Jump to content

Type keyword(s) to search

S02.E05: Other Lives


  • Reply
  • Start Topic

Recommended Posts

Well, it's going to get ugly now. This is a clash I'm definitely looking forward to. While Frank's got size on him and some skill, I think Ray's got the crazy. Should be a good bout.

So, like season 1 it's all about powerful men and their odd predilictions. At least the women are of age this go-round.

  • Love 2
Link to comment

OK, that was kind of a transitional episode. More explanation. Our three cops back in the game. I thought all 3 actors killed it tonight. I also watched the gunfight part of last week's episode for the first time. What really struck me is that I cannot ever remember a female cop leading troops in to battle. Rachel was a total badass. I love it. Looking forward to next week's episode where she goes undercover as a hooker in the upscale men's club, or whatever it was.

  • Love 9
Link to comment

So Caspere had the mother of all porn tapes on a hard drive, which is what he used to blackmail the VIPs that were featured on it. He was likely kidnapped, tortured at that place Ani and Paul found, and then evidence was planted to make it look like the Mexicans did it. Okay... so we still don't know what happened to Frank's $5mil and why he sent Ray after the wrong guy.  Also, I would like to know why the show insists on referring to abortions as ~dramatic pause~ "operations."

 

Funny how all of these random things keep coinciding with Ani's commune days.  Also, I think Taylor Kitsch is doing the most with the material that he's been given.  I am enjoying his storyline more than I thought I would.

  • Love 7
Link to comment

Well that second half was good.  All they needed to do was cut out most of the first half (give each detective 1 scene) and most of the VV scenes and it would have been good instead of decent.  I am actually looking forward for the next episode for the first time all season though.

  • Love 1
Link to comment

This is the show I've been waiting for. Solid character and plot development, some great acting, and the end of the mustache. Poor Frank is still on the receiving end of the clunkiest dialogue (blue balls of the what now?), but I actually liked his scenes with his wife in this ep. Complexity without obfuscation can be done this season after all. Go, show!

  • Love 12
Link to comment

When Ani mocked that pathetic sexual harrassment group with her penis talk I started laughing.  That was some terrific acting by CF when he learned that Frank had set him up as his very own dirty cop all those years ago. Manipulated into being dirty. Ouch.

  • Love 6
Link to comment
(edited)

 

and why he sent Ray after the wrong guy.

 

Frank was betting that Ray would go kill the guy. In so doing, he created a crooked cop whose secret he would keep in exchange for future favor. It's entirely possible that Frank ordered the attack in the first place.

Edited by FemmyV
  • Love 3
Link to comment
(edited)

 

This is the show I've been waiting for.

 

Sadly, I feel the opposite.  The crime story just got so diffuse, it's blocking the fucking sky.   The hard drive, the porn parties, the railway, the mayor, the rapist, the club, the wtf.  Even Colin Farrell's dialogue has started to suck.  This was the episode that would show the way to the ending, and it ain't showing shit, but more bad dialogue and convolution on top of convolution.  

I am now in the camp of believing True Detective this season blows serious dog.  It's all over the place, and I'm losing the connections between the characters if there ever were any.  Oh, more corruption and sex, and zzzzz.  I can't even.  

Edited by sunflower
  • Love 15
Link to comment

This is the show I've been waiting for. Solid character and plot development, some great acting, and the end of the mustache. Poor Frank is still on the receiving end of the clunkiest dialogue (blue balls of the what now?), but I actually liked his scenes with his wife in this ep. Complexity without obfuscation can be done this season after all. Go, show!

Agree. The scenes between Frank and Jordan where they finally come to terms with adoption, related to Frank's own background as an adopted child, were touching and well acted. For the first time. The reference to Jordan's three "operations" was too much. I'm sure that,in the tradition of American TV, Jordan will pay in the end for her three "operations."

  • Love 5
Link to comment
(edited)

 

That was some terrific acting by CF when he learned that Frank had set him up as his very own dirty cop all those years ago. Manipulated into being dirty. Ouch.

 

But, didn't the entire audience know that was the true the minute we saw the flashback.  I would've been surprised if Frank hadn't set him up.  

