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In HBO’s gripping series “True Detective,” Matthew McConaughey’s character, Rustin “Rust” Cohle, emerges as a complex figure—brilliant yet profoundly cynical. As Season 1 unfolds, Cohle finds himself under suspicion of being a serial killer. Reflecting on the ominous last words of drug manufacturer Reggie Ledoux, portrayed by Charles Halford, the narrative introduces the philosophical concept of Friedrich Nietzsche’s eternal recurrence. “Someone once told me time is a flat circle. Everything we’ve ever done or will do, we’re gonna do over and over and over again. And that little boy and that little girl, they’re gonna be in that room again. And again. And again. Forever,” he recounts.
Though Cohle’s recollection slightly misquotes the original statement, Ledoux indeed mentions, “I know what happens next… you’ll do this again. Time is a flat circle.” Rust’s sarcastic retort, “What is that, Nietzsche?! Shut the f*** up,” underscores the philosophical undertones running through the series. Both Ledoux and Cohle echo Nietzsche’s idea of eternal recurrence, suggesting a cyclical nature of existence where life’s moments repeat endlessly, encountering the same people and events.
This philosophical thread draws from Nietzsche’s work “Thus Spoke Zarathustra.” In it, Nietzsche, through the character of Zarathustra, presents eternal recurrence as potentially positive—provided one’s life is meaningful enough to warrant repetition. However, for Rust, burdened by years of suffering, this concept only highlights life’s bleakness.
It’s from his work of fiction, “Thus Spoke Zarathustra.” Nietzsche, speaking as Zarathustra, saw this as a good thing on a conditional basis — you have to make your life worthy of living over and over again, but if you do, imagine the rewards you’ll reap. Rust, descending into depression driven by decades of agony, can only see the dark side of such a notion.
Rust Cohle sees Friedrich Nietzsche’s statement as a negative one
HBO
While Friedrich Nietzsche himself might find the notion of reliving the same events the same way every time fun, Rust sees the Nietzschean concept of an endlessly reoccurring life as nightmarish. Considering what he’s seen and done, that’s not surprising. Rust’s success traps him; life becomes an endless cycle of horrible crime — horrible criminal — application of sometimes-faulty justice. He falls into depression, alcoholism and PTSD, isolating himself from everyone and everything. Time does, indeed, become a flat circle for him.
At the end of Season 1 of “True Detective,” Rust’s belief justice is restored when he and Marty finally manage to figure out who really killed Dora. It turns out her murder — along with the deaths the cops were trying to pin on Rust — are the handiwork of Errol Childress (Glenn Fleshler) and the Tuttle family cult. Errol is killed, Rust is reunited with his family and the future generally looks brighter — and order has prevailed, in spite of any imperfections Rust or the world at large might have.
