did what his father wanted?” “The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him. Marty claimed to be a Christian but was lukewarm, and didn't bear any fruit. Rust on the other hand didn't claim to be Christian but meditated on the Garden (1st sorrowful mystery of the Rosary for Catholics). He also picked up his cross and carried it (4th sorrowful mystery of the Rosary). Yes, Rust is putting a lot of work in at the vineyard. Rust has much more in common with the Saints of the Church than almost all of the Bishops and Priests in America.

I had a really intense mushroom experience that as a biproduct , I understood the "flat circle" and ,what i thought was unrelated , why time travel won't work as we would like it to. When it hit me , really getting it, I laughed at first, then became somber. If what was revealed to me is true, could be very scary to some. Might be why most don't seek real answers until close to their end of the part they play. Could spoil things if you still want to go on with a mundane existence.

Rust is what the Christ-like man looks like in the shadows of the death of the possibility of the belief in the victory of the Christian story over its adversary. He is, in a strange, paradoxical way, the Light of Christ where the Light of Christ has died. This is an incredible analysis, I learned a lot from it - absolutely brilliant stuff! I'll be spending a lot of time on this video in order to take it all in. I honestly wasn't expecting this when you announced your intention to do it - kinda blown away tbh

No matter how fast light is, dark was there first. Knowing this helps me process when ever my scales are out of balance.

which music track is the end of the video?

People keep saying it's based on Lovecraft, but it's Chambers' work that the story is using.

Sounds very existential.

Have you read the secondary material: the Yellow King, Carcosa, weird-occult-fiction stuff? It sounds really unsettling. That kind of dark stuff has its own kind of allure though, the same way people are interested in the paranormal etc., one should be carful with it all the same

Think both characters are more like modern day Holmes & Watson investigating a lovecraftion story

Does anyone know the song used at the very end?

If you watched this vid you NEED to look up on here the audiobook The King in Yellow.

How amazing the first season was how fucking deep and might be the single best season of a series ever made how the fuck did the next 2 seasons turn to trash

The king in yellow is so different than lovecrafts work

as a lawyer, i feel the show on another level. nothing does get solved and sometimes the system is fucked up and you cannot do anything about it cause if you force it to change then YOU are tagged as villain, but those people who hide in plain sight do more evil than you ever did and they get away with it. Humans are a cancer.

True Detective was the final kick that threw into agnosticism. The line where Cohle says that if the only thing that's keeping you from committing harm against others is a contract with a devine being that stipulates that if you behave you will go to heaven, you're not a good person, you just dont want to get punished. Something inside me clicked. Followed by a few months of a crisis of meaning until I discovered Albert Camus.

The King In Yellow is Realllllllllllll

A Lovecraftian universe is a universe entirely devoid of God. All the horror, all the apathy, all the frigid silence. The fact that we are still here, on our “placid island of ignorance”, is proof enough to me that God is real and cares about us.

You don’t need religion to know evil. You don’t need religion to be moral. You don’t need religion to disdain wickedness or cruelty. Rust even says as much. If you’re only a good person because you’re afraid god will punish you if you’re bad, you’re not a good person. You can be a bad man and a good person.

noone warned you not to rouse Azathoth... DO NOT WAKE AZATHOTH. :)

I remember being so obsessed with “who is the yellow king?” So many good theories. But then it turned out it was just a crazy dude with a stick figure idol.

Undoubtedly one of the best series ever. Ever. It's a pity that the show ended with Cohle stating that the light is winning. It feels like a cop-out, an attempt to inject hope into a story that closely resembles the dark reality of life. An "all's well that ends well" attempt. I don't think a man like Rust, resembling a modern day Schopenhauer, would stray from his nihilism into this "hopeful" statement. Sometimes there is no hope.

A lot of name-dropping here with no follow thru.

Brooo anyone reading this, just watch this and take shrooms…….that’s all I’m gonna say 🤷🏽‍♂️

All will get back to void. Void always wins.

i think one of the things we need to becareful of is left wing extremism and black supremacists

brilliant. aptly puts into words how i feel about this show, the first season at least. it's peaking at so many things, it's peak crime television, it's peak character drama, it's peak southern gothic and it's peak lovecraftian fiction. also love the low pitched and toned "Among the Sef" at the end of the video, absolutely gorgeous