Halfway through the second season, TRUE DETECTIVE pulls out all the stops to make its final fifteen minutes a tense and nail biting ending. It’s a bumpy journey to get there, but this season has delivered its best episode so far.
Frank is having problems with his avocado plants, they won’t grow and he’s also having trouble conceiving a child; remember that scene last episode where he couldn’t get hard for his wife at the fertility building? Yeah, subtly is not TRUE DETECTIVE’s strong point. After losing most of his money, Frank is looking to get back some power, starting with reclaiming his old businesses. Whether it’s the writing or Vince Vaughn’s performance, but Frank was seriously threatening to drag this episode down. It’s mentioned that Frank’s been around since at least 1999, so it’s assumed that he must be a formidable man to have stayed this long in power.
Everyone Frank pays a visit to this episode is genuinely scared of him, but I feel we haven’t actually seen anything of him to show that he is a man to be feared. Sure, he pulled someones teeth out but even that looked really goofy with Vaughn being the one to do it. Even if all of the respect and fear people have for him stems from his earlier years, Vaughn never alludes to it, we see no hint of the man he once was or really is. It’s especially hard to take Vaughn seriously when he’s throwing out lines like “I’ve never lost a tooth, not even a cavity”, especially when the person on the receiving end is shaking in his boots over a ridiculously nonthreatening line.
Velcoro and Ani continue their new found partnership, with Velcoro giving her the heads up about the mayors new personal vendetta against her. The enigma that is Ani is slowly revealing itself, with her now being suspended due to complaints about her sexual activity within the department.
Also mentioned are her gambling debts and with that that Ani is told to leave the building, unable to return until the investigation against her has ended. More disappointing was the argument between her and her former partner, who, yes you guessed it, had previously slept with her. This dragged Ani into borderline cliched territory, similar to her conversation with her sister about their dead mother, which had some clunky exposition buried between some nice moments between two sisters who are obviously the opposite of each other.
Velcoro meanwhile is still on the road to changing himself. It’s crazy how much he has actually developed since we first saw him in The Western Book of the Dead. While still cynical and bitter, this new Velcoro is sharper and possibly even nicer? He tips Ani off about the mayor and than says goodbye to the only tiny bit of goodness he had in his world, his ‘son’. With Franks offer of a job to Velcoro, it will be interesting to see how he further develops in the second half of the season and whether the aftermath of this episode will push him further towards the wrong side of the law.
After what seemed like three episodes of Woodrugh doing absolutely nothing, this episode finally put him to some use. In many ways this was his episode, we have him finally facing his own sexuality when he wakes up in his old war buddies apartment, unable to remember the night before but greeted by his cheerful friend who tells him he’s glad Woodrugh called. Disgusted with himself, Woodrugh grabs his clothes and leaves, going back to the hotel he’s staying at only to be swarmed by a group of reporters.
On top of this his bike has been stolen, possibly the only thing he really cares about. With the loss of his bike and his incoming realization of his own sexuality, Woodrugh can’t keep running away from his problems but he continues to avoid them, with him now asking his pregnant girlfriend to marry him, further burying his feelings beneath what society expects him to do, a thought he echoes to Velcoro when they’re in the car together. There was a nice, understated moment in the taxi where he lets out a single tear and his subsequent scream of anger out on the street was terrific, Taylor Kitsch really nailing the emotion this episode.
Perhaps I’ve been too harsh on both Kitsch and the character of Woodrugh, they’ve both been very preserved and quiet so far in the season and if this was Paul’s big freak out then it was successful. But really, Kitsch’s best moment came in the aftermath of the massive shootout that closes this episode. While Ani and Velcoro stand there in shock, horrified at the massacre and damage that just took place, Woodrugh is still, calm. He holds his pistol close to his chest, childish really, like a kid who’s been caught with something they shouldn’t have. It’s probably the most comfortable Woodrughs been all season.
Now, lets talk about the ending. Giving the show a much needed jolt in the arm, the final fifteen minutes were a delightfully tense affair, with some really realistic details within the carnage that was unleashed when the police get into a shootout with a Mexican gang. I liked how there were civilian casualties as well as deaths on both sides of the shootout, it certainly added to the terror of the situation.
Most surprising was the sudden death of Velcoros associate Dixon, who was on the receiving end of a brutal head shot. While I never once thought that any of our main characters were in any direct peril, the sequence escalated so quickly from a simple building assault to a car smashing into a bus, that I was happy to go along for the ride. I’m starting to realize that I don’t necessarily care about the murder mystery angle of this season; the death of Caspere and the hunt for his killer has been a slow tedious crawl with what I expect will be little payoff.
Where I’m really enjoying the show is just seeing the characters interact with each other and develop throughout this season. The final shot of the episode; of all three of them standing amidst the carnage and bodies of the shootout, is a memorable ending. It’s too late to turn back now, blood has been spilled.
