S02.E04: Down Will Come

[ElectricBoogaloo]

The detail works a pawn-shop lead to close in on a suspect in the Caspere case. Frank revisits his past to pay for his present. Velcoro, Bezzerides and Woodrugh struggle to keep the case straight in the face of corruption.

 

Promo:

Edited July 23, 2015 by ElectricBoogaloo

[paigow]

Zap2it....

The detail works a pawn shop lead to close in on a suspect in the Caspere case; Frank revisits his past.

 

TVGuide...

A pawn-shop lead helps the detail close in on a suspect in the Caspere case. Meanwhile, Frank's road to legitimacy takes another detour

 

Frank is the Stannis Baratheon of Vinci....dude cannot catch a break.

Edited July 11, 2015 by paigow

[TudorQueen]

At least he doesn't have a daughter to sacrifice at the stake.

[AimingforYoko]

Well damn. I was thinking that this was a pretty slow episode, then WWIII happened. RIP Dix. You really should have kept not giving a shit.

[MrsRafaelBarba]

Welp, bye Deadwood guy.,

[ToastnBacon]

Wow!

The tempo certainly picked up tonight, and I thought Vince Vaughn was better too. He hasn't been bothering me with is acting anyway. Maybe because I have never watched all those comedies he was in. I think he doing fine in the roll of a gangster.

I'm liking the show overall, and I don't agree with all the criticism of the plot being hard to follow.

Favorite line of the episode was when Ani's hippie dad said that Velcoro has a huge aura.

[TudorQueen]

hat Sleazy Inappropriate Mom will put a spoke in their wheel

That gunfight was one of the most intensely violent things I've seen on tv in some time. It seemed to go on and on, yet I never felt it was too long, or that it was done for effect. You could see how it affected our trio. And I gasped audibly when Dix went down.

 

Farrell continues to astonish. I got interested in Paul for the first time during his scene with Velcoro, who was straightforward, a bit tough, but actually... kind. And the scene with his son made me tear up a little. Damn the ex-wife and her very suitable second husband for ignoring that, blood relations or not, these two love and need each other. Should Velcoro have custody? Probably not. But to erase him from his son's life is very cruel to both.

 

Liked Paul's reaction to his girlfriend telling him she's pregnant. The preview indicates that Sleazy Inappropriate Mom will put a spoke in their wheel.

 

[paigow]

Velcoro is now the only dirty cop in Vinci...all the others are dead. 

[Morbs]

I have a lot of trouble following the case and the thread of the investigation, it's like I need a recap or to rewatch the series again (which won't ever happen).  Sometimes scenes happen with Vince Vaughn where it's like he's not even speaking English and then I find myself on Twitter and a little lost in terms of the mystery and I feel so overwhelmed with how much each of the detectives have going on in their personal lives.  It's like each of the principal actors should have at least one subplot cut from their character's story.

 

I realize some people really do struggle with their sexuality because of their environment, but a closet case storyline is so uncompelling to me and just not something I want to watch.  Get over it and deal with reality!  You and your boyfriend are hot AF the morning after in your little black briefs.  Did enjoy the shoot out though!

Edited July 13, 2015 by Morbs

[magdalene]

I don't understand what's going on but I vastly prefer this show during action scenes to when people are ruminating about how shit their life is. 

 

A couple of things are clear to me: All three cops were picked to fail and then now to die in this set-up of a shoot-out. Paul was hungover from a date-rape drug in the beginning. They are poisoning the land on purpose to make people sell and make way for their railroad?

 

So Paul wants to bring a baby into his dis-functional life. Because when fucked-up people use babies as emotional crutches it always goes so well. His poor girl friend.

 

I am really liking Ray. 

 

And I am really liking Frank's dining room set. I want that.

[WaltersHair]

Two thoughts

Gay cop 'lost time'. So maybe they're leading up to his trauma creating multiple personality disorder

Last ten minutes = North Hollywood Shootout

[Quilt Fairy]

I've always thought that wearing a Kevlar vest does absolute shit about protecting your head, which is as important to your body as your heart.

[LilaFowler]

That shootout felt like Heat and I loved it. 

