What a difference seven episodes can make. They say it’s the journey that matters but for TRUE DETECTIVE that might just be the opposite; it’s been a rough ride to get here but the show has slowly been building up to this moment; the beginning of the end. The end is nigh and our protagonists will have to pay for their sins.
If next week’s episode will be the show saying farewell to its ambitious second season than this penultimate episode was all about preparing to say goodbye. After speeding away from a sex and drug crazed party with their missing person safely found, the gang are holed up in a motel room. Knowing that the people they’ve now pissed off will be looking to hurt them, they seek to get their loved ones away from Vinci.
Woodrugh collects his mother and fiancee, leaving them in a motel room and demanding they don’t leave the room, while Ani sends her sister and father packing. Admitting that she can be “too harsh on people”, Ani and her dad share a quiet heartfelt moment where they both acknowledge what she suffered when she was younger and while it was nice to see Ani finally letting her guard down, their goodbyes were born more out of fear; as the end approaches the stakes are higher than ever and no one is safe, even Frank tells his wife to pack a bag and get away. We said goodbye to a few characters this episode, dead or otherwise.
This episode was built around paranoia and the idea that the walls are closing in for our characters. Jumping into a car, Velcoro is giddy from the evidence they’ve found; “Have I got a story for y-” but he’s cut off from the sight of Davis, the mastermind behind their investigation, slumped in the drivers seat with a bullet hole in her chest. It was shocking, darkly funny and tense. The group have no authority now and are on their own, Ani is wanted for the death of the guard back at the party and Velcoro is being connected to Davis’ untimely death. Worst of all someone has been texting Woodrugh pictures of him and his friend together and he, in an unfortunate mix of insecurity and shame, leaves the group to meet the person. He knows he’s walking into a trap, even calling Velcoro to confirm so, but his need to keep his sexuality a secret proves to be his downfall.
After taking out the men who are blackmailing him, including his friend, Woodrugh rushes outside, desperate to call someone, but in his haste he doesn’t notice Lieutenant Burris behind him, who proceeds to shoot him through the chest. In his final moments, Woodrugh is still fighting, muttering “No, no fuck you,” as he crawls towards his gun; but he never makes it as Burris places a bullet in his head. Yes, Woodrugh wasn’t the most interesting of characters at times and he definitely suffered from some poor characterisation, but I was sad to see him go. It’s fitting that a line he speaks near the beginning of the episode sums up his journey this season; “I’m just trying to be a good man,” he says defensively and he’s more than right; looking back Woodrugh kept his head down and focused on the investigation, never letting his conflict with his own urges get in the way. In the end that proved to be his undoing, but he died a hero.
Meanwhile, Frank was getting his hands dirty, finally uncovering the plan to take him and his businesses down. After smashing a glass into the side of his unfaithful henchman Blakes head, he found out that Caspere was always going to take Franks money and screw him over and that Blake killed Stan because he had figured out what Blake was up to. After roughing him up some more, Blake’s promise of millions of dollars for Frank had me worried for a second, I really thought that Frank was going to be suckered into keeping Blake alive and that would come back to haunt him, but before I could even think of the consequences of that, Frank had pulled out a gun and shot Blake in the stomach.
It was a great character moment for Frank and a nice moment of misdirection, this is the Frank we have been waiting to see and I’ll honestly say that Vince Vaughn was the star of this episode; everything about the Frank we’ve seen before, the subdued nature of him, the slow pausing way of talking, all exchanged for a angry man who’s giving in to his most naturalistic instincts. I was afraid of Frank this episode, or most importantly believed that he was a force to be reckoned with. With his wife gone, and after setting fire to both his casino and club, Frank has nothing left but also nothing to lose.
Ani is still suffering from the effects of the party and the drugs she was forced to take. She sits on the motel bed, muttering about the guard she had to kill and how she’s waited for something like that all her life. “When I ran out of the woods…” she begins to say, before she silences herself. Velcoro gives her a worried look, confused over what she is talking about. She tries to make a move on Velcoro, before he declines. They’ve had a slow, underestimated relationship developing over the season and it’s all come to a climax here. Their both broken, cynical people who’ve suffered great traumas in their lives that has molded the people they’ve become. So it was no surprise when Velcoro gave in to Ani’s affectation. I think they’re two people who have the biggest chance of redemption and they’ve both found someone who they feel safe with. It’s a genuine moment of connection for the two but TRUE DETECTIVE promises it won’t last. The end is coming and no one is safe.
