In the age of digital critique, the once-familiar fruit pelting of bad performers has transformed into a barrage of online disparagement – a storm of negative reviews, and in some cases, a deliberate act of “review bombing.” This week, True Detective: Night Country found itself caught in the crossfire as fans of the original season resorted to questionable tactics on Rotten Tomatoes.

While the first season of True Detective followed male investigators portrayed by Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey, Night Country introduces a shift with two female detectives played by Jodie Foster and Kali Reis. Showrunner Issa López took to Twitter to express frustration, accusing “bros and hardcore fanboys” of deliberately dragging down the series’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. López urged her followers to counteract the negative reviews with positive ones, sparking a debate on the authenticity of online ratings.

The incident not only highlights the influence of online reviews on a show’s success but also raises questions about the credibility of Rotten Tomatoes as a review aggregation system. While the platform has become a popular resource for film and TV enthusiasts, it operates on a binary metric of positive or negative judgments, oversimplifying the nuanced world of cinema. The “Fresh” or “Rotten” designation often fails to capture the essence of risk-taking or polarising works, favouring blandly likeable content over daring greatness.

Rotten Tomatoes assigns both critics and audience scores, with the latter typically favouring accessible material and the former leaning towards challenging or arthouse fare. However, both scores have been criticised for their lack of reliability, with diluted pools of approved critics sometimes providing unwarranted praise for commercial clunkers.

The problem extends beyond Rotten Tomatoes, as other platforms like IMDB and Letterboxd perpetuate the ideology of review-by-consensus. The digital era’s tendency to reduce media to numerical scores oversimplifies complex opinions and leaves them vulnerable to manipulation.

True Detective: Night Country’s encounter with review bombing highlights the challenges faced by creators in navigating the digital landscape. Even efforts by supporters to counteract negative scores may not necessarily reflect genuine opinions, leading to a senseless tug-of-war. The incident serves as a reminder that, when deciding what to watch, trusting a few reliable critics may be more valuable than relying on the overwhelming but often misguided crowd.