‘Mare of Easttown’ Evolves HBO’s ‘True Detective’ Model, and Proves Why Season 4 Can Wait

Stop me when you can name the HBO drama matching the below description:An investigator plagued by the past has to get to the bottom of a pivotal case in order to save the day — and themselves.Did you guess “The Outsider”? Maybe “The Night Of”? Perhaps you thought of “Sharp Objects,” or even “Perry Mason”? Wait, of course, never mind: You said “True Detective” — Season 1, 2, or 3.Well, no matter what you thought of, you were probably right.Ever since Detective Rust Cohle declared time to be a flat circle, TV networks have followed his looping logic to lucrative ends.

Star-powered limited series have all but taken over television, prestige programs continue to prop up network reputations, and the cop drama — a staple of television long before “True Detective” — is still repurposed, rebooted, and resurrected over and over and over again.

These days, they just happen to win more awards.

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