True Detective S02E07
Black Maps and Motel Rooms – Recap by Nikole Gunn
As True Detective proved in season one, this is a show that really can’t be pigeon holed or second-guessed.
Sure, it got off to a very slow start and had almost stagnated by episode three. But things have steadily improved after it gave up the Twin Peaks pretence.
In “Black Maps and Motel Rooms” we have a game changer, delivering a plot twist in the final seconds that no one saw coming. Think Game of Thrones and it’s habit of killing off major characters.
But first, things are starting to come together and we’re getting an idea of the dark forces at work in the city of Vinci.
In the aftermath of the sex-party, Ani and Ray try to make sense of events. It seems everyone is involved in the shady side of things, including Attorney-General Geldof, who only recently declared his intentions to run for Governor.
As she talks it through, Ani accidentally alludes to the incident from her childhood, before coming-on to Ray. She backs off as he gently refuses the offer.
“It’s the drugs”
“You’re too far out of my league anyway,” he says.
Meantime, as they discuss the papers they took at the party, Woodrugh is sent compromising photos of him with his old army buddy, Miguel. Sensing it could be more than just blackmail, Woodrugh takes his mother and pregnant girlfriend to a motel, telling them to stay put.
Bezzerides delivers a similar message to her father and sister, telling them they need to disappear for a while. She also reveals to her father that she remembers the face of the man, who took her away as a child.
Clearly devastated, he then asks if she’s going to turn herself in for killing the security guard. He doesn’t ask if she did or didn’t do it, but tells her that she’s the ‘most innocent person’ he’s ever known.
As they get ready to leave, one of Ani’s ex-lovers appears to lead them to safety. He apologises for not standing up for her in the harassment case; he was jealous. Ani tells him she’s too hard on those around her.
After waving them off, Bezzerides returns to the motel to question Vera, the girl they rescued from the party and who could provide clues to what’s been going on.
Unfortunately, Vera isn’t happy with the ‘rescue’. She tells Ani that she was never ‘missing’ and never ‘wanted out’. The sex party scene had helped her get ‘things’.
But she does reveal that the girl in the photos, sent to her sister, is “Tasha”. It turns out she was involved with Caspere and had taken the photos to blackmail the city manager and the other high-profile partygoers.
Before she can put that plan into action, she’s taken to the cabin in the woods and dealt with. Ani warns Vera if she gets back in contact with the party organisers, including the Mayor’s son, Ani will let them know that she’s been “helping” with the investigation. Kind of harsh, but very effective.
Meantime, Frank is starting to get retribution for Blake’s betrayal. Ray tells him what’s in the documents they seized: proof that his one-time right hand man had joined forces with Osip; the Russian-Israeli who had been one of Frank’s partner’s in the Vinci land deal brokered by Caspere.
With Blake on the inside, he’s been dismantling Frank’s underworld and ‘legit’ empires. After bashing him senseless with a whiskey glass, Frank gets Blake to admit that Osip’s crew is about to take over, but there’s a 12-million dollar money exchange to take place the next day.
He then shoots Blake and leaves him to bleed out on his office floor. His wife Jordan arrives, takes one look at the body and asks what’s their next move.
All he needs is 48-hours and Frank makes plans to leave the country on a false passport with a handful of diamonds and his wife. The ‘unfinished’ business is the club and Casino, which he calmly burns to the ground.
While Frank plans his exit strategy, the proverbial hits the fan for Ray, Ani and Paul.
Woodrugh begins to connect the dots, linking Vinci’s police chief to the double murder of a jeweller and his wife in 1992 and the theft of rare, blue diamonds.
At the same time, Ben Caspere was working with Chief Holloway as a LAPD business auditor. The plot thickens. He also finds out that there’s an APB out for Bezzerides for the murder of the security guard.
Ray goes to meet state attorney Katherine Davis, who gave them the job of investigating the murky mess, only to find her dead in her car. He gets out of Dodge, but has probably left enough trace evidence that could come back to haunt him.
He meets up with Ani back at the motel, where one thing leads to another and they share a night of passion. But not before, Woodrugh calls Ray. He’s on the verge of telling him that he’s been blackmailed and could be in a bad place.
He meets the person sending those texts and it turns out its Miguel, who works for Catalyst and was ordered to hook up with him.
Woodrugh is brought to a dark tunnel where he’s confronted by Police Chief Holloway, who demands the Catalyst documents stolen from the sex-party.
Surrounded by armed men, Woodrugh tries to make a deal and suggests he’s ready to give up Ani and Ray in return for those damning photos.
He then pulls a gun on Holloway and beat him with it, before the other guys begin shooting. One by one he takes them out and just when it looks like he’s home and hosed, Detective Burris of Vinci PD turns up.
He shoots Woodrugh in the back and shoots him again in the back of the head as he tries to crawl away. The camera pulls away as the blood begins to spread.
They just killed off a key character and we didn’t see it coming. This is not supposed to happen to a major character, not when they’d invested so much time in his backstory.
With just one episode left in season two, Ani and Ray are left in what could be a fight for their lives and given that True Detective has been happy to kill off Woodrugh, it’s quite possible neither may survive.
But let’s hope they do.
