Warning: spoilers ahead

Sunday night's episode of "True Detective" was a must-see.

For weeks we've been hearing about these swanky parties with high-end escorts that take place up in the Hollywood Hills, and last night we finally got a peek inside what goes down at one of them.

Following a major shootout at the end of episode 4, in which cops Bezzerides (Rachel McAdams), Woodrugh (Taylor Kitsch), and Velcoro (Colin Farrell) believe they took down the guy responsible for city planner Ben Casper's gruesome murder, we see how the three detectives still can't shake the case.

They are now on a special task force to find the missing girl that Bezzerides was looking for at the start of the season. But the real reason is to link collusion between Vinci PD and any state departments. And it's led to Bezzerides getting access into one of the racey parties. The hope is to find some answers.

They end up getting more than they expected.

Bezzerides is driven by bus with other girls to a mansion in the hills.
 

Blake (Christopher James Baker), one of Frank Semyon's (Vince Vaughn) men, is there running the party. 

Bezzerides (and the rest of the girls) are given "pure Molly" before meeting the men.

While outside of the house, Woodrugh and Velcoro look for anything that may help the case.

The drug begins to take effect on Bezzerides.

She's grabbed by one of the men.

She's able to grab a knife before heading upstairs with him. 

Fans of the season know knives are her specialty.

Meanwhile, outside Woodrugh comes across an interesting encounter.

Two of the men Semyon was working with to get the rail line through California off the ground. Looks like they are going forward and keeping Semyon out.

Bezzerides begins to hallucinate. Having visions of this man. Who tells her "you're the prettiest girl I've even seen... I heard there's a unicorn in those woods, want to go out and look for it.?"

It seems as a young girl this man took advantage of her. 

Bezzerides has a vision as a young girl with the man and also as her current adult self.

She rushes to the bathroom and tries to throw up the drug.

There she finds the missing girl she's been looking for since the start of the season.

As that goes on, Woodrugh is able to get into the office where the men were and steal the paperwork they were looking at.

Bezzerides has to fight her way out of the house...

... Stabbing a man in the process.

Following a hail of gunfire, the detectives and the missing girl ride off into the night. 

Made even more eerie with a light and an almost fantasy score in the background, the ending of episode 6 (with only two episodes left in the season) once more sucks you back into the story, giving us advancement in plot but continuing to build the suspense of what hopefully will be a charged finale.

SEE ALSO: The history of the new "True Detective" theme song, "Nevermind"

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NOW WATCH: HBO's 'The Leftovers' looks like it's going to be an entirely different show next season

HBO's programming president, Michael Lombardo, addressed the harsh criticism of the second season of "True Detective."

Business Insider's Joshua Rivera, for example, wrote "True Detective" is simply not a good show" in a recent review of the series. The Hollywood Reporter's critic, Tim Goodman, said "the show was terrible on almost all fronts."

But, Lombardo said that he is pleased with the season, which stars Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, Vince Vaughn, and Taylor Kitsch.

“I think you need to watch the entirety of it,” he suggested on Thursday at the Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills, California.

“I think the season’s ending is as satisfying as any series we’ve done,” he offered.

In fact, the pay channel's top programming executive said that he would definitely order a third season.

“If ['True Detective' creator Nic Pizzolatto] wants to do another season, I said the door is open, we’d like to do another season of it,” the exec said.

Season 2 has big shoes to fill. The first season of "True Detective" starred Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. It was celebrated by critics and earned a total of 12 Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series and Outstanding Drama Series nods for both McConaughey and Harrelson.

SEE ALSO: There was a shocking ending on this week’s episode of 'True Detective'

MORE: HBO chief settles 'Game of Thrones' Jon Snow death question once and for all

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NOW WATCH: Forget 'True Detective' — HBO's new show 'Ballers' featuring The Rock looks like the hit of the summer

Warning: MAJOR spoiler

All the pieces are in place for a thrilling season finale of "True Detective" this Sunday. But sadly one of the main characters won’t be in it.

Following Bezzerides (Rachel McAdams), Velcoro (Colin Farrell), and Woodrugh’s (Taylor Kitsch) infiltration of the high-end sex party in episode 6 that included Bezzerides having to stab a security guard to death to escape, the cops are now fugitives as the power-players at the party are out to get them.

A big reason for that is because of the documents Woodrugh stole from the party — a folder full of signed papers that shows the dirty dealings that are going on to build the first-ever rail line through the state.

As each cop tries to figure out their next play and get their loved ones to safety, Woodrugh’s past comes back to haunt him.

He begins to receive text messages from Miguel, his old military buddy we met earlier in the season, with pictures showing Woodrough getting intimate with another man.

Woodrugh’s sexual preference has been something he’s been struggling with the whole season, as he has a girlfriend who is pregnant, but it’s obvious he’s into men. It’s the one thing that can get Woodrugh out of the cabin he, Bezzeridies, and Velcoro are holed up in. And Woodrugh even knows he’s doing the wrong thing, telling Woodrugh he thinks he’s walking into a trap. But he still meets with Miguel.

Miguel leads Woodrugh to the bowels of LA, where the darken subway tunnels go on forever.

Woodrugh is met by the group of former military personnel he used to work with before becoming a cop. They are working for the men at the party Woodrugh stole the documents from, and they want him to give up Bezzeridies and Velcoro.

However, Woodrugh turns the tables on them —

and stealthy kills them, including Miguel.

During this time other things are going down.

Frank Semyon (Vince Vaughn) is now on the war path after Velcoro fills him in on how he got pushed out of the rail line deal, and that the men who are now in on it are going to push him out of his casino and clubs. Semyon is burning all his establishments to the ground and seeking out the men who did him in.

And back at the cabin, the sexual tension between Bezzeridies and Velcoro has hit a boiling point, as the two finally give in.

Woodrugh gets back to the outside from the subway tunnels, and as he’s about use his phone he’s shot in the back by Lt. Kevin Burris (James Frain). 

He’s one of the officers that assigned Velcoro to the Ben Casper murder in the beginning of the season.

The episode ends with Woodrugh laying dead on the concrete.

The final moments may confirm one of the internet theories going around this season. That Burris is the man dressed in the crow mask who shot Velcoro at the end of episode 3.

