True Detective 2x7 'Black Maps and Motel Rooms': Who's Guarding the Door?

True Detective 2x7 returns the show's thrill that this season was lacking, and actually had something interesting to say.

Reviewed while listening to: 'Carrion Flowers' by Chelsea Wolfe and a LOT of Tying Tiffany (who's AWESOME!).

Boy, did I dodge a bullet there... unlike some people I know (*SPOILERS*). I've been trying to set up this review site for a while, but it took me until the penultimate episode of True Detective Round 2 to finally get something out there.

But, really, in the grand backdoor land-buying scheme of things, what did I miss? Not much. All the thrill (and exposition) of this season's convoluted crime mystery converges in this episode like interstate highways (PUN!). FINALLY we get an idea about why Caspere was killed, and, fingers crossed, there's renewed hope Nic Pizzolatto might just tie this off satisfyingly in next week's extended finale. We're starting to see the bulk of our protagonists as believable people and relatively interesting characters (with the exception of Ani, who took a step back this week).

'Maps' opens on the heels of Ani's cathartic escape from the escort party that fronts for the backdoor dealings plaguing Vinci. I wasn't as content with that scene or its dramatic necessity as my buddy Diego was (for if you can read Italian). It still came off as a bit too easy an excuse for sexposition, HBO's favorite toy, when I suspect there was another way for the show to get the detectives' hands on those contracts. But I'm less irked now. Cuz it broke the dam on what's actually going on (It only took six episodes, jeez). It seems our boy Caspere was involved in a double-murder jewelry heist during the L.A. Riots with all of Ray's old cronies (Lieutenant Burris, Chief Holloway, Town Drunk Dixon), and was trying to squeeze Frank and probably a thousand others out of the land deal.

Watching our three- hmm, I wanna say 'detectives'- working it all out, using those critical thinking skills that detectives are supposed to have, also makes them seem competent for once. No more Ray waiting to ask Plastic-Face Shrink about an incriminating photograph two months AFTER he got said photograph. No more Ani giving cliché advice about 'staying clean' to people who 1) didn't ask for her help and 2) need a better pep-talk than that to clean up (Seriously, she would be the worst guidance counselor). And, ideally, no more watching ALL THE COPS walking in BROAD FUCKING DAYLIGHT on their way to pick up a murder suspect, just begging to get clipped. There's a nagging suspicion that Pizzolatto got to the last two episodes and realized 'SHIT! This is a detective story! They're supposed to be detectiving!!' Cuz it really does seem like Paul, Ani, and Ray are only just now becoming good at their jobs and figuring out what all this bloated exposition actually means. But better late, like second-to-last-episode late, than never.

And in the midst of all that, we also got authentic breath-holding suspense throughout. We didn't have to wait 55+ minutes. From the revelation about Caspere's dealings with the Russians and the Mayor's son, to Frank's 'questioning' of Blake, to a surprise death in the middle. And then another, bigger, surprise death (I think) at the end. It still keeps the moments of reflection for the characters in dialogue heavy scenes. But this time even those dialogue heavy scenes were less blindly pretentious than before and actually interesting. Not Rust Cohle interesting. That's almost impossible. But interesting nonetheless.

Frank also continues his current streak of being more than a cardboard mob-boss. After his strikingly poignant monologue with the kid who lost his dad last week, we find him in his true element once he finds out he's been had by all his pals. His mob-bossing of Blake has legitimate and powerful context. And, now that he's fully aware that he was a pawn in Caspere's schemings, he cashes in on that casino-owning experience (PUN!) and puts on a solid pokerface for Osip, the shady Russian. Frank's finally understanding the game, actually reverting to a method other than just beating up dudes' grills and hustling construction workers for no reason. He's letting his enemy come to him on the battlefield, and then torching the battlefield (quite literally). If only his farewell scene with Jordan had worked on a relatable level, Frank would pass this week with flying colors. Alas, that moment was just a whimper, And it's caught in the overall confusing dynamics of their relationship, what draws them together. Their chemistry came and went all season, just enough for me to follow them, but I was so numb when he sent her packing for safety that I'm not really sure how much I'll care when their story meets its inevitably tragic end.

