Alan Sepinwall (TVs Ebert) is one of the few positive reviews of True Detective youll find today. I think if were watching True Detective because you like serial killer mysteries, then you were destined to be disappointed. The showrunners have said all along there would be no shocking twist and that the Yellow Kings identity was not the narrative carrot driving the story along. Its weird to me how many critics are using the lack of said twist to somehow say the show failed in its literary ambitions. Which seems pretty far from the truth. My favorite theory is that the show itself is the Yellow King. In the Robert Chambers book, The King in Yellow is a play said to drive people mad. Its referenced throughout the book, but is never seen entirely. The Yellow King in True Detective represents ultimate evil - the absolute worst a human is capable of. Childress isnt the Yellow King, hes only the caretaker of Carcosa. We dont know exactly how his slimy metaphorical Cthulu tentacles are intertwined in the world, but the show gives us enough of a glimpse to know hes been there for a long, long time. Youre likely to be driven mad if you go into True Detective looking for clear cut answers or explanations, and yet the show actively welcomes/demands that kind of scrutiny. And I loved it, really. Carcosa was as horrific of a place as it needed to be, and I like that the show never betrayed its subtlely. You could believe that Childress was possessed by some sort of supernatural being or that hes just a deeply sick, inbred monster - whatever youre inclined to believe, I think the show can support it.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Mar 2014 17:17:10 +0000
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