For all its meticulous plotting and shady character dealings, this season of TRUE DETECTIVEÂ is about that one obtainable thing that everyone works hard to get, as Mayor Austin Chessani confirms to Velcoro; “It’s all about money”. With our main characters together, it’s time to start digging deep into the case and what makes these people tick.
Everyone here has some kind of investment into this case whether they want to or not. Velcoro is being pushed to investigate Casperes death by his crooked superiors and Frank, who all had some shady dealings with Caspere that need to be solved. Frank gave Caspere millions of dollars for a deal which was never officially documented, meaning he’s now out of a lot of money. Woodrugh is looking to reinstate his position as a highwayman after the incident in the first episode and solving this case can get him back on the bike. The only person so far who isn’t invested in the case is Ani, but ironically she’s the one working hardest to solve it.
I mentioned in the previous review that I’m hopeful for the show to make its characters more than the stereotypes they appear, and if what’s been seen here is anything to go off, their development is going to be slow but interesting. Velcoro so far has been the main focus of the show, we see his character losing his grip on everything; after his stunt last episode he can no longer see his son and it was clear that when he was defending his actions and saying his son needs him that really its Velcoro that needs his son, possibly the only hope in what has been a very sad life so far. But it looks like he’s focused on turning around as he tells Frank he doesn’t want to be his cop on the inside anymore. He may yet redeem himself.
Woodrugh continues to be sidelined and his big scene this episode, his break up with his girlfriend, was more than a little strained. Taylor Kitsch nonchalant delivery felt stale, as if he had only just read the line for the first time. Ani is quickly becoming the most interesting character on the show, an enigma still to the audience. She’s professional and focused, unlike the other two and so far we haven’t seen any immediate stigma attached to her. Frank is a criminal, Woodrugh is a disgraced highwayman and Velcoro is a crooked cop. Ani is just a cop but no one in TRUE DETECTIVE is just one thing.
These characters are built upon layers of sadness and anger, pride and pessimism and we’re slowly uncovering just who she is. Last episode there was mention of something unexpected that she did to her boyfriend in the bedroom, than we had her being uncomfortable discussing masturbation or sex with her sister. Now we see her browsing the Internet for porn. Her insistence on carrying knives everywhere is peculiar and her reasons for it, so that no man can overpower her, is logical but there must be more to it. So far the build up has been great and Rachel McAdams a delight to watch. She plays Ani as a steel wall, impenetrable even to the audience and the build up around her character has been phenomenal.
It’s safe to say that this episode was a massive improvement over last week’s, which was mainly mediocre. Kitsch doesn’t get a whole of a lot of interaction with Farrell or McAdams but the latters pairing is one that’s fun to watch, and provides some relief against the overall gloominess of the show. Plus, any show that can get Farrell to lament the similarities between sucking on an e-cigarette and sucking a robots penis gets a laugh from me.
The biggest problem facing season two was getting people to accept not only these new characters, but the actors as well. Season Two’s casting was hotly anticipated by everyone and nearly every actor/actresses name was banded around as a potential inclusion. Vince Vaughn was perhaps the most unlikely candidate and was greeted with the most negative reaction. His opening monologue, while tiptoeing on the edge of being too heavy handed proved that Vaughn has the acting chops to really match the other three. And that ending? If he really is dead then I applaud the show for really doing the unexpected. If not? Well, they better have a good explanation.
