Let’s face it: in True Detective, women get the short end of the stick. While Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey get to be the tragically flawed heroes, pursuing justice at the cost of their slowly unraveling sanity, the women of the show are cheated upon, abused, and murdered. It’s hard out there in the Deep South for the ladies, and it sure would be nice to see them get their day to shine. Or gradually descend into madness. Whatever.
Well, there’s a strong possibility that in season two of the show, that just might happen. The show’s writer/creator Nic Pizzolatto hinted as much in a Twitter response to a hopeful fan:
@friggenawesome One of the detriments of only having two POV characters, both men (a structural necessity). Next season…
— Nic Pizzolatto (@nicpizzolatto) February 23, 2014
That, of course, invites all sorts of #TrueDetectiveSeason2 jokes. Like, for instance, the one below:
#TrueDetectiveSeason2 pic.twitter.com/oHkGiu0Rgn
— Portlandia (@ifcportlandia) February 23, 2014
But hey, why not? After all, there’s no rule saying that the second season also has to take place in the South. They could just as easily set it in the dismal, wet Pacific Northwest, home to such previous murder mysteries as Twin Peaks and (ugh) The Killing. And while they’re at it, why not make the protagonists the owners of a feminist bookstore who are hot on the trail of a misogynist patron who has been leaving sexist, degrading remarks on their store’s Yelp page?
Anything could happen with the next season of True Detective, and that’s one of the reasons it’s so intriguing. Much like the batshit crazy American Horror Story, which has now had three seasons across a variety of locales and time periods, True Detective will not be bound by continuity from season to season. Nic Pizzolatto is free to explore whatever stories and themes he wants. As long as there’s some detecting involved, of course.