Rust cohle undercover11/7/2023 ![]() It’s clear that without her he’d be a fraction of what he’s risen to in Washington, D.C. We know she wields as much influence over his life, and the story, as he does. By day Claire is an environmental lobbyist and by night she schemes with her husband over a cigarette. She’s the wife of Francis, the show’s archvillain and main character, and together they form a ruthless power couple. "House of Cards" brings us one of the most written about, compelling female characters on current television, Claire Underwood. Centered around politicians, those egocentric, manipulative opportunists, what the show does brilliantly is create women just as contemptible and complex as the men. "House of Cards" is about power – in this case, political power. However, there’s a show out there that could give "True Detective" a crash course in just this topic. We have little if any insight into any of these women’s backstories. It seems as if when Rust says, “Women and children are disappearing, nobody hears about it, nobody puts it together,” this also applies to female character development. As Marty says, his “true failure was inattention” and Rust, sweat drenched and down to his undershirt, showed her what her husband sorely lacked. Maggie, Marty’s wife, ends up sleeping with Rust, but that was completely foreshadowed in episode three when he was drinking a beer in her kitchen. Marty’s lover, Lisa, ranges from topless to scorned, hissing “you need to respect me!” as he enters an elevator full of men. For example, after a woman confesses to murdering her baby, Rust calmly tells her “if you see an opportunity, you should kill yourself.” Indeed, the show is about the horrible things that men do to women. These men are morally conflicted, intelligent and often defy our expectations. Rust is all too familiar with the hypocrisy and cruelty of the world, while Marty can’t help but personify it. ![]() His character is the id-soaked counterpoint to Rust’s detached and philosophical demeanor. He pontificates about how family gives a man necessary boundaries… boundaries he himself could never stay within. Woody Harrelson plays Marty Hart, the family man with a mistress on the side, aka the stereotypically righteous hypocrite. Combine this existentialist rambling with acid flashbacks left over from his days as an undercover narc and we have a deliciously unreliable narrator. Matthew McConaughey’s Rust Cohle is a cerebral detective who spouts nihilistic lines like “Maybe the honorable thing for our species to do is deny our programming, stop reproducing, walk hand in hand into extinction…”. "True Detective" is a buddy cop whodunit with major star power, accelerating in mind-bending tension throughout the season. The ladies are essentially either spiteful jezebels, scorned wives or dead whores. ![]() Much has been written about how "True Detective," for all its gripping, dark storytelling, is seriously lacking in the female character department.
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