Preparation for the final countdown in the 7th episode of True Detective

The seventh episode of “True Detective Season 2” has cemented my strong belief that Pizzolatto has unintentionally divided this series into two parts. The first four episodes were a chaotic disaster, causing fans of the previous season burst out with rage and tears. This cannot be applied to the fifth, sixth and most of all, seventh episode. The numerous subplots seem to tie up pretty well, we had a huge twist and we have finally learned what was the role our poor Paul Woodrugh was supposed to play in all of this. NOTE: spoilers possible!

I have to admit that I am extremely hyped for the season’s finale of the second season. The seventh episode had it all coming – beginning from the perfect narration and ending with bringing all those loose ends to a common point. Pizzolatto has finally made some really good decisions regarding the characters he made look rather bleak. The best part of the episode, which happened to be the biggest surprise of the entire season, was the culmination of Paul Woodrugh’s role in the entire story. The last episode turned Paul from a silent, boring and unattractive character into a full-bodied detective, whose complex nature remained quite mysterious. His maniacal efforts to keep his sexual dilemmas hidden and pursuit after being “a good man” were the reasons, why his transformation was so dramatic. Pizzolatto seemed to put this troubled detective as a detached off-character, but tied it all up pretty goddamn well.

Equally to Kitch’s outstanding performance in the seventh episode, came the shining star of Vince Vaughn. That was some terrific acting and a brilliant concept by Pizzolatto – Frank Semyon, the one who lost the most in that game at top levels, in this seventh episode reminded me of the Godfather-style mobster. Classy, silently preparing for the splendorous finale in which he (probably) feels more insecure than anyone else. Frank has finally stepped out from firing ridiculous monologues here and there and getting lost in perplexing vocabulary, which nobody could understand, finally showing his true face. A cold-blooded, manipulative gangster, whose ultimate aim is to regain his kingdom, brutally taken over by Osip. Not being a fan of Vince as an actor, that was A-class performance.

Those ups were really remarkable, but the seventh episode was not entirely flawless. Ani’s and Ray’s sudden love volcano was a bit artificial, especially her desire somehow stemming from her traumatic childhood experiences. Alcohol, the need of a man to take care of her, I get that, but… just didn’t feel fine. Pizzolatto was fired with comments regarding marginalization of women in the first season, bu the places he went to with the second season are much more worrying. All in all, Ray cannot be blamed as he is best known for his bad temper and even worse decision-making. And I suppose this fire burning between two detectives won’t make things easier in the finale.

Summing up, I’m truly interested in how this all gonna end. I have a strong feeling this awkward “thing” going on between Ani and Ray will need to be brutally ended, but Pizzolatto doesn’t like to kill off his characters too much. It also seems quite obvious, that all this preparation and securing his own interests of Frank, is a way of a classy farewell, but I’d love him to claim back what was taken from him. No matter how Vaughn was struggling with those ridiculous lines throughout the entire season, he eventually became the badass we expected to see. And that “Osip want’s to know, where’s the gas leak” scene – top-notch mafia move.

The promised orgy was…intense – “Church in Ruins”

I won’t say that the last episode of True Detective was the most intriguing, but the fifth one brought the story to the right track. Pizzolatto has finally left aside those trivial monologues of Frank and finally mobilized him in some action. Ray Velcoro is still the most human of all, but the focus of the episode was on Ani. And that was some intense piece of television right there.

We have come to realize that the second season of “True Detective” is surprisingly fallible and blatant, but the last two episodes were more promising than the harsh beginnings. The sixth episode has given some insight to the titular detectives, where – again – the most veracious happened to be Velcoro’s case. This immensely artificial good father-good son routine, which finally led Ray to give up on his kid, was only a manner of sustaining the ultimate lie – Velcoro’s life is not completely void.

I am still wondering what was the exact reason to place ex-soldier, who loves riding a bike in all that story. Even though some of critics point out Frank as the one sticking out from the plot, it’s obvious his story will somehow be tied up with the main crime story. Yet, Paul’s difficulties and dramas could be put aside without any harm to anyone. Additionally, Taylor Kitsch is by far the worst actor in the second season. Period.

Ani’s undercover visit to the pervert orgy was well portrayed, but it contained some immaturities of the creators – again. Immediate sobbering up and that knife fight was completely vague and ruined the ending of a quite good episode. Nevertheless, the last episode has cemented my theory, that despite being overally rather dull, there is hope for the second season to fight back the waves of criticism. It will never be a classic like the first one, but I have begun developing feelings for that dirty, corrupted Cali reality.

True Detective Season 2 reached its peak form…finally

The last episode of the second season of “True Detective” by Nic Pizzolatto loomed like a fresh breeze to the frowsty story told so far. It has cemented my belief that although the concept of a sexually troubled detective could be interesting – Paul Woodrugh is a complete misfire, which was put in the plot without a particular purpose. The fifth episode has also proven that Frank’s story is by far the most ludicrous. But there was a whole new quality to this season brought by this episode.