Edited by sunflower
  • Love 5
Link to comment
(edited)

But, didn't the entire audience know that was the true the minute we saw the flashback.  I would've been surprised if Frank hadn't set him up.  

I don't know whether the entire audience knew, I can speak only for myself and I suspected it from the beginning. The important thing is that Ray did not know and clearly didn't expect to find this out. I just thought that was some fine acting in the scene.

 

Somebody should tell the writer that male homosexuality is not caused by bad and possessive mothers.  Hello, this is 2015. I think Taylor Kitsch is a good actor but the gay angle in his storyline still makes little sense to me.

Edited by magdalene
  • Love 4
Link to comment

I felt sorry for Lolita Davidovitch in that scene. Obviously, she was a terrible mother, but she also loved her son. As the mother of a son myself, it would hurt terribly to be so decisively rejected like that.

Link to comment

Ehh...I'm still completely uninterested in Frank and the Mrs and their fertility issues. It takes me right out of the show.

Enjoyed the focus on the other three and glad to see that they are actually doing detective work. The less I see of Paul's mother the better.

The convoluted plot with too many characters seems to finally have a direction and purpose thanks to the previously mentioned detective work. Not sure why it took so long to get to this point. When all is said and done, I'm not sure that we will have needed eight hours to tell this story. There are still too many minor characters and too many plot detours that detracted from the primary focus. Some of the reveals tonight took a little too long to be revealed.

Ray did a nice job convincing Rick Springfield to talk. Seems like Ani's dad and his photo album need more thorough investigation.

  • Love 6
Link to comment

While still being given the shitiest dialogue, this was a good episode for VV and the actress playing his wife.  I laughed at his "I'm fucking here!  Shut the fuck up!" lines at the end.

 

Killer work from CF (miss the mustache) and RM.  Though good lord, Taylor Kitsch was awful in that scene where he yelled at his mother while trying to keep his voice low.  That and the hand gestures were laughable.

 

Very good episode tonight.  There are only 8 episodes this season?

  • Love 1
Link to comment
(edited)

Somebody should tell the writer that male homosexuality is not caused by bad and possessive mothers.  Hello, this is 2015. I think

 

Somebody should also tell him that abortions, even *gasp* three of them, don't usually cause infertility. I think Nic should log some time in that sexual harassment group.

 

We've gotten to the point where Caspere's killer should receive a medal! He set powerful people up for blackmail, via the sex parties, which let Vinci's corruption go unchecked. Meanwhile Frank set up the means to poison the trackside land and enable Catalyst to buy it cheaply, in cahoots with the Vinci government, I assume. Frank's guy Blake is moonlighting with Sex Parties Inc. No doubt Caspere originally cut Frank in for the land deal because of his help with the waste management toxicity. Then he double-crossed him. Just so he could pocket the $5 million, or on behalf of another party? 

 

Other questions that remain: Did Dixon work for Caspere or the Mayor (or someone else?) Did Frank have Ray off some random dude to get him under his thumb or was it a twofer, a guy Frank was going to have to get rid of anyway? How have Ani's roots stayed the same length after two months? Will she get a decent dye job to go undercover? (Getting into the hooker gala is probably fulfilling one of her great fantasies.) And, finally, Ray, why invite a woman who sorta likes you to the Bar of Despair and Sad Songs?

 

Note that Ani is smoking real cigs now. I'm suddenly hoping that, against all odds, Chad is biologically Ray's. The poor guy deserves a break.

 

There are only 8 episodes this season?

 

Yes, just like there were only eight episodes last season. It's one way they get busy film actors to sign on.

Edited by Cardie
  • Love 4
Link to comment
(edited)

 

Oddly enough, it also made Rick Springfield a lot better looking.

I was getting ready to write the same thing. Ray beat the ugly makeup off of Rick Springfield! The guy actually looked human for the first time this season. He just needs some dental work here and there and probably alot of physical therapy. 

 

Oh yeah almost forgot. "They put you in a cage Bezerides!" - loved that metaphor.

