Sunday, July 26, 2015

True Detective Church in Ruins S2E6 Review (Spoilers!): Well, I’ll Never get that Hour Back


What a freaking mess. Usually I have find something redeeming in each episode. I can’t think of anything good that came out of tonight, other than the fact Frank didn’t piss me off.  Everything they fixed last week, they pissed away tonight. Maybe it’s because they have used different directors this year as to why the show feels so unbalanced. Though most shows use more than one director during a season. I’m glad there are only two episodes left. If there were any more than that I would quit watching.
Ok let’s start with the standoff between Frank and Ray. All of the great tension they built up last episode was just brushed away with the anti-climactic showdown. I’m surprised they didn’t hug when Ray walked out. I’m not sure what I wanted to happen, but at least a little bit of a fight. I was hoping they would end up antagonist for the rest of the season. I did like one thing from this scene. The way one of the shots was framed with them sitting at the table. It’s the only saving grace from the standoff. Hell, Frank even told Ray he was one of his only friends. Great tension and story from the previous episode was completely crapped on.
Then Ray goes on a bender after he meets with the man who raped his wife. Instead of Frank with the crappy lines, Ray joins in on the fun this week. Collin Farrell did everything in his power to sell that scene, but it wasn’t enough. Farrell has carried this show, but he couldn’t even save this crap-fest. Ray had a weird scene with his son, and then went on his bender. The only purpose of his alcoholic and cocaine filled night was to tell his ex-wife he no longer would contest custody. The storyline with his ex-wife and son is good character development for Ray. With so many characters and such a short season this took up valuable episode time to advance the actual plot of the show. They should have used the time more wisely.
We see an ok scene with Ani and her sister about the party. The detectives then meet up and go over the plan. Paul had nothing to do this week. His only purpose was to serve as part of the assault team on the hooker party.  I was looking forward to the party. I figured it would be intense and it would advance the story. It advanced the story, but there was no tension. The scene where Paul just happens to overhear the Russian and the businessman talk about their plans is just freaking ludicrous. I’m all for convenient plot timing, but this was way over the top. He then goes into the study to grab all of the material they need for the investigation. HIP HIP HOORAY! No great police investigation, he was just in the right place at the right time.
Since Paul found all the information in the study, there was no reason for Ani to go into the party. The only reason the show had her do this was for us to learn she was raped as a little girl. She gets drugged and then we see the flashbacks, another great use of plot device! Big eye roll. She also magically discovers her missing person and rescues her. Nothing but convenient timing for everyone! Other than finding out Ani was raped, there was nothing good at the party. Well, we did get to see her use her knife to great effect. We knew she was great with her knife because we saw her practicing with it when her sister came over. What a great coincidence that was huh?
You know this episode was bad when Frank is the high point. Though I’m not sure what the deal with the Mexicans is, or why they got brought back in. We got to see some movement on Frank finding the video hard drive, but now he is going to have to deal with these Mexicans other than the girl who probably had the tape. We find out from her it was a cop who gave her the diamonds. I’m thinking it is the other Vinci detective who was Ray’s boss. My theory of Ray and Frank racing to find the hard drive is out since they kissed and made up. Frank actually was the only person in the episode who did any detective work.  We also saw him have a moral compass. I still don’t like the character, and he did have one laughable line. The scratch that off the bucket list, Mexican standoff with actual Mexicans. It wasn’t as crazy as some of the other winners from this year, still bad though.
Only two episodes left. I know I could just stop watching, but I’ve made it this far, I might as well finish. I’m not sure I’ll watch next year. As good as the first season was, this season has killed all hope I had for it going forward. Maybe, just maybe the last two episodes will save the season, but I highly doubt it. What did you think of tonight’s episode? Am I way off base, or was this week as big a pile of crap as I thought it was?

My Rating: A big fat ugly turd

No comments:

Post a Comment