#it hasn't made him the household hero the perfect father and husband the savior of the women in his life

[betelgeusing]

marty hart's cyclical return to praising family as THE thing that keeps a man grounded, stable, and happy (specifically in pointing out that rust DOESN'T have a family) even as flashbacks show him spiraling into jealous macho violence as he lies to, mistreats, and destroys his family over the course of multiple affairs (by which he deliberately steps outside of and away from his family despite his wife's best efforts to get him to reconnect and step up to be the family man he sees himself as)

vs

rust cohle's repeated excoriations of the idea of individuality and personhood and the stupid self-centeredness and entitlement that comes with saying "I, a human being, matter to the universe, and the things I do matter", an ideology he carries for years and waxes poetic on for his interviewers as late as 2012, even as he obsessively works himself to the bone to get justice and resolution for the victims he's assigned and ultimately to protect children from the powerful and dangerous people who want to brutalize them

#true detective #so what if it all goes back to Melville and Milch. every great character spins against the way he drives #I know this is the point of their characters I know other people have said it before and better #but I go through it every time and this time Marty is hitting me extra hard. bc with Rust it's basically screaming in your face #Rust says humanity (without exception) is stupid selfish and vain and we're fools to convince ourself our actions matter #he then proceeds to take a job where everything he does matters SO MUCH. and to CARE about that job deeply and obsessively #but Marty... I've really noticed this time how Maggie calls him a coward multiple times in her efforts to pull him back to his family #and she's right because he's too much of a coward to face that gaining the sainted ''family'' hasn't fixed him! #it hasn't made him stop wanting to fuck other women #it hasn't made him the household hero the perfect father and husband the savior of the women in his life #he thought it would and when it doesn't live up to the fantasy he checks out completely #and even in 2012 when his marriage has fallen apart! he still lauds marriage and family as the thing that makes a man good! #despite all the evidence in front of him that he became WORSE after becoming a husband and father. he can't let the ideal go #he has good intentions at his core but he's obsessed with the idea of being a good ol boy and a family man #he shits on Rust for being isolated because he's scared to face the idea that he-- Marty-- would have done less damage on his own #sorry for the tag novel they make me want to bite. and knock their stupid empty heads together really hard #btw this show would be 75% less effective if they had not filmed on location. big brain move thank God for the TD S1 location scouts