True Detective, Seasons 1 & 2

Series Premiere. 2012. Two 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 detective's volatile partnership and personal lives.

Under pressure to land a suspect in the Dora Lange murder, Quesada warns Hart and Cohle they might be replaced by three detectives from a new occult-crimes task force. The pair lobbies for extra time in order 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 ends up finding respite outside of home.

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.

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. Cohle's undercover work takes him to a dangerous edge where the law has no place, and both men must confront the cost of living a false life.

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.

In 2002, Cohle and Hart begin to fall back to familiar and violent obsessions. Hart exacts savage vengeance on a pair of teenage boys, and Cohle becomes convinced they left something undone in 1995. Working on his own, Cohle traces a sinister connection between missing children along the coast and evangelist Billy Lee Tuttle's Wellsprings Program. Hart is reintroduced to a former prostitute he met during the Lange investigation. In 2012, Papania and Gilbough question Maggie, now divorced from Marty, about Cohle and Hart during 2002, the year their relationship fractured and Cohle quit the force following a suspension.

After Marty is shown a harrowing piece of evidence, he and Cohle forge a truce after years of vitriol, and we learn why Cohle returned to the state in 2010. Hart helps Cohle probe a murky conspiracy of disappearances connected to the Dora Lange murder, a path of connections that leads to the Tuttle family. Hart reconnects with Maggie after years without communication in order to confirm what the police wanted, and perhaps to say goodbye. Concerned that harm might come to him, Maggie pays Cohle a visit at the bar where he's working, but gets a cold shoulder for her efforts. Cohle and Hart uncover a connection to an old colleague and enact a plan to draw him out.

Season One Finale. After their interrogation of Geraci yields new info but no critical breaks, Hart and Cohle find themselves back at square one. However, a seemingly arbitrary detail in a photograph, along with a homeowner's old tax records, provides the pair with a vital new lead in their 17-year-old case. The two men pursue the lead to an apocalyptic confrontation.

Season Two Premiere. The disappearance of a city manager disrupts a lucrative land scheme and ignites an investigation involving three police officers and a career criminal who is moving into legitimate business.

Ray and Ani investigate a victim's depraved background, as does Frank, while Paul probes the Vinci PD.

Paul works the prostitute angle while Frank receives the first casualty in a secret war, and steps back into a world he'd left behind.

The detail works a pawn-shop lead to close in on a suspect in the Caspere case. Frank revisits his past to pay for his present.

Ray and Frank contemplate new life choices; Ani and Paul follow a lead up the coast.

Desperate to locate a missing woman with intel about Caspere, Frank meets with Mexican drug dealers; Ani infiltrates an exclusive inner circle, with Ray and Paul keeping close tabs.

Ray, Ani and Paul take precautionary measures to elude detection and untangle a dark mystery; Frank deals with the fallout of his betrayal.

Season Two Finale. Frank, Ray and Ani weigh their options as Caspere's killer and the scope of corruption are revealed.

Venture into the dark underbelly of L.A. county as drawn for Season 2 of 'True Detective' in this preview.

A stunning aerial view of California as seen in Season 2 of 'True Detective.'

Get the scoop on the premiere season of 'True Detective' from the cast and crew of this HBO drama series. Interviews include Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Michelle Monaghan, and more.

An inside look at the series 'True Detective' with stars Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey, and others.

Meet detectives Martin Hart (Woody Harrelson) and Rustin Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) in this scintillating preview of the hit HBO drama series 'True Detective.'

Delve inside the HBO series 'True Detective' in this behind-the-scenes special. Clips from the show and interviews with cast and crew, including stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, paint a fascinating picture of the storyline, the characters, the swampy Louisiana settings, and more.

Join Vince Vaughn, Colin Farrell and the other stars of 'True Detective' for this intriguing look at Season 2 of the hit series.

Venture into the dark underbelly of L.A. county as drawn for Season 2 of 'True Detective' in this preview featuring clips and interviews.