 

I also am having trouble following the corruption/murder/whatever story line.  There are a lot of characters, too and I have no real idea who they are or if they're good/evil. 

[Goodnight]

That was a pretty awesome shootout, but oh my God, so many people got shot/died. For what?

[ganesh]

I'm not a viewer comparing this season to last season because it's clear this season was intended to be its own incarnation. I don't really have a problem following the plots. I don't need to like any characters to watch a show, though I get that many viewers do need that. However, that gun battle was a piece of art. I mean, come on. When the building blew up, I was like, "oh ok, then they'll clear out the building." Then, it went on. And on. And those poor protesters couldn't get out of the way. The bad guys were just *raining* it down.

 

Yeah, like Heat. Good analogy. 

[Ellaria]

I guess Episode 4 will always conclude with a gunfight...

That last scene was intense. That's a lot of dead bodies, including cops and innocents.

How did Paul know to look in the pawn shop? Why were a bunch of reporters waiting outside Paul's hotel? Because of the encounter with the actress? Is his missing bike significant?

Clearly Dr. Rick Springfield has a deeper involvement in this mystery.

VV was appropriately menacing and his dialogue wasn't quite as ridiculous. Still don't trust his Mrs. Wasn't that Roy from The Office that they met with in the club?

Edited July 13, 2015 by Ellaria Sand

[paigow]

They are poisoning the land on purpose to make people sell...

The land was toxic long ago from mining, so it's more like exploiting the situation rather than creating it.

[opus]

That was a pretty awesome shootout, but oh my God, so many people got shot/died. For what?

Because the seasons half over? Or is it 10 episodes?

[Morbs]

 

Clearly Dr. Rick Springfield has a deeper involvement in this mystery.

 

He always does!

[benteen]

Starting the show off with the two weakest links doesn't help.  Vince Vaughn and his terrible dialogue, along with the actress playing his wife.  Seriously, do the writers of True Detective look at the dialogue they give Vince's character and think they've got gold there?  Go straight from there to Taylor Kitsch playing a character caught in a ridiculous cliché of a storyline that shouldn't even be considered nowadays.

 

Thankfully, Colin Ferrall and Rachel MacAdams are pulling this show up with their performances.  Nice to see David Morse back too.

 

It all ends with an over-the-top shootout where it takes the cops forever to shoot the gang members and the gang members are all getting headshots by firing wildly. 

Edited July 13, 2015 by benteen

[tomsmom]

The whole time during the shootout I was yelling "where the eff is their back up???"

[paigow]

He always does!

He wishes he had Bezzie's girl

[tomsmom]

oops

Edited July 13, 2015 by tomsmom

[Quilt Fairy]

It seems odd to me that Vince Vaughan's wife is part of his business. Don't mobsters normally keep wives in the dark? Or is Vince just a "this is a new millennia" kind of mobster?

Edited July 13, 2015 by Quilt Fairy

[SallyAlbright]

Well, that was awesome. I think that shootout just showed why it was unwise to only give critics the first three episodes to review, My opinion of the season just entirely changed. It was so tense to watch and I was genuinely worried for all of the cops. I don't think Vince Vaughn is doing badly at all, actually I find him to be genuinely menacing and scary, I just think he's being outdone by the fantastic performances of Farrell, McAdams, and Kitsch. All three were wonderful tonight, Kitsch is doing everything he can with a cliched storyline and I really felt for him each time he cried. McAdams is a total badass and a completely different person than I've ever seen her play. All three of them perfectly captured (in different ways) the "holy shit" shaken feeling you'd have after a shootout like that. 

Edited July 13, 2015 by SallyAlbright

[magdalene]

The whole time during the shootout I was yelling "where the eff is their back up???"

They were clearly set up, that's why the back-up only showed up at the end.

[Cardie]

Why were a bunch of reporters waiting outside Paul's hotel?

 

Some news had just broken about atrocities committed by Black Mountain in an Afghan village--I think they raped women there. So since Paul is already in the news for supposedly sexually harassing the movie star, they wanted to accuse him of these sex crimes too. Really, the dude could get himself out of lots of troubled by admitting to being gay. And he's a great detective--knows how to follow evidence, and what a shot! Get over yourself already, Woodrugh.

