Ladies and gentleman, we have another explanatory episode on our hands. Has anyone noticed that the opening credits have been changing a little bit every week? Well, this week they are completely new. There's a different portion of the song and all completely new images.
***Spoilers Ahoy!***
This week's episode opens with scenes of bodies from the massive shoot-out of the newly named "Vinci Massacre." The television is blaring in the background at Frank's house while he's looking over packed boxes, alluding to his imminent defeat and spiraling poverty. This episode is obviously taking place in the future, we just don't know how far ahead we are.
We jump to Velcoro's house where he is paid a visit by a former lieutenant. We discover that Ray has left the police force and is working security for Frank. After a back and forth about how Ray would have been protected, he's told that where he is living is meant for police employees and he is evicted with 60 days notice. So now we know that Ray had the option to stay in the force but chose to leave. However, instead of a clean break, he just went to work for a gangster. I wonder what's in it for him. We see Ray at the apartments housing illegal citizens, collecting rent for Frank. When he reaches an apartment with a single mother and two children who are short $200, he gives her an extra day to get the money together. But not before threatening to put her on a bus back to wherever she's from if she doesn't get it together.
Bezzerides is in a group about sexual harassment filled with men. There's a laughing look in her eyes as she hears lines like "you can't even pay a chick a compliment without her lawyering up." One of the men ask her what she's doing there, and she decides to make a huge joke about it, doting, "I just really like big di*ks….I really want to have trouble handcuffing the thing." This whole interaction is forward proof that the men in State PD have no respect for the women in their department, and Ani unravels this truth with no more than three sentences.
Woodrugh see's the actress that accused him of sexual harassment for the first time since the first episode. They're in a meeting with lawyers talking about taking a plea deal, even though Woodrugh didn't commit the crime. He's currently working insurance fraud and not on active duty. The actress' lawyer keeps threatening Paul with accusations of civilians being murdered in the Vinci Massacre, and people murdered in Afghanistan. Paul gets defensive calling the actress "A f**king liar," and he gets offended when he isn't referred to by his proper title, Detective Woodrugh.
Frank is at the club when he is paid a visit by two thugs that used to work for Santos. "Nobody's seen him, a long time now." The two let Frank know they're back for business and he quickly shows them the door. There's a rather ominous stare down, and it's clear the Frank is amassing a serious stock-pile of enemies quickly.
Frank goes to see Mayor Chessani to discuss their part in contaminating the land we saw last episode with poisonous metal. They had hired a waste management company to do so, and now the head of that company has magically driven off a cliff. Frank finds out that there were foreign interests looking to buy the poker room. Chessani accuses Frank of running prostitutes through the poker room without telling him and essentially tells Frank to GTFO and next time "wait for an invitation."
Another meeting happens between Velcoro, his ex wife, and their lawyers. In a not so shocking turn of events, they're testing for his paternity of his ginger kid. Ray loses his mind, screaming, "I raised that boy…I trusted you." The judge orders chaperoned visits and a drug test, which Ray swears he'll pass. He's 60 days clean and needs to pull together more money for the lawyer. I'm so bored with this. I hope when the paternity test comes back that it's Ray's kid and all of this will have been huge amount of wasted money and time, and by wasted time I mean my wasted time.
Ray and Frank are at the poker room discussing what just happened and that Ray needs more money. "You need more money, I need more money, we're war rationing." Frank lets Ray know he has a job for him tailing his rat employee Blake. They discuss the Vinci Massacre and if they think that the Mexicans killed Caspere. " The enemy won't reveal themselves, Raymond…"
Paul goes to see his crazy, trailer park mother. He tells her that his girlfriend is pregnant and she loses her mind. "You're a good looking white man… you could do anything you want… If I was a man, I'd have the world, you dumb bastard." Paul's mother stole $20,000 that was left in her trailer…in cash…in a bag. He makes an off-handed comment about hiding it… in a bag… in her trailer, in a closet. Is it just me or does something not compute here? They get in a screaming fit about how family doesn't matter to her, and how she blames him for her losing her career as a dancer. "I carried you for nine months and I've been carrying you ever since." Then she drops the gay bomb. Okay, great. She knows he's gay, we know he's gay, everyone knows he's gay. If this is in present time what the hell is the big deal? Hooray for arbitrary plot development that we already knew since episode one.
Bezzerides investigates a missing person's report where the sister of a missing girl receives a letter containing pictures of what looks to be a party and a couple of blue diamonds. Ani goes over them with a fine-toothed magnifying glass in the evidence cage. We discover that Mayor Chessani definitely put her there and she begs for help from her previous partner to help find more about the missing girl.
