Geekscape Recaps: True Detective – “Black Maps and Motel Rooms”

The penultimate episode for season 2 has arrived. The episode did a good job wrapping up some lose ends while advancing towards to what seems to be a violent finale. Let’s get started!

Warning: Spoilers ahead! 

Ani

When we last left Ani, she had just killed a security guard, who tried choking her out, and rescued her missing person from the party. Our true detectives also secured papers that linked the mayor’s son, Osip, and members of Catalyst to the land deal Frank wanted in on. It’s also the ammo Davis needed to help bring corruption charges to city leaders.

Needless to say, the party had a negative effect on Ani. Right off the bat, Ani confesses that she’s been waiting her entire life for man to put hands on her, giving her the excuse to kill him. This is obviously connected to what happened to her as a child, and even goes on to state, “When I ran out of the woods and they found me… ” This confused Velcoro, who was listening, and upset Ani even more once she realized she was actually talking about her experience with someone else. It’s perhaps the first time Ani has ever opened up to someone on this level and an emotional connection is established. Ani then tries to make a move on Velcoro, but he declines, stating that she’s out of his league.

The next day, Ani talks to her missing person, Emily. Emily gives some information on the pictures that kicked off the missing persons case and the search for the blue diamonds. As Emily explains it, Tasha, who was supposedly Caspere’s favorite girl to take to the parties, took pictures from the inside. She also took the pictures of the blue diamonds all in an attempt to build a portfolio to use as blackmail.

Ultimately, Tasha ended up in the cabin we saw a couple of episodes back. In that same episode, forensics said that the blood belonged to a female, which we now know was likely Tasha. Building off this, it was Caspere’s coordinates that lead Ani and Woodrugh to the cabin, meaning that Caspere was present during the torture. Furthermore, Ani and Velcoro eventually learn that the small girl who hid while her parents were executed during the LA riots in ’92 is now in the party circuit, courtesy of Caspere.

Woodrugh eventually informs Ani that she’s wanted for questioning in the death of the security guard she killed at the party. The situation she’s found herself in makes her realize that she needs to protect her family and sends them off to lay low for a while. She seems to make peace with everyone in this scene, even her father. She sees them off and prepares for the future.

At the end of the episode, we also see a crosscut of an exchange between Velcoro and Ani. Both seem to connect on a more intimate level and consummate their newfound understanding of each other. I expect this to play a key role in the showdown next week.

Velcoro

Velcoro is also reeling from the party we saw in last week’s episode. While Velcoro does not have a heavy role in tonight’s episode, he is still very much involved. Velcoro informs Frank of Blake’s dealings with Osip and explains everything he learned at the party. This makes Frank very angry.

Velcoro also makes the attempt to go into the city to hand the papers off to Davis only to find her corpse sitting in the car. She doesn’t look to have put up a fight, leading me to believe that she must’ve known whoever killed her.

The prime suspect would probably be Burris, since he seemed to be everywhere this episode. Velcoro has ultimately been set up, again, probably by Burris, and is forced to go into hiding back at the motel.

Eventually, he opens up to Ani, saying that he’s worried about what his son will think of him. Ani responds with, “You are a good man.”

Frank

After learning of Blake’s deception, Frank takes care of him.

Frank also learns of everything being planned against him, which leads him to create a plan to take revenge and get out of the country. Frank secures money, plane tickets, fake passports, and some heavy firepower.

It’s unlikely that we’ll see the Russians help out next week, though I wouldn’t be surprised if they sent some guys to lend a hand to Frank’s cause.

On top of that, Frank burns everything the Russians have purchased over the last six months, effectively burning everything he’s spent his entire life working for. He’s also essentially burning his past and is on track to becoming a different person. There’s no going back after this, and he knows that.

Woodrugh

Unfortunately, Woodrugh met his end his episode. I was rooting for him, too. After getting blackmailed into taking a meeting with the mysterious person behind the text messages he was receiving, Woodrugh uncovers Burris’s connection with Black Mountain, Catalyst, and Ben Caspere. Before all that, Woodrugh hides his mom and fiancé in a small motel. At first, neither of them want to be there, but later on, it seems the mom and the fiancé bonded.

Woodrugh then runs some errands at the police station where he figures out the Caspere-Holloway-Burris-Teague-blue diamonds connection.

Here, Woodrugh also finds out that Ani is wanted for questioning. All of this takes place as he’s being spied on by Burris. The framing of this shot is a foreshadowing of how the two will meet again later in the episode. Expanding on this, it is now clear that it was Burris who wore the Crow’s head when he shot Velcoro. The shotgun used pellets only available to cops. Now that we know that, it’s also clear Burris dumped Caspere’s body on the side of the road, and may even had a hand in killing Caspere. According to Blake, the killers are still unknown.

It’s likely Burris tailed Woodrugh to the Black Mountain meeting, although it was awfully convenient that he’d just be behind the door Woodrugh comes out of. Maybe the building Woodrugh found himself in had only one door?

While waiting for Woodrugh to return, the mom and fiancé watch Splendor in the Grass. The film was released in 1961 and tells the tale of a forbidden love between a young girl and a man belonging to a powerful family. The forbidden love concept is one last callback to the strange Oedipus complex Woodrugh and his mom shared, but more importantly, I believe the last line of the film resonates a stronger message about where Woodrugh’s fiancé and mother will end up. The last line of the film is a voiceover and is as follows: “Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass of glory in the flower; We will grieve not, rather find Strength in what remains behind.”

Well, there’s only one great thing left behind from Woodrugh’s legacy, and that’s his child. This notion is further reinforced by the last image Woodrugh’s fiancé sees after his death, which is a scene in the film in which one of the characters is holding an infant.

Overall, I thought this was a solid episode. I don’t know if Ani and Velcoro’s actions sit well with me. Earlier in the episode, Ani tells Emily that maybe she was not put on the Earth “just for fucking,” yet, Ani was sexualized right off the bat in episode one and ends up having sex with yet another peer working a case with her. I guess we’ve seen Ani be condescending and a little bit of a hypocrite all season when it comes to dealing with her sister’s sexuality, but it would have been nice to see Ani’s character make progress in that regard. I would’ve been happy if all we got was the encounter between Velcoro and Ani at the start of this episode. Still, maybe her character is progressing in that she is finally having sex with someone she has a true emotional connection with. Also, the scene was done tastefully.

Predictions

With only one episode left, I think we can all expect a ton of shooting, a ton of driving, and maybe an explosion or two. The finale will also run for 90 minutes. We’ll perhaps see Burris in his Crowman outfit, as well as find out who’s behind this empire. It can’t be the mayor, Holloway, Burris, Osip, Blake, or the head of Catalyst. It’s obvious they all answer to someone. Still, I believe whoever’s at the head is someone we’ve seen before. That leaves some wild guesses, including Velcoro’s father, the bartender at Frank and Velcoro’s meeting place, the two Mexicans who wanted to be besties with Frank, Ani’s father, Pitler, or even Ani’s ex-partner.

As far as character deaths go, I can see Velcoro sacrificing himself for Ani and Frank. With Davis dead, and the details of this case leaking to the public, Velcoro won’t have much to live for other than to become a symbol of heroism for his son. Ani might end up quitting the force to pursue a different career path. A private investigator sounds right for her, but we already saw that in Marty from season one. After the exchange, and perhaps snagging a few million from the deal, Frank will be able to take his wife and live off the grid for the remainder of his life, should he choose to do so. I also wouldn’t be surprised if some of that money made its way to Woodrugh’s mom and fiancé.

Got any theories of your own? Feel free the share! Until then, see you next week!