Why Rust Cohle Is Still My Hero 10 Years Later

He's a yawn who attracts edgelord viewers who think it's so deep to think about how we're "specs of dust in oblivion". Yawn, such cliche teenage shyt. I thought this way when I was 18.

For me, the last sentence of the show summons who Rust is. "Once there was only dark, if you ask me the light's winning." He chose to became light when he had all reasons to be swallowed by darkness and evil. He refraimed his own nihilism.

This show really changed me. At first, it changed me negatively, because pessimistic ideas and dogmas that it consists of overwhelmed me. But after a while I saw that this story is actually optimisstic. Moral of that story is: when darkness prevails and overpowers you, become the light source, that will get you through it.

I am a cop in Ohio and know a detective that is a lot like this dude. He got nicknamed after him and didn't know what we were talking about until he saw the show years later. All he said was he doesn't like Matt McConaughey.

The first season of True Detective is special. I was blown away at how good it was. I had never seen a TV series that was that well made.

You didn’t mention Rust’s daughter once. Her death in many ways drove his pessimism. He holds such a deep and endless love for her and I believe allows it to drive his actions amid a life devoid of meaning when she died.

People like Rust exist in every sector of the real world - but just as with Rust, you almost never notice them or their amazing work because they dont care about the recognition

I believe it’s hands down the greatest single season of Television. Breaking Bad, The Wire, and the Sopranos come very close

I’ve been a detective for 7 years. After working undercover for 2 years, divorced, then working a child abuse case that broke me… I found myself exactly as you describe. The world IS fallen as exemplified by these ritualistic child trafficking cases. I was non religious. I found out evil was real. Then while in the belly of a beast, I was suddenly called to belief. I just saw this series last year while at a residential rehab for first responders. Back at work now and doing much better. I am subscribing for sure. Great analysis.

4:39 "If the only thing keeping the person decent is expectation of divine reward, then that person is a piece of shit." Damn, i was trying to put that into words since forever, thank you.

“The closer we get to truth, the further we get from meaning”. You put this really well. I think that once someone reaches this point it can be so jarring that there might even almost be some desire, in a way, to go back to the comforting prior beliefs.. Also, I very much appreciated your description for what it feels like to lose one’s childhood religion. I think you described the experience really well.

My dear friend once told me that he thinks that depressed people are the only ones that see true nature of reality. Beacause if you think of life as a whole you may come to conslusion it is a painful and meaningless experience. I spend most of my time deceiving myself that it is otherwise, however deep inside I know it is true.

This for me is the best single season of any show I’ve ever watched. And thanks to this reminder I’m about to watch it again

Rust showed up for me when I first lost my faith too. I couldn’t believe a character like him existed on a mainstream tv show. Some of the best writing ever.

I’m still up for the whole “walk hand in hand into oblivion” thing if anybody wants to do it

Cohle is a believer who doesn’t know it, Marty is a disbeliever who doesn’t know it, believing is actions even if the mind cannot put together the philosophy of said belief.

One thing to keep in mind is the life journey of Rust and his character's arc of self-discovery. When we meet him in the series he is at a point of nihilism after having hit rock bottom in his deep cover narcotics infiltration, itself a flight from self spurred by the tragic loss of his child. As they are driving at the outset of your video, his philosophical statements that upset his partner so much in the car are classic depressive nihilism. He believes in nothing and thinks the noble thing is to give up on existence. The character arc throughout the show takes the nihilism as its beginning and progresses to a point where he accepts that the noble thing for someone who has had so much taken from him is to protect others. His reason for being becomes toward the end of the show nothing but to confront and defeat a manifestation of pure evil. In this, he reaches the purest state of what a police officer should be. Having been touched by evil in his own life, having seen it over and over again as a police officer, he is stripped of his own innocence, but he uses the awareness brought by his tragedy to serve others, selflessly, and protect them and their innocence from the horrors he is all too familiar with. This is why, at the end of the show, we see him portrayed, nearly destroyed by the forces he confronted and ultimately defeated, looking very much like a Jesus figure in the hospital. The message of the show is that only the spirit of self-sacrifice matters. All the trappings of formalized religion distort this essential spirit into messages put out by the powerful to bend others toward their will. Rust's journey is one where he sort of backs into being a cosmic savior figure. Like the best leaders in politics are the ones who are conscripted to it rather than those who seek out power, the noble saviors among us become so by meeting challenges that arise from circumstance. They are volunteered into it by life, becoming so because their personal morality cannot let them take any other, easier path. They do not seek it out, it finds them. This is Rust's archetype.

Watching season 1 in 2014 as each episode aired was a journey. Nearly 10 years later, I watched it again. Life has changed; I've grown, I've loved, and I've lost. I appreciate this masterpiece even more with an evolved understanding of life. This was an excellent analysis and made me appreciate the writing, editing, directing, and acting even more. You have a very keen eye for detail, and you revealed the subtle nuances that I witnessed but did not consciously notice. Thank you for your insight. Phenomenal work!

I'm so glad someone made this video. True detective is dangerously influential. And that's a good thing: it's hard to accept that these notions might be true but they are too compelling and convicting to ignore.

I never thought a TV series could change my actual day to day thinking