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Season 2 – True Detective

Play trailer 1:00 Poster for Season 2 – True Detective Jun 2015 Crime Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
47% Tomatometer 126 Reviews 31% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
Anthology series in which police investigations unearth the personal and professional secrets of those involved, both within and outside the law.
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True Detective — Season 2

True Detective — Season 2

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Critics Consensus

Despite some memorably grizzled performances, True Detective's second season is florid to a fault and so unrelentingly grim that it becomes about as much fun as being stuck in L.A. traffic.

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Critics Reviews

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Molly Eichel Philadelphia Inquirer Jun 13, 2018
It's that the second season of True Detective feels ordinary while the first felt extraordinary... The ordinariness is a quality that weighs heavily on True Detective because its cop-show genre is all over TV. Go to Full Review
Chuck Barney San Jose Mercury News Jun 13, 2018
3/4
All of the lead actors dig deeply into their roles, with Farrell playing the wary, weary burnout to perfection, and Vaughn shifting into full-throttle intensity. Go to Full Review
Melinda Houston Sydney Morning Herald Jun 13, 2017
3.5/5
While this is distinctly and unmistakably True Detective, it's also something of a reinvention: with the same sense of menace but less claustrophobic, less of a two-hander and with a broader, richer brief. Go to Full Review
Stephen Marche Esquire Magazine Oct 19, 2018
A strange combination of slick overproduction and basic incompetence. Go to Full Review
Adam Sweeting The Arts Desk Jul 24, 2018
3/5
There's no problem with the acting talent or the pungently evocative cinematography, but what we need to know is whether this new series can carve itself a niche distinct from its rather-too-familiar antecedent. Go to Full Review
Natalia Marcos El Pais (Spain) Jul 16, 2018
There are virtues in the second season of 'True Detective' that are forming an intimate and strong coherence between the two deliveries. [Full Review in Spanish] Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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R T @RT41949603 Sep 27, 2026 I was expecting this to be bad because of the reviews I had seen in some areas, but I found it to be really compelling. It was a brilliantly acted series with a complex plot. It wasn’t as blatant a story as the first series and it did require a bit more deep thinking, but the acting was so good and the interactions between the characters made me want to keep watching. See more JR M @JRandMan Sep 25, 2026 Great actors, lousy acting, lousy plot, just awful. Don't waste your time on this. See more Brian M @RT34234758 Sep 8, 2026 I loved the first season, but this was a let down. I didn't like any part of it. See more J P @CartmanMunkey Jul 18, 2026 True Detective season 2 is well aware of the burden it carries in trying to follow up season one and tries way too hard to match game with it. While it does have some memorable moments and some top notch performances, it falls flat from overextending and pushing the narrative in multiple directions. Also, it suffers from a common problem of making all of the principle characters so fundamentally flawed and generally dislikeable that your average audience member had nobody on screen to relate to. We probably shouldn't find the murderous mob boss club owner the most relatable character on screen. See more Bo B. @Radius360 Jun 21, 2026 It’s still as bad as the first time. Pretentious and trying to be authentic noir. It’s bad on almost every level aside from the production. It’s just doesn’t hold up to the other seasons. It’s a season to be skipped. See more Tristan B @tristan3 Jun 17, 2026 [BOT] Rewatched recently and it still holds up. See more Read all reviews
True Detective — Season 2

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Episodes

Episode 1 Aired Jun 21, 2015 The Western Book of the Dead The disappearance of a city manager disrupts a lucrative land scheme and ignites a police investigation. Details Episode 2 Aired Jun 28, 2015 Night Finds You Ray and Ani investigate a victim's depraved background; Frank does his own investigation; Paul probes the Vinci police department. Details Episode 3 Aired Jul 5, 2015 Maybe Tomorrow Paul works the prostitute angle; Frank receives the first casualty in a secret war and steps back into a world he left behind. Details Episode 4 Aired Jul 12, 2015 Down Will Come The detail works a pawn shop lead to close in on a suspect in the Caspere case; Frank revisits his past. Details Episode 5 Aired Jul 19, 2015 Other Lives Ray and Frank consider some new life choices; Ani and Paul travel up the coast together to follow a lead. Details Episode 6 Aired Jul 26, 2015 Church in Ruins Frank is desperate to locate a missing woman with information about Caspere; Frank meets with Mexican drug dealers; Ani infiltrates an exclusive inner circle. Details Episode 7 Aired Aug 2, 2015 Black Maps and Motel Rooms Ray, Ani and Paul take precautionary measures to elude detection and untangle a dark mystery; Frank deals with the fallout of his betrayal. Details Episode 8 Aired Aug 9, 2015 Omega Station Frank, Ray and Ani weigh their options as Caspere's killer and the scope of corruption are both revealed. Details
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Season Info

Director
Miguel Sapochnik, Justin Lin
Creator
Nic Pizzolatto
Screenwriter
Nic Pizzolatto
Network
HBO
Rating
TV-MA
Genre
Crime, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date
Jun 21, 2015
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