A few final stray thoughts on the 'True Detective' finale before we all go back to obsessing over more frivolous things:

One of the main complains about the last epsiode was that Rust Cohle's newfound optimism in the final reels felt unearned. Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) had for so long been such an extreme pessimist and cynic that his final movement toward a more optimistic worldview didn't compute—or so the argument goes. I think this is miguided for several reasons.

Solving a case that has been bothering you for a good chunk of 17 years—and coming close to death while doing so—just might lead you to, I don't know, have a change of heart. But others don't see it that way. The terrific Emily Nussbaum, for example, snarkily writes that Marty was "'fine, just fine,' recovered from years of Match Personals and TV dinners. Rust had a touching dream about his dead daughter, in which he glimpsed light beneath the darkness." After what they have been through, is this really so odd? Would the experience really not elicit existential feelings in nearly everyone?

Similarly, while I probably have less religious feeling than 99% of the people in this country, for Willa Paskin to write, "I think maybe True Detective ended with Rust Cohle finding God? Talk me off the ledge," and add that it all seemed "cheesy and mystical" seemed a tad unfair. The show did go some way to explaining why people depart from materialist views of the world, however objectively incorrect those views might be.

But my central complaint against this argument is that it sidelines what was so touching and powerful about the ending; namely, that McConaughey was making a gesture towards his partner. In scene after scene over eight episodes, Marty mocked Rust's nihilism and showed impatience with his anti-religious rants. One, in particular, took place at a rural church, where McConaughey heaped scorn on the believers. I thus saw the final scene as McConaughey trying to establish a closer connection with Harrelson, and taking a step towards the latter's less cynical view of the world. None of this means that either man is going to become an optimist or a believer (or that, per Nussbaum, we are supposed to believe that Marty's "fine" line means all is in fact swell).