True Detective – ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ Review

“Aw, son, they kill you. They shoot you to pieces.”

So yeah, Ray is ok. Well not ok, but certainly alive. This is probably for the best because Ray is so awesome. Losing him so early on would have sucked, so I can forgive Pizzolatto tricking us like that. And it also meant we got that wonderful dream sequence in which a Conway Twitty impersonator sings to Ray and his father (Tremor’s Fred Ward). It’s getting awfully David Lynch-y down in Vinci.

This was probably a make-or-break episode of True Detective. Either you fall in love with the show or you give up. Admittedly it’s a slow going episode plot-wise. There are very few revelations when it comes to the actual case, and even they’re not until the last minutes of the episode. ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ is much more focused on the characters and there are plenty of developments in that department. As I said, Ray did not shuffle off his mortal coil and instead remains even more broken than ever, but with intentions to change his corrupt ways. His meeting with his dad is an interesting scene, as they don’t seem to completely hate each other like everyone else in the show. Fred Ward plays his father excellently and watching the two interact, you’d forget Colin Farrell was ever in Ballykissangel and just assume he’d been brought up by this world weary, pot smoking old man. Colin Farrell continues to be the best part of the show, and I love this series so much. Farrell is just exceptional as Velcoro. I’ve never rooted for a character and felt so bad for one in a very long time. Despite what he’s done and said, he just seems like a nice dude.

Paul is more or less, definitely, 100% gay. That’s the consensus now, in our household and on the internet. If it wasn’t foreshadowed enough in previous episodes, his awkward encounter with his mercenary buddy more or less cemented it. This subplot isn’t offensive yet, although I’m worried where Pizzolatto is taking us. Gay characters in True Detective all seem to have been the victims of abuse (like the guy from the Tuttle Wellsprings school in Season 1), and I’m unsure Pizzolatto knows how to handle this topic right. But I guess we’ll all find out in the coming weeks. In ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ Paul is thrust into the world of prostitution, tracking down a girl or guy who might have known Caspere. He has a fun bump into Vince Vaughn’s Frank who just TOWERS over the tiny Taylor Kitsch. Vaughn really impresses in this episode. He still has the odd superfluous line but that’s more the writer’s fault than his. No actor could pull of saying some of the things Pizzolatto has poor Vince say. But apart from that he is great, in one scene beating a pimp half to death and using pliers to remove his stupid grill. After this episode I was scared of Vince Vaughn. And this guy was in The Internship!

Ani is going down in TV history as one of the coolest female detectives, not afraid to throw herself in front of moving traffic to stop a perp, or to smoke an e-cig in public. The way she rejects her scummy ex (Steve? His name was Steve right?) is awesome. Her and Ray have a nice back-and-forth despite the fact that both of their offices want them to dick each over. Ani’s superior even goes as far to suggest using her feminine wiles on poor Ray; “I’m not saying f*ck him, but maybe let him think you might f*ck him.” (Nic you were doing so well!!!) With the investigation doomed to fail by the people in charge, it will be interesting seeing how it plays out. But Ani is still cool. The scene in which she goes to the scummy mayor’s house is awesome. The rich people sprawled out on massive couches smoking pot really sums up the world of True Detective, a world rife with excess and corruption. Ani is the closest to a good cop we have. I’d really like to see more about her relationship with her father. David Morse was awesomely creepy in episode 1 and I miss him already.

As I said at the beginning, this will be a make-or-break episode for many. I personally am in love with this series. It’s not perfect and this episode won’t change anyone’s mind. The dialogue is often absurd and way too complicated, and the show can’t get away with it in the same way shows like Deadwood and Hannibal (RIP) can. The plot can be a mess if not studied in depth, and a show probably shouldn’t expect that level of homework from an audience. But for people enjoying it like me, the next few weeks will be very exciting. The world is horrible and like a car crash you can’t look away as the scum of California kill and fuck their way into the ground. It’s the most interesting show on television. And at the very least the performances are spectacular. After the dust is settled and the True Detectives have taken down the bird worshipping sex cult (calling it now) we will all still be talking about the performances. Colin Farrell and Rachel McAdams in particular. Now, I’m off to grow a Velcoro-stache.

Reviewed by Jack 😛