What his motive was for shooting Velcoro with only rubber bullets but going through with killing Woodrugh will hopefully be one of the many questions we get answered in the 90-minute season finale.

SEE ALSO: HBO chief defends "True Detective" amid criticism, says views should "watch the entirety of it"

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Warning: spoilers ahead if you aren’t caught up on the season

The thing about the police procedural is you have to have a grasp on a lot of names and events to really follow the plot. Season 2 of “True Detective” has both in mass quantities.

So leading up to the season finale on Sunday, here are some major points from the show you should be familiar with.

1. Here’s the deal about those blue diamonds.

Blue diamonds were found in murdered city manager Ben Caspere's safe deposit box in episode 3. In episode 6, Woodrugh looks into the diamonds and learns they were robbed from a jewelry store during the 1992 LA riots, with the mom and pop owners murdered. As the store was looted soon after the robbery, the diamonds are untraceable.

Woodrugh has also found that Lt. Kevin Burris...

and Detective Teague Dixon...

were working under Vinci Police Chief Holloway...

at the time of the riots and the jewelry store was in their district. Caspere also worked in the same department. That leads Woodrugh (Taylor Kitsch), Velcoro (Colin Farrell), and Bezzeridies (Rachel McAdams) to conclude that the officers were all working together. They stole the diamonds and Caspere helped move them.

The money they got for them went to Vinci mayor Austin Chessani...

which then led to them being the movers and shakers of one of the most corrupt cities in LA county.

2. Why this picture is so important.

These are the kids that were orphaned due to their parents being killed in the diamond heist by the rogue cops during the ’92 riots. Velcoro and Bezzeridies believe they met one of them. They think Erica, who worked in Caspere's office, may in fact really be Laura, one of the orphaned kids. They are currently trying to track her down.

3. Why Ben Caspere really died.

Caspere holding onto those diamonds turned out to likely be what got him killed. Dixon was checking up on where they could be long before Woodrugh started. Caspere's house was probably tossed by Burris or Dixon looking for them. Then there’s the Hungarian prostitute, Tasha, who was taking photos of Caspere at the high class sex parties, like the one Bezzeridies infiltrated in episode 6, in the hopes to blackmail him. She was tortured and killed in a cabin in the woods upstate.

The same was likely done to Caspere by the hands of Burris or Dixon when he didn’t give up the diamonds. The final piece of evidence for a 23-year-old double murder. Though Bezzeridies is curious why they would kill Caspere when that’s what launched the investigation in the first place. Hopefully that will be answered in the finale.

4. What we now know about that insane shootout.

We were led to believe that the shootout that occurred at the end of episode 4, in which a pimp named Ledo Amarilla...

was suspected of being Caspere’s murderer and was killed in the shootout, was the end to the Caspere case. Though months later Woodrugh, Bezzeridies, and Velcoro were pretty certain they didn’t really close the case, it was confirmed in episode 7. Woodrugh learned that the shootout was a set up, as Burris had arrested Amarilla in 2006 and released him soon after interrogation with no notes kept about any of it. Amarilla and Dixon, who was also killed in the firefight, cuts down the number of people who really know the motive of the Caspere murder.

5. State Attorney Katherine Davis is dead.

One of the only people who actually was doing something to clean up the city was State Attorney Katherine Davis. But as it often goes with these shows, the ones out for justice get killed at some point, and that’s what happened in episode 7.

Davis was the one who made a special task force of Woodrugh, Bezzeridies, and Velcoro to investigate the Caspere murder again following the shootout in the hopes of uncovering collusion between Mayor Chessani and California Attorney General Richard Geldof...

who is now running for governor. Now with Davis out of the picture — killed, Velcoro believes, with one of his guns — he and Bezzeridies (due to stabbing of the security guard at the sex party at the end of episode 6) are now considered fugitives. Leaving Woodrugh the only one able to roam free to investigate things.

6. Woodrugh is dead.

But that stopped at the end of episode 7 by the gun of Burris. At first Holloway tried to blackmail Woodrugh with pictures of him with another man. But after Woodrugh was able to shoot his way out of that situation, the backup plan seemed to be Burris killing Woodrugh. (Guess we’ll never get the story behind those scars on his body.) With Woodrugh now dead, Bezzeridies and Velcoro have to work in the shadows as the law is after them.

7. Velcoro and Bezzeridies are finally a thing.

While in a cabin upstate waiting for Woodrugh, Bezzeridies and Velcoro finally give into what we had assumed all season was going to happen and have sex. We’ll see in the finale if that plays into how the season concludes.

8. The person behind the crow mask.

In episode 2, Velcoro investigates Caspere’s secret house that he brought prostitutes to. While checking it out a person wearing all black and a crow mask shoots him with what we find out in the next episode were rubber buckshots. The same person with the mask was driving around Caspere in the first episode. Seeing it’s likely Burris or Dixon who killed Caspere, it’s also likely one of them is the man behind the mask. Looking at the size of the person that shot Velcoro, it looks more like Burris’ build. Through the season we got more hints, like that the cop that gave Irina the prostitute Caspere’s belongings was described as “thin, white” and “a cop.” Sounds like Burris more than Dixon. Also, it was Burris who had a lot of questions for Velcoro when he left Vinci PD following the shootout. And with Dixon now dead all fingers point to Burris.

9. Frank Semyon is preparing to hijack a big money drop.

The whole season Frank Semyon (Vince Vaughn) has been trying to figure out who killed Caspere, his partner in the creation of a high-speed rail line through California. With Caspere dead, so was Semyon’s dream to go legit. So he had to turn back to his casino in Vinci and running clubs where he takes a percentage of drugs being sold and prostitution.

But in episode 7, while interrogating his underling Blake, who has turned on him...

Semyon finds out that he was always the patsy.

Osip Agranov, a Russian gangster who was supposed to go in with Semyon on the rail line...

double crossed him and has teamed with Chessani’s son, Tony, to take over the rail line...

Tony will also take over his father’s position as mayor, giving Agranov power of Vinci. Agranov has also taken ownership of the casino and clubs, pushing Semyon out of everything. Blake also revealed to Semyon that there is to be a drop of $12 million from Agranov to Tony. Semyon kills Blake, cleans out the money in the safes at his properties and lights the buildings on fire. You better believe Semyon plans to be at that money drop.

