Portrayed memorably by actor Matthew McConaughey, detective/profiler Rust Cohle is as troubled and enigmatic as he is brilliant. Haunted by his past (and present), Cohle is an insomniac, an alcoholic, and experiences profound episodes of paralyzing synesthesia. He’s singularly obsessed with his work, which in this case involves a sadistic, ritualistic serial killer amidst an eerie Louisiana landscape of unsettling, tantalizing suspects.