True Detective, Episode One Thoughts (Episode Two Tonight)

Good Jeebus Day, DBO Kommenters. As we look out upon the barren sports landscape (again, FUCK YOU SUMMER!) take cold comfort in that we have only 8 hours or so to kill until True Detective starts. Unlike Season One, it’s not quite the creepy crawly mindfuck that makes one not be able to sleep at night. So, one can watch it live. But it is still quite good, or at least I think so. Much more of a classic noir, fitting for LA.

Most of episode one was dedicated to meeting our four lead characters. All fucked up in their own merry ways. First, we have Detective Ray Velcoro. Fittingly, since he’s portrayed by Colin Farrell, he’s something of a sad-sack, one-note, shlubby idiot. We do get the impression that he means well, and is the kind of guy who will throw himself on a grenade for you if the situation cals for it. In fact, that is probably exactly the kind of situation he is looking for here. He’s your classic, unhinged, “everything is going to shit in every possible direction” detective. But again, this is “True Detective” so we will see him go to his inner reserves that made him want to be a cop in the first place, and be one of the ones Pizzolatto chooses to NOT suck up to the system.

Second, there is the least interesting (to me) character, pusedo-CHIPS Officer Paul Woodrugh. They chose the wooden Taylor Kitsch for the role (I haven’t seen any of his movies, but he’s apparently one of the worst actors in the history of mankind), because he’s all-PTSD out, though he tells his alienated BAE it’s not due to “the desert” (Iraq, Afghanistan, I presume we will learn more), and when he’s not popping Viagra to have disinterested sex with said dropdead gorgeous girlfriend, he’s awkwardly refusing sexual favors from coked out actresses on house arrest, or making goofy faces while riding his motorcycle aimlessly into the night (so he can find the dead body and luck into the True Detective group of superfriends). Yeah, I don’t like this fucker already. But hey, 3 outta 4 ain’t bad – read on.

Thirdly, the character I was most looking forward to, and she didn’t disappoint. Rachel McAdams does a bangup job as Detective Ani Bezzerides. She’s got a hippie guru Dad, loser/prostitute sister, issues she compartmentalizes into being a perfectionist on the job and gambling/sexual issues in her personal life. We are led to believe that her gentleman caller goes “limp” when she tries pegging him for her morning wakeup call, before she goes on a morning raid of the webcam sex show place where her sister is working. She also has a foul mouth. I love her already. There’s some Sweet Dee Reynolds that I want explored. Like a really good actor (see Woody Harrelson in the finale of Season One, she conveys so much of her character’s inner workings through her eyes). I hope her performance isn’t overlooked this season, even though I think the real star turn came unexpectedly from…

Finally, our non-detective character, though he may be the most “true” character of all. Developer Frank Semyon, portrayed PERFECTLY by Vince Vaughan. Again, it’s subtle, and much of it through body language and via the eyes. Also, give great credit to Kelly Reilly, who plays his wife, and true partner in life, Jordan. She picks up on his non-verbal cues, and it helps both to understand Frank and to contrast him with all the detective leads – who are completely adrift in their personal lives. We see a nice flashback to Frank and Ray’s past meeting, when Frank finds the man responsible for raping Ray’s wife (and likely fathering his child). 15 or so years later, their stations in life have completely reversed. But we still see Frank’s insecurity. He senses his “place” in LA society is tenuous, and people still look at him as dirty, or lesser than them, because he earned his way up the social ladder rather than being born into it. In an unguarded moment, he talks about the rail project being a way to build a legacy for future generations, so that his children and grandchildren will have a “name” that will be accepted and that they can be proud of. This is his motivation, and perhaps his hubris that will possibly bring him down. Although one can hardly see how Frank could be mixed up in the city manager’s murder, since he was essential in making Frank’s dream a reality (being the public “face” of things, despite it seems, Frank having done all the hard work).

I can also see myself really siding with Frank throughout the run of this series. Whether he’s mobbed up or what, there are few things I fucking hate more than the snobbish business elite. And every goddamned city of any size has it. Where I work (Raleigh, North Carolina), it’s the “Inside the Beltline” set. These are the “old money” neighborhoods where people’s grandparents knew each other from some rich asshole country club where black people always knew their place. If you started work in my law firm, certain partners would indeed encourage you to buy a house there. You could totally get a 1,200 square foot box with no yard for $450,000, and send your kids to private school like all the other “old money” dickholes. Of course, you still wouldn’t BE old money, would you? Maybe after 10 years of their gossip, you’d be half accepted. But why would you ever WANT to be accepted by people like that in the first place? I bought a damned house in the quirky, ethnically balanced small town of Apex, sent my kids to public school, and said FUCK IT. Very glad that I did. And do you know what? ALL BUSINESS (especially big business) is essentially criminal to some degree. At least the mafia is fucking up front about it. Go watch an honest documentary about the Rockefellers or the Vanderbilts or JP Morgan sometime. Give me an honest goddamned mobster any day of the week.

George Carlin is absolutely right about business criminals, like he is about most everything else (war, race, golf, etc.).