(This post contains spoilers. You can read my thoughts on episode one and episode two of True Detective, season two.)
Riot shells, the kind police use. That’s what brought us to this place.
Somewhere between reality and the afterlife, Ray Velcoro finds himself trapped in a bar. It’s reminiscent of the one where he and Frank Semyon often meet, but instead of taking orders and bribes from Frank, Ray is sitting across from his father. The lone patron in this dusty dive? A well-costumed, spirited performer lip-synching to Conway Twitty’s version of “The Rose.”
Velcoro’s bewilderment matches the audience’s. From the musical number — a spectacular homage to Twin Peaks — to his father’s premonition of how Velcoro will ultimately meet his demise, we are totally lost in the world of this show. This, as I’m sure Nic Pizzolatto would second, is by design.
It delays the reveal: Velcoro wasn’t killed at the conclusion of “Night Finds You” after all. More than anything else, though, the bizarre opening of “Maybe Tomorrow” is an admission by Pizzolatto that last week’s cliffhanger was a scare tactic and not the closing of a loop. True Detective in season two vastly differs from season one in a myriad of ways, and unlike Rust Cohle and Marty Hart — two open books falling all over themselves to share their versions of the world — this season has a dearth of characters the audience can identify with.
Detective Ani Bezzerides and Officer Paul Woodrugh are fascinating character studies, but comparably closed books who let the audience in on next to nothing. Semyon has the most clear motivation in the show, and his temperature from “Western Book of the Dead” to “Maybe Tomorrow” has risen considerably. He made me laugh out loud for the first time this season when he tells his wife Jordan he understands the critical importance of preserving his semen for future fertilization, damn it.
“Everything I do is overwrought with life-or-death importance,” he says. “I take a shit and a gun to my head is saying, ‘Make it a good one. Don’t fuck up.'”
However, the audience doesn’t have as much connective tissue with Frank as we do with Ray. Vince Vaughn’s turn in the series might swing the season episode-to-episode, but his through line is more precise — his life’s work has been stolen, somebody is after him, and he’s going to put a stop to it. On the other hand, we have no idea what Ray’s next move is. He’s been devastated at every turn, and with his ex-wife aiming to take full custody of their son, and the state looking to bring the hammer down on Ray’s past transgressions, his story has truly just begun.
I’m all in on watching Frank pummel grill-faced fatsos and shout “nah-nah nah-nah boo boo” at his extortion victims. As we predicted, this season thrives when Vaughn puts on his crazy eyes. But our way into this world is through Ray’s damaged lens. This was never more evident than within the limbo in his mind as he talked to his father as his confusion mirrored our confusion.
Ray was shot with riot shells because of course True Detective wasn’t letting Colin Farrell go after two episodes. Nothing is quite what it seems, and such is the noir world the show inhabits. We’ll gradually uncover what makes Ani Bezzerides such a ball buster — the “Mama’s Boy” sequence sure had some sparks, huh? — and what exactly happened in that village between Paul and Miguel. We assume by the end of eight episodes we’ll catch who’s underneath the bird mask. Answers can be nice and we’ll get there.
But I’m confident now that Ray Velcoro is our means to an end. The state is hunting him down. Frank is using him to bury the bodies as he rebuilds his empire. The Vinci Police Department, corroded by dirty politics, wants him to throw Ani off the scent. Meanwhile, his ex-wife is trying to buy custody of his son and holding the looming threat of a paternity test over his head.
We knew at first glance Ray Velcoro was a ticking time bomb, but it’s possible his near-death in “Night Finds You” has bought him more time. As he tells Frank following the ambush, he’s looking to stay angry. Over the first two hours, Ray was a lot of things — destructive, in denial, sleepy — but never angry. If True Detective comes alive when Frank Semyon changes speeds, just imagine what a pissed-off Ray Velcoro will do over the next five hours.
