HBO’s “True Detective” saw a ratings surge for its second-season finale on Sunday, though it still came in well below last year.

According to “live plus same-day” estimates from Nielsen, the 90-minute season closer of “True Detective” averaged 2.73 million viewers, up more than 500,000 viewers from the previous week (2.18 million) and the show’s largest same-night audience since late June. It was down about 800,000 from last year’s finale of 3.52 million.

Many critics have voiced their displeasure with season two of “True Detective,” with Variety‘s Brian Lowry calling the show’s finale “fatally flawed.” Still, “True Detective” ended up averaging more same-night viewers this year (2.61 million) than during its rookie season (2.33 million), when it had to face some tough competition including the Grammys and Oscars.

Prior to the finale, this season of “True Detective” was averaging 11.3 million viewers across all platforms, according to HBO, down from last year’s 11.9 million. That total last year made “True Detective” the network’s most popular first-year series since “Six Feet Under” in 2001.

See more: Understanding ‘True Detective’s’ Ratings Declines in Three Easy Charts

According to Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings, the season finale of “True Detective” on Sunday generated 194,000 Tweets, which were seen by a unique audience of 2.11 million. The unique audience was the fifth most for any program last week, behind the GOP Debate on Fox News Channel (9.28 million), the series finale of “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” on Comedy Central (4.27 million), ABC Family’s “Pretty Little Liars” (2.40 million) and USA’s “WWE Raw” (2.37 million).