What makes True Detective worth watching

Picking up again after a while on the HBO True Detective, watching episodes 5 & 6, and again reminded of the many strengths of the series: you have to like the ever-evolving relationship between Harrelson and McConaughey) - end of ep 6 their contemporary-time interrogations have ended, they've both walked out, Mcc/Rust pursues Harrelson/Marty and they agree to have a beer (or 2?) together, catching up. We're at last beginning to understand what the police are investigating, why they've called these two guys in for questioning about event that occurred 10 years previous. Well, probably not worth wading too deeply into the plot itself, which altogether is too sensational and improbable - ritual killings, a violent and predatory fringe church cult covered up by a seemingly upstanding charitable organization, multiple murders and disappearances, all infused with deep Southern gothic settings and grotesque, gargoyle-like characters); the series isn't so much about plat as about character and about mood: it gets at what many other HBO series have tried to do and failed, creating a place that seems both familiar and frighteningly alien at the same time. The many long shots of the bayou, the refineries, the waterfront - and the interiors of the roadhouses, the gun clubs, the hunting and fishing lodges and cabins - all contrast beautifully and starkly with the very mundane and familiar suburban dwellings (Marty), underfurnished bachelor pad (Rust), and the police station with the old-timer pro cop steadily berating the unconventional Rust for his unorthodox theories and practices. Highlights of the generally excellent writing continue to be the Rust-Marty dialogues, with Rust's bewildering ontological speculations and Marty's blunt and practical disbelief as well as Rust's expertise at eliciting confessions from the most recalcitrant subjects, not by coercion or threat but by getting into their minds and under their skin - and then generally is cool and curt dismissal of them once they've, to their own surprise and dismay, spilled it all.