This is a transaction that Semyon went all in on, his “lifework,” so he’s desperate and on the ropes to recover the money. As the Catalyst Group capitalist says bluntly, “You’re in the unenviable position of being owed money by a dead man.” Caspere, the city manager murdered in episode one, was acting as a holding company for Semyon, and he never paid the mobster’s five million to Catalyst, so his entre to the California Railway Corridor deal looks dead. Squeezed harder than anyone is career criminal Frank Semyon ( Vince Vaughn), who is totally fucked. Slightly less tiresome is how Caspere’s death sets off a chain reaction of events and the ramifications start to unfold. This means Bezzerides and Woodrugh both have two jobs: trying to solve this murder case, as well as fulfilling the confidential mandate of keeping a side-eye on Velcoro and all Vinci PD moves. Caspere’s death is really just an excuse for law enforcement officials to investigate the shady goings on of Vinci City and its sleazebag mayor Austin Chessani ( Ritchie Coster). After all the chest puffing subsides, a three-pronged law enforcement taskforce is put together, but with a duplicitous agenda: the State’s Attorney General is investigating Vinci PD and Vinci City corruption.
TRUE DETECTIVE SEASON 1 EPISODE 2 RECAP FULL
While deeper character dimensions of all three core detectives are unveiled-Velcoro, Ventura County detective Ani Bezzerides ( Rachel McAdams), and California Highway Patrolman Paul Woodrugh ( Taylor Kitsch)-the rest can be a bit of a narrative slog.Ĭertainly the jurisdictional dick measuring of all the law enforcement agencies and politics surrounding the case is convoluted, full of exposition and likely confusing to most viewers. While the layers of intrigue in this season’s murder mystery case begin to unfold, “ Night Finds You” is the legwork/putting-more-pieces-into-play episode and it’s a fairly tedious and exposition-driven one.
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Chad is the only thing he’s got left in his shitty life and Alicia knows this to be true as she delivers her final blow: “Don’t you know he deserves better” than being his father’s only hope? And as we see later on in the episode, Velcoro losing his son may ultimately be a freeing gift to rediscovering his true self once again.
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The already downtrodden Velcoro’s world crumbles around him in this brief scene as he reaches his spiritual rock bottom. She’s vying for sole custody and if Velcoro contests, she’ll petition him with a paternity test (deep down he knows Chad is not his) which will boot the police officer out of Chad’s life for good. She’s heard about the incident with Chad (the drunken Ray threatening his son if he didn’t squeal on the kid who ruined his kicks) and the subsequent vicious beat down and has had enough. Velcoro’s ex-wife Alicia ( Abigail Spencer) shows up when Chad is supposed to spend the weekend with his father and the incensed wife has reached the end of her tether. And in episode two, “Night Finds You,” the impetus for change rears its head when Velcoro’s son is taken away.
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But Ray’s only relationship to human decency-and conversely the motivation that keeps him caught in his own feedback loop of self-destruction-is his son. Velcoro is not only a morally bent and venal cop he’s a terrible father. READ MORE: ‘True Detective’ Podcast: Season 2 Episode 1, ‘The Western Book Of The Dead’ But as over-the-top as the beating is, it does explain who Ray Velcoro is and part of the reason he’s bloated with self-contempt and shame. It’s perhaps the most ridiculous moment of the season thus far, veering the show close to the suspension-of-disbelief breakpoint-though there certainly are some wish-fulfillment fantasy aspects to it. Fueled by booze, self-hatred and a recognizable revulsion in an ineffectual son he’s not even 100% sure is his–denial is another corrosive eating away at Velcoro’s broken soul-as we saw in episode one the crooked detective went to the house of the bully who victimized his son and beat the living shit out of his dad right in front of him.