True Detective: An Unexpected Happy Ending -A little bit of a Spoiler-

So True Detective got me. I was expecting the worst and they delivered an unexpectedly upbeat ending. The boys were able to slay the monster. Sure they didn't bring down the larger cabal of creeps, but they were able to bring closure to their all consuming quest for a killer. I was convinced the show would end with either Rust Cohle or Marty Hart, or both dead as doornails. Knowing neither would be back for season two, it seemed reasonable to expect the characters deaths. Luckily, Nic Pizzolatto must subscribe to Sam Raimi's rules of horror, because he hit them all.

1. The innocent must suffer.
2. The guilty must be punished.
3. You must taste blood to be a man.

The innocent were certainly punished during the season (who didn't feel bad for the dog). Cohle and Hart both tasted blood. You might argue that only some of the evil was punished, but I feel like they got enough of them to make a dent. The most surprising thing that occurred was the transformation of  Rust and Marty's relationship. Estranged for years, the two come back together, realize neither has anything resembling a life and by solving the Dora Lange case, find a friendship. My biggest question during the episode was what would Cohle do with himself if he survived the whole thing. He seemed unsure in the hospital what could be next for him. Marty Hart seemed to be a little more sure of what was next, taking charge of his new/old buddy, the two limping off into the future. The first shot of the series was Hart carrying Rust through the darkness, the last shot was the same only with the two of them in the light. An oddly (and refreshingly) optimistic ending for a show draped in darkness.