"On the surface level, then, "the mask" might be the lies we tell ourselves in order to cope with this life. Taking it off would be an act of cruelty.
However, when the mask that Cohle is wearing, the mask of a hardcore nihilist, is dropped when the killer nearly drains him of his life... That changes his life for the better.
What was more interesting to me is that both these men are left in a place of deliverance, a place where even Cohle might be able to acknowledge the possibility of grace in the world. Because one way both men were alike in their failures was that neither man could admit the possibility of grace. I don't mean that in a religious sense. Where we leave Cohle, this man hasn't made a 180 change or anything like that. He's moved maybe 5 degrees on the meter [...]. Now they are going to go on and live forever beyond the margins of the show, and our sense, at least, is they haven't changed in any black to white way, but there is a sense that they have been delivered from the heart of darkness. They did not avert their eyes, whatever their failings as men. And that when they exit, they are in a different place.
As we can see, "True Detective" is about the cathartic element of story-telling, be the source of it external or internal. But the catharsis is useless unless accompanied by an honest re-evaluation ("not averting" your eyes) and follow up.
In other words, "True Detective" is an ode to living consciously."
- Adrian Chmielarz in "The Puzzle of True Detective Season 1" for Medium