I would like to get my hopes up for the Frank vs Ray showdown that they give us a glimpse of, but I don't think what looks like what is going to happen will happen.

Edited by sjankis630
Link to comment

Ray, why invite a woman who sorta likes you to the Bar of Despair and Sad Songs?

 

Note that Ani is smoking real cigs now. 

 

He wanted to make the waitress jealous.

 

Gotta buy Philip Morris shares tomorrow

  • Love 3
Link to comment

One of the better episodes this season.  It's till slow and I can easily tune out, hardly keeps attention, but:

 

1.  Great fight between Woodrugh and his mom..

2.  State Attorney dropped a bomb on Velcoro, that was a great scene.

3. Now we know this is headed for the hard drive.

4. Looking forward to see what happens at Frank's house.

  • Love 1
Link to comment

The diamonds may be Frank's money. McAndless, the Catalyst guy that dangled five "plots" in front of Frank's nose very likely gave them to Caspere in return for Frank's money, something he could launder unlike Caspere, who got something physically small and portable that can be stashed in a safe deposit box. Teague Dixon was probably the mayor's Velcoro, looked for the diamonds because Caspere was dealing on the side with McAndless, and wanted his cut. (Dixon was probably photographing Woodrugh looking for dirt to compromise the state investigation. I suppose we are to assume Miguel is somehow included.) Appetite whetted, Caspere threatened some body with tapes. McAndless probably sent his Vinci PD man (by law of casting, James Frain) to get them from Caspere. Instead of talking, Caspere dies, Birdman/Frain? drives around looking at Caspere's sites. He finds the hard drive, but withholds from McAndless. 

 

None of which explains how the escort had the pictures. Also, it is a nearly sacred patriotic principle that torture always works, which suggests that Caspere was murdered for fun, not profit, meaning all parts of the plot about corruption are completely irrelevant. "The Mexicans" could have had some of Caspere's effects if she was just a little sticky fingered when servicing Caspere, but that raises the question of how the shootout could have been an attempted set up. (The ability to derail the state investigation by the shocking discovery that Woodrugh and Bezzerides were guilty of the charges against them is why any such setup would have had to come from Vinci, not the state.) The disappearance of the escort is probably kill the witness. Maybe this is all a "Night of the Generals" thing where we are supposed to be contrasting the random crimes of an out-of-the-blue psycho with the crimes of the corruption machine?

 

Was Frank foolish enough to assume he could set up anyone for the rape since the rapist would never get caught? I'm not sure that's an interesting question. 

 

Is Bezzerides a BAMF for making fun of sexual harassment classes? No doubt, but I'm not sure that's a good thing. 

 

$20 000 sounds like heroin money (the US government covertly promotes opium growing in Afghanistan as a way of funding warlords it deals with, as it did in SE Asia. It's not actually required that the soldiers committed an atrocity to get it. If Woodrugh was badly wounded as he and his buddies took out a opium lord in bed with the occupation, they have a lot to lose. (Ordinarily, you'd expect thieves to do the killing and maiming, not the getting scarred up.) Woodrugh appears to have absorbed a good bit of his mom's dislike for gays, as well as her resentment of his existence in general.

  • Love 2
Link to comment

So Caspere had the mother of all porn tapes on a hard drive, which is what he used to blackmail the VIPs that were featured on it. He was likely kidnapped, tortured at that place Ani and Paul found, 

Who killed Caspere?  Lots of people have motive, but every reason NOT to make it a high profile incident. 

  • Love 2
Link to comment

I'm not so ready to declare this a good episode or the show I've been waiting for. Jeez, we are more than half way through the season and they have only now just fleshed out and explained WTF is going on. Not even saying that they had to spell everything out ep 1-4, but I just feel like they weren't giving the audience enough bread crumbs to get an understanding of the fundamentals of the crime(s) itself and the players.   Again Stan who?

 

So is it safe to assume that birdman has the harddrive?

 

Wonder if there is any significance to all the black carrion birds? Was the bird mask that of a carrion?

 

Its funny that Rick Springfield did look more himself after his CF beatdown, which IMHO was the best part of the show. "Pin-eyed Motherfucker!

