Much better episode, and provided those weren't baton rounds a fucking amazing ending. I doubt he's dead, but if he is it's the most brilliant plot device of this year.
Better than the first episode, still not falling in love with the characters like I did in season 1. I'm sure he isn't, but I kind of wish Velcoro was dead. His character is just so broken and empty he sucks the energy out of every scene and by the last couple episodes it's going to drag down the entire season. I agree on the gay insecure cop theory as well, and again hope I'm wrong here because I find it completely uncompelling. I'm liking Vaughn and McAdams a lot more at this point. We'll see where the show decides to take them, but even for them - it's not that I mind a dark troubled past slant. I just don't want to hear about it every fucking minute. I don't see why it was necessary to do this to such extremes for every character on the show.
I'm less on the "closeted gay cop" bandwagon and more on the "awful PTSD suffering cop" bandwagon. When he was in bed with his ex, he was covered in scars and burn marks. He hit 100+ mph on his motorcycle in the middle of the night with no headlight on. He said he "doesn't talk about the desert". I'm calling it now. He's going to snap. Probably at the worst opportune moment too. As for Velcoro, I'm of the belief that he's dead. I'm sure we'll still see him in flashbacks (probably when the killer is revealed), but his involvement in the case going forward is done.
Not at all surprising. No A-list actor is going to sign on for 2 episodes of a show they dont need to do.
It happens perhaps more than you'd think. For example, Bruce Willis signed on for two episodes of Friends.
You're making a gigantic false equivalency. Comparing a long running sitcom which had many, many guest actors over the years to an anthology type series is wrong. The style and casting structure for True Detective is miles apart from Friends.
Yes, Friends was a completely different show, but that aside there's no reason an actor would just never do it. If they're paid enough most of them don't give a shit, especially if taking the role means a minimal time commitment. There's enough other opportunities to establish their legacy or whatever the fuck. That being said, I'd give it about a 1% chance that his character is actually dead.
My uncle was gut shot with a shot gun at relatively close range. Within 15 feet, more like 8-10, if I recall correctly. Anyway, his hospital stay was MONTHS long. His complications were incredible - he had liver and spleen and gallbladder damage, along with some other stuff I don't totally remember. When he was released, the first few weeks he walked very slowly and with a cane, and had pain meds on his person at all times. If this show skimps over that, I'm done. Because gut shots are NOT NOT NOT something you just recover from.
It was rubber riot shells. Non lethal rounds used for crowd dispersal. And whoever called the gay thing...kudos.
I have a blackbelt in Gaydar. And Vaughn owned that episode, total badassery. I fucking hate gold teeth. There's no criminal quite like one who refuses to cower behind his men and keep his hands clean.
Well...that was some shit. No one commenting on the biggest portrayal of police fuck-ups since Hamsterdam from The Wire? That shit was insane. Odd thing is I don't even feel like I can judge this episode until the next one. Parts of this episode felt disjointed but that shootout was crazy when they got to the riot and bus scene. That was some crazy shit. Also, the sneak-peak for the new episode hints at a time jump. Ray's moustache is gone, Ani is wearing her usual get-up. Also, Paul's face and demeanor once the shit hit the fan was really fucking crazy. That dude was cool, calm and collected in combat. That's the adrenaline he gets off on 100%. When are we going to stop trusting people's CI's out the blue?
I thought the exact same thing - I actually think Kitsch is playing the PTSD angle really accurately. One of the characteristics of the condition is an inability to regulate anxiety and other negative emotions in calm settings, yet appearing completely unemotional and controlled during a crisis. At the end, it was almost like he looked to Ani and Ray to judge how he should react, because he himself had no emotional reaction. I do want to shake Paul, though. If he can find happiness and peace with someone, FUCKING DO IT. Don't lie to the girl and make yourself miserable pretending to be what you're not. Then again, he's covered in burns and under investigation for war crimes. Who knows how fucked up he is.
Yeah his calm demeanor was unsettling that whole time. Now that were 4 episodes in, its wild speculation time. (Reading reddit, others have this theory also, but Im expanding on it) Im guessing Paul is the killer and that his girlfriend is a hallucination. Caspere liked to get his kink on at some crazy parties. Paul apparently blacks out and likes to do gay shit, maybe one time it was showing up at one of those parties Caspere was attending. He freaked out and killed Caspere, gouged out his eyes, and dumped his body. Some how the kink shit got recorded, and just about Ray was about to discover the videos, Paul put on his Birdman hat and shot him with riot rounds. His blackouts might not be alcohol induced, but might be from his extreme trauma as a green beret / mercenary in the Middle East. That would explain why he doesnt remember committing war crimes, or sexually assaulting the actress, attending super secret Hollywood orgies, or going to pound town with his buddy. He has a weird relationship with his mother, which feeds the pre-season comment by the director that this season is heavy with Oedipus Rex references.
I thought the last episode was a total snooze fest until the last "holy shit" scene. It reminded me of that single-shot scene in the first season.