 

The team was so sent into an ambush to that the case could be closed with the Mexican guy and the pesky cops looking for the truth would be silenced.

 

Ani's Dad seems to know everyone from every subplot. Wonder if Dr. Pitler helped his wife off herself too.

[mjc570]

Maybe I'm missing the point of his character, but I was totally uninterested in Paul's sex life/love life/military atrocities.  I'm not familiar with the actor, so I don't know if it's the acting or the writing (or both), but I just don't care.

 

I'm deliberating not comparing this to last year, but the fact is that the title is the same, so there must be an element in common.  To me, the message last season was that both Marty and Rust, despite being screwed up characters, were in fact "true detectives."  My feeling this season is that none of the lead characters (the three cops and Vince Vaughn, who did seem interested in solving the murder) are "true detectives" at all.  Certainly, the three cops are COMPLETELY incompetent (which, I know is why they were assigned to the task force) - I knew a massacre was coming when I saw them striding openly down the street, without it occurring to any of them that the criminals might have lookouts posted.

 

I'll keep watching this, but at this point the only character I like is VV's house (and furnishings). 

[magdalene]

 

Some news had just broken about atrocities committed by Black Mountain in an Afghan village--I think they raped women there. So since Paul is already in the news for supposedly sexually harassing the movie star, they wanted to accuse him of these sex crimes too. Really, the dude could get himself out of lots of troubled by admitting to being gay. And he's a great detective--knows how to follow evidence, and what a shot! Get over yourself already, Woodrugh.

Maybe he participated in the rape and that is one reason he is feeling so awful.  I am not saying that he is not sexually attracted to men. He could be and still be able to be attracted to women and be able to function with them. Maybe his impotence stems from the Black Mountain thing and the closeted gay thing is just the icing on the crap sundae that is his life.

[paigow]

Taylor Kitsch was very convincing as a bad ass SEAL in Lone Survivor... No surprise that he had more kills than the other cops.

 

They were clearly set up, that's why the back-up only showed up at the end.

Was Velcoro supposed to frag Bezzarides & Woodrugh?  

[Blakeston]

The shootout wasn't half as compelling to me as it could have been, because they already tried to make us think one of the leads would die, and it turned out to be a cheap trick. Of course the three main detectives would live, and of course a bunch of faceless extras would die.

[sjankis630]

 

It all ends with an over-the-top shootout where it takes the cops forever to shoot the gang members and the gang members are all getting headshots by firing wildly.

 

I noticed the same thing. I mean that guy shooting out the window could have held all of the cops off indefinitely and would have killed half of them too!

That bakery looked kind of nice. I wonder what their specialty is ..... Meth and cupcakes?

 

[Jextella]

Alot of critics are slamming Paul's gay storyline...esp. on the heels of legalized marriage.  At first I bent in that direction, but as the story goes on, I am ok with it.  For some, I think accepting this fact about themselves has to be a very difficult thing to do.  Combine it with war atrocities (presumed), I can see how it all combines to wreak havoc with Paul's mind.  Toss in investigations both as a soldier and now as a cop ... not to mention highly visible investigations ... and the kid has got a lot to deal with.  Taylor Kitsch is doing an awesome job in the role and I buy into his angst and am ok with him questioning this part of his life.

Edited July 13, 2015 by Jextella

[shapeshifter]

Even before the shootout scene I was thinking about this episode: This is more like it (with "it" being season one quality).

So I did some Wikipedia and IMDb checking, and, if correct, as I suspected, this episode had a different director (Janus Metz) than the previous episodes and a different film editor (Chris Figler).

There were still moments when the 3 main cast members were struggling with the artsy dialogue that seemingly only Matthew McConaughey can deliver believably. No amount of directing or editing can fix that.

But all three still did some notable acting.

The scene where the girlfriend tells Paul she's PG was oddly cute--in a wrong sort of way. It actually gave me flashbacks. Don't ask.

Loved hearing Clapton's "Can't Find My Way Home" (one of my first and most worn out LPs).

...That's a lot of dead bodies, including cops and innocents...

