Analysis: Lovecraft & Theology in True Detective (Part 3) 

I'm an Orthodox Christian catechuman (I'll be chrismatied next month) and it was an awesome coincidence that I found your channel. God bless. ☦️

Anybody noticed how Rust looks like a beaten Jesus Christ when his reflection appears on the glass when he’s in the hospital bed? Very profound essay.

Catholic convert, Lovecraftian student for nigh on 25 years now, and I love True Detective S1!! So glad I found your series 🙌

I'm an atheist, but I was raised Roman Catholic. This is very good. I've watched the whole series and you've earned a subscriber

You've done an interesting job of analyzing 'True Detective'. While Marty makes his own journey from pride to humility (crying in front of the family he lost), Rust goes through his own 'purgatory', from doubt to belief. It was a remarkable journey for both characters, and well-played by the actors. I particularly liked the scene at the revival tent, when Marty remarks to Rust, that for someone who professes to believe in nothing; he sure frets a lot about existence. Nice job. :)

When Childress calls Rust little Priest as he is entering the building, it reminds me of when the demon calls out "MERRRRRRRRRRINN"!!!! when Fr. Merrin arrives at the house in that iconic scene in "The Exorcist". The demon recognizes Fr. Merrin from previous battles. I think it says something about Rust's true character that the evil man in this scene recognizes Rust as a Priest. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mRxTgasJUdo.html

The amount of passion and work you put into these videos truly transcends the screen! Huge fan!

I watch this show like once every 6 months. I show dude’s at the firehouse who have never seen it. Each time we binge watch the show in a single day. Thank you so much for this awesome analysis. As an atheist I always felt connected to Rust like he was saying all the things that I think out loud. This is a weird turn hearing your analysis and makes me feel like I have some thinking to do.

An absolutely excellent series of videos. Thank you so much for this analysis.

Rust's arc as a conversion story is such a wonderful reading of it.

Oh man! I'm not just being a flatterer when I say this dude, but you legit have a phenomenal work of art in your hands with this. This must've taken hella work! To be honest, I think you should compile all 3 parts into a single whole, because this is the first critical documentary (as far as I'm aware) of True Detective season 1, and my God, its really damn good. Serious job well done; and if anyone balks at the foray into the explicitly religious, never-mind them, it fits it perfectly, and adds even more depth to an already very deep show, and plus, the show beckons such an interpretive lens anyhow Great work man! And thanks for reminding me about this.

Farewell happy fields where joy forever dwells.

Wow dude. Absolutely blown away by this. Truly one of the best philosophical understandings and breakdowns of the material at hand. I never thought about Rust as Job and Dante but now I can never unsee it. He truly went through hell to become the Shepard, and by the end he had fully seen the light. Truly excellent video my guy!

The fact that Rust found Light, while close to death, in the Heart of Darkness that was Childress's ritual sacrifice chamber....after suffering so much pain, indignity and doubt, is just beautiful to me.

This series of works on true detective is one of the best things I've ever seen.

True Detective was absolutely incredible. Didn't watch it until last year and had no prior knowledge of it so it threw me for a loop. I know Rust gets the glory as he should, but Woody absolutely killed it too. Maggie as well. Too bad Breaking Bad was around the same time

I hadn’t thought about true detective in years and rewatched it recently on a whim. Then I go to RU-vid looking for videos analyzing the deeper themes of the show and thought it was pretty serendipitous that these three videos came out very recently as well. I know it’s just a coincidence but I want to think it’s something more lol. Great videos man

Good analogy with the hammer and anvil 👍

How do you only have 1.6k subs. This is amazing man. Keep up the work, I will be here for every video

Very well done. I just rewatched the show for the first time since I originally saw it, and came across this video. I loved your comparison with Dante and your allusions to the Cloud of Unknowing. One thing I noticed upon watching your video were what I think are references to T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets in the show, especially Burnt Norton and Little Gidding. The first in its reflection on time and humanity. The second in its reflection on eschatology and theosis. While watching this show, I had mostly turned off my critical thinking, just wanting to enjoy a mystery. But that sermon in the tent started, and I thought, "Hmm. That's actually not bad." This year, I've been heavily referencing "unveiled faces" in my own sermons. I had not thought to make the connection to Dante until seeing your video, and now all these bells and whistles are going off in my head. I suppose I'll need to watch the series again, this time with pad and paper ready to take notes. What really got me in your video was near your conclusion when you point out that the god in the True Detective universe is the LORD. Not any of the Lovecraftian elder gods. And I just think that's so interesting. I can't remember who said it, but another priest had mentioned once that Lovecraftian was his favorite horror genre because it showed the horrors of a being or beings with the power of God who *don't* care about us. Frightening indeed!

I really enjoyed this series and it's fascinating how after this much time people are still analyzing and discussing its merits and themes. Love to see your take on the series Mr. Robot if you haven't done one already.

This has been a very interesting take, and with your Christian Theological leanings, appreciative for its expression of an intelligent weaving of meaning and virtue, into this show that I truly love. My point of contention, however, is that I wish to see more of this, going on into season 2 and season 3. And I am an Irish Pagan, so I dislike this cult distorting the processes of my people's festivals the same way that the Tuttles in True Detective distort the auspices of the Church. Our spiritual enemies, are the same. Our champions, slightly different in regards to our lenses applied. But at least with how the messages are extolled, neither of us will have skill issues, in the faces of those enemies.

