The Murky Middle

"Those moments, they stare back at you. You don't remember them, they remember you. Turn around, there they are, staring." Ani, "True Detective."

Eight episodes isn't a lot of time in the TV world. It seems like a lot of time, but it really isn't. Not when you have to build characters and a world from the ground up. Not when you need to build a mystery. And not when you need to wrap all those things up by the time it's over.

We've seen five hours of the second season of "True Detective." Three hours remain — less than half the time allotted to the season. Yet, at the end of the fifth hour, it feels like we're not closer to fully understanding the central mystery, why it matters, and how these characters all fit than we were when the season bowed on June 21. That's a problem.

Some have pointed out that the first season featured a slow burn, too. That's true, but by the fourth and fifth episode of season one, the action had ramped up and the focus of the mystery was clear. The who and why were still murky, but we knew the what and the goal. That's not the case this season.

In the second iteration, it feels like "True Detective" is more interested in the meta exploration of these broken people and their broken lives than of actually solving a crime. If it's called "True Detective," there needs to be some detective work at some point.

But in the fifth episode of the season, we're still waiting for them to put the pieces into any kind of coherent order. And the fact that people in the fictional government of California are waiting on these three people to crack open a major statewide case of corruption should give everyone a moment of pause. Our government is broken, no doubt, but is it this broken? I'm not so sure.

This episode picked up 66 days after episode four's shootout/massacre. No one's in a good spot, though it feels like 66 days is hardly time enough to have investigated this and for these changes to have occurred. It's also hard to believe the state of California would have wrapped anything up in 66 days. I say this as someone who lived there for 30 plus years and experienced the "speed" of government in the state.

But leaving that aside, this felt like a bunch of people feeling guilty about something. I'm not sure why, but I gather it's because they feel like they did their jobs poorly, which is true. It reminded me of a moment in "Sports Night" when executive producer Dana (Felicity Huffman) comes to everyone and says, "We did a big thing badly." In that case, it spurred genuine action and emotion — and a resolution within the half hour.

I'll agree that Velcoro (Collin Farrell), Bezarides (Rachel McAdams) and Woodrugh (Taylor Kitsch) did a big thing badly, but I'm not clear on what they're going to do about it, or their motivation. It doesn't seem to be guilt, but rather frustration, desperation, and boredom.

That might be realistic, but it's hardly cinematic. With three hours left, I have no idea where "True Detective" is going this season, and that feels like a bad thing.