‘True Detective’ Creator Comes for ‘Night Country’s Issa López and Misses

True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto took a break from cashing his Night Country checks to take some petty digs at the new season created (and written and directed) by Issa López.

Night Country is the highest rated season of True Detective since the first installment, which should make the executive producers of the series—Pizzolatto among them—happy. Instead of acting like a proud papa, Pizzolatto, who created the series and ran the first three seasons, is behaving like a little boy. As captured on Reddit, Pizzolatto took shots at López’s season in the internet’s number-one safe space for shitty men with shitty opinions: the comments section. Specifically, Pizzolatto chimed in on a recent Instagram post, soothing one commenter who was all worked up about how HBO had disrespected his boy, assuring him that “I certainly did not have any input on this story or anything else. Can’t blame me,” and calling the new season “so stupid” in another.

It’s understandable to feel precious about something you created, especially if another person comes along and adds to it in a way that categorically sucks. But it’s not as if López walked up the fridge at HBO and smeared boogers on Pizzolatto’s crayon drawing of two men haunted by their moral failings and having an existential crisis while surrounded by (dead?) boobies. (Did he even watch the first season of his own show? Go to therapy.) Vulture actually spoke with López about Pizzolatto’s reaction, and her response is like watching Neo effortlessly dodge bullets in The Matrix:

“I believe that every storyteller has a very specific, peculiar, and unique relation to the stories they create, and whatever his reactions are, he’s entitled to them. That’s his prerogative,” López told Vulture. “I wrote this with profound love for the work he made and love for the people that loved it. And it is a reinvention, and it is different, and it’s done with the idea of sitting down around the fire, and [let’s] have some fun and have some feelings and have some thoughts. And anybody that wants to join is welcome.”

It’s called respect, Nic. I dunno, would it kill him to be happy that someone loved his show so much that she made a thoughtful response that pays homage to it while expanding on its themes and ideas in ways that feel relevant and provocative? I’d be so flattered if anything I did inspired another person to create a piece of art, even if the art wasn’t that great. And if I didn’t like it, I’d keep my opinion to myself and keep cashing my free paychecks.

But in this case, as Vulture points out, Night Country currently has a 93% critics rating and a 67% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes—the highest since season 1, which had a 91% critics rating and an 88% audience score. (Season 2 was a low point for the series with a 47% rating from critics, while season 3 was a solid course-correction with an 84% rating.) Even if you aren’t a fan of Night Country (and I am), López clearly made something that most people agree is good. There’s no sense in trying to drag it—unless you’re some random dude playing pick-me in the comments section of Pizzolatto’s Instagram.

(featured image: HBO)