✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper


Sign up by Email or Facebook.

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we sent newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Turning tips into memories

Get started Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Kids
  • Benefits
  • Membership
  • Get Started
  • Membership
  • Benefits
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
TV

True Detective episode 4 review ★★★★★

On 28 Jan 19, 9:00 PM – 10:15 PM

In True Detective episode four, the season reaches its halfway point and Wayne (Mahershala Ali) is close to finding answers

By Euan Franklin on 28/1/2019

Sarah Gadon and Mahershala Ali in True Detective season 3
Sarah Gadon and Mahershala Ali in True Detective season 3
True Detective episode 4 review 5 True Detective episode 4 review Euan Franklin
Nic Pizzolatto has always written (or co-written), but never directed. It’s an understandable dynamic, especially in television: writers in their corner, directors in another. But at some point, the fields want to merge. Look at David Chase for The Sopranos or Vince Gilligan for Breaking Bad or David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for Game of Thrones – writers/creators are almost expected to take up the mantle.


Pizzolatto has now done the same, making his directorial debut halfway through this long-anticipated season of True Detective. The pressure’s on, but Pizzolatto pulls it off – making episode 4 one of the best episodes of all three seasons.


In The Hour and the Day, the ’80s Wayne (Mahershala Ali) and Roland (Stephen Dorff) are close to the tails of a potential suspect – finding leads in the local church, to a woman (Candyce Hinkle) who made those disturbing dolls found at the murder scene. In 1990 Wayne is re-ingratiated into the police force to find Julia Purcell, and in 2015 old man Wayne tries to find out everything uncovered by the documentary filmmaker Elisa (Sarah Gadon).



The detectives find the doll-maker (Stephen Dorff, left, Candyce Hinkle, right)


Episode 4 was really the decider for the season, and maybe the series. If things didn’t start picking up, then it might’ve drifted into tedium. Although the stretched pace and gradually built characters are immersive in their approach, patience started to thin out like Wayne’s receding hairline. But Pizzolatto, taking both directing and writing duties (sharing credit with Deadwood writer David Milch), manages to achieve so much while revealing so little (not outright, anyway).


The racial tensions, which proved fatal last week, finally explode when the detectives visit a trailer park populated by African-Americans. Similar to Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman, the venom for police – especially if they’re black – pulses out of the screen.


When they’re interrogating a black man in front of the whole neighbourhood, he aggressively asks Wayne ‘How you gonna wear that badge?’. And with exciting bluntness, barely missing a beat, Wayne responds with ‘It’s got a little clip on it.’


If there’s one remarkable aspect of Pizzolatto’s direction, it’s his tension. Anything can happen, and one wrong move can spill blood.



Wayne (Mahershala Ali) and Amelia's (Carmen Ejogo) first date ripples with romantic tension


This tension broadens from violence to romance, showing the rise and fall of Wayne’s relationship with Amelia almost side by side.


They go on their first date together, and the scene ripples with their seductive back-and-forth. It’s like a multifarious tennis game, several different balls volleyed at the same time. They talk about blood and murder, drifting into family backstories, and the air simmers with sexy innuendos – all while eating posh salads in a dark restaurant. It’s easy to love their fire for each other.


But then Amelia seems to be investigating the case herself, clearly having too much interest – maybe enough to be considered a suspect. She may not be wholly innocent in all this…


Episode 5 is a thrilling, frightening midway point. Both investigations (ten years apart) are in full swing, the world that Wayne and Roland are dropped into has expanded, and the puzzle-piece clues are starting to build a full picture. Hopefully, season 3 will keep up the pace.




What True Detective episode 4 review
When On 28 Jan 19, 9:00 PM – 10:15 PM
Price £n/a
Website



Most popular

Things to do this weekend. Picture: NYCB's Prodigal Son
Things to do in London this weekend: 26 - 28 February
James Nesbitt and Charlene McKenna in Bloodlands, BBC One (Photo: BBC)
Bloodlands, BBC One review
Andra Day in The United States vs Billie Holliday, Sky Cinema (Photo: Sky)
What to watch on TV this week

Editor's Picks

Andra Day in The United States vs Billie Holliday, Sky Cinema (Photo: Sky)
What to watch on TV this week
Ellen Page in The Umbrella Academy
New to Netflix UK: February 2019
Emma Corrin as Lady Diana. Photo: Netflix
The Crown season 4, Netflix review
Ellie Bamber in Les Miserables, BBC
Les Miserables episode 4 review
Diana Gómez in Valeria, Netflix (Photo: Netflix)
The best sex comedies on Netflix
Mahershala Ali in True Detective season 3
True Detective season 3 episode 1 & 2 review
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).

True Detective

Mahershala Ali

Drama

Sky Atlantic

You might like

  • Erin Kellyman in Les Miserables

    Les Miserables episode 5 review ★★★★★

  • Phoebe Waller-Bridge in Fleabag series 2, BBC One / iPlayer

    Fleabag series 2, BBC review, episode 1 ★★★★★

  • Sheridan Smith in Cleaning Up, ITV

    Cleaning Up episode 3 review ★★★★★

  • Mahershala Ali in True Detective season 3

    True Detective episode 3 review ★★★★★

  • Sheridan Smith in Cleaning Up, ITV

    Cleaning Up episode 2 review ★★★★★



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • What is Culture Whisper membership
  • Corporate membership
  • Give a gift membership
  • Retrieve a gift membership
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×