The penultimate episode of the season has arrived, with more
dim lighting and long meandering philosophical discussions. My central disinterest with the main crime and
criminals has me dreaming of the final aerial view of Southern California
highways.
After last week’s implausible operation, our detectives lick
their wounds at a funky motel, which we presume is reasonably isolated. Paul reviews the contracts he seized from the
party. Ani looks dazed as she speaks
with Ray in an adjacent room. Despite being drugged, she could identify Geldof
and other important men present at the party. She speaks almost wistfully about her murder
of the security guard. “I’ve been waiting my whole life for that.” By “that” we
assume murdering a man as a revenge for the abuse she suffered as a young girl.
Ani makes a pass at Ray, which he
decides to reject due to her still altered state. Ray leaves to find Paul. Together they identify Chessani and Osip as
the names on the land deals. Paul
receives a text with pictures of him and his army pal from their night
together. Paul leaves stating he has to
attend to some “personal business.” Ani
has showered and sobered and visits Ray. She is concerned someone will be looking for
her as a suspect to the murder of the security guard.
Frank is alone at a card table in his Vinci casino. Jordon comes in and he tells her about his new
arrangement with the Mexican gangsters. She
muses they could still try to liquidate their remaining assets and “walk
away.” Ray enters and Jordon cautions
him to keep his gun holstered, but leaves the two men alone. Ray makes the understatement of the week, “I
had a strange night.”
Paul pays his fiancé a visit and implores her to get out of
town for a few days because he is in danger. He claims it has to do with the investigation.
Ani makes a similar plea to her sister
Athena, asking her to leave for a while with their father. Athena is reluctant
to leave and asks, “What did you do?”
Athena then admits to attending the “parties” in the past. (Something
she denied previously, which begs the question how did Ani pass herself off as
Athena if the “party organizers” knew her sister. My guess is no one really
cares who or what women attend, as long as they “work.”)
Paul checks Emily and his mother into a hotel and instructs
them not to leave the room for a few nights. Paul says cryptically, “The less you know, the
better.” He states his cover was blown
in his secret investigation.
Ray tells Frank about the party and the contract they
obtained which reveals Osip as person in contract for the railroad land deals. Ray explains Frank’s subordinate Blake had
been dealing directly with Osip. Frank
says Irena is “gone.” Ray still wants to
know the identity of the person who identified the “wrong rapist.” Frank promises the name soon.
Vera, the missing woman from the party has woken up in the
motel room with Ani. Vera reveals she knew Caspere from Ani’s father’s commune.
Tasha, the woman who gave the lead on
Caspere’s apartment, introduced them. Tasha
knew about the rare blue diamonds Caspere had and was trying to blackmail him. The cabin discovered last week was where Tony
Chessani murdered Tasha. Vera is adamant
she was “never missing” and asserts she enjoys making money and going to the
parties and isn’t stupid, like Tasha was. Ani has called Vera’s sister to pick her up
and Vera is unhappy her livelihood has been ruined by Ani’s rescue.
Paul works on a computer looking through police archives. He sees there is a BOLO for Ani, who is wanted
for questioning in the “death of a security guard.” There are BOLO’s for him
and Ray as well. Paul notes in the
record of the robbery/homicide involving the diamonds, the current police
chief, Caspere and the dead dirty cop Dixon were all involved. A man is watching Paul as he works.
Frank summons Blake for a meeting. Blake brags about the money he made from last
night’s party. Frank begins to confront
Blake regarding the murder of his employee Stan. Frank hits Blake in slow motion, so it looks
more exciting!
Ray drives to an industrial site to meet with Davis. He quickly realizes she’s dead after being
shot in the chest. Ray flees the scene.
Blake reveals Osip was looking to take Frank’s place. Frank continues to beat Blake as he confesses
to giving Frank the name of Velcoro’s wife’s attacker. Blake claims he did it for Frank to have a
sheriff “in his pocket.” Blake offers to
give Frank intelligence regarding a twelve million dollar cash transfer. Frank decides to shot him in the gut and watch
him bleed out onto his office carpet.
After another aerial view of California, we zoom in to find
Ani speaking with her father. Her father acknowledges having seen the Chessanis
back in the day, but confesses to not really knowing them. He continues to express regret on how Ani was
raised, especially for an incident in which she was kidnapped and sexually
assaulted for four days. He asks her
whether she will turn herself in for the murder; she claims she’ll “fix it.” After a hug with dad and her sister she
addresses her ex-partner, Elvis. He’s
there to help provide Ani and her family cars with different license plates.
