Going into the season finale of "True Detective" after just seven episodes left fans wondering how the show could possibly wrap in one hour. Would the hotly watched series have to aim for a more artistic, less explanatory ending to make time? Actually, it finished in around 45 minutes. The remaining 15 handled Russ and Marty's physical and emotional recoveries.
It's not as if "True Detective" hadn't changed its style several times during the eight episodes. The show moved from slow detective work to hot-paced action halfway through, changed again in episode 6 when we were taken to the present day, and then switched once more in episode 7 as Rusty and Marty experience something near reconciliation and humor in their complicated relationship. It was episode 7 -- with Marty and Rusty becoming something close to friends again -- that defined the show's unexpectedly uplifting message. For once, things stayed the same in episode 8.
The creators behind "True Detective" play a neat trick that makes Rusty and Marty's redemption that much more satisfying/surprising. When we're first introduced to their younger and older selves, it is their earlier versions to which we are obviously drawn, and their more restrained, physically diminished older versions from which we cringe. In their own ways, the men have appeared to regress from their younger days -- Marty in passion and physical abilities, Russ in physical and mental health -- when really they've only improved themselves. We don't realize it until near the end, but both men change just barely enough (while retaining most of their adversarial chemistry) to work together even more effectively than they once did, when the case of the Yellow King was actually fresh.
The unfolding of time is central to the story, consciously so in the case of Rusty and Reggie Ledoux. They mention a flat circle in which events happen the same way they've always had. How "True Detective" ends both follows that concept and strays away from it, depending on how long your timeline is. Rusty and Marty do change time; it just takes them nearly 20 years to do so. Less extraordinary people, like many of those that live in the nearly ungovernable Louisiana wilderness depicted in the show, rarely get that chance.
All the while, the sanctity of the 60 minute format is maintained. The dynamic between change and discipline -- in an era when shows pander to fans with two and even three hour season finales -- wasn't too far off from the way Rusty had to live his life in order to finally capture the Yellow King.