Heh. That's what I said aloud to my screen when it was over. It was very Mogadishu/Falujah-esque. I kept thinking this is what Taylor's character should be good at--provided he doesn't go into a PTSD fugue state.

The land was toxic long ago from mining, so it's more like exploiting the situation rather than creating it.

Or both (they could be giving it some extra amounts of pollutants).

Maybe he participated in the rape and that is one reason he is feeling so awful.  I am not saying that he is not sexually attracted to men. He could be and still be able to be attracted to women and be able to function with them. Maybe his impotence stems from the Black Mountain thing and the closeted gay thing is just the icing on the crap sundae that is his life.

That's what I posted last week, except I suggested raping male POWs. Now I'm thinking he didn't participate but didn't stop it either.

[MyPeopleAreNordic]

It seems odd to me that Vince Vaughan's wife is part of his business. Don't mobsters normally keep wives in the dark? Or is Vince just a "this is a new millennia" kind of mobster?

Eh, I think the role women have played in organized crime/mob families has been significantly underplayed in popular culture and history, although more recently some authors have started to research & publish more about women in organized crime.

A quick Google search can show how many mobsters' wives, girlfriends, and daughters have turned state's witness in trials against their hubby/boyfriend/dad/male relative who was a mobster. They knew enough about the man/family's business dealings to be able to cut a deal with the Feds, which also means they were looking at some time for their own involvement in mob activities. No way they were kept in the dark, even if that's what popular culture, history, machismo culture, and the dominant paradigm that men are the only heads of organized crime would like us to believe. In many cases, they were probably way more involved in the "family business" than just overhearing conversations or giving the man in charge advice, even if they weren't the public face of the mob. As long as the man in charge appeared to be calling the shots, women could still heavily influence the man (and also cut better deals for themselves should criminal charges come down as they didn't appear to be making the big decisions).

Several Mexican & Latin American organized crime families/drug cartels are openly headed by women, most of whom are/were the wives, daughters, or sisters of drug kingpins who took over after the male relative's death or imprisonment. They had to know how things were being run to come in and be successful (and most of them were/are wildly successful drug "queenpins"). Link about queenpins/successful female cartel heads in Latin America: http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2013/07/the-women-of-organized-crime.html

In the U.S., women like Stephanie St. Clair were powerful mobsters in their own right in Harlem during Prohibition. And for all the machismo associated with Italian crime families, Rosetta Cutolo headed the Camporra crime syndicate for 15 years after her brother was jailed.

I think a wife who is somewhat involved in (or actually secretly the mind behind) her mobster hubby's shady business is more realistic than how mob wives/female family members are typically portrayed in organized crime film/books/shows. So Jordan & her being the neck to Frank's head (in a position to try to turn it as she wants) rings true to me....and I don't trust her. She may be working in her best interest, not the best interest of herself & Frank as a "family."

A short bit about a book about women & organized crime: http://ronchepesiuk.com/14-queenpins.htm

Edited July 13, 2015 by MyPeopleAreNordic

[thuganomics85]

Well, that shoot-out was intense.  Every time I thought the worst of it was over, it just kept piling on and on.  Not only did most of the cops get it (including W. Earl Brown's character), but even those protesters got caught in the crossfire (it sure looked like the main suspect was even gunning some on purpose.)  A bit convenient that, of course, the leads all pull through, but I have to think there will be fall-out.  I do suspect that this was all cooked up by the mayor and some of the cops (like Lieutenant James Frain), and their intention was to have them all die even, but I can see them somehow finding a way to make it look like the three of them screwed up, and basically be scapegoats.  I'm honestly curious to see how this plays out.

 

That said, I continue to think I would like this season better; maybe even love it; it we were just following Ray and Ani.  Anytime they are on screen, I'm actually compelled to watch.  I've grown to like the interactions Colin Farrell and Rachel McAdams have with one another, and I even enjoy their personal lives, involving their family.  They got two good characters here, complete with great performances.