SEE ALSO: Bill Simmons is going to HBO

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Gaming's 'True Detective' is here, and you can play it on your phone right now

Warning: spoilers ahead if you aren’t caught up on the season

The thing about the police procedural is you have to have a grasp on a lot of names and events to really follow the plot. Season 2 of “True Detective” has both in mass quantities.

So leading up to the season finale on Sunday, here are some major points from the show you should be familiar with.

1. Here’s the deal about those blue diamonds.

Blue diamonds were found in murdered city manager Ben Caspere's safe deposit box in episode 3. In episode 6, Woodrugh looks into the diamonds and learns they were robbed from a jewelry store during the 1992 LA riots, with the mom and pop owners murdered. As the store was looted soon after the robbery, the diamonds are untraceable.

Woodrugh has also found that Lt. Kevin Burris...

and Detective Teague Dixon...

were working under Vinci Police Chief Holloway...

at the time of the riots and the jewelry store was in their district. Caspere also worked in the same department. That leads Woodrugh (Taylor Kitsch), Velcoro (Colin Farrell), and Bezzeridies (Rachel McAdams) to conclude that the officers were all working together. They stole the diamonds and Caspere helped move them.

The money they got for them went to Vinci mayor Austin Chessani...

which then led to them being the movers and shakers of one of the most corrupt cities in LA county.

2. Why this picture is so important.

These are the kids that were orphaned due to their parents being killed in the diamond heist by the rogue cops during the ’92 riots. Velcoro and Bezzeridies believe they met one of them. They think Erica, who worked in Caspere's office, may in fact really be Laura, one of the orphaned kids. They are currently trying to track her down.

3. Why Ben Caspere really died.

Caspere holding onto those diamonds turned out to likely be what got him killed. Dixon was checking up on where they could be long before Woodrugh started. Caspere's house was probably tossed by Burris or Dixon looking for them. Then there’s the Hungarian prostitute, Tasha, who was taking photos of Caspere at the high class sex parties, like the one Bezzeridies infiltrated in episode 6, in the hopes to blackmail him. She was tortured and killed in a cabin in the woods upstate.

The same was likely done to Caspere by the hands of Burris or Dixon when he didn’t give up the diamonds. The final piece of evidence for a 23-year-old double murder. Though Bezzeridies is curious why they would kill Caspere when that’s what launched the investigation in the first place. Hopefully that will be answered in the finale.

4. What we now know about that insane shootout.

We were led to believe that the shootout that occurred at the end of episode 4, in which a pimp named Ledo Amarilla...

was suspected of being Caspere’s murderer and was killed in the shootout, was the end to the Caspere case. Though months later Woodrugh, Bezzeridies, and Velcoro were pretty certain they didn’t really close the case, it was confirmed in episode 7. Woodrugh learned that the shootout was a set up, as Burris had arrested Amarilla in 2006 and released him soon after interrogation with no notes kept about any of it. Amarilla and Dixon, who was also killed in the firefight, cuts down the number of people who really know the motive of the Caspere murder.

5. State Attorney Katherine Davis is dead.

One of the only people who actually was doing something to clean up the city was State Attorney Katherine Davis. But as it often goes with these shows, the ones out for justice get killed at some point, and that’s what happened in episode 7.

Davis was the one who made a special task force of Woodrugh, Bezzeridies, and Velcoro to investigate the Caspere murder again following the shootout in the hopes of uncovering collusion between Mayor Chessani and California Attorney General Richard Geldof...

who is now running for governor. Now with Davis out of the picture — killed, Velcoro believes, with one of his guns — he and Bezzeridies (due to stabbing of the security guard at the sex party at the end of episode 6) are now considered fugitives. Leaving Woodrugh the only one able to roam free to investigate things.

6. Woodrugh is dead.

But that stopped at the end of episode 7 by the gun of Burris. At first Holloway tried to blackmail Woodrugh with pictures of him with another man. But after Woodrugh was able to shoot his way out of that situation, the backup plan seemed to be Burris killing Woodrugh. (Guess we’ll never get the story behind those scars on his body.) With Woodrugh now dead, Bezzeridies and Velcoro have to work in the shadows as the law is after them.

7. Velcoro and Bezzeridies are finally a thing.

While in a cabin upstate waiting for Woodrugh, Bezzeridies and Velcoro finally give into what we had assumed all season was going to happen and have sex. We’ll see in the finale if that plays into how the season concludes.

8. The person behind the crow mask.

In episode 2, Velcoro investigates Caspere’s secret house that he brought prostitutes to. While checking it out a person wearing all black and a crow mask shoots him with what we find out in the next episode were rubber buckshots. The same person with the mask was driving around Caspere in the first episode. Seeing it’s likely Burris or Dixon who killed Caspere, it’s also likely one of them is the man behind the mask. Looking at the size of the person that shot Velcoro, it looks more like Burris’ build. Through the season we got more hints, like that the cop that gave Irina the prostitute Caspere’s belongings was described as “thin, white” and “a cop.” Sounds like Burris more than Dixon. Also, it was Burris who had a lot of questions for Velcoro when he left Vinci PD following the shootout. And with Dixon now dead all fingers point to Burris.

9. Frank Semyon is preparing to hijack a big money drop.

The whole season Frank Semyon (Vince Vaughn) has been trying to figure out who killed Caspere, his partner in the creation of a high-speed rail line through California. With Caspere dead, so was Semyon’s dream to go legit. So he had to turn back to his casino in Vinci and running clubs where he takes a percentage of drugs being sold and prostitution.

But in episode 7, while interrogating his underling Blake, who has turned on him...

Semyon finds out that he was always the patsy.

Osip Agranov, a Russian gangster who was supposed to go in with Semyon on the rail line...

double crossed him and has teamed with Chessani’s son, Tony, to take over the rail line...

Tony will also take over his father’s position as mayor, giving Agranov power of Vinci. Agranov has also taken ownership of the casino and clubs, pushing Semyon out of everything. Blake also revealed to Semyon that there is to be a drop of $12 million from Agranov to Tony. Semyon kills Blake, cleans out the money in the safes at his properties and lights the buildings on fire. You better believe Semyon plans to be at that money drop.

