The second half of True Detective Season 2 is, in some ways, a different beast than the first – or so showrunner Nic Pizzolatto would have us believe.
This was signaled last week in everything from the loss of Velcoro’s old school mustache to Bezzerides’ return to old school cigarettes of the non-electronic variety.
But in many ways, the show (along with its bright spots and myriad problems) has remained unchanged since the first episode of this maddening, perplexing, and sometimes wildly entertaining little mystery of a mini-series.
True Detective Season 2 Episode 6 picks up right where we left off last week, with Velcoro confronting Seymon over the revelation that the man he killed 11 years prior was not, as he had thought, his wife’s rapist.
It was an intriguing development that yielded a tense standoff scene at Seymon’s kitchen table, but like too much of this season, it failed to deliver any real payoff (thus far, at least), and seems to have served as yet another unnecessary distraction from the season’s central mystery.
Turns out Frank genuinely thought the guy Velcoro offed was his wife’s attacker (or so he claims), and the actual rapist – who’s since been incarcerated for other crimes – doesn’t even remember if he’s the man responsible.
It’s not too late for this storyline to go somewhere – but it’s certainly getting close.
At first, it looked as though we might see some actual progress on the increasingly convoluted case of Ben Caspere and the McGuffins, as the hunt for the blue diamonds and the missing hard drive (and Irina Rufo and any semblance of meaning for this season) kicked into overdrive.
In a rare scene of actual detective work, Woodrugh and Bezzerides investigated a vaguely grisly murder scene right out of Criminal Minds or any of the other cookie-cutter police procedurals the show is aping this season.
There’s a cross-cut between Seymon’s kitchen and the crime scene that gives us Velcoro explaining the link between Caspere and Chessani’s kid, as well as the revelation of another gonorrhea-riddled murder victim.
It seems to be Pizzolatto’s way of saying, "See? Just like in season one, there’s a deep, inter-connected conspiracy at work here. It just probably won’t ever get sorted out. Now how about some sex and drugs!"
We kid, of course (kinda). There was some actual police work involving the missing diamonds this week, and it may yield the season’s first case-related bombshell. (We’ve seen some major drama thus far, but it’s mostly involved the investigators, not the investigation.)
Woodrugh chases a lead and finds out that the diamonds were stolen during the LA riots in a heist that left a married couple dead.
Two children were left orphaned, and from the fact that they’re given names and the camera lingers pointedly on their photos, we can assume "Leonard and Laura" will prove to be important to the case.
Even Pizzolatto wouldn’t throw out such a brazen red herring this late in the season, and the fact that Leonard would be in his 20s now and is referred to as wearing "more masks" than his sister has gotta be significant, right?
We’re not saying he’s necessarily the bird-masked assailant who "killed" Velcoro in episode 2, but…eh, maybe we should just give up on trying to figure out Pizzolatto and his motives.
On to the sex and drugs and more of what Pizzolatto does best – character-building.
First we have Velcoro returning to his old tricks with a bottle of tequila, a bag of coke and The New York Dolls on the stereo.
The scene is a seriously ham-fisted way of showing us that the troubled ex-cop is off the wagon, but like the stand-off with Seymon, it’s rescued by Farrell’s performance.
His conversation with his wife serves as a necessary reminder that though he might be a terrible police officer and an even worse addict, he’s somewhat redeemed by his devotion to a kid who’s probably not his biological son.
Plus he deserves parenting points for attempting to steer the kid away from Friends reruns.
Of course, the big party of the night was the Eyes Wide Shut-style rich guy sex-fest that Ani infiltrated despite some grim warnings from her more experienced little sister.
Ani boards the world’s creepiest bus while Vince Vaughn stalks the Hollywood Hills with what appears to be his news team from Anchorman.
Sorry. Vaughn’s miscasting has taken us out of this season more than once, but in fairness, the thrilling sequence that concluded "Church In Ruins" provided the show’s most thrilling climax since the Velcoro death fake-out.
As we learn that Irina Rufo has been murdered by some baddies who are even worse than Seymon bargained for, and Ani, Velcoro and Woodrugh attempt to gather enough information to make her incredible undercover risk worthwhile, the show finally delivers on the tension it’s been hinting at from the start.
The scene is even scored like the kind of LA noir that seems to have inspired this season’s best elements.
It’s a bit too on-the-nose and coincidental at times (the discovery of Vera at the orgy, the fact that the creepy hosts just happen to be talking about Caspere and Seymon as our heroes lurk outside their window), but it’s a thrilling, and at times frightening, scene highlighted by Ani’s nightmarish, Lynchian flashbacks to the abuse she suffered as a child.
It appears that the show’s many plot strands are starting to come together, but like so much of True Detective, it leaves us wondering if it will all add up to a satisfying conclusion.
Watch True Detective online at TV Fanatic to attempt to put this season’s clues together – or to re-live last season’s disappointing finale.