True Detective Season 2, Episodes 3 & 4: Review

Eliot: You must have had hundreds of lives.

Ray: I don’t think I could handle another one.

 


        Well, after all my ranting about Ray being dead I kind of feel like a douche right now. Thanks for that Pizzolatto. Anyway I guess by now you know that Velcoro is alive and well. The thing is I’m not quite sure how to feel about it – on one hand, I’m glad that (for me personally) the best character stays on the show, but on the other hand I feel like I was fucked over by it. He was shot point blank with a shotgun TWICE and come the next episode it’s all good, turns out it was just riot bullets. What I personally think is that was just a cheap trick to get the neutral viewer to keep watching a bit more of the slow-paced action in the next episodes until the story finally gets its momentum going (which I believe finally happened in episode four). But let me start chronologically.

             Episode 3

                It all starts with kind of a purgatory scene where we see Ray talking to his father in a bar with a suspiciously flashy cowboys singing “The Rose” by Bette Midler. It’s kind of extremely trashy and touching at the same time. Before we are revealed what has actually happened to him we have to endure a good 60 seconds of intense screen time in which we are clearly shown what the show would miss if there in fact were real bullets in that shotgun. Anyway, I would rather be happy about Velcoro staying in the show than concentrate on the fact how clumsily the death/resurrection was done, because Colin Farrell is doing such a fantastic job with the character. And that goes as well for all of the lead actors to such an extent that I find myself recalling the names of their characters than of the performers themselves. And that is definitely saying something. Vaughn is outdoing himself with every scene he is in. In this particular episode he starts off a bit “limp” and ends up with a pocket full of golden teeth. And we love every second of it. As a second death, on Franks side of the table is revealed he is being pushed back into the dirty business that he had cleansed himself of in events prior to the pilot. It is very interesting watching his transformation as Vaughn does not necessarily have a threatening vibe about him, and seeing at the end of the episode exactly why everyone would rather not step on his toes is quite intense. And it also raises the question of who would be bold enough to be purposefully doing it by killing off his men and his finances. Kitsch and McAdams are also very impressive, especially with McAdams putting up more of a serious and respectable face, instead of her “I hate everything” attitude from the first episode. We also get a nice glimpse at Kitsch’s Paul Woodrugh inner demons, which surprisingly enough contain a gay war experience, wouldn’t you have guessed. Ani on the other hand continues to bond with Ray, which is yet another point in which the plot-line seems to thicken, as they are both being turned against each other by their respectful departments.

Episode 4

In this one we see Frank taking over some more of his old businesses in order to stabilize his financial situation. We are also let even further into his marital bed and get to know more about his relationship with his wife Jordan (Kelly Reilly). We have seen Frank’s “softer” side before in the show, but I hadn’t brought it up until now. It is obvious nothing means more to Frank than his beloved, but it is not something that makes him appear weak or too sensitive. It is more of a “you complete me” thing, but a little less romantic. What intrigues me more is the relationship between Frank and Ray – I still can’t wrap my head around it and the main reason is they seem to completely trust each other, which in their situation is a bit weird (not only being on opposite sides, but being a mobster and a dirty cop, neither of which is trustworthy on paper). I am looking forward to seeing a bit more about their past as a team, especially when it obviously has something to do with revenge for Velcoro’s wife (the bitch!). In the episode we also get a first real moment between Ray and Paul in which (for me – somewhat surprisingly) it is revealed that Velcoro actually has a lot of respect for his younger colleague. The thing is – I still feel like there is some connection between Ray, Ani and Frank and that somehow the killings are a part of something big that all three of them are tangled up in and Paul kind of just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Finally in this episode we get a lead suspect on the killing of Ben Caspere and that leads to the best part of the season so far – a brutal shooting between police forces that just leave you breathless in its savage and raw speed. It seems that the shit has finally hit the fan! And the next episode should hopefully reveal more on what exactly we were waiting for. All I can say is if the plot turns out to match the perfectly written living breathing personalities (the main characters are so good and believable that the word “character” is not exactly suitable to describe them) the writers have depicted and we, as viewers, are in for one hell of a ride. 

~G