SEE ALSO: Bill Simmons is going to HBO

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Gaming's 'True Detective' is here, and you can play it on your phone right now

Waring: MAJOR spoilers ahead

The finale to season 2 of "True Detective" wound up to be as violent and unforgiving as the whole season. And that's a good thing. One of the only downfalls of the first season of the series was how nicely everything was tied up by the final episode, with detectives Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and Hart (Woody Harrelson) limping off into the darkness as best friends.

It wasn't likely "True Detective" creator Nic Pizzolatto would do that a second time.

Here's how things turned out for the main characters of season 2 that made it to the finale.

Detective Ray Velcoro

After tracking down the shotgun-wielding crow-mask wearing guy who shot him in episode 2 (turned out it was one of the twins from the blue diamond heist, not Burris)...

Velcoro (Collin Farrell) teamed with Frank Semyon (Vince Vaughn) to step in on the $12 million money drop between the men who double crossed Semyon in the creation of the rail line, Osip Agronov and Jacob McCandless. Following killing Agronov and McCandless, Velcoro and Semyon split the money and go their separate ways. Semyon to his wife and Velcoro to connect with Bezzerides (Rachel McAdams) and live out their days in Mexico.

However, Velcoro makes the mistake of attempting to see his son one last time. It's a tough moment with his son having the glass-encased LAPD badge Velcoro gave him, but it gave crooked cop Burris (the one who killed Woodrough (Taylor Kitsch) in the penultimate episode) the chance to bug Velcoro's car with the hopes of Velcoro leading him to Bezzeridies.

But Velcoro sees what's happened and leads Burris and his goons instead to the mountains...

where a gun fight leads to Velcoro being shot and killed.

Frank Semyon

Following cleaning out the safes in the casino and clubs he owns before burning them to the ground, Semyon has one last piece of business, paying back Osip and McCandless for double crossing him on the rail line deal. After he and Velcoro are successful in that, Semyon takes his half of the $12 million and picks up a new passport and car before heading off to meet his wife. But on the way he gets cornered by the drug dealers he agreed to let them sell drugs at his clubs, and is driven against his will to the desert.

Unhappy the clubs are no longer around, the men take $1 million from Semyon to close their business. But when one of their men wants Semyon's suit things go bad as Semyon smacks him around. One of the men stabs Semyon in the ribs during the scuffle and he's left in the desert to bleed out.

With some powerful images in his final moments of life (seeing visions of his abusive father and people in the past he's done wrong)...

Semyon dies in the dessert after seeing a vision of his wife. 

Detective Ani Bezzerides

Pizzolatto was criticized heavily for the lack of strong female characters in season 1, and though Bezzeridies was a vast improvement, she could have been better used in the finale.

After she and Velcoro sleep together, they learn that Woodrough is dead after Burris answers his cell phone. They can either make a run for it or continue to try to uncover what's really behind the Caspere murder. They choose the latter and track down the whereabouts of the twins who were orphaned after the heist of the blue diamonds in 1992. 

Though Bezzerides comes to Velcoro's rescue when he's almost shot by Burris, Bezzerides is on the sidelines the rest of the episode. Preparing for Velcoro's arrival following his successful mission with Semyon to get the $12 million so they can take off to Venezuela together. The plans change when he tells her that he's being tailed.

Bezzerides ends up going to Venezuela on her own. Time passes and she has a baby (presumably Velcoro's from their fling). She also racks down a Times reporter so she can hand off all the evidence she, Velcoro, and Woodrough compiled to take down the big wigs in Vinci. And she befriends Semyon's wife.

The final scene is Bezzerides and her child, Semyon's wife, and her bodyguard leaving together to a new life traveling through Venezuela undetected.

Yes, an intentional message by Pizzolatto that he's capable to have a strong female lead, but it would have been great to see her in more of the action.

SEE ALSO: A history of the new "True Detective" theme song, "Nevermind"

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NOW WATCH: HBO's 'The Leftovers' looks like it's going to be an entirely different show next season

The ratings for HBO's second season finale of "True Detective" delivered good and bad news.

The good news is that the finale was the no. 1 original series on Sunday night television, according to Nielsen live plus same day ratings. It also saw a bump in viewership with 2.73 million viewers tuning in versus last week's 2.18 million viewers.

As for the bad news, Season 2 was unable to live up to Season 1's finale viewership. A total of 3.52 million viewers watched last year's finale in March versus Season 2's 2.73 million on Sunday. That represents a huge 22% drop from Season 1.

Nevertheless, ratings are relative. In the end, HBO can be happy with bringing home the top series of the night. That could be enough to justify HBO Programming President Michael Lombardo's desire for a third season.

If ['True Detective' creator Nic Pizzolatto] wants to do another season, I said the door is open, we’d like to do another season of it,” the exec said.

SEE ALSO: Here's how things turned out for the main characters on the 'True Detective' season finale

MORE: HBO chief defends 'True Detective' amid criticism, says viewers should 'watch the entirety of it'

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NOW WATCH: Gaming's 'True Detective' is here, and you can play it on your phone right now

Cary Fukunaga, who directed the first season of "True Detective," is taking no credit (or blame) for the lukewarm reception to Season 2.

Although he's credited as an executive producer, Fukunaga said he had nothing to do with the HBO drama's second season.

“I really wasn’t involved,” he told Variety. “My involvement in the second season was as much or as little as they needed me. It turns out they didn’t need me.”

Currently promoting his new film, Netflix's "Beasts of No Nation," Fukunaga, who won an Emmy for directing the first season of "True Detective," said that the plan was for him to step away after he finished directing the season.

“The whole pitch was that in a true anthology, we want to sit it on a shelf, and every season we have a new feature director and make this wonderful miniseries,” he recalled. “I was going to be the first one. And I’d be there to shepherd as much as I could the following seasons. My departure was always planned.”

Creator Nic Pizzolatto used a stable of different directors for the second season. Unlike Fukunaga's season with stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, Season 2 got mixed reviews from fans and critics. And HBO brass defended the season as some critics delivered harsh reviews. 

Business Insider's Joshua Rivera, for example, wrote "True Detective" is simply not a good show" in a recent review of the series. The Hollywood Reporter's critic, Tim Goodman, said "the show was terrible on almost all fronts."

