I have a lot of feelings. The most important is that any journey, no matter how tedious the ride, must come to an end. Tonight’s ninety-minute season finale of True Detective is no exception to that rule. There have been a lot of hardships and extremely harsh critical reviews of this season. Was it well deserved? Maybe. Were we being too harsh? Probably. Are there still questions that we wished would be answered? Absolutely. We have to know as viewers that it is not in the nature of this type of show to tie together every loose end. Creators have deemed what we witnessed this evening as the closing chapter of their novella of mystery. This being said, it is of the utmost importance that this show is given the accolades that it deserves. Tonight was a true cinematic masterpiece to feast your eyes upon.
Having an episode begin with the go-to one on one character building dialogue seemed almost natural. As Ray and Ani are having flashback pillow talk, it leaves an eerie foreshadowing of the closest conception of calm before the storm that we can fathom. Both of their demons have escaped their closets and are infesting every corner of the room as we sit back with popcorn to soak it in. Even with short clipped dialogue we’re given a humane look into their pasts that made them the people who they are, sitting in that motel bed, at that very moment. This scene gave off the feel that this is the last time that either of them will get the chance to feel normal.
This paved the road of beautiful transition to Frank offering his wife a pay out to leave him. He ceremonially tosses his wedding band through a set of glass doors as she states the inarguable fact that she “went in to this with her eyes open” and knew exactly what that would entail. I have previously stated that this woman is a ride or die kind of girl, and she has not let me down since. It’s very clear that she’s here for the long haul, no matter what Frank says. It is decided that they will meet in Venezuela after Frank botches a cash exchange leaving them set for life and free from the law. They end their encounter with an audible story-book recitation of how they will meet again and how they will be forever together. You can literally cut the ominous dialogue with a knife. A low chime is going off in the background and all you want as a viewer is to see them standing in a park in South America together in the end. Ten minutes into the episode all we know is that our characters are tying up as many ends as they possibly can in California, and looking South for redemption.
The pan over Paul Woodrough’s decaying body was hard to watch. Even more difficult was the shock and awe in Velcoro’s voice when Woodrough’s phone is answered by Lieutenant Burris who delivers the news that Paul is “no longer with us.” Talk about being backed into a corner. However, like an intricate game of chess that has been going on forever, Ray throws information at the Lieutenant that ensures that Ani and Ray are not the only ones with a loaded gun to their head.
A trip to see the long lost orphans from the L.A Riot’s leads to a plan to ditch information and possibly save face. Enter the famed crow mask from episode two. Now we know who shot Velcoro. Also our major plot arch from the entire season is solved. Who killed Ben Caspere? It was the brother and sister, Laura and Leonard. This horrific torture and mutilation did not come without warrant. Caspere had execution-style massacred their parents and stolen their wealth. This man and the people that he worked for had been ruling Vinci and every aspect of it for decades and something had to be done. Laura posed as a prostitute, snuck into Toni Chessani’s parties and stole information that led her and her brother to Caspere and their revenge. Leonard has the hard drive, and are going to turn it over to the authorities in exchange for their parent’s diamonds. Realizing that bringing this new found information to police will do absolutely no good whatsoever, Ani takes Laura to a bus stations to help her leave and start a new life, and Ray goes after Leonard to stop him from killing someone. He gets to Leonard in time, and they hatch a plan for a fake trade of the contract and hard drive to the Vinci police. Essentially everything goes to shit, no one gets the diamonds, and people get shot. In a series of twenty seconds Leonard is shot, the police chief is shot, and Burris takes a bullet in the arm. Speaking of multiple dead bodies, Mayor Chessani is dead. With a brief interrogation from Frank to the Ukrainian Mrs. Chessani, we discover that there was an argument. This leads us to believe that Toni killed his father and framed the entire thing as a suicide.
This episode should have been titled “Frank Runs His Mouth.” I feel as though everything that happened this evening could have been prevented if Frank had just stayed silent, taken the money, and jumped town. An alternate title could have been “The Creepy Bar: everything you ever wanted to know and more.” We find out the entire dynamic as to why the woman with the scar is a key player the entire season and how she plays into Frank, Ray, and Ani’s escape. Of course it wouldn’t be a complete season if we did not see the minor acoustic singer again with a farewell ballad. There’s a scene where Ani and Frank are meeting for the first time and their dialogue reaffirms the inclination that all of our living leads are victims of good people who have done bad things. This is one thing I did absolutely adore about the characters this season. They are the definitions of dynamic characters fully and in their entirety. Each one has changed a monumental amount since episode one. Frank has had a steady decline in his business partnerships and bank account, but has done what he needed to do to survive with his pride to this point. Ani has acknowledged and overcome her hardships of distrusting men and attempted relationships, especially with Velcoro. Ray has stopped self-medicating and has truly put his pride aside to do what is best for the people in his life.