But whereas Frank and Jordan showed fleeting moments of palpable chemistry, the whole Ani/Ray love affair just falls flat. And it's a bit insulting to Ani. She's been a tough code to decrypt all along, sometimes being an exciting force to cheer for, and sometimes just being depressingly bland, sententious, and, above all, cliché in Pizzolatto's attempt on a powerful female presence. Still, she was pulling through. The orgy scene was token sexposition, but I bought everything Ani did in it. Her fight in a man's world finally came through, and she was rich and colorful and real. But NOOOO. Can't have that. Turns out, all she wanted was to slice up a man. Not like, ya know, be a great badass detective. No, nothing cool and applauding like that. And now that she can scratch 'literally sticking it to the man' off her bucket list, why not get her to shag her partner, like she did her last partner, and that random cop with a bad mustache (played by Riley Smith, who was Kyle Singer in season 3 of 24... Yes. I knew right away). Worse, the writers actually have the temerity to do this and still make her tell an escort that 'Maybe you were put on this Earth for more than fucking.' Which not only sounds kind of hypocritical, given what they've done with her, but also reduces her struggle as a female detective, as well as the rescued escort, to an empty cliché. It's tacky, lazy, and ultimately a little disheartening.

All that aside, I would be okay with her sleeping with Ray if they had any real chemistry, and if I actually believed they could be good for each other. That's why her farewell scene with Papa and Sister Bezzerides, and her old partner, worked so well. She's not wholly loveless after all. Of course she still loves her father and wants to protect him. His line about her being 'the most innocent person I know' drove home the root of her problems. She's a fighter, and anything but harmless. But she is innocent. She stumbles navigating the intricate world of corrupt policing and organized crime, trying to stop the corruption and apathy towards the world's problems. But she dives in head first without fully understanding that world. And she suffers heavily for that. She deserves her hug, or the 'record-breaking' three she gets. Her old partner knew her for years, knew her struggle. He slept with her, too, but the context of their intimate relationship is there. Come to think of it, she probably could've hooked up with him again and I'd have bought it. But Ray... it just doesn't make sense. It's a shoe-horn subplot to beat the inevitable fan-fic to the punch. In no plausible light could Ray be constructive for her in her personal struggles. Or her for him, truth be told. The only thing I got from that whole sad exchange was Ani telling Ray she doesn't think he's a bad man. And Ray delivering the response, as just a statement of fact, 'Yes. I am.'

Jury may still be out on that. It's a good question to pose in the penultimate episode. A lot may hinge on it. Is Ray a bad man? Maybe it's good if he is. If we follow the very sound logic of Rust Cohle, the world needs bad men to keep the other bad men from the door (I would start a religion built on Rust's teachings, but he'd just call me a piece of shit). Maybe, if Ray is a bad man, he might just have the necessary tools to end this in the finale. And while we're at it, why not Ani? I mean, she's cold and calculated, understandably detached. You could make a case for her being at least a half-breed of bad.

***SPOILER ALERT******

Paul isn't a bad man. Poor Paul. Say what you will about how his character has been constructed. I know I have. But I had empathy for him. His mother points out how he is, in fact, a 'white man' and if she were that lucky she'd have 'had the world.' Paul could never have the world, though. He can't even protect it. He's too good. That's all he wants, which he says flat out to his fiancé. But, in this world, the 'good man' is straight, and opportunistic. Top dog. Paul's spent his entire life forced to feel ashamed for his sexuality. He got chewed out by the military, all while being told it was for good reason. He just can't catch a break. Yet he's still out there. Wearing the 'good guy' facade everyone makes him put on, trying to get to the bottom of a murder. And being the hero everyone could probably use, too, since he's also out there being a TOTAL BADASS. I mean, that gunfight with the four commandos was him all slick and fucking awesome! Yeah, it helped that the commandos were in a pitch-black tunnel pointing flashlights (how do they not have not nightvision if they're private military?), but Paul was just POSSESSED.

That sequence sets up another nice veil for the last moment. Cuz at this point, after straight-up toying with trained commandos, I was pretty confident Paul was good to live another day. But then Lieutenant Burris, the last man standing from the '92 heist, blindsides him and puts him down. Theories run around that Burris may be the one in the bird mask who astonishingly failed to whack Ray in episode 2 and just may not know how to properly shoot a person to death, so Paul might still kick next week. But he looks pretty dead. I'm ambivalent about this. Logically, it's uneven. The reveal that Miguel, Paul's lover, was a mole luring Paul in is too clean, and I'm racking my brain trying to figure out how Burris could possibly know which door Paul was using to exit from a MAZE OF TUNNELS. It also would've driven Burris' killing stroke deeper if we'd gotten more screen time of him in this episode. And not just because it's James Frain. I feel like it probably took some people a few minutes to deduce that this was the Burris guy everyone was talking about but who's only shown up here and there previously. Bit confusing, that. So Paul's death left me a bit miffed on one end.

