Ya I meant like, bringing up religion, parenting , drug use , and sucking on a robot dick in the span of five minutes, all wrapped up in a cop drama without it being jarring or crammed down my throat.
As for my acting comments; Though there are many small instances of things that normally piss me off, like say child actors stinking up a scene or side characters having zero personality, that I feel True Detective does a good job with, if I have to think of a specific thing I like about the show I am personally impressed with, it would be subdued performances from Vaughn, Farrell, and McConaughey. In my mind I had expected X from them, but am seeing Y in the show and I enjoy it, that's all.
Perhaps I am easily appeased because I was a hardcore Twin Peaks fan back in the day, and even the tiniest resemblance to it lights up the little kid in me watching a spooky show late at night. Vaughn's assistant's quirky voice and way of describing the commie jew tickled me.