At about an hour into this episode is where Frank, Ani, and Ray steal the multiple millions of dollars from the Russians. They use military grade weaponry to establish this feat, and if this were a typical sixty-minute episode, we could pack up and call it a day with our jaded heroes standing on top of a mountain dressed in white with strawberry daiquiris’ in their hands. You know what I’m talking about, the ones with an umbrella hanging out with them that imply “hell yeah, I’m on vacation.” But alas, this is HBO and this is a gritty crime drama. Though seemingly successful in their money heist, things go very badly, very quickly. As Velcoro is en route to meet up with Ani to hop a ship to Mexico, he feels the incessant need to stop and see his son one more time. It’s heart-wrenching, truly it is. However, when he’s leaving he notices that there is a tracker on his car and in this exact moment he realizes that he’s done for. A swift call to Ani with an announcement that she needs to catch the boat and he’ll see her soon, he races to the woods for a shoot-out with the authorities. This leaves him, and us, with a heart littered with bullet holes. This scene was beautifully shot, no pun intended. Amidst the red woods and a northern California forest we lay to rest to most changed character of this show. I can say that I felt it was possible that this would happen. Velcoro literally crossed all of his T’s and dotted all of his I’s before this scene, and left everything closed… except for an unsent voice recording meant for his son. Perhaps it was better that way.
Meanwhile, Frank is on his way to leave California when he is jumped by the Mexican thugs who he gave the cold shoulder to earlier in the season. What’s the moral of the story here guys? DON’T BE A DICK TO PEOPLE WHO YOU ARE DOING BUSINESS WITH. These guys have already killed people and showed you they meant business. Then you burnt down they’re paycheck and tried to skip town. This whole fiasco is kind of sad because Frank has literally spent the last ten minutes paying everyone he needed to pay except for these guys. They drive him out to the middle of the dessert where Frank offers them all the cash he has in the car, about one million dollars. All is well and good, until one of the Mexicans tell Frank they want his suit. Frank decides at this exact moment that it’s appropriate to tell the guy that he “never wore a suit until he was 38” and head-butt the guy. Frank is promptly stabbed in the kidney. An entire montage plays out of key people in Frank’s life as he stumbles through the desert trying to escape. His father insults the fact that he was a weak child and that he was afraid of the dark. A previous business partner begs for his life. Jordan in a dress finally appears and tells Frank that it’s okay to rest now, at which time Frank realizes that he’s dead and gives in to the darkness. This whole scene was prophetic. I have been in Frank’s corner this entire season. Was it because I felt like he was a good guy trying to do the right thing? Or was it because I envied his balls in handling situations. My head was spinning at this point. Was he always just a two-bit gangster? Was he destined to live the remainder of his life, had he lived, to a desolate life of crime? I don’t even know. The only thing I know is that my favorite character is laying on a desert floor with a trail of his blood behind him, and it was all his fault.
Ani Bezzeridies makes it out alive. The show ends with her recounting the events that happened in Vinci to a reporter in Venezuela. The money and the power has seemingly won in the United States. Toni Chessani was elected mayor. A highway was named after Paul Woodrough. Velcoro’s ex-wife gets back paternity results and find out that RAY IS THE FATHER. Catalyst has opened their building properties. The last scene of this show is Ani and Jordan holding a baby that is presumably Ray Velcoro’s and fading into a crowd of Venezuela partiers into the night.
This is a very realistic ending to this show. One of the biggest things that drive people is money and power. If you hold money, you hold power. The only way to change that is exposure. The fact that this season was left with the open ended threat of exposure made me happy. My interpretation of what could happen to the prime players is far more satisfying than watching a montage of people being paraded into custody in handcuffs. This season was an emotional rollercoaster for me. I have bounced back from love and hatred each Sunday only to leave with a sideways smirk of satisfaction. Maybe the concept of True Detective is to leave you to your own devices, and you know what? I’m okay with that.
