I agree that marty should've been a bit deeper but I think the point was that - as you said- rust was the main character and just needed a thematic 'sidekick'. All in all, marty may say things that sound simple but his arguements often refer to more complex ideas/arguements. Marty's dissmissals are grounded in the futility of needless pessimism as we'll all continue with our life chores anyways. Marty talks of how community values could mould people to becoming good and bettering society as a whole whereas isolation leads to unjustified pessimism no matter how logical Rust's arguements may sound. Marty in a way also exposes Cohle's trauma when he accusess him of sounding 'panicked'. I know that's just a projection of Matrin's own hypocritical ways and fear of thinking for himself but he is right in the sense that rust is a hypocrite too. Rust claims to be a nihilist yet he wakes everyday and does his job with hopes of doing good. He even has a cross at home and while he may not have literally believed in religion he still embodied the selfless values and tried to be nietzches' 'ubermench'. Rust was 'panicked' in the sense that cynicism was his shield against being traumatised by human connection as his spiritual experience with his dead daughter turned out to be a pointless dream and as such Rust expects the worst in hopes of never being dissapointed. He makes himself immune to life's pains by killing a part of him or rather he can never be killed mentally but never allows himself to truly live either. Even the 'do you think that manual is a stone tablet' comment is referring to the arguement of how without objectively morality, humans fall to flawed man-made laws anyways so people like rust don't really have a high horse to stand on if they want to talk of the imperfections of religious people if rust himself aint a saint. Rust defends himself by saying he's not claiming to be good but again that ain't really what he believes. The entire point of Marty is to be a foil to Cohle's character and to ground at least some aspects of his viewpoints that way the audience can walk away with more awareness towards negative aspects of life while still being able to rationally justify optimism. But like you said it would've been better if Martin sounded a little more intelligent in defense of optimism instead of making religous people look like coping morons. I think a more reasonable sounding excuse for marty coupled with his contradictorary behaviour would've made him a proper rival to rust but ultimately the show's purpose is to mostly display Cohle's redemption arc more so instead of a well rounded buddy cop duo.
Marty is my favorite character here. The secretly true anti-hero of this masterpiece tv show.
I agree that marty should've been a bit deeper but I think the point was that - as you said- rust was the main character and just needed a thematic 'sidekick'. All in all, marty may say things that sound simple but his arguements often refer to more complex ideas/arguements. Marty's dissmissals are grounded in the futility of needless pessimism as we'll all continue with our life chores anyways.
Marty talks of how community values could mould people to becoming good and bettering society as a whole whereas isolation leads to unjustified pessimism no matter how logical Rust's arguements may sound. Marty in a way also exposes Cohle's trauma when he accusess him of sounding 'panicked'. I know that's just a projection of Matrin's own hypocritical ways and fear of thinking for himself but he is right in the sense that rust is a hypocrite too. Rust claims to be a nihilist yet he wakes everyday and does his job with hopes of doing good. He even has a cross at home and while he may not have literally believed in religion he still embodied the selfless values and tried to be nietzches' 'ubermench'. Rust was 'panicked' in the sense that cynicism was his shield against being traumatised by human connection as his spiritual experience with his dead daughter turned out to be a pointless dream and as such Rust expects the worst in hopes of never being dissapointed. He makes himself immune to life's pains by killing a part of him or rather he can never be killed mentally but never allows himself to truly live either.
Even the 'do you think that manual is a stone tablet' comment is referring to the arguement of how without objectively morality, humans fall to flawed man-made laws anyways so people like rust don't really have a high horse to stand on if they want to talk of the imperfections of religious people if rust himself aint a saint. Rust defends himself by saying he's not claiming to be good but again that ain't really what he believes.
The entire point of Marty is to be a foil to Cohle's character and to ground at least some aspects of his viewpoints that way the audience can walk away with more awareness towards negative aspects of life while still being able to rationally justify optimism.
But like you said it would've been better if Martin sounded a little more intelligent in defense of optimism instead of making religous people look like coping morons. I think a more reasonable sounding excuse for marty coupled with his contradictorary behaviour would've made him a proper rival to rust but ultimately the show's purpose is to mostly display Cohle's redemption arc more so instead of a well rounded buddy cop duo.
Marty didnt know what he wanted, believe he had that epiphany late in the season. In the very end, it was in his face and far too late.