Ani offers a rare bit of self-awareness, “I’m unfair sometimes.” The group
wishes her luck. Ani’s father and Athena
are heading to Eugene, Oregon. (As a former Eugenian-“Old hippies never die,
they just move to Eugene.”) Elvis will
accompany them to make sure they make it out of state.
Jordon enters Frank’s office and sees Blake’s fresh corpse
on the floor. Like a true gangster wife,
she asks Frank, “What can I do?” Frank
has Nails escort her out since he’s the last subordinate he trusts.
Frank gets to work on his escape plan. He visits a Jewish gemologist, preparing to exchange
the missing blue diamonds for cash. Frank
goes to the last travel agent in L.A. to obtain tickets to Venezuela. Frank visits the Armenians to secure fake
passports and weapons.
Time for another helicopter view of Los Angeles!
Ray meets with his fellow detectives at the tacky hotel to
inform them Davis is dead. Without her, they have no official backing for their
investigation. Paul shares the
information he found from the police archives. In his “Scooby-Doo” reveal, its clear the
dirty cops were funded by the stolen diamonds and used the money for political
and personal gain ever since. Caspere
had kept the diamonds and they could be used to blackmail the whole group, so
they killed Caspere. However, without a
trusted authority to prosecute on the information, the findings are useless.
Frank encounters a highly intoxicated Mayor Chessani in the
casino’s bar. Frank sneers that Toni is
about to f#ck him over and advises him to sober up. Chessani leaves and Osip slips in with about
half a dozen bodyguards to speak to Frank. Osip explains the “new order” and offers Frank
a position managing the clubs and casino he now owns. Frank plays dumb while Osip suggests the power
Frank had enjoyed was “above his abilities.” They toast to Osip’s new acquisitions.
Paul walks alone and calls Ray and explains he’s being
blackmailed and is afraid he’s “walking into something.” Paul won’t elaborate further and hangs up with
Ray. Paul meets his intimate friend who
explains the Black Mountain Group works for Catalyst Corp. The man removes Paul’s gun and takes him into
an abandoned warehouse.
Meanwhile, back at the grungy motel, Ray concludes the
orphaned girl from the diamond robbery went on to become Caspere’s secretary.
(From one twenty two year old snap shot, RIGHT!)
In a dark tunnel, Paul, is surrounded by his former
mercenary group, as the chief of Vinci police walks out of the shadows. The chief explains the dirty departed Dixon
shot the photos. Paul’s one time lover
offers, “None of this would have happened if you hadn’t lied about who you
were.”
Frank informs the casino guard there is a gas leak and the
building needs to be evacuated.
The Vinci police chief is after the documents Paul seized
from the party. Paul claims Ray and Ani
have already turned the documents over to the federal authorities. Paul uses disparaging language to describe his
partners, probably as a way to protect them from this fine group of
individuals.
Frank opens up the gas lines in the casino kitchens.
Paul creates a diversion and rushes the chief and grabs his
gun and shoots him.
Ray speaks languidly to Ani in the dim hotel room. “I thought everything came from something
else.” He’s referring to the pain of his
wife’s attack and his subsequent murder of the “attacker.” They look intensely at each other as Ani
offers, “You’re not a bad man.” Ray
responds, “Yes, I am.” They take each
other’s hands, so deep, so boring!
Paul has gone commando and hunts down the remaining men in
the darkness. He kills two of them
before hiding near some underground rail tracks. Finally, he shoots his former lover and uses
him as a shield while shooting the last man. Romantic.
Ani and Ray start to become intimate and it’s just sad and a
little desperate.
Frank continues make his casino “inferno ready” by pouring
booze everywhere. He watches the
building burn from a safe distance as clunky piano music plays.
Paul decides to run like he’s on Baywatch, only to be shot
as soon as he is back outside. The man
takes his gun and flees in a car, as Paul and his athletic thighs die on the
cold hard pavement. (His best acting yet!)
Emily is awake and alone in her motel room watching the end
of Paul’s favorite movie, “The Splendor in the Grass.” (Starring the late
Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty in a tale of unrequited love. The last line of
the movie is; “Though nothing can bring back that hour of splendor in the
grass, glory in the flower, we grieve not; rather find strength in what remains
behind.”) She weeps silently.
What will happen next week? Will Frank flee to a socialist South American
country to get a real tan? Will Ani and
Ray start their own commune in rural British Columbia? Will any of the revealed criminals be exposed
or karmically dealt with? It’s been a long season with not much payoff. I’m just waiting for the last aerial shot out
of True Detective Season 2!
