TV Recap: True Detective, ‘Night Finds You’

Warning: Major Spoilers Ahead

Night Finds You Plot Summary:

The murder of Caspere sets everyone’s world on fire. Frank’s (Vince Vaughn) entire empire is crumbling as Caspere, his business partner, absconded with all the money Frank gave him to purchase stakes in the rail line. The State’s Attorney taps both Ani (Rachel McAdams) and Paul (Taylor Kitsch) as investigators on Caspere’s murder. However, he also asks them to investigate Ray (Colin Farrell), assigned to the murder by the Vinci P.D., and his unit as a part of a corruption investigation.

‘Night Finds You’ was a strong episode up until the final scene. We saw some fantastic acting from Vince Vaughn and Colin Farrell. A little bit of light was shed on both Paul and Ani’s very murky pasts. We also began our journey into the twisted and corrupt city of industry known as Vinci, California.

Then there was that ending.

The ending of ‘Night Finds You’ was nerve-shreddingly tense, and left us with mouths agape in pure, utter shock and astonishment.

You’re left with one, major question — ‘Did they just kill off one of the main characters in this series in episode two?’

It’s almost unbelievable – a unknown figure wearing a rooster/chicken mask, pumps multiple shotgun blasts into Colin Farrell’s Ray Velcoro. It seemed so shocking, and out of left field, but if you think upon the entire episode, you’ll realize this was set into motion perfectly.

Ray is put into every telltale situation foreshadowing his death — he’s losing custody of his son, he’s under investigation by his ‘partners’ in the Caspere murder, and then he utters the phrase, ‘When I croak’ in reference to when he’ll take a vacation. Everything is screaming ‘He’s gonna die!’ but being only the second episode, there’s no way he can be killed, right? Right? We think, no we know, you cannot off a character this quick. But, we also have to remember – this is True Detective.

If there’s one thing the creators of True Detective must be applauded for it’s their audacity. In the first season there were so many creative risks taken – McConaughey’s existential dialogue, the insane no-cut shoot-out and chase, and of course, the highly controversial ending. Here, they’re (potentially) killing off a major character. It’s not a shock factor move either, it makes perfect sense. The shooting and possible murder of a cop only adds to the sense of panic, chaos, and desperation running throughout the character’s lives – particularly Vince Vaughn’s Frank.

Vaughn absolutely killed it in this episode, portraying Frank as the smooth operator coming slowly undone. Vaughn exudes both an unflappable suaveness and clawing desperation with every word he speaks. He’s control of everything, and yet nothing at the same time. Yet, underneath the coolness and the desperation lies something greater, something evil. Vaughn gives us hints of this, and that’s the most fascinating aspect of his character. We know he’s a got a criminal past, and we can infer he’s a Marcellus Wallace-esque boss, however we truly don’t know for sure. Yet, there’s also a damaged side to him as well — his opening scene talking about being locked in the basement by his father’s was beyond riveting.

Now, if you can indulge me two side bars…

First, the weird doctor Ray and Ani interrogate? That’s RICK SPRINGFIELD in a ton of make-up. Yeah. That Rick Springfield.

Second. Calling it now — Taylor Kitsch’s character is gay. Last week he popped that mysterious blue pill before having sex with his girlfiend – that was Viagra. This week he makes some very unnecessary homophobic comments that are met with deaf ears. Then when standing on his balcony, he stares a little too intently on the gay men parading outside his building, and the male prostitute leaving a client’s car. It was the kind of look where he seemed to be fighting an urge. I could be wrong, but I don’t think I am.

‘Night Finds You’ is a brilliant episode of True Detective that has just ignited a complete firestorm in the minds of the audience…and it has this writer dying for next week already. If you were lukewarm on last week’s premiere, this is will be the game changer episode for you.

Rating: 9 out 10
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