Episode 1: The Western Book of the Dead

Episode 2: Night Finds You

Episode 3: Maybe Tomorrow

Episode 4: Down Will Come

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Well it was a good run. I was able to fully wrap my head around what was going on in True Detective for a whopping four episodes this season. Now we’ve got people who may or may not be working with each other and may or may not be working against or with other people who we may or may not know about, multiple murder scenes, illegal sex parties and an unidentified bird person. We’re back, baby!

Your summary, courtesy of /u/LifeWillBeOkay:

So. Many. Questions.

• One thing that was 100% over my head was Frank’s line where he told the little Asian guy to “go stand in front of a motherfucking tank”. Apparently in 1989 some guy stood in front of some tanks in China the morning after the Tiananmen Square protests were squashed. I guess this is one of the most iconic photos of the 20th century or something.

• That shed Ani and Paul found at the end of the episode. First reaction was that it was where Caspere was murdered, or at least where his jubilees met a shotgun. You saw the blood sort of pooled beneath the chair and they weren’t shy about stressing (and showing) the fact that his body had serious genital mutilation. But then you think, would those birds really be circling the shed some 70 days after Caspere’s body was found? Perhaps the missing girl met a similar fate there after that? Or another one of the girls? Ugh.

(/u/DeathSludge)

• Just a crazy amount of questions regarding the late Teague Dixon. It’s obvious he was working undercover for Vinci, trying to steer the investigation whatever way the Mayor wanted it to go (pimps). He knew about the diamonds in the safety deposit box before the rest of the squad and didn’t tell them. He was secretly spying on Paul and others, I’ll bet. Or he could have been gathering intel for whoever is behind Caspere’s murder, aka whoever the sex party gang was threatening to blackmail with whatever is on that hard drive. This could be someone or multiple people with Catalyst, which would mean they were behind Caspere’s murder but not the bird person because the bird person has the hard drive (I think) and the hard drive would be their end game (I think). I don’t know what to think.
• It’s looking more and more like Frank is all on his own here. Catalyst used him to “contaminate” the land surrounding the rail, thus making it cheaper for purchase. But that was just business, he doesn’t seem to be involved in any of these sex parties, so he wouldn’t have anything to do with the mission to recover the hard drive that resulted in Caspere’s murder. I’m guessing his henchman that was killed and made to look like Caspere was done in by Vinci, not knowing Frank wasn’t completely in cahoots with Catalyst (this would also require Vinci knowing that Catalyst did Caspere. Also that Catalyst really did do Caspere.) There seems to be some strong animosity in pretty much every scene with Frank and the Mayor. I also am inclined to believe that Frank had no idea the name he gave Ray wasn’t really his ex wife’s rapist. I don’t know if it’s because it’s a realistic possibility or I just want it to be true so the last three episodes turn into Frank and Ray against the world but I think he was intentionally given bad intel. The fact that one of his own henchmen is working for Chessani and the sex party gang shows that there’s somebody above him that is involved in his affairs and possibly even controlling him.
• Is Mayor Chessani actually involved in all of this, or is he just a dirty politician whose son happens to run a giant illegal human trafficking sex ring? Pitlor says the mayor doesn’t know about the parties as Ray is beating the living piss out of him, but I certainly don’t trust anything that comes out of that guy’s mouth.
  • Speaking of Pitlor, he’s either dead or kidnapped right? Probably dead. Ray seemed pretttttttty pissed off and he couldn’t exactly let him go free as he made no effort to hide his identity and Pitlor still has some very powerful friends.
• Let the Bottlegate record show that Colin Farrell’s acting in this episode is probably top three performances I’ve ever seen. Guy has been stellar all season long but he knocked it out of the god damn park with this last hour. When he finds out they caught his wife’s real rapist, meaning he (assumedly) killed the wrong man, you could see his complete internal breakdown leaking out in his face. But his best work was when he told his ex wife that “Frank set me up.” She obviously doesn’t know what that means, and he wants so badly to tell her what he did for her and that it ended up being the wrong person, but he knows he can’t. They’re divorced and he can’t completely trust her with information that would put him in prison. In my opinion, after this episode, Ray Velcoro is officially giving Rust Cohle a run for his existential money.

