So Never Mind

Brutally succinct and relentlessly bleak, episode seven of True Detective season two ‘Black Maps and Motel Rooms’ will leave you with a lump in your throat and tell you to fucking suck it up.

Here we have it: the beginning of the end, the dark before the dawn, the nadir in the journey of the heroes we follow. This episode practically bombards viewers with revelations and consequences in equal measure. In this blog I’ll consider three moments which stood out to me, Frank ripping up the poker table, Vera and Bezzerides’ conversation, and the final scene.

• Frank destroys stuff and looks cool doing it

The load of story development this week hung heavy on Frank Semyon; as a result, I was particularly impressed with how Vaughn executed several moments which could easily have fallen flat. His portrayal has steadily grown on me as the season has gone on (starting with that excellent scene where he pulled out the gold teeth) and I feel that this episode capitalises on that carefully laid groundwork. This is exemplified in the scene when Frank rips up the table after speaking with Velcoro. This fleeting moment really captures and amplifies Frank’s arc; he finally understands the machinations which have been working against him for no small amount of time and, in a moment of pure rage, allows himself to let loose before once more becoming the composed man capable of reaching out and attempting to control his own fate. Blake’s death, the destruction of the clubs, and the cool discussion with Osip are all framed by this moment.

• Vera says she wants to be a hooker

Vera’s statement that she was never missing and that she didn’t need or want to be saved clouds the audience’s perception of Bezzerides’ motives. This, combined with the threat at the end, indicates Bezzerides’ priorities really lie with solving the case rather than helping the needy.  Questioning the judgement of the heretofore unshakeable female detective prompts us to consider the motivations and judgements which we make on a daily basis. What is abhorrent for one might be common for another; that’s not to say either perspective is right or wrong, merely that it might sometimes be necessary to consider viewpoints different from your own.

• Woodrugh gets what he did and didn’t deserve

At the end of the episode, we witnessed the tragic death of Paul Woodrugh at the hands of Lieutenant Burris; after last week many had Burris as their chief suspect for the murder of Paul Caspere. Turns out they were dead right. Burris is the man who killed Caspere, the man who we’ve been looking for, and the man on the exit. It was clear from the beginning of the season that Woodrugh had mixed feelings about being alive; while riding his motorbike in the dark without the lights on didn’t tip the scale, walking into an ambush concocted by successful rogue-cops and mercenaries sure did. There was really only one conclusion to the story of a character as conflicted as Woodrugh; True Detective just brought us that conclusion in acutely ruthless fashion. The shot of his face as he crawls away, cursing and trying to live as Burris approaches from behind and shoots him once more, is a stark indicator that like all tragic characters he has inevitably died too soon. Nobody doubts Woodrugh really was trying to be a ‘good man.’ He just couldn’t fit into anyone’s narrow definition of that, including his own.

Personally, I can’t wait to see how True Detective wraps up the plotlines of the remaining characters next week.