TRUE DETECTIVE continues on an upward trajectory as we start the final half of the second season.
 The brutal ending of the last episode, now dubbed the ‘Vinci Massacre’, was 66 days ago and a lot has changed for our central characters. We first see Frank, in a house a lot smaller than before, surrounded by boxes stuffed full of his possessions. He watches his wife sleeping, except she isn’t – she’s wide awake. He watches her a bit longer before reluctantly leaving the house.
Meanwhile Velcoro is paid a visit by his former lieutenant; he wants to know more about the case against Caspere. When asked why he left the police force, Velcoro replies “Better to walk before they make you run” and walk he did; gone is the mustache and wild, messy hair, Velcoro has cleaned himself up. On his wall hangs a photo of his ‘son’. So, what is Velcoro up to now? He accepted Franks job offer from the previous episode and now shakes down the businesses that we saw Frank take back beforehand.
Having finally moved to the other side of the law, Velcoro still isn’t happy, as we see him express disgust at the places he has to take money from; it appears that underneath all that anger there is a good person after all. Ani is taking meetings because of the sexual harassment charges against her and Woodrugh has moved into insurance fraud.
Each characters life has only slid further into the gutter since the massacre; Velcoro is unknowingly forced into a paternity test to reveal if he’s the father of his son, Frank has become suspicious about all the deaths that have been happening lately and gets Velcoro to follow one of his men and Woodrugh is still stuck in a marriage that he obviously doesn’t want. Worse than that, his mother has stolen the $20,000 that Woodrugh bought back from the war, the same $20,000 that he wanted to use to start a new family. Having enough of his mother, he unleashes a torrent of anger on her, forcing her to confess that she knows about his sexual preferences.
It’s telling of Woodrugh’s character that his mothers confession, not the money missing, that causes him to have enough and walk out. Ani is given some pictures from that missing girls sister back in the first episode and what does she find on them? The same blue diamonds that were in the mayors house. As she inspects the pictures her hands shake from drinking too much. Velcoro follows up on Franks lead, and tracks his man to the mayors house, where his son and that plastic surgeon they interviewed in the second episode meet, bringing along a group of girls who they inspect as if they were furniture.
In the most important scene for Frank but unfortunately the worst scene of the episode, his wife admits to him that she can’t have children. The problem is that both characters are trying to gauge some emotion out of the other, pushing each other to see just how much they love each other. But Nic Pizzolatto‘s ever present indulgence for dialogue that relies on his characters talking in metaphors and proverbs means the scene is somewhat stilted, lacking any true emotion.
Vince Vaughn especially continues to struggle to deliver Pizzolatto’s dialogue accordingly. If anything, the time jump allows the show to cheat a little in regards to character development. Sure, the show has been showing us that Frank and his wife have been having baby problems, but not enough of the show has been spent really getting into the relationship between the two, so the idea that Franks wife could suddenly be so unceremoniously unhappy is pretty sudden, so is the idea that Frank would be so willing to throw away everything that he has been working to get back this season.
It’s unfortunate because the fact that Frank does leave his club to go back to his home to spend time with his wife is a surprising and nice twist, an interesting character moment that shows the potential Frank could of had, maybe it’s the writing or the acting but he’s been a wasted idea this season.
Meeting up at everyone’s favorite gloomy singer infested bar, Velcoro and Ani discuss the diamonds. Ani wants to open up the investigation again, believing rightfully that someone was trying to steer them away. Velcoro fights the idea, instead telling Ani that he didn’t realize she was on his mind and that he’s glad to see her. Ani is uncomfortable with the affection. Ani, Velcoro and Paul are all back on the Caspere case, with Velcoro being coerced back in with the promise of being able to see his son again. It’s also revealed to him that his wife’s rapist, the same man that Frank gave Velcoros identity to, is still alive and was found a few weeks ago. Except Velcoro had already solved that problem, based on information that Frank had given him. His wife’s attack and Velcoros subsequent dealing of it was what led him down such a self destructive road, so to find out that all the pain he had suffered was for nothing and that he had killed a potentially innocent man, well Velcoro isn’t happy.
It looks like Frank will be butting heads with the others sooner or later as he is now looking for a hard drive containing videos and pictures that Caspere had of various important people. When Velcoro pays the plastic surgeon a visit, he reveals that Caspere was keeping the footage as blackmail against everyone on it. Frank is looking for the hard drive as leverage to get back into the business. Woodrugh pays a visit to a pawn shop, showing the owner a picture of the diamonds. He recognizes it and talks about the ‘other’ detective who came asking about the diamonds as well, this detective also left a card for the owner to call him on. Woodrugh inspects the card, seeing it belonged to Dixon. The group now know for certain that Dixon and others were keeping a close eye on them.
Woodrugh and Ani investigate a house where the missing girl made her final call, finding a shack containing a chair covered in blood.
Meanwhile Frank relaxes in bed with his wife, their worries a thousand miles away. He mentions that there’s no stain on his ceiling and talks about adoption. Unfortunately urgent banging on their door interrupts the happy couple, as Frank opens it to reveal Velcoro standing there, all pent up rage and righteous anger. “You and me need to talk” he says.
The episode ends there, a frustrating cliffhanger that ultimately promises plenty of retribution for Frank next episode. It seems most likely that he lied to Velcoro about knowing who raped his wife, just so he could have Velcoro in his pocket. I spent much of the episode believing Frank would die at Velcoros hands, the way Franks plot lines seemingly tied themselves up so quickly and his reconciliation with his wife at the end there was preparing me for his death. But Frank lives to see another episode, for now. For Velcoro is looking for vengeance and one thing is certain; heads will roll.