(/u/redskir)

• The scars. What does it all mean, Basil??? Paul lets us know during an argument with his mom that his scars are the result of whatever mission landed him $20,000 under the table during his time as a mercenary. Blackwater was clearly a shady mission that was declassified, intentionally or unintentionally, hence Paul mentioning it openly multiple times. On one hand, I have a hard time believing his scars and the lady bartender with the scarred face are unrelated, but on the other, Nic P isn’t the biggest fan of coincidence. Interesting, though, that her scars are on her face and they focus in on her the same episode that Pitlor admits to “turning 8’s into 10’s” with cosmetic surgery for the parties. Hmmmmm

(/u/logan_aaron_11)

• Last bullet point, I swear. It was hard to follow live, but the woman with the missing sister got the pictures of the diamonds (which have since disappeared from the Vinci evidence room) and the parties from a PO box that her sister had opened at their old address. When they were evicted, they shipped her the contents. This could mean one of three things: she took these photos on her own prerogative as insurance in case her employment at these parties ever went south,  she was hired by Chessani and co. to take these pictures as part of the blackmailing scheme, or she was hired by an outside party to infiltrate the parties and take the photos. I’ve got a sneaking suspicion it’s option C.

Reddit Theories:

• Season 2: All that we know
• Chandelier in the house at the end of the episode = chandelier in picture of sex party
• Where did the money go?
• Ani’s back to the real cigs
• Is Clint Eastwood Paul’s father??????

 

Reaching the home stretch of season 2. Woo!

(/u/adventurer84)

Episode 1: The Western Book of the Dead

Episode 2: Night Finds You

Episode 3: Maybe Tomorrow

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 Well that sure escalated quickly. After 50 minutes of dialogue and plot advancement, last night’s episode ended with two guys, a girl and a shootout. Predictably, the big three were the last ones standing after a bunch of cholo’s open-fired on their squad before they even had a chance to say hello. Velcoro’s dumpy partner bit the dust, as well as probably a half dozen cops and 20 or so “protesters”. I thought it was pretty well done. Most tense scene the show has had since Carcosa and the tracking scene from Season 1.

Question/tidbits:

• Probably the biggest question from this episode is “Who tipped off the pimps?” The fact that they were fired upon immediately after arriving at the building in the final scene certainly suggests that the gangsters were expecting company. And the awkwardness between the higher ups and the team during the briefing beforehand (the mayor’s “Be careful out there,” the lieutenant asking if they needed that much manpower, plus the fact that the Vinci PD wanted the Caspere investigation to go towards the pimps anyway) lends itself to that theory. We know the Mayor has a vendetta against Ani ever since she went to his house. However there’s a lot of Redditors that are of the opinion that the Mayor is too obvious and he isn’t the one calling the shots. I tend to agree with them. “I live among you…well disguised” from the opening credits. The Mayor is about as well disguised as Shaquille O’Neal at Chuck E. Cheese.
• Sticking with that last scene, it was interesting to see how all three characters reacted to it. Ani was clearly shaken up and almost vomits when the dust settles. Ray shows less than that, but even he is shaking during those final moments where the pimp is holding the hostage. But Paul seems completely comfortable and at home. For someone who has been struggling with his identity all season, sexually and otherwise, he seemed almost enchanted by the whole thing.

• That quick exchange with Frank, his wife and what seemed to be a groundskeeper? About the avocado trees not growing? Avocado comes from the Aztec word for “testicle”. The guy said the soil was infertile, which to me implies that Frank’s wife is the problem and not him. (/u/toaka)
• Dixon’s request of Ray from earlier this season:

(/u/TheMannam)

Welp he’s dead now, so does Ray follow through and go through his stuff for him? And if so, does he find the photos Dixon took of Paul and his Army lover? And if he does, what does he do with them? I have to imagine that situation happens, I don’t see the point in even showing him taking them if you’re just going to kill him off the next episode and they never see the light of day.

