TV's True Intentions -catherine van tatenhove

Rust Cohle is a talented and troubled Louisiana State homicide detective and he has a renowned ability to squeeze confessions from criminals. Unfortunately, his past is filled with the loss of his daughter in a car accident and the termination of his marriage leading to his abuse of cocaine and heroin. He only talks when you want him to stop, and he carries around an unusually large notebook where his brilliant mind scribbles details of investigations. Rust taught me that even if you feel like death created time to grow the things it would kill, that there is a monster at the end of every dream, and life is just a vicious cycle that even then light will always win even if darkness has reigned supreme for a long time. And, Rust did all of this without even being real.

This is why I love TV. Because thousands of miles away Matthew McConaughey hashed out every intention of Rust Cohle in 40 pages of notes, and he embodied everything he believed Rust to be. And, now millions of people relate on a deep level through the emotions and morals Rust evoked from them. This is a side of TV that I believe is a brilliant and difficult art that relies on a relationship between the viewer and the producer. It isn't for everyone, and to some it seems like a pretentious, uneducated, and brain rotting waste of time. But, you would be hard pressed to find someone who couldn't identify or relate to Rust in any way. So, love it or hate it TV's intentions will always be to alter the way you see the world not necessarily to keep you from seeing it.