 

Again though, I actually think Taylor Kitsch is doing great too, but man, is Paul's story just so cliched and boring.  Not only is he more then likely gay (he certainly thinks he slept with that guy, but maybe he was being lied too), but now his girlfriend shows back up and his now pregnant.  And of course, he proposes to her, because he's too pig-headed to see that this will probably do more harm then good, if he truly doesn't love her (whatever the reasons may be.)  It just feels so dated: especially coming from a guy who acts like his work is so inventive and original.  Whatever, buddy.

 

Meanwhile, I'm pretty zoning out on anything involving Frank and his wife.  Vince Vaughn at least isn't completely dropping the ball; he can have flashes of brilliance, I think.  But he has to be the dullest character here.  All of his maneuvering, posturing, and tantrums should be fascinating, but they just aren't.  And, wow, do I really not give a shit about him and his wife having problems conceiving.  Silly me, I thought this was going to be about detectives and stuff: not about a boring wannabe gangster trying to get a heir.

 

I did think the dialogue was not as clunky this time (at least compared to the rest of this season), and I did notice that there was another writers alongside Nic this time, so I wonder if maybe part of it was because the other writers actually had the guts to be "Uh, Nic?  Not everyone has to be like Rust!  Maybe cool it on that front, buddy?"

[scrb]

Yeah the way the Vinci PD brass was looking at Ray, who was the last to leave the squad room, were they signaling him to kill Ani.

OTOH, they seemed skeptical at first of the need to send all those cops to apprehend the suspect.

All 3 seemed to be feeling PTSD right after it was over, because of the carnage.

I wondered if they'd come in for criticism for letting things get out of hand, given the high casualties. But from the preview for next week, it appears the powers that be calls it and considers Caspere's murder solved.

Of course Ani doesn't buy it.

[ToastnBacon]

The Italian Mafia in the U.S. keep a lid on women getting involved, Frank isn't an Italian gangster.

I don't think the Italian mob ever really established a big footprint in LA for some reason.

[MyPeopleAreNordic]

I keep thinking that the Paul character, as far as what we've been led to believe is his struggle with coming out/facing his sexuality as well as proposing to the girlfriend (who had complained that she hadn't met his family/he didn't want to know hers) because she's pregnant would work so much better if his backstory was that he was the son of a right wing evangelical preacher or church lady from the South or even a die-hard Mormon family from the "Morridor" in Utah.

But for the son of a former (Vegas?) show girl who has spent a significant amount of time living in LA, the struggle with his sexuality just doesn't make sense given his age, that it's 2015, and that he doesn't have a family outside of the mom he rarely sees to keep up hetero appearances for. Plus, since the girlfriend complained that she hadn't met his family/wasn't that involved in his life, it's not like Paul was using her as a beard or anything. If he's using her for a beard, it's only to try to fool himself.

I get that it can take some people longer than others to come to terms with their sexuality. It was just a few years ago that it became okay that gays could be openly gay in the military and depending on when he served, that may have been an issue. Same with the culture of Blackwater/Blackmountain - maybe it wasn't "safe" to be openly gay when he worked for them. But come on, now that he's been living in LA and all, shouldn't he be just fine as a hot, out gay highway patrolman? In a small town in the rural South he may not be able even in 2015 to be out, but in LA? Please. I guess we were supposed to infer from his mom's love of Clint Eastwood that she instilled a certain type of rugged cowboy heteronormative masculinity into her son, but it just doesn't fit together all that well like another backstory (like what I suggested above) would have, even though it would be cliche.

Also, Paul carries around Viagra whenever he's headed to his girlfriend's place and then has to come up with a cover story about why he has to shower for thirty minutes, but he doesn't bother to bring & use a condom? Seems to me like he'd be paranoid about getting a girl pregnant as that might throw off the way he compartmentalizes his life & his ability to come and go from his girlfriend's life. Okay.... I really think there's something shady going on with all the children/pregnancies/potential pregnancies going on this season. We have Ray and the questionable paternity of his son; Frank & his wife doing IVF; now Paul's pregnant girlfriend; plus all of the Oedipal imagery of the corpses with no eyes; and Ani's name, Antigone, which derives from the Greek for "in place of one's parents." If Ani ends up finding out she's pregnant next episode or it's revealed she was pregnant or had a child before......

