Well, that was aggressive. Please be advised that there are spoilers ahead.
For those of you who are down a season of True Detective, don't be alarmed. This series functions with stand alone seasons. So if you missed out on Matthew McConaughey's claim to oscar and acting fame, fear not, because in this world, you're only two episodes behind.
That being said, his show is beautiful. It is a cinematic feast to eat with your eyes. The writing is some of the best that I have seen in a long time. It's the casting that is the biggest shock and the most pleasant surprise. HBO has gone a different route by choosing actors that are specifically known for their roles in comedies and rom-coms. This has opened up great opportunity to show a gritty and intense side to some otherwise underlooked talent.
This season of True detective is focused around the town of Vinci, California in the present day. Vinci is an industrial town that has a minimal population but maximum money laundering and mafia involvement. The dialogue is loaded on thick with lies, deceit and embezzlement.
Last week we discovered that Colin Farell's character, Ray Velcoro, is a corrupt, junkie detective who is has next to nothing to live for except for his son. However, there's a kicker, it's not his legitimate. It's alluded that his wife was raped and that the child was the product of this crime. It's also implied that Velcoro murdered the man that committed the crime, therefore making him unfavorable in the eyes of the law and an asset in the hands of those who can use his profession to further their agenda. Enter Frank Semyon (Vince Vaughn), a self made mogul of questionable proportions. He is Ray's employer, controlled by the mob, and staying afloat because all of money was falsely invested by his business partner, Victor Caspere.
Last week, the show ended with the find of Caspere's dead and mutilated body in some heinous and horrific ways. The image of seeing someone's eyes burnt out with hydrochloric acid is slightly unsettling when it comes to Sunday night television. In a shocking and ironic turn of events Caspere's body was found by a bike cop, Paul Woodrugh (Taylor Kitsch). Paul had recently been pinned for some alleged canoodling with a movie-star felon and needs to show face, hence he's put on the case. Since Caspere is a person of interest for Frank, Velcoro is also put on the case. The two are joined by Antigone Bezzeridies (Rachel McAdams) for some serious feminism grunge power to create the ultimate detective three stooges. However instead of good laughs and PG fun, there's a bunch of alcohol abuse, PTSD, and shady families.
This week the episode starts with Frank lying in bed with his wife talking about abuse as a child. something along the lines of being locked in a closet for days while rats trying to eat him, so he killed them. How very Steinbeck of you, Lenny. I get that evil stems from evil, I just found this scene a bit forced. It did shed a little bit of light on how in the hole Frank is with his embezzlement and the bleakness of hope.
Ray is an informant for Frank, this is known. However, in the next scene we discover that Ray is also working in the "public interest" of the police and is told to make sure that no surprises are to be found in this current case. There is a serious amount of embezzlement going on, we're not really sure what yet but there's a lot of people with their hands in this pot. Frank is also paying off the cops to turn a blind eye to his poker room.
We get to meet Paul's creepy mom and watch a gut wrenching scene of the two hanging out in her trailer. She is the epitome of the failed American dream and it is awkward. On the flipside, I am utterly and completely bored by Paul's character. He has more issues than the New York Times and a seemingly endless amount of secrets. Knowing HBO they aren't going to resolve them until the series finale. He also has an arbitrary girlfriend character that thinks he's hiding something so she kicks him out.
One of the best executions of character development in this show's history is car ride conversations. This rang true last season and carries on into this season. There are some killer lines between Ani and Ray. "You really pull off that e-cigarette… I tried one once, it was a little too close to sucking a robots dick." Ray is really trying to break Ani's shell even though she's still on the fence, "The only difference between the sexes is that one can kill the other with their bare hands."
Caspere screwed Frank out of five million dollars buying into worthless land through a major corporation, Catalyst. Frank is broke. He liquidated all of his assets to buy into this land that Caspere never paid on. This tells us that whoever killed Caspere, has Franks money.
One of the most powerful scenes in this episode is the interaction between Ray and his wife. Last episode Ray delves out some brass knuckle happy hour on the face of the father of a bully at his son's school. Ray's ex wife bans him from seeing his son and pretty much demoralizes his whole character. She claims that she's filing for sole custody and a paternity test in which Ray pronounces "I will burn this entire fucking city to the ground first." As she walks away you can physically see Ray's last shred of moral code and character go with her.
As the investigation continues we're introduced to Caspere's weird shrink. I loved this guy. Way too much Botox, fake tan, and an ascot! What a champ! We found out the deceased had a lust in his thrust for young women. There's also a nod that Dr. Botox knows Ani's father and that she's the only kid who grew up on the commune that turned out alright.
Ray lets Ani know that this is a huge cover up and they're pawns in a bigger game. Maybe he's not such a bad guy after all. Who knows, maybe at the end of all of this, Ray and Ani will be staring down smiling from the metaphorical hill of success.
Frank heads to a strip club to talk to girls to see if anyone recognizes Caspere. He's in luck and finds out that his partner had a second apartment in Hollywood. Frank isn't the only one indulging in the world of the oldest profession. Ani sits in her hotel room looking up porn to bide her time and Paul watches out his window as an escort, presumably male, gets dropped off by his apartment,
Frank and Ray share another scene at the seedy bar from last episode. Ray contemplates suicide while the same ominous singer coo's in the background. Frank essentially tells Ray to get his act together and go check out the place in Hollywood. Not even the waitress at the bar can convince Ray to crack a smile. "You should take some time," "the only way I'll get a vacation is if I croak."
Ray heads to Hollywood to check out Caspere's apartment only to stumble onto the crime scene of his demise and a camera that has seemingly captured the entire act. Oh yeah, he also walked into two shotgun blasts to the chest from a guy wearing a bird mask.
Yeah, you read that right, they just killed off the most interesting person in the show in episode two. There's no coming back from that, right? Way to take a page from Game of Thrones and there's no Melissandre at castle Vinci. Everything I thought I knew was ruined and now Sunday can't come soon enough.
True Detective airs Sunday at 9pm on HBO.