SEE ALSO: HBO chief defends 'True Detective' amid criticism, says viewers should 'watch the entirety of it'

MORE: ‘True Detective’ Season 2 ratings end on a high note, but don’t come close to Season 1

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NOW WATCH: Gaming's 'True Detective' is here, and you can play it on your phone right now

"True Detective" creator Nic Pizzolatto has shot down a theory that he based a character on the show's second season on first season director Cary Fukunaga.

“The director character in Episode 3 was absolutely not meant to represent or allude to Cary in any way," Pizzolatto told Variety.

Why would such a theory exist?

It's public knowledge that Pizzolatto and Fukunaga bumped heads on the show's first season in which the "Beasts of No Nation" director helmed every episode. Plus, the character, a demanding director named Ashley Daison, was portrayed by Asian actor Philip Moon and Fukunaga's father is Japanese-American.

Pizzolatto said that he didn't cast Moon for his race.

"The actor [Philip Moon] was hired because I was a fan of his from ‘Deadwood,’ and he arrived with the look he had," the producer told the trade. "I have the utmost respect for Cary, and I look forward to his new picture.”

When Variety asked Fukunaga if he was aware of the theory, he said he was and then dismissed it.

“I have friends on the crew who told me about it. What’s there to make of it?” Fukunaga said with a laugh.

SEE ALSO: 'True Detective' Season 1 director Cary Fukunaga distances himself from Season 2

SEE ALSO: ‘True Detective’ Season 2 ratings end on a high note, but don’t come close to Season 1

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NOW WATCH: Gaming's 'True Detective' is here, and you can play it on your phone right now

Before making the critically acclaimed Netflix movie “Beasts of No Nation,” Cary Fukunaga was known best for directing the complete first season of “True Detective.”

His efforts not only got him an Emmy, but showed off his stunning visual eye, with gorgeous wide shots of Louisiana bayou country and the now-famous six-minute single shot in the finale of one of the episodes.

But along with the praise came rumors that he and the show’s creator, Nic Pizzolatto, never got along during the making of the season.

Fukunaga never intended to take the directing reins for season two of the anthology series, as it moved to Los Angeles to focus on the shady dealings of city officials, police, and the underworld. Though he did stay on as an executive producer.

But Fukanaga can’t escape the “True Detective” questions. And it turns out he still hasn't gotten around to watching season two.

“They finished it right when we started [‘Beasts of No Nation’],” Fukunaga told Vulture in late September about why he hadn’t watched season two yet. “I like to binge-watch.”

So last week, we asked Fukunaga if he’s binged it.

“I have not,” he said.

He’s not curious that Pizzolatto supposedly based a character on him this season?

“No. Not really,” he said. “And me not watching it is not a statement. I haven’t had the time.”

But he did have time to check out the newest original comedy series on Netflix.

“The only think I’ve binged is Aziz Ansari’s 'Master of None,'” he said. “It’s great.” 

SEE ALSO: "Beasts of No Nation" director Cary Fukunaga talks Netflix's mysterious streaming numbers and more

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After the wild success of season one of HBO's "True Detective," season two was a disappointment to many fans. 

Some have blamed creator Nic Pizzolatto for the lackluster season, but HBO president of programming Michael Lombardo told the Frame that he feels responsible for the second season's failure to live up to the first, though he doesn't necessarily believe it's one of HBO's "biggest failures." 

"When we tell somebody to hit an air date as opposed to allowing the writing to find its own natural resting place, when it’s ready, when it’s baked — we’ve failed," he explained. "And I think in this particular case, the first season of 'True Detective' was something that Nic Pizzolatto had been thinking about, gestating, for a long period of time. He’s a soulful writer. I think what we did was go, 'Great.' And I take the blame. I became too much of a network executive at that point. We had huge success. 'Gee, I’d love to repeat that next year.'"

He continued that the pressure to pump out a second season didn't let Pizzolatto have the creative freedom he needed.

"Well, you know what? I set him up. To deliver, in a very short time frame, something that became very challenging to deliver," Lombardo said. "That’s not what that show is. He had to reinvent the wheel, so to speak. Find his muse. And so I think that’s what I learned from it. Don’t do that anymore."

Pizzolatto signed a two-year contract with HBO in 2014, leaving the option open for a third season, though nothing has been confirmed yet. 

"I’d love to have the enviable certainty of knowing what my next year looks like," Lombardo added. "I could pencil things in. But I’m not going to start betting on them until the scripts are done."

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Could the once-promising anthology franchise "True Detective" recapture its former glory? Its network may not care to find out.

According to The Hollywood Reporter's sources inside HBO, the pay network is leaning toward passing on a third season of the series. 

That doesn't mean its relationship with the show's creator, Nic Pizzolatto, would end. After all, HBO just extended his production and development deal through 2018 late last year.

THR's insiders say that a new project from Pizzolatto is more likely. 

While the show was celebrated in its first season, which won an Emmy for director Cary Fukunaga, Pizzolatto used different actors and directors for the second season. Unlike Fukunaga's season with stars Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, season two got mixed reviews from fans and critics. HBO brass had to defend the season as some critics delivered harsh reviews. 

Business Insider's Joshua Rivera, for example, wrote that "'True Detective' is simply not a good show" in a review of the second season. THR's critic, Tim Goodman, said "the show was terrible on almost all fronts."

Regardless, then-programming president Michael Lombardo said he would do a third season. Since then, HBO has done some shifting. The network has seen a string of drama flops and it recently replaced Lombardo in his position with its head of comedy, Casey Bloys.

As most newly hired bosses tend to do, Bloys will probably want to throw out his predecessor's failures and start fresh.

Currently, HBO's only drama gem, "Game of Thrones," is renewed through its seventh season, low-rated "Vinyl" is set for a second season, and "The Leftovers" is set for a third and final season. A highly-anticipated series adaptation of the sci-fi movie "Westworld," meanwhile, has been delayed.

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The future for "True Detective" just got a bit brighter.

Despite a universally panned second season and reports that a third season of the HBO crime anthology series isn't looking too good, one of its most beloved stars said he would return for another season.

Matthew McConaughey, who starred on the show's acclaimed first season and earned an Emmy nomination for the role of Rust Cohle, had good things to say about the experience. 