 

So it appears that Frank's red-haired wingman is hanging out with the sleazy mayor's impossibly even sleazier son and looking kinda cozy with the Russian that came to visit and playing a little coy with Frank. Wouldn't be surprised if he was in on the blackmail stuff too. 

 

Loving non-mustached CF. Yummers!

 

The clunky ridiculous dialogue continues.  I could almost deal with it but they have characters using words I don't believe they would ever use. Ray actually used the word 'sublunar' in a conversation with Ani at the Sad Sack bar. Does that singer every go on break? What was funny to me this episode is that it had more patrons in it than every pictured before. It was filled with about five or six people who sit at the bar or tables looking as if their souls have been crushed long ago, their faces a mixture of apathy and despair, giving off a vibe of "too lazy for suicide." 

 

I hate Frank's 'you don't bring me flowers anymore' scenes with his drowsy ass wife.  Chick always seems half asleep to me. I hate her voice and line delivery too. 

 

What is with this 'operation' mess. Is that code for abortion? Feel like I am watching an old episode of I love Lucy were they couldn't say the word 'pregnant.'

 

No surprise that Dixon smelled of farts and bourbon. None at all. 

  • Love 13
Link to comment

 Also, I would like to know why the show insists on referring to abortions as ~dramatic pause~ "operations."

 

 

Weird.  When she said she actually had 3 operations I thought she was talking about surgery on her uterus or ovaries or something making her infertile.  Abortions don't cause infertility so that didn't make sense.

  • Love 3
Link to comment

Maybe by the time this season is over we'll understand why Stan is so f*cking important to Frank. Sixty-six days later and he still can't get over Stan, who for all intents and purposes was "Henchman #1" on the casting sheet for one episode.

  • Love 7
Link to comment

I felt sorry for Lolita Davidovitch in that scene. Obviously, she was a terrible mother, but she also loved her son. As the mother of a son myself, it would hurt terribly to be so decisively rejected like that.

His rejection was a direct result of her actions.  She told him he ruined her life.  She should have aborted him.  She ridiculed him.  Called him horrible things.  Stole from him.  And she's the one who's hurt?

  • Love 17
Link to comment
(edited)

Also, I would like to know why the show insists on referring to abortions as ~dramatic pause~ "operations."

To be fair, it's not the show doing it, it's the character of Frank's wife, althought I think last week Frank referred to it that way too. It could still be ectopic pregnancies, but, if "operation" is a euphemism for "abortion," then it's supposed to illustrate the not-so-happy couple's taboo on the subject rather than Pizzolatto's. It's interesting that so many posters don't see it that way--or am I misunderstanding the audience frustration with the use of the word "operation"?

I'm wondering if Frank's wife used to be a call girl.

Poor Frank is still on the receiving end of the clunkiest dialogue (blue balls of the what now?)

Hee!

Who killed Caspere? Lots of people have motive, but every reason NOT to make it a high profile incident.

During the opening credits when Leonard Cohen sang that "he" was hiding amoung "you," the focus went to Paul's face. Maybe he was on the tapes too--as a very young man.

So is it safe to assume that birdman has the harddrive?

I guess if it was in Paul's stash with the $20K, he would've mentioned it, right? So, yeah, probably birdman. I know there were posts about birdman being small of stature, so I guess he couldn't be Frank, could he?

Editing to correct sleep-typing errors, and then editing again to correct sleep-typing corrections, heh.

Oh, and put me in the miss-the-mustache column.

And CF's non-verbal acting may be the salvation of the show.

Edited by shapeshifter
  • Love 3
Link to comment

So is it safe to assume that birdman has the harddrive?

 

That seems 50/50 right now. That's because we don't know what Birdman wants. There's been a two-month time jump and he hasn't killed anyone else. No one among the Corruption Inc. principals is talking about a blackmailer's demands, although all of California politics is probably on high alert, depending on how many know there is a hard drive. Birdman has all along seemed to be out to get Frank; is there anything on the hard drive that would further that cause?

