True Detective — Season 1
All 8 episodes in airing order, with first-run dates and viewer ratings.
- 01
Former Louisiana State CID partners Martin Hart and Rustin Cohle give separate statements to a pair of investigators about the murder of a prostitute, Dora Lange, 17 years earlier. As they look back, details of the crime, replete with occult overtones, are accompanied by insights into the detectives' volatile partnership and personal lives.
- 02
Under pressure to land a suspect in the Lange murder, Quesada warns Hart and Cohle that they might be replaced by three detectives from a new task force. The pair lobbies for extra time to follow up on a lead that takes them from a rural cathouse to an incinerated church. With his marriage to Maggie already strained by work, Hart finds respite away from home.
- 03
Hidden image at the burned-out church leads Cohle and Hart to Joel Theriot, a tent-revival minister whose parishioners finger a scarred "tall man" seen with Dora Lange. Brought in for interrogation, a sex offender matching the description is quickly dismissed by Cohle, despite offering a confession. Hart gets sidetracked after Maggie sets Cohle up with a friend at a C&W bar. Looking to establish a pattern of murder, Cohle pores over old case files, finding a connection with a woman assumed to have drowned years earlier.
- 04
Hart and Cohl follow a series of dangerous leads in an effort to locate prime suspect Reggie Ledoux.
- 05
Hart and Cohle share the spoils of a solved case; Papania and Gilbough confront the detectives with troubling new intelligence.
- 06
Maggie sheds light on Cohle's activities in 2002, when his relationship with Hart fractured and he quit the force.
- 07
Hart and Cohle forge a truce to probe a murky string of disappearances that tie to the symbology of the Dora Lange murder and the Tuttle family.
- 08
An overlooked detail provides Hart and Cohle with an important new lead in their 17-year-old case.
Shows like True Detective
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The FBI estimates there are currently over 300 active serial killers in the United States.













