No matter which side of the law they operated on, Nic Pizzolatto's three-part HBO crime series True Detective was defined by its brilliant collection of complicated cops and criminals. In season one, a scourge of satanic killings brought detectives Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) and Martin Hart (Woody Harrelson) together to solve the case in Louisiana.
In season 2, organized criminal Frank Semyon (Vince Vaughan) sees his legitimate business go by the wayside following the death of his business partner in the fictional town of Vinci, California. In season 3, detective and Vietnam vet Wayne Hays (Mahershala Ali) battles dementia while trying to solve a 35-year-old cold murder case in Arkansas. A common theme throughout the show is that these characters were typically pretty smart.
9 Paul Woodrugh - Season 2
One of the most cryptic characters in the series is Highway Patrol Officer Paul Woodrugh (Taylor Kitsch), a dedicated cop who does his best to conceal his wartime PTSD and homosexuality throughout season 2.
More of the brawn to the police force's brain, Woodrugh is less interested in solving crimes than he is in becoming a good man. In the end, Paul succumbs to his blackmailer and gets involved in a fatal shootout in which he kills several criminals before being gunned down by the crooked Lt. Burris.
8 Frank Semyon - Season 2
Despite his grand ambitions, organized criminal and entrepreneur Frank Semyon has most of his important business affairs handled by his calculating wife, Jordan.
When Frank's high-speed rail project falls apart following the death of city manager Ben Caspere, he uses his connections on both sides of the law to investigate. Yet despite having friends in high places, Frank cannot escape the wrath of Russian mobster Osip and ends up being shot and left for dead in the desert.
7 Roland West - Season 3
Of all the main detective characters on the show, Roland West (Stephen Dorff) took the biggest backseat to his crime-solving partner. Painted as a bit of a southern rube, West's primary function during season 3 is to assist the brilliant police work of detective Wayne Hays but not do a ton of it on his own.
While West's biggest strength is his loyalty to Hayes, he does use his intelligence to photograph the license plate of a mysterious car spying on the two men. Despite being largely ineffectual, West has enough smarts to avoid danger and remain alive by the end of the season.
6 Ray Velcoro - Season 2
Trapped on both sides of the law, the deeply-flawed detective Ray Velcoro (Colin Farrell) is one of the most complex characters in the series. When he isn't complying with his corrupt police superiors or acting on behalf of mobster Frank Semyon, Velcoro tries to maintain his sanity while solving a murder conspiracy.
Despite his volatile temperament, Ray is much smarter than he lets on. He manages to untangle the complex web of criminality before helping Frank raid Osip's stash and secure enough money to retire. Ray is also wise enough to sacrifice his own life to ensure the safety of his closest loved ones.
5 Amelia Reardon - Season 3
Although it doesn't become readily apparent until the season 3 finale, Amelia Reardon (Carmen Ejogo) is the chief reason her dementia-ridden husband Wayne Hayes is able to solve the disappearance of Julie Purcell. Thirty-five years after the case was closed, Hayes and his partner Roland West attempt to find out what happened to Julie.
Through a haze of memory loss, Hayes finds the crucial piece of intel to solve the case from the nonfiction book Amelia wrote in 1990. As a schoolteacher and newspaper scribe, Amelia wisely kept tabs on the case in ways that paid off a quarter-century later.
4 Marty Hart - Season 1
At first glance, Detective Martin Hart appears to be a philandering sex-addict who repeatedly cheats on his lovely wife, Maggie (Michelle Monaghan). However, as the lead detective attempting to solve a series of ritualistic murders, Hart demonstrates his procedural acumen.
In addition to handling the paperwork and speaking to the public, Hart is smart enough to allow his eccentric partner Rust Cohle to conduct his unconventional methods without interruption. Hart is also wise enough to help capture the Yellow King and express his regret for not paying enough attention to his daughters when they were young.
3 Ani Bezzerides - Season 2
Given the intelligence that she shows to ensure her ultimate survival, detective Ani Bezzerides (Rachel McAdams) is the smartest character in True Detective season 2.
Despite nearly losing her life in a criminal case that claimed the lives of her police partners, Velcoro and Woodrugh, Ani's shrewd police work allowed her to escape to Venezuela with enough money to retire on and raise her newborn fathered by Ray. While rough-hewn and rebellious, Ani uses her wits to overcome past trauma and deliver the incriminating evidence of the entire case to a journalist in the end.
2 Wayne Hays - Season 3
Despite battling dementia and dyslexia at his advanced age, Detective Wayne Hays manages to recall vital bits of information from a cold case reopened after 35 years. Somehow, Hays is able to overcome his own health issues to come one step away from capturing the culprit.
When Hays loses his wife and his memory, he still has the wherewithal to contact his former partner Roland West to help him find closure on the biggest case of his life. In the end, Hays manages to figure out what happened to Julie, which took every bit of smarts he had.
1 Rustin Cohle - Season 1
With such philosophical idioms as "time is a flat circle" and "everybody is nobody," Rustin Cohle is the most intelligent True Detective character of all.
Despite his troubled past and crippling dependency on alcohol and barbiturates, Cohle harnasses his fractured soul and damaged spirit into doing some of the most skillful and incisive police work on the entire series. His eccentric nature and unique methods of working allow him and his partner, Martin Hart, to track down the sinister Yellow King.
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