“Yeah, I would,” he said of potentially returning to the show while interviewing for "The Rich Eisen Show."“I miss Rust Cohle, man. I miss watching him on Sunday nights. I miss watching 'True Detective' on Sunday nights. I was a happy man when we made that for six months, because I was on my own island.”

After coming off its successful freshman season, "True Detective" suffered during its second season — which starred Vince Vaughn, Colin Farrell, and Rachel McAdams — with both critics and fans. It has been reported that HBO isn't going forward on a third season and creator Nic Pizzolatto is moving on to a different project under his contract with HBO.

McConaughey, though, said a Rust Cohle return could happen.

“I talked to Nic about it. It would have to be the right context, the right way,” the actor said. “That thing — when I read it, I knew in 20 minutes if I can play this guy, Rustin Cohle, I’m in.”

Watch the interview below:

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Sometimes even the most hyped blockbuster movies fail — and fail hard. One look at this summer's Rotten Tomatoes assessments will show that more than half of the top 20 box-office films have been declared "rotten" by critics. "Independence Day: Resurgence" is just the most recent would-be blockbuster that failed to gain traction with critics or general audiences.

But for television, the scale of which only continues to get grander as we trip further into the millennium, high-profile failures are becoming increasingly frequent. As part of #PeakTV, there are more series than ever and therefore more series that fail to make a lasting mark.

Most recently, Showtime's much talked-about "Roadies," Cameron Crowe's heralded return to the world of rock music, has been struggling. (You can read Allison Keene's unimpressed review here.) Even with J.J. Abrams as EP, a strong ad campaign, and a great cast, the series has taken a bath in the ratings, earning only a few hundred thousand viewers during the night of its premiere. Earlier this year, HBO's "Vinyl" was in a similar situation, stuck in a state of irrelevance that resulted in its eventual cancellation.

Whether or not a series is considered to have "failed" is, of course, subjective — but in the case of our list, a failure is a series that had high initial critical hopes, large network investment, and/or a reliable star presence that still failed to connect with both critics and audiences.

It's unclear whether "Roadies" will have its television tour cut short, but ahead of its looming fate, we take a look back at some of TV's most notorious failures of the past decade (or so), in chronological order:

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"Joey" (2004-2006)

At home on your aunt's outdated television set or on a laptop during a middle-school sleepover, "Friends" has been a series so unflaggingly ubiquitous that it continues to make for relevant pop culture reference material even two decades after its initial premiere.

It makes sense, then, that following the series' final season in 2004 the enterprising minds at NBC would find a way to fill the "Friends"-shaped hole in their schedule with a spin-off of one of their most beloved characters: "Joey."Led by the titular Matt LeBlanc, the series was largely what you might expect: a multicam sitcom devoted to following Tribbiani's acting career in Los Angeles and the womanizing antics of the lovable oaf.

Though not a disaster upon its first bow ("Friends" fans expectantly followed NBC's trail of spin-off breadcrumbs), the series continued to lose steam both behind the scenes and with once faithful audiences. The problem? It's hard to say for sure — the show managed to last 1 1/2 seasons before being voted off the island, but my bet is on its rigid refusal to change with the times, as the multicam series failed to find footing among cutting-edge single-camera shows like "The Office" and "30 Rock." (Being scheduled opposite the then-phenomenon "American Idol" also might have had something to do with it.)

"Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" (2006)

Shortly after Aaron Sorkin took flight from his wildly successful political drama "The West Wing," he set his sights on a very different sort of TV show: a half-hour comedy modeled on his life in the television industry called "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." What resulted was an endlessly buzzy self-parody of the inner workings of television, with Matthew Perry delivering a top-notch performance so motor-mouthed and self-righteous that he could be mistaken for a Sorkin surrogate.

With Sorkin writing nearly every episode himself, "Studio 60" followed Perry’s hardly functional yet embarrassingly Christ-like showrunner, a comic mind with the unique ability to effortlessly woo smart-mouthed women while penning a world-changing monologue minutes before air-time.

The series, which received initial critical praise and a bevy of Emmy nominations, quickly floundered in the ratings, often trounced by vocal dissenters critical of the arrogantly autobiographical series. Becoming Sorkin's much-heralded failure, "Studio 60" lacked the ratings or the positive glow of audience praise to stay afloat among the sour undertow.

"Viva Laughlin" (2007)

Filmed at what could arguably prove to be the height of Hugh Jackman's fame, the CBS series "Viva Laughlin" was a doomed Americanization of the British show "Blackpool." The plot — which traced the complicated life of a casino-owning upstart after he finds himself implicated in a murder investigation — was almost irrelevant when compared with the unique musical genre the series occupied.

Largely characterized not by its dark comedy but rather by its characters' tendency to break into song and mildly choreographed dance, "Viva Laughlin" premiered two years before "Glee," which ended up proving that scripted musical television could make it in the US mainstream.

Failing to replicate the shabby glam and self-deprecation of the British original, though, the charming camp of "Blackpool" was translated into corny cheese, and after two episodes a swift axing put "Laughlin" out of its misery.

It looks like "True Detective" may get a third season on HBO after all. 

Or, at least, the new HBO president of programming, Casey Bloys, is planning on it.

"It’s a really valuable franchise for us," Bloys told reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour over the weekend, according to The Wrap. "I think both seasons average about 11 million viewers an episode. So not dead. Just I’m not sure we have the right take for a third season yet."

The show's first season, starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson as police officers trying to solve a killing, became a sensation, with the internet going crazy for theories of the fictional case.

However, season two, which did not have the direction of season-one helmer Cary Fukunaga, did not find the same excitement from viewers. The story moved to Los Angeles and tackled police corruption. It starred Colin Farrell, Vince Vaughn, and Rachel McAdams. 

According to Bloys, show creator Nic Pizzolatto has an overall deal with HBO and is currently "working on some other projects." 

Bloys is striking a different tone than his predecessor Michael Lombardo, who stated in May that the series would not be back for a third season. 

Bloys was named as HBO's president of programming in late May.

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It looks like a "True Detective" season three may be far off, but the show's creator Nic Pizzolatto has something else cooking. 

According to Variety, Pizzolatto and Robert Downey Jr. are in talks for a reboot of "Perry Mason," the classic TV court drama that starred Raymond Burr as a defense attorney.

Details are being kept close to the vest, but Variety reports that its home would be HBO and Downey Jr., along with starring, would executive produce with his wife Susan Downey and Pizzolatto. 