Edited July 13, 2015 by MyPeopleAreNordic

[MyPeopleAreNordic]

The Italian Mafia in the U.S. keep a lid on women getting involved, Frank isn't an Italian gangster.

I don't think the Italian mob ever really established a big footprint in LA for some reason.

Maybe not as big as in Chicago, New York, or New Orleans....but they were there:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_crime_family

http://articles.latimes.com/1987-06-29/news/mn-206_1_crime-family

I guess Frank is Russian-American & that's how he's tied in with "the Russians" who are mobsters. The character's last name, Semyon, is Russian. It's basically the Russian version of the name Simon. (It's generally a first name for boys.) In "real life," Russian mob has been involved in underground poker clubs in LA (http://nypost.com/2011/06/29/russian-mob-took-part-in-hollywood-poker-games-report/). They are also tied in with the Armenian mob, which is one of the most powerful in LA (http://www.laweekly.com/news/taking-down-armenian-power-californias-modern-mafia-4824242).

Edited July 13, 2015 by MyPeopleAreNordic

[Bannon]

Nearly every scene leading up to the gunfight seemed awful to me. Horrible dialogue, cliched storylines, to the point that you really can't judge the acting. The gunfight was pretty well done, except in the ridiculous way it began (no, when trying to to stage a suprise raid on a building, you don't somewhat slowly walk up to it, with the guy with the battering ram not hugging the wall, so as to helpfully give people on upper floor windows a better angle  to shoot the guy), and the way it ended (it made no sense for head bad guy to shoot his human shield). I swear to god, if they have one more dive bar scene with the existential  woman singer strumming a few notes every 10 seconds, like a Saturday Night Live parody, I'm gonna Elvis my flat screen.

[paigow]

The land Caspere was visiting is worthless...The only way this makes sense is that Catalyst would bait & switch rail corridor investors with these toxic parcels.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

When Ray asked Frank what happened to Stan, I started laughing because of all the hilarious "Who the fuck is Stan?" posts from last week.

[AlliMo]

I'm giving the majority of the actors great credit for rising above the truly awful, ridiculous dialogue. Vince Vaughn just isn't selling it to me, perhaps in part because I keep flashing back to his performance in "Clay Pigeons" where he was so good at playing a truly menacing sociopath.

 

I think I held my breath through that entire gunfight.

[cpcathy]

When Ray asked Frank what happened to Stan, I started laughing because of all the hilarious "Who the fuck is Stan?" posts from last week.

 

 

Frank didn't even answer him, which makes me wonder that he didn't know either!

[shapeshifter]

...it made no sense for head bad guy to shoot his human shield....

Or for Velcoro to shoot to kill so thoroughly, since the head bad guy was their lead suspect in the murder they were investigating--unless, of course, the head bad guy was being paid off by Team Fraim in the form of money, protection, immigration papers, etc. for his surviving family in exchange to take a permanent fall, bringing down as many innocents as possible in the process to make the law enforcement threesome look bad, and Velcoro either knew or figured out that it was to his advantage to be sure the head bad guy never talked. Plus peppering the head bad guy with bullets saved the city the price of a trial.

...I swear to god, if they have one more dive bar scene with the existential woman singer strumming a few notes every 10 seconds, like a Saturday Night Live parody, I'm gonna Elvis my flat screen.

Darn wannabe Log Lady! (Twin Peaks reference).

...We have Ray and the questionable paternity of his son; Frank & his wife doing IVF; now Paul's pregnant girlfriend....

and the title of the episode "Down Will Come" is from the lullaby Rock-a-Bye Baby, "down will come baby, cradle and all," which, although sung lovingly to countless babies, has always had a sinister implication as well. Edited July 13, 2015 by shapeshifter

[NorthstarATL]

I keep thinking that the Paul character, as far as what we've been led to believe is his struggle with coming out/facing his sexuality as well as proposing to the girlfriend (who had complained that she hadn't met his family/he didn't want to know hers) because she's pregnant would work so much better if his backstory was that he was the son of a right wing evangelical preacher or church lady from the South or even a die-hard Mormon family from the "Morridor" in Utah.

