A quick trip down memory lane will reveal that the title of last night's episode of "True Detective," "Down Will Come," is actually a lyric from the nursery rhyme "Rock-a-bye Baby." If you'll remember, that sweet lullaby isn't as good natured as the soothing tune would suggest. No one here can make the argument that a baby falling from a treetop is a good thing.
So did showrunner Nic Pizzolatto want viewers to know that the proverbial dookey was about to hit the fan; that it all was going to come crashing down? Probably. But despite the episode's explosive finish, I can't help but dwell on the misfire of the first 45 minutes. What this season of "True Detective" has lacked thus far is clarity and action. Obviously, last night's episode addressed the latter, but it is the former that is still holding this second installment back.
To be fair, Frank's story is pretty straight forward. As his capability as a crime boss entrepreneur is questioned to the outside world, his inner manhood is under the same scrutiny in the intimacy of his marriage. He and his wife are struggling to conceive a child, just as his land deal (what he considers his financial baby) is crumbling in front of him. "I don't take on somebody else's grief," Frank tells his wife when she brings up adoption. You may not, Frank, but the audience doesn't share the same luxury.
Throughout the first three episodes, Frank has been operating from a position of weakness. Ben Caspere's murder didn't just rob the fictional city of Vinci of one of its (corrupt) civil servants, it also stripped away Frank's life savings and he's been scrambling to recoup it ever since. As a result, Frank has come across as impotent and powerless in more ways than one.
But to hop over to another prestige HBO drama, the nature of power is often exemplified through character exchanges on "Game of Thrones." One character typically gets the better of another during electric verbal rallies that could rival yesterday's Wimbledon championship. But whether he's talking business with the Russians or being threatened by the Mayor, Frank has not come out ahead in these situations. He's behind on the scorecard so it is necessary for him to muscle some underlings and put a few deals together in this episode and to finally come out on top in a business interaction. But it only works because he returns to the low brow gangster ways he's working so hard to put behind him. To paraphrase the great Avon Barksdale, perhaps Frank isn't hard enough for the gangster world or smart enough to go legit. This relapse to his baser tendencies isn't interesting entertainment, it's just sad.
Speaking of sad, everyone's favorite sexually confused pouty-faced cop is feeling down in the dumps. He wakes up in someone else's apartment and - surprise, surprise - it's his war buddy with benefits. "You let yourself go, man. Be what you want. It's not bad," he tells Paul. But Paul isn't having it. He retreats from the apartment faster than Napoleon at Waterloo and absolutely loses it in a fit of rage and self-loathing on the sidewalk.
In the hands of more capable actor, Paul's character would be a bold and interesting statement on masculinity in the 21st century; a soldier fighting a battle with enemies both external and internal. But in Taylor Kitsch's hands, Paul Woodrugh is just Pouty Face. I can't help but think what someone like Jake Gyllenhaal or Cillian Murphy could have done with this role. Sigh. I'm not looking forward to more of Paul denying his inner feelings as he tries to make a family with his now pregnant girlfriend.
But at least Colin Farrell's Ray Velcoro is there to pick him up when he feels low. "You're a survivor. Everything else is just dust in your eyes, man. Blink it away," Ray tells him.
Not only is this best line a dialogue in the episode, but it's also the second instance of Ray trying to help one of his partners. Earlier, he tried to warn Ani of coming repercussions for her excursion to the Mayor's house last week. Now, he's picking Paul up in a moment of vulnerability.
When we first met Ray, he was a man without a path wandering aimlessly in the forest of apathy and anger. But I think last week was a real turning point for him. He's following his own way now, perhaps trying to return to the decent man he once was. There's still good in him (ala Darth Vader) and every now and then we get a brief glimpse of it. His secret meeting with his son, in which he gives him his father's police badge, is one small example of it. His refusal of Frank's muscle work is another.
We also get a brief glimpse of Ani's inner psyche as she meets with her sister. They discuss the power of memories and how the vivid ones linger with you long after they've happened. "I should have been there for you," Ani tells her sister in regards to their less than traditional upbringing. "Babe, you couldn't even be there for yourself," she responds.
Ani may not be all there emotionally at the moment, and her forced departmental leave isn't going to help, but her detective work is getting results. She questions the Mayor's daughter who reveals that Caspere and her brother, the one who plans "special events" were in touch on a regular basis. She also reveals that her mother died when she was 12 after being committed to a mental hospital for schizophrenia where she was treated by Doctor Pitlor, who also treated Caspere.
Earlier, Ani's sister spoke about "those parties" that go on around town, the type of events not even she is willing to partake in. Ani's father also reveals that Doctor Pitlor researched spiritual communities that the Mayor's father and Caspere were involved with. A linked thread is beginning to emerge.
The team then follows up on a lead regarding Caspere's expensive watch and a pawn shop. I only know this because I looked it up afterwards. The episode itself did an absolutely terrible job of supplying the details of the case in an easily understandable manner. It's not a good sign when your show needs footnotes.
But that ending? Amazing. The ground level warfare is so frenetic and close range that it inspires genuine fear and anxiety. Multiple cops are killed (including Teague Dixon) along with several innocent bystanders as Amarilla, the murder suspect, opens fire on the 10 or so officers. Amarilla is eventually gunned down by Ray and Paul, but not before killing an innocent hostage and a handful of others. The carnage carries with it an impact, bonding our three protagonists through tragedy and ameliorating a flawed, needlessly confusing episode.
And here in lies my problem with season two of "True Detective." The show looks great; it's shot creatively and no one seems to do realistic action better than "True Detective." The show sounds good too, what with all that flowery dialogue and poetic waxing. But the missing ingredient is still clarity and resonance.
Yes, that final act was enthralling and powerful. But it couldn't match the highs (technical and otherwise) of the five-minute tracking shot from episode four of "True Detective's" first season because the stakes weren't nearly as obvious. And while Farrell, Vince Vaugh and Rachel McAdams have been solid, none of their performances stitch together the show's wobbly start like Matthew McConaughey's did last year.
I find myself asking "What the hell is going on?" this year more than I ever did during an episode of "LOST." Maybe I'm just not smart enough to follow the show effectively, a distinct possibility depending on which one of my buddies you ask. But maybe Pizzolatto is getting a little too cute with his story; a little too smart for his own good. We've seen each of his main characters lose something within themselves during the first half of this season. If Pizzolatto isn't careful, he may start to lose some of his audience.
