The third stellar season of True Detective will restore your confidence

<img src = "https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/true18-800×506.jpg" alt = "" Did you think you could go on without ever looking back? "An old Wayne Hays (Mahershala Ali) has to reckon with his dark past in season 3 of True detective. "/>

HBO True detective was a pop-culture sensation when it debuted in 2014, but its sophomore release unfortunately had none of the surreal magic of the original. So we were delighted to discover that Season 3 was back in shape, mixing elements of black and procedural drama to weave a haunting story of fractured time and memory. This is the best episode of the series of anthologies so far.

(Soft spoilers below.)

Created by the novelist Nic Pizzolatto, True detective has always encouraged a very literary and philosophical tone, falling very much into the category of the "glow" of prestige television. When it works, it's great. Season 1 took place in Louisiana Bayou, in which Detective Rustin "Rust" Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and his detective partner Martin "Marty" Hart (Woody Harrelson) found a twisted serial killer, having to leave strange twig sculptures in the woods. . The phantasmagorical setting and the strong chemistry between the main actors have almost ensured its success among viewers and critics.

The less we say about season 2, the better. Despite strong performances by Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams and Taylor Kitsch, the plot was a disaster – a dead city chief, political corruption and the railroad project of a crime boss , taking place in the fictional city of Vinci. , Calif. Unsurprisingly, seasonal hemorrhagic viewers dreary and disappointing. But Pizzolatto was able to take his time with the third installment of the series of anthologies, leaving his ideas to simmer in a rich and dark stew, and the result is much more satisfactory.

Season 3 takes place in the Ozarks and stars, the actor Mahershala Ali (Moonlight, Cottonmouth in season 1 of Luke Cage) as detective Wayne Hays. Pizzolatto went to college at the University of Arizona and therefore knew first hand how much the place (with its mix of old architecture and abandoned buildings) could be powerfully evocative for his story. "I think the landscape is a character, definitely, in what I do," he told Fayetteville Flyer last year.

The scenario switches between three different periods. The first is established in 1980 and follows a young Hays and his partner, the Arkansas State investigator, Roland West (Stephen Dorff, who played memorable in Deacon Frost in 1998 ). Blade), while they are investigating a case involving two missing children. Then comes a new investigation in 1990 on the case in which the person initially convicted (posthumously) is (probably) innocent. And finally, we have the present, while an old Hays is suffering from dementia and is struggling to piece together what really happened so many years ago.

This season contains many elements that made the first payment so enjoyable: a mysterious cold box in a monumental and atmospheric decor; a community with many secrets; clues of occult symbols; conflicts and violence that simmers just below the surface; and a detective tormented by regret and personal demons. He also has another partnership for the ages at Hays and West, with an inevitable undercurrent of racial tension running through their complex friendship. (During a particularly trying exchange, Hays challenges his partner to call him the word "Go ahead." Say it. "West answers" Nah. But I want you to know that I am thinking he.")

It is the remarkable performance of Ali that will anchor this season.

It has a funky melody of openness, and the writing is well improved compared to Season 2. While some might miss McConaughey's stifling philosophical rumination – a highlight of this first season ("The time is a flat circle, "man" and tight, in harmony with the more laconic personality of Hays. Frankly, it is the remarkable performance of Ali that will anchor this season, complemented by a very impressive work of the makeup department. Often actors made up to look older look like this: actors made to look older. Ali incarnates Hays at any age with so much conviction that you forget that he's not really an old man with dementia. (This is not to displease Dorff, who provides the perfect framing in his nuanced representation of the West – a craft in its own right.)

This is the second stellar television treatment of age-related dementia that we have seen over the last year, the other being Sissy Spacek's performance in stone castle. Like Spacek's character, Ruth, the old Hays slips between two periods, sometimes finding herself in a dark street in the middle of the night, without remembering how he got there. This is one of the most striking scenes of episode 7, beautifully shot to highlight his growing isolation and his efforts to protect himself from the darkness that is engulfed. His failing memory hampers his relationships and prevents him from attempting, once and for all, to resolve the case that ruined his life. And it's really a challenge to do all this while trying not to reveal your own secret.

Because the story is primarily told from Hays' point of view, the narrative moves quite randomly from one period to the next, consistent with the unpredictability of his memory. But jumps work: the viewer rarely feels moored in time, unlike Hays. Hays ends up getting his answers, but will he remember them? Maybe that's not the question. True detective The journey has always been as important as the central mystery. It is a trip that is worth to be undertaken.