You should consider sending this off to a film school or amateur documentary festival or something

I liked the way you have created this video, all the combinations of quotes,book,writers and philosophy.... It's so great

Jesus, God or Light, transcendance, Savior Angel. The words dont matter anymore. I get your message. In the end the only thing that last is love and light. Thanks for this

This video is one of the strongest witnesses to the Gospel of Jesus Christ I’ve ever experienced

A secular way of describing a priest is a person who uses his knowledge of humanity and experience to help those around them. Who dedicates themselves to understanding the breadth of man, to help them. Yes Rust is faithful. He contemplates how a man would allow himself to be crucified. If God is dead; then he was here. My faith is built off that quote. If he was here, he is gone. When we realize how WE are individually constructed (realize our calling, destiny, what we do best in life) we inbody and become as close to Godliness as we humans can.

Love this trilogy of videos amazing work TD Season 1 is truly perfection

Very happy ti have found your channel! This video series has been fantastic, & was very insightful. 😊

Thank you for your work.

These in-depth dives Were brilliant, I have never seen one that goes into such detail! Keep up the very good work

Excellent work Brother!

Great series and fascinating topic, this has changed how I view both True Detective and Theology

Very good analysis...I especially like how you tied it up all at the end

Super underrated channel man, just finished your true detective series... amazing this is prime YT content I tell you the moment this reaches more people you are going to get well deserved attention. I'm watching more videos of yours now, a more in depth analysis of The Dark Knight would be awesome, specially about the Joker.

Magnificent. Thank you.

superb analysis

Extremely well done!

Thank you for this beautiful video. I have one comment re translation of the New Testament into English: John 1:5 ( And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. " ) is not accurate. In the original Greek it reads " καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ ἡ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν. " The word " κατέλαβεν " means *overcome*. The translation has taken and translated the word " κατάλαβε " ( see the second vowel is an alpha, not an epsilon ) which means understood. Clearly the correct translation properly reflects the adversarial nature between the Light and the darkness. May I say again, what a great series of videos this was! Thanks again

Very well done, sir. Subbed.

This is called “ Apophatic Theology “ knowing by not knowing . Cloud of unknowing .

underrated

Love your theory, don't disagree with any of it. Valid interpretation. Personally I don't think that Rust is moving towards faith in Christianity, but he is certainly a man of great faith in The Light.

I would say beware any salesman who sells you suffering as path to salvation

Woe to the IDLE not "idol" shepherd, although that would apply too. Good work.

Using best cover of hallelujah as well 💪💪 love Jeff Buckley

1:00 - I’d take him more seriously if he did something about that outfit.

I am not having luck finding the full tent revival scene you mentioned. Can anyone connect me with a link to it? Much appreciated

I really would like to have a conversation with you. You seem very opened minded. I believe that God its not the way we think he's. He's not the one who had created everything and he lives in heaven but I believe in a another dimension that we don't yet fully understand. By the way thank you for this beautiful théories.

Before Job , in chronological order , the blood sacrificing indigenous animists and idol worshipers believed good and evil resided in many Gods and not within man . Christianity says the potential for both good and malevolence reside within man . We define sins based on common universals of negative personality traits , greed , lust , vanity , jealousy , doing away with both the need for the concept of many gods and human sacrifice . Christianity provides the solution for that . But they are only guidelines often in conflict with momentary self interest and it is up to each sovereign individual how he behaves . The belief in God is as old as humanity itself and longevity proves that it satisfies some real need within us . This inalienable truth absents the need for concrete proof . From our belief in morality we get our law and a society based on peaceful coexistence that is founded on promoting law and order . Morality comes from the belief in God . Destroy one and you destroy the other . The Marxist atheists provide no solution for that . After first using anarchy and chaos to obtain power they murdered 100 million of their own families just to retain power when they colonized half the planet . The question of whether there is or is not a God , is best left to a teenager running up on Life 101 , trying to figure out the world and their place in the world as a responsible adult . For any juvenile over 40 to promote atheism is suspect . So we can raise our children in a moral society based on law and order , It really does not matter if as an individual we believe that God exists . What matters is that as a society we all behave as if God exists .

While there is much beauty expressed in the text of Job I consider the actions of Yahweh to be abhorrent. Yahweh allows his prosecutor Satan (The term Ha-Satan translates most directly to our word prosecutor. He very much works for Yahweh, not against him, in the OT) make Job suffer about as much as a man can suffer emotionally. He even allows his prosecutor kill job's family. And at the end when job is "restored" is his family brought back to life? No. He gets a new family. Christians tend to gloss over that point by saying he has his family restored at the end but that's not true. His original wife and children are still dead. but a wife and kids were property to a man back then, so I guess that's an upgrade for Job in their eyes.

@ 8:46 Rust does not act in a "responsible, non-hedonistic" way. The man literally has sex with his "best-friend's" wife. Committing the first cardinal sin after honoring false gods & murder... Adultery. Did you watch the same show that i did?

I noticed that you too gloss over Job losing his wife and children. He doesn't get those back at the end. He gets a new wife and children. That's no big deal to the ancient Jews as they saw a wife and children as property. Is that how you feel?

Man, killer series of videos. Very thoughtful throughout but it kind of lost me toward the end. It seems as if all the suffering and futility in the world depicted in TD exists simply to provoke Rust's internal transformation so I'm no so sure about the conclusion regarding Christ as a redeemer. Rust actually doesn't save anyone (the children he rescues are damaged beyond repair) so I'm not certain how this reinforces the idea of Rust's soul (faith) being restored...

This is the only part of the show i dont like, basically because representing non believers as believers in denial mad at God is such a lazy cliche than even that trash movie God s not dead does it.

Bunch of gobbledygook of an answer.

What music starts at 10:30?