Though the project has been in development as a feature at Warner Bros., if it gets picked up, it would be a series.

This would be Downey Jr.'s first time on television since he was on "Ally McBeal" in the late 1990s. 

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Matthew McConaughey has come a long way since we first saw him as the sleepy-eyed stoner Wooderson in the classic 1993 movie "Dazed and Confused."

Since then he's been the heartthrob, the raw indie actor, and then forged "The McConaissance" that led to an Oscar win. 

His latest movie, "The Sea of Trees" (out in limited release this weekend), looks like a dud if you go by the vicious reception it got at Cannes last year. So instead let's celebrate the best performances McConaughey has given us over his career.

Here are his 12 best roles ever, ranked:   

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12. Fenton Meiks in “Frailty” (2001)

Though mostly told through flashbacks featuring his character as a child, McConaughey does show up in important moments, including this thriller's shocking ending that shows he can be more than the happy-go-lucky guy he was known as at the time.

11. Rick Peck in “Tropic Thunder” (2008)

"Tropic Thunder" plays on the fragile insecurities that everyone in the entertainment industry has, and McConaughey's hilarious portrayal of an agent who will do anything for his client in hopes of not being fired (even going through the jungle to provide him with a TiVo) is an excellent example of that. 

10. Ward Jansen in “The Paperboy” (2012)

Yes, that's McConaughey wearing an eye patch. How did he get it? You'll have to watch the movie (it's on Netflix). And if that's not motivation enough, this is the best McConaughey performance you've never seen. The movie is nuts, but buried in there is McConaughey going next level. 

In 2000, Colin Farrell came out of nowhere to become one of Hollywood's new heartthrobs.

The Dublin-born actor caught everyone off-guard when he was cast as the lead in Joel Schumacher’s Vietnam movie “Tigerland” and followed that up by playing opposite Tom Cruise in the Steven Spielberg blockbuster “Minority Report” two years later. After that came two more leading roles in studio movies, highly publicized flings (like with Britney Spears), and rehab.

For most stars in that position, the next, unfortunate stop would be direct-to-video fame. But Colin Farrell has rebounded in a big way.

In the last year alone, we’ve seen him do incredible work in the polarizing second season of “True Detective” and in the surprise indie hit “The Lobster.” The latter — with Farrell packing on pounds and delivering a performance some believe should receive awards recognition — is a defining moment in the evolution of Farrell from beautiful movie star to serious actor.

"The Lobster," by acclaimed Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos (“Dogtooth”), follows Farrell’s David, who's newly single and by law must check into “The Hotel” and find a romantic partner within 45 days or be transformed into an animal of his choosing (his request is a lobster). What follows is a darkly comedic, Charlie Kaufman-esque look at life and love.

Farrell talked to Business Insider recently about making “The Lobster” (which is currently available on iTunes and Blu-ray/DVD), why he has no regrets about doing “True Detective,” and what it was like making the highly anticipated “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.”

Jason Guerrasio: What is the craziest interpretation of "The Lobster" someone has given you?

Colin Farrell: I have friends home in Dublin who saw it and just didn't get it. They were like, "When are you doing 'S.W.A.T. 2'?" They just didn't get it. They would be like, "I'm sure it's good and it's art, but not my favorite of yours." They didn't give any particular interpretation but the moment in the film that's most open to individual perspective and interpretation is the end of the film. It's left open-ended and that's something that kind of invokes a person's level of hope or belief or need to cling onto the idea of love and the idea of "the one." One of the great things about the film being so unusual and provocative is the filmmaker to me doesn't seem to have a definite opinion on the rights or wrongs or the immorality of behaviors and systems, he just presents a set of very unusual circumstances and asked the audience to partake in the judging of what feels right or wrong or what feels natural and unnatural. 

Guerrasio: This isn't the first time you've taken a chance with an offbeat movie, but even for you was there a moment when you were in the woods on set and saying to yourself, "This better work"? 

Farrell: [Laughs] You kind of get to that point in every film. You have no idea. Making a film, you're in a really dark tunnel and the only kind of illumination is the shared experience you're having with your fellow cast and director. That's the process of making the film and it isn't until the world puts their eyes to it that you find out if it's creating any kind of connection at all. But every single film at some stage of the film I think, "I wonder what this is going to be?"

Guerrasio: So every film you're 100-percent optimistic?

Farrell: No, I'm not optimistic at all, nor am I pessimistic. I have hope. I have no expectations. I've done far too many things that I felt were going to be genius that weren't and I've done some things that I didn't think were going to be much that really connected with people. So expectations are left at the door. But hope exists all the time. 

Guerrasio: Why are people connected with this movie?

Farrell: I think people enjoy it because people respond to original things, but I think they only respond to original things if they connect to some truths within us. As much as “The Lobster” feels like a world we recognize but not the world we live in, it's all drawn in an allegorical way from all the systems that exist. Around the world there are certain marital systems, certain physical systems, political systems, social systems, and all those things are kind of turned on their head but represented in various ways within “The Lobster.” So I think there's a recognition of truth. But at the same time those are the same things that had my mates going, "What the f---?"

Guerrasio: How much input did you bring for the look of the David character?

Farrell: Myself and Yorgos, we spoke a little bit and I was at a certain body weight that I was closer to making a statement or defining the character physically by losing weight. There was no justification for him to be emaciated, but I thought, say I was 165, I thought what if I went down to 155 and have him rail-thin? And Yorgos was like, [speaking in Greek accent] "Well, if he's very thin I think maybe it will speak to some kind of psychological trouble that we want to stay away from," and I was like, "F---, you're right." So he said, "What about if he's a bit soft?" And I said, "Yeah, I think you're right." He just comfort-eats a little bit too much. He’s just asleep in his own life and has let himself go. And the mustache, I don't know if it was him or I suggested it. But I remember my sister was watching me eat and she was like, "God, does he have to be fat?" And in retrospect I couldn't think of David being any other way because it affected the way I moved. It really did. It slowed me down in a way that I felt was conducive to kind of tapping into the spirit of the character.

Guerrasio: What were the fun things you ate to pack on the pounds?

Farrell: Man, I only had two days of fun and then it got old. 

Guerrasio: Really?

