A True Ending

"There ain't nothin' more dangerous in this would than a fool with a cause," Jake Brigance, "A Time to Kill"

"True Detective" wrapped up its first series — it seems fitting to refer to seasons the way they do in England because each will be short, compact, and self-contained. This iteration, the show's first, took place in the Bayou of Louisiana and centered on the uneasy partnership of Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and Martin Hart (Woody Harrelson).

The show began with a lot of fanfare. It had a great, moody feel, interesting characters, and a wild mystery. But it was never going to be about how the show started, it was about how it would all end. And on Sunday we saw that ending, and it was satisfying in every way imaginable.

TV is littered with serial killer stories, or season-long mysteries. Many of them begin with a stroke of brilliance, but it wanes as the series progresses. Think "The Killing," which began with a flourish and killed all its audience good will be the end of a meandering, unresolved first season. We knew that wouldn't be the case with "True Detective." No matter what, after eight episodes, the story of Rust and Marty would be over.

This was a mystery stretched over 17 years, but in the end it delivered on the promise of the pilot. We know who killed Dora Lange. We know how it happened. And we know how the case, and more importantly their lifestyles, affected Rust and Marty. And I wouldn't be surprised to see both McConaughey and Harrelson earn Emmy nominations come August for their work here.

Here are a few of the takeaways for me, and the things the show did well.

1. The killer mystery lived up to expectation. This was really a two-part solve. In 1995, thanks to Rust's due diligence, the detectives locked on to the right path, but they didn't finish the job. After that reset at the mid-way point in series, it was nice to see how it all worked out. After so much build up, the true villain was sufficiently bone chilling. During the opening sequence of the finale, and again during their final confrontation, it felt like a good pay-off to a series-long mystery.

2. The unlikely friendship of Marty and Rust. From the beginning, they seemed like a mismatched pair. But through 17 years of off-and-on again partnership, Marty and Rust discovered they were kindred spirits, both damaged by the job and their lives. Rust knew he was damaged from the beginning, but Marty took a little longer. And the performances of both actors were incredible. McConaughey has been strong, and had the more showy role all along. But the finale was a chance for Harrelson to shine, too. When his family finds him in the hospital, his layered, emotional reaction was a brilliant coda for the character.

And there was nobility in the way they saw the case through to the end. Recognizing the mistake that caused them to fail to see it through in 1995, they came together for a common cause in the end. And that work was satisfying and healing for both of them.

3. The outlook on the world. From the beginning, this show has been about good, evil, and that grey area in between. Rust said it best early on when he said, "The world needs bad men. We keep the other bad men at bey." Rust and Marty weren't perfect and honorable, but they were trying to do good. And they didn't solve all the problems of the world. I liked the response Marty gave when Rust commented that they didn't get all the bad men who hurt children in Louisiana. He said they were never going to get them all, but they got the one they were chasing. It's a dark world, but you can make a difference by doing what you can.

But perhaps the best moment was the final one. For most of the show the outlook of Rust seemed so bleak, but in his partnership with Marty and seeing the case through to the end, he found some hope. He asked Marty to look at the stars, and Marty commented that there was more dark than light, so the dark seemed to be winning. Rust responded that it used to be all dark, so maybe the light was winning. It was a hopeful note on a show that often felt to be leaning the other way.

"True Detective" will be back for another round next year. There will be new characters, new actors, and a new case. But after how this round finished up, the bar is set pretty high for whoever steps into those big shoes next.