Before we begin, let it be known that HBO's president of programming, Michael Lombardo, publicly stood by this show earlier in the week. “I think you need to watch the entirety of it,” Lombardo stated. “I think the season’s ending is as satisfying as any series we’ve done.” Unfortunately, I think this vote of confidence comes too little, too late for frustrated viewers and critics.
This week's episode began with a Ani, Ray and Paul at a seedy motel recouperating after their great escape from Toni Chessani's rich man's orgy. Bezzerides is fighting off some serious emotions and drugs. She is reminiscing about killing the security guard at the party doting that "I've been waiting my whole life for that." Her putrid state of doubt and confusion would be the perfect moment to try to tie up that sexual tension between her and Ray Velcoro. He turns her down, and she blames it on the drugs and brushes it aside. Paul receives a text from an unknown number, with blackmail pictures featuring Paul and his male lover together, and later demands a secret meeting. All the while their missing person-turned-prostitute is sleeping off the drugs in the other room. Talk about a drama dump. All of this goes down in the first six minutes. It becomes clear that the three need to go into hiding and so does everyone they love. Paul puts his crazy mother and his pregnant fiancé in a hotel, and Ani ships her father and sister off with her old partner there to follow and make sure that they're all right.
It's a genuine corpse parade after that. State Attorney Davis is found dead in her car with a gunshot to the abdomen when Ray goes to meet her to reveal what they've found. And it was seemingly with his own gun.
Vince Vaughn is the only reason I am still watching this show. I never thought I could picture Vince Vaughn metaphorically riding in on a white horse to save the day. Then again, I never thought I'd be seven episodes into an HBO program and disliking it this much. In a solo act of redemption, the scene in which Frank tortures and kills Blake for information is the saving grace for this episode. With one handgun blast to the stomach and a monologue of menace over a writhing body, Frank extracts his revenge and an exit plan. I truly feel as though this man is backed into a corner and is a big enough badass to get himself out. Frank makes some moves to get his woman and get out of town once he steals a nice chunk of change from the Russians, who have just purchased the liens to his clubs. He doesn't do this without making sure both properties are burnt to the ground first.
Meanwhile, Ani and Ray have to go into hiding together because they are fugitives, clearly bunking together because, why not? They share an awkward makeout scene that I'm pretty sure no one really cared about. If I wanted to watch two exceptionally damaged people go at it, I would have tuned in to late night programming. Amidst their bunking together, we find out that with the overload of information we have received this season, it is in fact the blue diamonds that are the link. On top of this, we also discover that it is Caspeare's assistant, Erica Johnson, whose real name is Laura. She was pictured beside her brother in last episode's riot reveal. Viola. She was one of the orphaned L.A Riot children, in Vinci, with the blue diamonds or a candlestick, who knows there's another episode the whole thing might be one big MacGuffin at this point. It's also now revealed that Caspeare's death was a revenge. He was killed by the son of two shop owners who were murdered during the riots.
Who are we forgetting? Oh, Paul. Paul meets up with Miguel in an exchange that shows us that Catalyst wants the heads of Ani, Ray and Paul on a platter. This leads to a deadly underground shoot out that Paul escapes, showing some Jack Bauer-esque moves in the process. As he Shawshank Redemption-style walks through the door, he's shot by Lieutenant Burris. This man just Rambo'd an entire team of mercenaries and then is thwarted by a guy with a handgun hidden behind a door. Color me confused. Is this just a rehash of earlier on when Ray got blasted in the chest? I know I'm not the only one whose patience is being tried and the cheap thrills tactic is not going to work anymore.