On the other end though, the thematic end, it strikes home what I'm convinced is this show's core. With Paul, the white knight (PUN!) gone, the stage is set for the finale between our possibly 'bad people' doormen in Ani and Ray (and maybe Frank?) against the established order of powerful men crushing everyone else. If Paul is the white man who couldn't take the world, then we must put him against the other examples. The ruthless Darwinian predators. The Osips and the Burrises and the Chessanis. Paul wasn't equipped to fight those guys. Our hopes rest on two detectives who have had the greater struggle trying to decipher if they're actually good people. The two who've actually done some morally questionable stuff. Paul was only running from who he was. He never had a moment of moral crisis. But Ani and Ray have always been running from the bad choices they made. Except, as Frank and Ray put it, the choice was always there. They were always gonna tap into it sooner or later. And that might just be the leverage they need to come out of this merciless fight victorious. If that's the case, Paul's death is framed in the grander scope of the dramatic play. He's a reason, the beacon of light that got snuffed out, to make Ani and Ray push on, get in the mud and rise up against the 'fiefdom' of Vinci's corrupt system, as Ani calls it.

Because that's what our world is. True Detective, at its core, is about corrosion, of our world's core. And the illusions we put up to hide that truth because we can't face it. In Season 1 the erosion was more transparent. With all its 'fading memories' of towns, the South is a desolate place in many parts. The evil and ugliness behind the ritual murders were hidden, but just under more obvious ugliness. But California, L.A. County? The urban institutions are just another face to hide it all. A more subtle, less discernible face. SoCal's industrialization, the plastic surgery, the sycophantism... It's a literal analogue of the overall premise of the whole show: We. Have not. Evolved. We're still in the feudal age. We know the feudal lords still exist, but the lie of the modern age is that we can actually hold them accountable on some significant level now. Maybe this is true in some way and I'm just a cynic, and maybe Pizzolatto is, too. But there it is. Season 1 argued that accountability was possible, but it would be a long and arduous effort that surpassed a season of television and two veritable 'God-warriors' in Rust and Marty. People were disappointed with how Season 1 ended, leaving its fair share of loose ends. I was, too. But I also could forgive this easily, because it made sense. It was realistic in its own cynical way. This evil is so large, it's a seemingly endless war between light and dark. And the stars are still being born in the sky.

Season 2 built itself on the foundation of clogged expressways to highlight that cluttered world of evil. Frank sees the big crime ring as a formidable enemy that can't be stopped. He can't fight what he can't change. So he'll just burn it all. Paul wasn't quite so nihilistic. Paul was determined to stay on the battlefield, where he was in his own element, soldiering on against the larger force. But he was the lowest fighter, the valiant one. The one who fought with honor. Fought, and died. With him gone, and Davis too, it's left to our two burnouts, our stained knights. But knights nonetheless. Is it too large? Is this just another skirmish like Season 1, where the heroes only scratch the surface? Or is this is a major battle, a critical juncture in the push against the world's hidden evils? Might they actually stem that corrosion and give it something to think about in the finale?... Yet to be seen. 'Maps' has dealt the cards, positioned the pieces, and called the stakes. Now, we watch them play.

Man, I missed this side of True Detective.

Grade: B+

When I got sidetracked

-My beef with Paul's death, and its plausibility issues, is soothed somewhat by the mere fact that it was James Frain who did him in. His character is ugly, but James Frain can do no wrong. James Frain can do whatever he wants.

-'Maybe you were put on this Earth for more than just fucking.' 'Everything is fucking.' I think I hear Robert California applauding Vera the Escort... Well, doing something with her.

-The literal analogue of the week: A corrupt public servant says 'These tunnels exist under the entire city.' HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! HA... Ha.

-Miguel, Paul's gay lover, is Shit-gay now. I'm calling him Shit-gay. 'If you'd just been honest about who you are, nobody would be able to run you. You know that, right?' Oh, yeah, stay outta the closet so I don't come in with you and blackmail you cuz I'm a dick. And not the kind you like. If you were out, it'd be all good. I wouldn't be effectively killing you and ruining people's lives. I'm not a shitty asshole at all. #Rational. (It's okay, Paul. Loras Tyrell understands your pain).

Thanks for those of you who've checked in my very first review ever (Humans onl half-counts)! I intend on more to come for some time. And I promise they won't be this long. I took liberties with this episode's twist preceding the finale.

#review #TrueDetective #TV