Yeah, I wish I had taken Pizzolatto at his word a little more. I think this episode would have been much more enjoyable if I had just watched for a typical detective story, rendered with incredible style and talent, plus a soupçon of eldritch weirdness. I got too wrapped up in looking for clues and trying to predict what crazy things would happen.
I finished the episode, found myself feeling a little let down, then reflected: what? it isn’t strange, dramatic, and appealing enough to our voyeurism to see a family of incestuous pedophile murderers who worship some bizarre offshoot Voodoo god? It’s not thrilling enough to see Rust chase Errol through the totally messed up family catacombs, get stabbed, beat a motherfucker with his skull, and get saved by Marty? Will our thirst for luridness only be appeased if there was also a giant multigenerational conspiracy involving the police and Marty’s family, in addition to having links to the governor?
I think we’ve just all been too conditioned to expect twists. This really was an excellent story, and I will watch the whole thing again with proper expectations, as well as watching next season without trying to pick it apart so much.
That said, I’m not thrilled with the obligatory “atheist has supernatural experience that shows him the error of his ways” bit. Not that I didn’t cry at McConaughey’s performance, but jeez, could we have just left it at a peaceful, warm darkness and not actually trotted out the beloved dead as well? I guess I should be grateful there wasn’t a tunnel with a bright light at the end.