Farrell: Yeah. I had a list of about 35 restaurants, 25 of which were fast-food joints all around Los Angeles and I didn't get a quarter through the list. It just became me thinking about going to these places and wanting to enjoy the food and food just not being enjoyable anymore. So I just ate s--- at home. [Laughs] You dream to eat whatever you can and get away with it and then when you're told you have to eat, it loses its fun straight away. 

Guerrasio: You have already finished shooting another movie with Yorgos. What can you say about "The Killing of a Sacred Deer"?

Farrell: I can say it's — ugh, God — it's eerier than “The Lobster.”

Guerrasio: Get out of here!

Farrell: Yeah, I don't know, it felt pretty bleak to me. I mean, when I read the script it was extraordinary and to work with Yorgos again was amazing. 

Guerrasio: Can you tell where his stories are going when you're on set or do you not know for sure until you see footage?

Farrell: Until you see a cut. There are so many interpretations that this film could be approached from. But Yorgos is so specifically minded, he's so clinical in his direction of the film. He's really a master I feel, I really do. And I wouldn't throw that word around often. I’ll wait to see what the film is, but it's set in a contemporary world, in America, there are hospitals and diners, parks, things that we will recognize and experienced ourselves but yet there's this similar kind of uneasiness through all the interactions and all the things that take place. It was unnerving reading the script. I kind of felt nauseous after reading it. 

Guerrasio: I like that description: “The movie makes me nauseous.”

Farrell: Yeah. 

Guerrasio: This is the point of the interview where I have to tell you that I was a fan of season two of "True Detective." 

Farrell: Oh, that's lovely. I'm glad to hear it. 

Guerrasio: Were you excited to shoot that scene where Ray gets shotgunned and you think he's dead two episodes in?

Farrell: Yeah, I didn't know because I read the first episode when I signed on so when I came to that I was like, "What the f---?" I called Nic Pizzolatto and he said, "No, no. You're in it the whole way through." That was fun to shoot. I had a few scenes in that show that were some of my favorite all-time scenes to be in. 

Guerrasio: What was another one?

Farrell: The scene of beating up the kid's dad. It was just so sleazy and so f---ing wrong and yet it's something that various parents have dreamed of, no doubt. That was an amazing scene. And there's a scene at the kitchen table with Vince [Vaughn]'s character. All the scenes in the bar, every single one of those I enjoyed thoroughly. I enjoyed that set. We would come in, sit down, and we'd bang them out pretty quick because there was no blocking. It doesn't get any better than a well-written scene, two actors across a table. 

Guerrasio: With something like “True Detective,” where a lot of people didn't like it, do you get in your head and wonder why it went wrong?

Farrell: You move on. It's work. Yeah, I'm privileged and paid handsomely and it's not exactly being in a coal mine, but you still work your ass off and you work as hard as you possibly can and you hope that people connect to it and enjoy it. So yeah, I was disappointed, but I kind of knew it was going to be an uphill struggle because of how strong the first season was. But the level of backlash was kind of fascinating and not fully shocking because I know what the world of the internet is and how it's a platform to project their greatest anger and frustrations. But it's also a place where people can wax lyrical and be effusive in their glowing fondness of something. I was very disappointed, man, but I never once regretted doing it. I really didn't. I believed in it. 

Guerrasio: You've been in some big movies in your career. Can you compare the scale of “Fantastic Beasts” to anything you've done in the past?

Farrell: I remember some of the sets on “Alexander” were extraordinary and it would just take your breath away and on “[Total] Recall” also, but this was next-level. They built two or three blocks of midtown Manhattan in 1926 and it was inhabited with 400 extras and 24 Model Ts and a train system and all that kind of nonsense. It was madness. You would walk into shops and they would have the goods from that period, it was just huge. I didn't work with any of the beasts, I didn't have much green screen, but I loved working on it. I'm excited to see it myself. 

Guerrasio: Do you feel you're hitting a second gear in your career right now? You're making some spot-on choices with “The Lobster,” “Fantastic Beasts,” and the upcoming Sofia Coppola movie, “The Beguiled.” 

Farrell: I’m enjoying it. If anything I'm aware that the pressure of the first, I suppose, six or seven years I was in America — I mean that energy of having such a rapid and ascending celebrity — it’s not there anymore. It's the end of that chapter and now I'm just enjoying the work probably more than I ever have and yet I'm simultaneously less attached to it I think, which is kind of a strange state of grace to be in.  

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Speculation has swirled about the future of "True Detective," but it looks like season three will be a go.

Entertainment Weekly reports that creator Nic Pizzolatto has written "at least the first two episodes for a potential third edition" of the HBO anthology crime show.

EW also says that David Milch, the mastermind behind HBO's "Deadwood" and the very short-lived "Luck," will be hopping on "True Detective" to help Pizzolatto.

While there is no official green light yet for the third season of "True Detective," it makes a lot of sense: While the second season of the series — starring Colin Farrell, Vince Vaughn, and Rachel McAdams — was critically panned, the show continued to be a relative hit for the premium-cable network.

The first season of "True Detective," starring Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey, proved to be a massive success for HBO, driving huge ratings and spawning theories all across the internet about its central mystery.

HBO did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

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“True Detective” is back on the case.

HBO’s limited series will officially return for a third season, this time starring Oscar winner Mahershala Ali. Nic Pizzolatto is set to direct, along with Jeremy Saulnier.

The next installment tells the story of a macabre crime in the heart of the Ozarks, and a mystery that deepens over decades and plays out in three separate time periods. Ali will play the lead role of Wayne Hays, a state police detective from Northwest Arkansas. It does not currently have an air date, nor is there a set date for the start of production.

“Nic has written truly remarkable scripts,” said Casey Bloys, HBO’s president of programming. “With his ambitious vision and Mahershala Ali and Jeremy Saulnier aboard, we are excited to embark on the next installment of True Detective.”

Pizzolatto is the sole writer of the series, with the exception of episode 4 which he co-wrote with David Milch. “I’m tremendously thrilled to be working with artists at the level of Mahershala and Jeremy,’ said Pizzolatto. “I hope the material can do justice to their talents, and we’re all very excited to tell this story.”

“True Detective’s” critically acclaimed first season starred Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson; Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams and Taylor Kitsch appeared in the second season.v

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