TV Review: TRUE DETECTIVE: Season 2, Episode 4: Down Will Come [HBO]

HBO’s True Detective Down Will Come TV Show Review. True Detective: Season 2, Episode 4: TV Show Review Down Will Come is another densely packed episode of Nic Pizzolatto’s modern day L.A. noire crime-story. Down Will Come continues Frank’s (Vince Vaughn) crooked path to legitimacy and brings Ani (Rachel McAdams), Paul (Taylor Kitsch) and Ray (Colin Farrell) perilously close to a significant breakthrough in the Caspere case.

Season 1 of True Detective focused solely on two main characters, and despite its jumps back and forth over two decades, it was a more cohesive show than season 2. At times during this season it has felt as though Frank — the only member of the main cast that is not a cop — is on an entirely different show. The episode kicked off with Frank taking a moment to step away from the occupation of crime-lording to discuss his avocado crops as well as drop some nuclear level truth bombs on his wife; the apoplectic Frank referred to adoption as “doing somebody else’s time,” and “taking on someone else’s grief.” As an actor, Vaughn is defined by his volubility, yet when Jordan (Kelly Reilly) implied that her reproductive organs may be damaged, it was his silence that sold the scene. Poor Frank, his chances of having a child with his wife are about as high as growing those pesky avocado trees outside his balcony.

Down Will Come threw out any semblance of ambiguity relating to Paul’ sexuality for Paul as well as the viewers. Now that Paul’s sexual proclivities are no longer contained to what happened overseas, he has begun taking drastic measures to suppress and conceal them. Much like Frank’s wife being as barren as the soil beneath his avocado trees, it seems a little too on the nose that Paul, the character obsessed with containing his sexuality, also happens to be the target the paparazzi’s all seeing eye. Watching Paul propose to Emily (Adria Arjona) was just plain painful. Both Paul and Emily understood marriage was a terrible idea — Emily even chimed in with the the saddest declaration of love imaginable. Considering that we know Paul was being followed before he realized the paparazzi were after him and that he has no idea how he got to his lover’s after blacking out, it’s difficult to foresee a scenario where things get better for Paul before they get worse.

In an episode loaded with Pizzolatto’s trademark stylized dialogue, Frank’s line to Ray, “Sometimes your worst self is your best self,” really stood out. Frank and Ray are both men that have been making strides to distance themselves from their baser instincts. Frank is a man that is able to enter in and out of his sociopathic disposition as seamlessly as slipping into one of his custom tailored suits. When Ray embraced his dark side it overtook him. For Ray, darkness wasn’t a doorway to step through, it was a pitchblack well that he fell down, and now Ray struggles to admit how easily he acclimatized himself to the darkness (I’m sure his glove compartment full of “Goodies” had a lot to do with it). Ray Velcoro now stands at a pivital moment. Ray accepting that his worst self is his best self would mean that he has accepted who he has become and no longer has to claw his way back up towards the light.

Down Will Come’s big shootout sequence was a mixed bag. Though not on par with the famous “tracking shot” from episode 4 of season 1, director Jeremy Podeswa created a stunning action sequence: the scene was as intense, bloody, and frenetic as one would expect from a shoot out with a group of automatic weapon toting thugs. The battle also served as a revealing moment for each of the three “heroes”; Ani went for the security of her knife, Paul was at home amidst the turmoil and Ray was once again shell-shocked by tragedy. It was great to get these subtler character moments from the main cast, but to paraphrase a line from Frank earlier this season, the stakes felt “diminished.” The story felt so convoluted and the enemy so abstract that even though it built up to police officers finding themselves in a life and death shoot out, the moment still felt empty. Ultimately, it’s difficult for the audience to invest themselves in a battle against villains they don’t fully have a grasp on.

The shoot out at the end of Down Will Come likely means a shake up for the characters on the show. Four episodes into season 1, the series did a major time jump, catapulting Marty and Rust from characters in a series of flashback to the series modern day protagonists. There is no way that even the crooked Vinci police would allow the officer’s involved in this bloodbath to carry on without repercussions. Perhaps the blood on their hands will unify Ani , Paul and Ray, placing them on the path to working outside the law in order to take their targets down. Perhaps what transpires next will be something far more bizarre. Either way, as we cross the half way point season 2’s finish line, the only thing that we can be certain of is that on True Detective, anything can happen.

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