Who Cares Who the 'True Detective' Killer Is?
The show has given up on any intrigue.
True Detective is starting to make sense. But gone with its nonsense is its intrigue. Ray Velcoro destroyed that just like he threatened to do to Dr. Pitlor’s facelift. Ben Caspere had a secret sex lodge of some sort, and he’d invite “men of affluence” to enjoy the lascivious digs, too. Caspere, the dirty wallflower, would videotape his colleagues to blackmail them for political gain. Well, someone got a little upset about that and had him brutally murdered. Done.
Unless the killer turns out to be Cthulhu and/or Matthew McConaughey, we know so little about the secondary characters that it doesn’t matter who actually did it. #TrueDetectiveSeason2, however, has been bubbling up toward an anticlimax (which, to be fair, we still have yet to reach) since the beginning.
Ben Caspere Was an Ugly Old Man
Ben Caspere was an ugly old man. In Twin Peaks, David Lynch exaggerated the tropes of the innocent, beautiful victim, making Laura Palmer perfect on the outside. She had many dark secrets, but Lynch still kept the core idea that viewers, as well as the show’s characters, will care more for somebody visually appealing.
He Deserved It
It might be harsh, but Caspere was doing some bad things to some bad people. Last season’s victim was manipulated and abused. She’s someone you wanted to save. Nobody, except for Frank Semyon, is worse off without Caspere.
Who Cares About Vinci?
Caspere was a corrupt politician in a small corrupt city within Los Angeles. The stakes are pretty low. The city could, conceivably, find a capable, if not better, replacement pretty easily.
What We Want Now
Now that the murder is secondary, all we can hope for are some fireworks. The trailer indicates Ani Bezzerides goes undercover to a Caspere-attended nightclub (more Twin Peaks callback). But even that screams, “Let’s get Rachel McAdams in a black dress” more than it does, “Let’s make something compelling.”
The characters’ respective personal drama is hit or miss (Ray and his son: good; Frank and his wife: bad). The senseless violence of “the Vinci Massacre” was surprising at best. Even as True Detective gets better, it’s still got just three episodes to pick up the pieces and make us care. Right now, “finishing it” is the most compelling reason to watch.
