True Detective S1: The Spectrum of Man

Rust Cohle, the Übermensch

I’m rewatching True Detective Season 1 for what is probably the 7th time. The writer, Nic Pizzolatto (an Italian btw), infused many Schopenhauerean and Nietzschian concepts into the intense dialogues between Rust Cohle and Marty Hart. Much has been written about the root of the philosophical themes in this season and as you know, I am not one to theorycel. Regardless, it’s impossible to watch True Detective S1 without seeing the obvious contrast between Rust and Marty and who they are as men. Let’s begin with Rust.

Rust is what normies call a “dark character.” Rust is very much an introvert, extremely perceptive, and exceptional at what he does as a homicide detective. Rust knows how to read people. He has a reputation for getting criminals to confess their crimes by manipulating them during interrogations; many of them confess their crimes to him as a means to salvation. Very powerful. He said he can see through their eyes and people’s eyes in general. To quote Rust, “everyone wears their hunger and their haunt.”

Rust is not distracted by women. Marty and his wife Maggie (played by the lovely Michelle Monaghan), take him to a bar to try and set him up with his wife’s hot friend — he wasn’t interested. In another scene, a hooker throws herself at him and he essentially says thanks but no thanks. He is, however, tempted and seduced by Marty’s wife, but we’ll get to that later.

Rust is not soft. When Marty finds out that his wife left him because he got caught cheating, he shows up at her job and causes a scene. Rust shows up and gets Marty under control. Marty is a physically very strong and is filled with rage, yet Rust is able to get him under control simply by putting his hand on him and telling him that they have work to do.

Rust settles down Marty in front of Maggie who is visibly turned on by this. Rust gives Maggie a look of reassurance that she’s okay while he walks away with Marty.

Marty then takes Rust to a bar and starts venting about how he fucked up, how he needs to get his wife back. Rust replies “This is none of my business. I don’t want to hear it.” Marty keeps rambling again. Rust tells him again that this is none of his business, that they have work to do. Marty, taken back by how cold one man could be, accuses Rust of being “the Michael Jordan of being a son of a bitch.”

This is consistent with Rust’s perspective on life:

I think human consciousness, is a tragic misstep in evolution. We became too self-aware, nature created an aspect of nature separate from itself, we are creatures that should not exist by natural law. We are things that labor under the illusion of having a self; an accretion of sensory, experience and feeling, programmed with total assurance that we are each somebody, when in fact everybody is nobody. Maybe the honorable thing for our species to do is deny our programming, stop reproducing, walk hand in hand into extinction, one last midnight - brothers and sisters opting out of a raw deal.

This quoteable scene isn’t why Rust doesn’t lend Marty a helping hand at the bar. It’s because Rust has accepted, as intimately as possible, that he lives his life alone and is going to die alone. Rust looks himself in the eyes as part of his morning routine.

This does not mean that Rust would never help out a friend, but we’re talking about Marty here, who Rust does not respect. Let’s talk about Marty.