Ray is continuing his spoken tapes for his son as he's tracking Blake. "Pain is inexhaustible." He's actually quite poetic when he's sober — either that or he's writing emo lyrics. He tails Blake to Doctor Pitner's house, where Blake is picking up some girls. Then he follows him to a club the Russians own. Oh snap, Blake is working for the Russians! How incredibly… predictable.
There's another scene between Frank and his wife at the club. When she tries to go over the books to see what kind of money the club was pulling in, she can't make anything of them. They get in the same argument about Frank being a gangster. Frank swears it's a means to an end and he wants to go legitimate. Then they argue about the adoption and hookers. THIS CONVERSATION HAS LITERALLY HAPPENED FOUR TIMES ALREADY. Why is this dialogue constantly chewed up and regurgitated? Regardless, we find out that Frank hates the term gangster. Frank gives his wife an ultimatum, and she takes it and stays with him. I respect the fact that she's a ride or die kind of gal, but I'm sick of hearing the same arguments.
Paul and his pregnant girlfriend are eating with Emily's mother who is offering to stay them when the baby comes. This depicts a scene of a family that Paul never knew, as he drowns his sorrows with a cup full of vodka.
Bezzerides and Velcoro meet up at our favorite creepy bar with our favorite creepy singer. Ani and Ray are both drinking themselves into the ground on a daily basis. When Ani is at work she gets delirium tremens. She's trying to get the team back together because she doesn't think that the Mexicans responsible for the shoot out killed Caspere. They're put off by the fact that "nobody cares" about all the past events that have happened in the show. Velcoro has a very separate view and tells her that she and Paul should just quit the force. "I make sure to know the difference between my obligations and somebody else's." Ani leaves as Ray throws pleasantries at her, "It was good seeing you, I didn't realize you were on my mind." When is this going to happen? Bezzerides has literally screwed half the task force, and yet Ray gets cast to the side? The tension is fierce every conversation they have. Please for everyone's sake, just do it already.
Frank goes home early to cuddle on the couch with his wife as they try to salvage their marriage, while they sit in a living room littered in packed boxes.
The attorney general meets with Velcoro, Woodrugh, and Bezzerides, trying to get them to bring down the Vinci collusion project. She explains the breakdown of how the state can hire all of them as private investigators. Velcoro is about to walk when she dangles being able to keep his kid over his head, and then obviously he's in. Each of our detectives get delegated a task. Ani is investigating the poisoned land, Paul is hitting up pawn shops for blue diamonds, and Ray is going to have a pleasant conversation with Doctor Pitner. Ray questions the attorney general's decision to trust him stating "I thought you thought I was the worst of them."
We then discover that Ray didn't kill his wife's assailant. The guy who raped his wife got taken in a few weeks ago, and Velcoro's ex didn't say a word. This is very shocking to Ray because you can tell by the look on his face that he definitely killed someone, and that someone wasn't who he thought. Which means Frank set Ray up. This is about to get very, very ugly.
Frank goes to see Catalyst to try to get his land that he was buying into. He threatens them by trying to out them about poisoning the land. It works and they will give him his land, but it comes at a price. Frank needs to find Caspere's hard drive in exchange for his salvation.
A furious Ray goes to see Pitner and bad-cops the hell out of him. He breaks his hand, throws him on the floor and makes him admit that he's doing plastic surgery on the Euro tricks that are attending these parties for affluent men. He also finds out Caspere was filming the parties for blackmail, and that the mayor's son is running them. Catalyst members frequent the parties and pay for their existence. The Chessani's are a "highly inventive family."
Ani goes to see her sister, and despite attempts to make casual conversation Bezzerides implores her sister to work one of the parties so she can find a way into them. Human interaction is clearly difficult for Ani, and she reveals she's heading back to her home commune for her "vacation."
Paul heads to a pawn shop to show pictures of the diamonds and finds out that their now-deceased detective friend, Dixon, beat them to it. With relevant time frames, he knew about the diamonds before anyone else did.
Paul and Ani head out to her old commune and discover a yellow king type shack with a bloody chair. Cults and torture! Are you sure we're not taking a page from season one to try to revive this snail-like plot? The episode ends with Ray pounding on Frank's door with the fire of a thousand suns, telling him that he needs to talk to him.
Okay, something needs to happen, and it needs to happen quickly. We are halfway through this season and constantly brewing on a mixture of convoluted story lines and washy dialogue. They need to get their asses in gear and give us something. I'm not sure if it's the fact that this season is leaning on three supporting actors instead of two lead actors, or if the plot progression of a Ponzi scheme is politically, perpetually, and painfully slow. In any case if this show doesn't start unfolding, I wouldn't be shocked if the critics acclamations of season one are completely flushed down the toilet.