But for the son of a former (Vegas?) show girl who has spent a significant amount of time living in LA, the struggle with his sexuality just doesn't make sense given his age, that it's 2015, and that he doesn't have a family outside of the mom he rarely sees to keep up hetero appearances for. Plus, since the girlfriend complained that she hadn't met his family/wasn't that involved in his life, it's not like Paul was using her as a beard or anything. If he's using her for a beard, it's only to try to fool himself.

I get that it can take some people longer than others to come to terms with their sexuality. It was just a few years ago that it became okay that gays could be openly gay in the military and depending on when he served, that may have been an issue. Same with the culture of Blackwater/Blackmountain - maybe it wasn't "safe" to be openly gay when he worked for them. But come on, now that he's been living in LA and all, shouldn't he be just fine as a hot, out gay highway patrolman? In a small town in the rural South he may not be able even in 2015 to be out, but in LA? Please. I guess we were supposed to infer from his mom's love of Clint Eastwood that she instilled a certain type of rugged cowboy heteronormative masculinity into her son, but it just doesn't fit together all that well like another backstory (like what I suggested above) would have, even though it would be cliche.

Also, Paul carries around Viagra whenever he's headed to his girlfriend's place and then has to come up with a cover story about why he has to shower for thirty minutes, but he doesn't bother to bring & use a condom? Seems to me like he'd be paranoid about getting a girl pregnant as that might throw off the way he compartmentalizes his life & his ability to come and go from his girlfriend's life. Okay.... I really think there's something shady going on with all the children/pregnancies/potential pregnancies going on this season. We have Ray and the questionable paternity of his son; Frank & his wife doing IVF; now Paul's pregnant girlfriend; plus all of the Oedipal imagery of the corpses with no eyes; and Ani's name, Antigone, which derives from the Greek for "in place of one's parents." If Ani ends up finding out she's pregnant next episode or it's revealed she was pregnant or had a child before......

I keep thinking, though, that we've finally reached the point where we are actually depicted so frequently in the media that characters like Paul can be assessed purely as individuals, with all the same quirks and oddities as straighte people have, and don't have to "represent" in any way. That having been said, no matter what his sexuality in his own eyes, it's extremely irresponsible to assume that the other person is taking charge of protection, either from pregnancy or disease.

   I DO think the other guy is setting Paul up, as the photographer just happened to be there for the public fight between them last episode, and he just happened to be at the club that Paul went to last minute to check out. But it seems all three of the leads are targets.

  That gunfight was awesome, no matter how foolish it was to apprach the area the way they did. I like that Ani had that back-up knife and was ready to use it.

[shapeshifter]

...I like that Ani had that back-up knife and was ready to use it.

Although it begs the age old question of who brings a knife to a gun fight?

[John-t]

It's clear now that all the main characters are changing. Velcoro is now sober, sharp, and seems to have a deeper understanding of what's happening compared to everyone else. Ani is more vulnerable and confused. Paul is going through an existential/identity crisis. And Frank is becoming Mr. Gangster again, but is desperate.

Slow start to the season and the action scene helped bring in some much needed oxygen to the show. Season 1 was mixing up narrative timelines in a way that enriched that storyline. Season 2 is trying to create interest by the quantity ( not necessarily quality) of characters. There is also a lot of "forced" mood, like the aerial shots and the girl singing greatly depressing songs at an empty bar.

Maybe the changing of the personalities will bring in some new interest to the season...

[Otherkate]

 I don't think Vince Vaughn is doing badly at all, actually I find him to be genuinely menacing and scary, I just think he's being outdone by the fantastic performances of Farrell, McAdams, and Kitsch. 

 

Honestly, I don't have a problem with Vaughn's acting at all - he has 100%, absolutely, some of the worst dialogue I have ever heard in my life. There was one line he said last night that actually made me laugh out loud. It's terrible, and even worse, it's boring. His character is just mind-numbingly boring. And his wife is even worse. 

 

Paul (seriously, I just learned his name on this board) has a cliched story that I can't even sort of take seriously. 

 

If it weren't for Farrell and McAdams characters, I would give up entirely. As it is, I'm pretty close. Half of the time I don't know really what's going on and the other half, I don't care.