• I gotta say, I’m pretty close to jumping on the “the dialogue in this show absolutely blows” train. I like the idea that Nic intentionally has Frank use million dollar words in an effort to overcompensate for his masculine and, well, professional shortcomings. I do. But it doesn’t really make sense to me when Ani gives her sister the “memories recognize you” speech. And it makes even less sense when her sister (a hooker, sorry, “online performer”) articulates “You couldn’t even be there for yourself” back at her. And don’t get me started on Frank’s henchman and some of the other minor characters. I’m not boarding the train just yet but how much are tickets?
• The watch at the pawn shop and the picture of the watch that was stolen from Caspere do most certainly not match up.

(/u/mcsmif)

Yet Paul says that they do, and they even find fingerprints on it. Is this just an oversight by the show? Was Paul so flustered that he didn’t notice the difference? Probably not. The fingerprints seem to point to this all being a setup, just like the final scene. And possibly that Dixon was a part of it. He gave Paul a long stare at the pawn shop when he initially identifies the watch as a match to the photo.

Reddit Theories:

• A nice summary of all our main characters so far.
• Vanity Fair takes a look at the Bohemian Grove connections.
• Were the “protestors” at the shootout part of the setup as well?
• Ray is being framed.
• Rule of Fives

(/u/gideonpilgrim)

• It’s Always Sunny in True Detective

Hey, Frank:

(/u/heisenberg_jr)

Episode 1: The Western Book of the Dead

Episode 2: Night Finds You

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It’s Monday after July 4th weekend, so here’s the summary you guys get this week (courtesy of /u/LifeWillBeOkay & /u/namesrhardtothinkof):

Here are my questions/tidbits:

• Some kind of connection with the photographer at the movie set and Caspere’s secretary, who is there just “collecting tax papers” or something like that. They show a quick shot of the photog looking at her walking before the scene where Ray and Ani talk to her again:

(/u/oshitson)

This screen cap shows a mask similar to that worn by the car arsonist later in the episode & the photog:

He sort of reminds you of Errol when you first meet him in Season 1 in the sense that it’s a quick (and rather creepy) interaction with a main character that is not minor enough to be ignored but not major enough to be made a big deal of at the time. He’s also snapping pics of two girls when Ray initially strikes up the conversation, so there’s that. Plus he works for the movie studio who was clearly behind the burning of the car later…looks like he has the physique to outrun Ani if you ask me.

• The only interesting idea I’ve stumbled upon about Caspere’s safety deposit box is that maybe Ray’s money is tied up in those diamonds. Easier to carry and hide 5 million bucks in a few tiny rocks than bags and bags of cash.
• It was hard to catch at first but that was indeed Ray’s idiot partner Teague snapping photos of Paul during his little lovers’ tiff. Why he was is an interesting question, but it’s not feeling to me like anything more complicated than Vinci PD having him dig up some dirt as ammo for when the state inevitably blows up Velcoro’s spot. Could explain his lack of thoughtful input and general boredom with the whole investigation (he’s reading the paper most of the scenes in the warehouse).
• This one I got ALL ON MY OWN. And it probably means absolutely nothing. But during the latest meet up between Ray and Frank at the bar, one shot shows them sitting down at the table with the bar’s letter grade for sanitation from the Department of Health clearly visible. It’s a B. Now according to this article from 2014, if you walk into a restaurant in LA County there’s a 94% chance it has an A grade and less than a 1% chance it’s a C. Makes me think the B was a deliberate choice by Nic P, showing a little good and a little bad in both main characters that usually meet there in Frank and Ray. And even Ray’s dad in the opening dream sequence, who we learned was also a cop “back when you could do actual police work.” Or not, probably.
• Apparently it’s always sunny in Beverly Hills, too.

(/u/Guccillionaire)

• Looks like the douchebag director on the movie set was Pizzolatto taking a shot at the director of TD season 1 Cary Fukunaga.
• Two obvi’s – Paul had a three day fling with that guy when they were “soldiers”, so that compounded with whatever caused those scars is probably the root of his problems. And Frank’s dead henchman had something similar, if not identical, done to his eyes as Caspere.

(/u/_prawn_)

Reddit Theories:

• Why the Bohemian Grove could be the society that unlocks all of Season 2’s secrets
• Ray’s lieutenant got to the crime scene at Caspere’s house early…wonder who has that video tape footage 
• Why Ray’s dad saying he’s going to “run out of these giant trees and get shot” in the opening dream sequence makes sense
• A good summary of the respective agendas for Vinci, state and county authorities