1. Ray Velcoro’s transformation constitutes the strongest feature of the season so far.

Undoubtedly, Collin Farrel’s portrayal of Ray Velcoro evokes a considerable range of emotions and grasps the attention. He’s the only detective in the second season, who truly carries the weight of his booze-weaven weaknesses and who struggles with an authentic set of down-to-earth problems. Velcoro is the most human and least detached from reality character, reminiscing the brilliance behind the first season. Although the dark, gruesome world we are confronted with is overdrawn, Farrel’s character remains a stain of painful reality. And the fifth episode introduced another step in Velcoro’s transformation – a man, whose articifial calm was re-forged into anger directed towards the real rot. This beat-up in the surgery clinic was a bomb indeed.

2. Paul Woodrugh is the biggest misfire.

Apart from doubtful acting skills of Taylor Kitsch, Paul was an interesting character, but completely unfitting in the story – from the beginning he seemed like Pizzolatto was forced to include him for quite unclear reasons. The effect is a side story, which apart from being rather irrelevant to the story, provides “True Detective” with a soap opera feeling, which is utterly terrible.

3. The story was pushed to an intriguing track.

Although Pizzolatto has proven himself to be an amazing conspiracy creator in the debut season last year, the story set in Vinci was opaque to me – the leads were getting too numerous, too many subplots and backstories made it almost impossible to find the main axis of events. The fifth episode was a breakthrough though; now it is more coherent than ever, that the secret parties, Ben Caspere’s death and the huge deals lost by Frank all tie up together. And that abandoned shed with litres of blood all over the walls and a chair – last episode of the first season was so present!

4. Vince Vaughn is a dissapointment…thanks to Pizzolatto.

Everyone’s speculations and scepticism regarding Vince Vaughn’s participation in “True Detective” were, unfortunately, quite fair. Frank fires with ridiculously pompatous stories of his life and childhood like a “true badass” and to make himself look even more artificial, he uses words, that are hardly known to native speakers of English. Best-quality trolling from Pizzolatto so far. It’s a pity, because it could have been a proof, that even such a “:wooden” actor like Vaughn, could have a breakthrough performance. Not this time, Vince, not this time.

5. Lack of one director is more visible with every new episode.

Fukunaga had more influence on the first season than we previously thought and it was revealed only now. The second season is not homogeneous in terms of cinematography, and pace of the story. It’s a pity Pizzolatto and Fukunuga acould not handle working together.

True Detective Episode 4 – The high hopes finally buried

During the last few weeks I literally felt like an advocate for Nic Pizzolatto’s fallible second season of True Detective. The protagonist characters were highly prone to look flat and ridiculous, the plot seemed to have a very vague end and quite unnatural “twists” and on top of that, Vince Vaughn’s existence in the series seemed to be an outfall for Pizzolatto’s sophisticated vocabulary. Despite my love for the TV masterpiece from the last year, I have finally matured to say that – the second season of True Detective is one hell of a washout.

The fourth episode, which hit the small screens yesterday, started with quite routine discussion of Frank and his who-knows-who-is-she girlfriend. We went through the same child dillemmas, which I have literally implanted in my brain right now and went on with the investigation. The sole plot is meandering even more than I could imagine, but those turns are completely misfired – instead of leading us by the nose, Pizzolatto’s boasting around with his cleverness and handful of peculiar ideas. Anyway, it just doesn’t work.

And yet, I would really give this season another chance if not the concluding shootout scene. That was the most ridiculous, naive, Steven Seagal-like gun fight we could expect from the creator of the brilliant Marty & Rust story. It’s beyond my understanding how a group of allegedly skilled policemen walk like bosses in the daylight, like the Lonely Island’s style in their rap parodies, not having the slightest idea they might have been already spotted. All in all, it’s Rachel McAdams as the forefront, the ultimately cowboy style girl – everyone’s safe right? So, we get our adventurous gunmen make hell of a bloodshed, shoot off one of the “important” characters (a payback for this lame Velcoro almost-dead thing?) and a whole bunch of accidental deaths of citizens. And the three main characters whining around like they try to admit “we really screwed up this time”. On top of that, the new rival for wooden acting icon – Taylor Kitsch, with his brand new “i’m sexy” face… Come on…

And yet, I know I will still watch it till the end. Although I’m no longer trying to excavate the told truth, that once something is good, it should be left that way, the second season might brighten up a bit in the end. At least, observing this panache acting by majority of the cast is quite fun! Vince Vaughn’s “louche” was a nail in the coffin for both the audience and our poor Vince, Velcoro’s subplot has become a Batman’s vanishing routine (Jim Gordon knows this ****) and we are given more and more spicy homosexual elements of Taylor Kitsch former soldier. This ship is getting heavier with every week.

I feel sorry for the crew of the second season. The bar set by the previous season was unreachable from the beginning, but they tried to reach it. And the higher they aim, the longer the distance to fall becomes. And the fourth episode? Ouch, the landing had to painful.