True Detective backdrop
True Detective poster
Drama
Mystery

The Best Episodes of True Detective Season 1

Every episode of True Detective Season 1 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of True Detective Season 1!

The Best Episodes of True Detective Season 1

An American anthology police detective series utilizing multiple timelines in which investigations seem to unearth personal and professional secrets of those involved, both within or...

Seasons4

  1. Background image for The Long Bright Dark
    8.9/10(32.8k votes)

    #1 - The Long Bright Dark

    S1:E1

    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.

    0 Comments
    View all
  2. Background image for Seeing Things
    8.8/10(28.2k votes)

    #2 - Seeing Things

    S1:E2

    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.

    0 Comments
    View all
  3. Background image for The Locked Room
    9.1/10(27.4k votes)

    #3 - The Locked Room

    S1:E3

    A 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.

    0 Comments
    View all
  4. Background image for Who Goes There?
    9.6/10(39.3k votes)

    #4 - Who Goes There?

    S1:E4

    Hart and Cohle hunt for their newly identified suspect, Reggie Ledoux, a meth cooker who shared a cell with Dora Lange's husband and recently skipped parole. As Hart's personal life collapses around him, Cohle immerses himself in an old criminal identity from his narco days, contacting an East-Texas biker gang known to deal with their primary suspect.

    0 Comments
    View all
  5. Background image for The Secret Fate of All Life
    9.5/10(30.3k votes)

    #5 - The Secret Fate of All Life

    S1:E5

    A violent denouement in the forest clears the Dora Lange case and turns Cohle and Hart into local heroes. Each man settles into a healthier rhythm of living as Hart returns to his family, and Cohle starts a relationship while gaining a reputation as a closer in interrogations. As time passes and his daughters grow older, Hart faces new tensions and temptations, and Cohle learns from a double-murder suspect that there could be much more to an old case than he'd once thought. In 2012, Gilbough and Papania put their cards on the table, presenting new intelligence that threatens Cohle and causes Hart to reassess everything he thought he knew about his former partner.

    0 Comments
    View all
  6. Background image for Haunted Houses
    9.2/10(25.8k votes)

    #6 - Haunted Houses

    S1:E6

    Maggie reveals Cohle's activities in 2002, when his relationship with Hart fractured and he quit the force.

    0 Comments
    View all
  7. Trending NowTRENDING NOW

    The 20 BEST Episodes of True Detective

    READ
  8. Background image for After You've Gone
    9.2/10(25.4k votes)

    #7 - After You've Gone

    S1:E7

    Hart and Cohle call a truce to investigate a series of disappearances that may be related to the Dora Lange murder and the Tuttle family.

    0 Comments
    View all
  9. Background image for Form and Void
    9.6/10(35.1k votes)

    #8 - Form and Void

    S1:E8

    An overlooked detail provides Hart and Cohle with an important new lead in their 17-year-old case.

    0 Comments
    View all

Season 1 Ratings Summary

"The Long Bright Dark" is the best rated episode of "True Detective" season 1. It scored 8.9/10 based on 32841 votes. Directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga and written by Nic Pizzolatto, it aired on 1/12/2014. This episode is rated 0.1 points higher than the second-best, "Seeing Things".