The BEST episodes of True Detective

Every episode of True Detective ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of True Detective!

An anthology series in which police investigations unearth the personal and professional secrets of those involved, both within and outside the law.

Last Updated: 3/15/2024Network: HBOStatus: Continuing
Share:
Form and Void
star
8.65
7773 votes

#1 - Form and Void

Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 3/9/2014

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

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Secret Fate of All Life
star
8.36
7921 votes

#2 - The Secret Fate of All Life

Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/16/2014

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.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Who Goes There
star
8.36
8201 votes

#3 - Who Goes There

Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 2/9/2014

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.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Haunted Houses
star
8.27
7408 votes

#4 - Haunted Houses

Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 2/23/2014

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.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
After You've Gone
star
8.24
7445 votes

#5 - After You've Gone

Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 3/2/2014

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.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Locked Room
star
8.18
8480 votes

#6 - The Locked Room

Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/26/2014

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.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Long Bright Dark
star
8.01
11282 votes

#7 - The Long Bright Dark

Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/12/2014

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.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Seeing Things
star
7.96
9251 votes

#8 - Seeing Things

Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/19/2014

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.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Great War and Modern Memory
star
7.93
3383 votes

#9 - The Great War and Modern Memory

Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/13/2019

The disappearance of a young Arkansas boy and his sister in 1980 triggers vivid memories and enduring questions for retired detective Wayne Hays, who worked the case 35 years ago with his then-partner Roland West. What started as a routine case becomes a long journey to dissect the crime and make sense of it.

Directors: Jeremy Saulnier
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Final Country
star
7.89
2543 votes

#10 - The Final Country

Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 2/17/2019

Following up on new leads, Wayne and Roland track down a man who left the police force in the midst of the Purcell investigation. Meanwhile, Amelia visits Lucy Purcell’s best friend in hopes of gaining insights into the whereabouts of the mysterious one-eyed man.

Directors: Daniel Sackheim
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Hunters in the Dark
star
7.85
2588 votes

#11 - Hunters in the Dark

Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 2/10/2019

Wayne and Roland revisit discrepancies in the Purcell case that were hidden or forgotten over the years. Among those being reevaluated is Tom Purcell, as well as Lucy Purcell’s cousin, Dan O’Brien. The glitter of Amelia’s book release is tarnished by a voice from the past.

Directors: Daniel Sackheim
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Now Am Found
star
7.84
2616 votes

#12 - Now Am Found

Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/24/2019

Wayne struggles to hold on to his memories, and his grip on reality, as the truth behind the Purcell case is finally revealed.

Directors: Daniel Sackheim
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Black Maps and Motel Rooms
star
7.82
3726 votes

#13 - Black Maps and Motel Rooms

Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 8/2/2015

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

Directors: Daniel Attias
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Hour and the Day
star
7.77
2743 votes

#14 - The Hour and the Day

Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 1/27/2019

Hays and West see a possible connection between the local church and the Purcell crimes. As the detectives search for one suspect and round up another one for interrogation, Woodard finds himself targeted by a vigilante group.

Directors: Nic Pizzolatto
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
If You Have Ghosts
star
7.77
2641 votes

#15 - If You Have Ghosts

Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/3/2019

Wayne finds himself in a no-win situation as new clues emerge in the Purcell case. Roland wrestles with how to keep evidence secure as lawyers demand a new investigation. Amelia finds her relationship with Wayne imperiled by her writing aspirations and his jealousy.

Directors: Nic Pizzolatto
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Down Will Come
star
7.76
4062 votes

#16 - Down Will Come

Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 7/12/2015

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. Velcoro, Bezzerides and Woodrugh struggle to keep the case straight in the face of corruption.

Directors: Jeremy Podeswa
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
star
7.75
3103 votes

#17 - Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye

Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/13/2019

Hays looks back at the aftermath of the 1980 Purcell case in West Finger, AR, including possible evidence left behind at the Devil's Den, an outdoor hangout for local kids. As attention focuses on two conspicuous suspects--Brett Woodard, a solitary vet and trash collector, and Ted LaGrange, an ex-con with a penchant for children--the parents of the missing kids, Tom and Lucy Purcell, receive a cryptic note from an anonymous source.

Directors: Jeremy Saulnier
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Church in Ruins
star
7.71
3705 votes

#18 - Church in Ruins

Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 7/26/2015

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

Directors: Miguel Sapochnik
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Omega Station
star
7.63
3847 votes

#19 - Omega Station

Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired 8/9/2015

Frank, Ray and Ani weigh their options as Caspere's killer and the scope of corruption is revealed.

Directors: John Crowley
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Big Never
star
7.61
2893 votes

#20 - The Big Never

Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/20/2019

Hays recalls his early romance with Amelia, as well as some cracks in their relationship that surfaced after they married and had children. Ten years after the Purcell crimes took place, new evidence emerges, giving Hays a second chance to vindicate himself and the investigation.

Directors: Daniel Sackheim
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Night Country: Part 5
star
7.60
1561 votes

#21 - Night Country: Part 5

Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/11/2024

As Prior digs into the links between Tsalal and mining company Silver Sky, Navarro rescues Leah from a local protest that has turned violent. At a meeting with Silver Sky exec Kate McKitterick, Danvers is warned not to pursue the case any further.

Directors: Issa López
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Night Country: Part 1
star
7.53
2065 votes

#22 - Night Country: Part 1

Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/14/2024

When eight researchers at Tsalal Station vanish without a trace, Danvers orders a search. After handling a workplace dispute, Navarro tries to convince a skeptical Danvers that the men's disappearance is connected to the murder of a local activist.

Directors: Issa López
Writer: Issa López
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Night Country: Part 2
star
7.50
1785 votes

#23 - Night Country: Part 2

Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/21/2024

As Danvers and Prior learn more about Tsalal -- and find an unlikely location for the physical evidence -- Captain Connelly threatens to move the case to Anchorage. Later, Navarro and Danvers find a connection between one of the Tsalal men and Annie.

Directors: Issa López
Writer: Issa López
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Other Lives
star
7.44
3759 votes

#24 - Other Lives

Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 7/19/2015

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

Directors: John Crowley
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Night Finds You
star
7.40
4493 votes

#25 - Night Finds You

Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 6/28/2015

Ben Caspar's autopsy reveals the gruesome details of his demise, and Ray and Ani wonder if it has anything to do with his fondness for prostitutes. Meanwhile, Frank looks into what might have happened to his missing fortune.

Directors: Justin Lin
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV