There is too drama and irrelevant side stories to make the life of all characters miserable hence it's unreliable, as it's impossible that each and every character suffers but still manage to move on at work and in life.
The acting since episode 1 is 10/10, you can see that all cast members even actors with small parts are authentic and doing the best work possible, it's the bad script fault which could have been so match better.
Not sure if this was mentioned before but I guess it was, Kali Reis is doing almost identical character to the one she made in Catch the Fair One, I saw that movie yesterday and it felt like someone in the production of True Detective simply loved that movie and her, and casted her to True Detective, she is so powerful and authentic it that movie it's simply non-brainer that she can make the character is True detective, and she does a very good job indeed.
Still it's Foster that carries season 4, so amazing acting performance. She hardly act anymore at least in the past years , which is such a shame, would like to see more of her, maybe this is a beginning for a comeback.
Episode 5 seems to move to the right direction, at last, maybe too late as there is only 1 to go, anyways, any true detective season is a blessing for me, although each season is so different. I promise that for those who were wondering where is the true detectives in season 4 will find them in episode 5.