Link to comment
(edited)

Sorry if this has been covered, but the whole Chad thing seems odd.  Maybe Jordan is his mother somehow - red hair n' all.

 

Prior to tonight's show, I was beginning to wonder if Ray was the one pulling the strings on Frank....revenge for getting someone to rape his wife so Ray would "owe" him.  Related would be Chad.  Could Jordan be Chad's mother - and put in Ray's hands somehow when the wife left for two months?  Ray could fear the paternity test becuase it could be learned that the wife is not the mother.

 

But...the DNA of the person they caught matching that of his wife's rap kit messes this up a bit..unless there was some evidence tampering (not out of the realm, but unlikely).

Edited by Jextella
  • Love 1
Link to comment

So, at long last, the case it making sense somewhat.  Basically, it sounds like Caspere had been taping his sex parties and has videos of a bunch of important people.  So, it's likely that it was one of them that killed him, while trying to find their location.  We at least know that the guy Frank is trying to buy land from wants it back, so I'm guessing he's apart of it.  And I still think Lieutenant James Frain is in on it: that scene of him showing up at Ray's house has to be more important then him just telling Ray he's being evicted.

 

Pretty much the same as the past few episodes.  Better then the early ones, but I still find Colin Farrell and Rachel McAdams to be way ahead of everyone else.  They get the occasional awkward line and whatnot, but they just sell it better for me, and they make what does work even better.  Colin in particular, was on fire tonight.  His reaction when he found out that his ex was going through with the paternal test, was killer.  As was him finding out that they did catch the rapist.  So, now I really want to know what went down with him and Frank, because it seems pretty clear now that Ray believe Frank screwed him over.  Did Frank send him after another person?

 

Ani at the sexual harassment group, went about as well as anyone could have expected, heh.  Of course, she would be demoted and forced to do evidence room duty.  At least she know is part of this new secret mission.  Also got a kick out of her joining Ray in the world's most depressing bar.  I was starting to think only Frank and Ray were allowed there.

 

I've usually been fine with Taylor Kitsch and even thought he was great at times, but I felt like he was kind of bad in his scene with his mother.  I think he's really not good at the whole yelling thing.  Then again though, I still find his story-line to be a bore.  I've seen it before and I've certainly seen it done better.

 

And then there is Frank and his wife.  I'm still trying, and I'll admit that Vince Vaughn and Kelly Reilly did do solid jobs, but I just don't care.  Not one bit.  Not about them wanting a child.  Not about them wanting to be "legit."  Not about their money issues.  I don't care.  This season would have been much better with just the cops as regulars, and him only being recurring and mainly involved with Ray's story-line.

 

I'm guessing something is going to come out of Dixon/W. Earl Brown going rogue. 

 

Ray beating up Rick Springfield was the best.  They really need to just let Ray loose more often, because Colin Farrell excels at these types of scenes.

  • Love 6
Link to comment
(edited)

I'll admit that I couldn't get through the first season in large part due to my antipathy towards the lead actors, but I think that perhaps I didn't notice how atrocious the dialogue was mostly because they both seem to personify the kind who would continually spout such overblown bullshit. If I were poor VV I'd have had to drink a lot just to wash the taste of it out of my mouth.

 

This show is still reliably lousy at writing women. I'm only still in it for Farrell and McAdams.

Edited by AlliMo
  • Love 2
Link to comment

The first half was just telling us things we already suspected, plus things I didn't really care about (Frank's marital drama, TK's mommy issues, his mother-in-law, all that). Not being surprising is ok, it means you successfully hinted at it... but did it all have to be so beat-by-beat and mirroring the first season?

 

The dialogue was atrocious as usual for VV, and he couldn't make some lines work at all (the "then stand in front of a tank" line delivery was one of the worst I've heard). And, again, someone else also took a hit - last episode it was Ani, this time it was Ray: sublunar? the pain monologue? Awful and samey. Ray in the car sounded just like Frank's monologue in bed a few episodes ago. Worse, it was something so generic that Frank himself could have speechified it. It's so obviously not people speaking; when someone's lines would fit another character, it's glaringly The Writing. Season 1 didn't have this problem.

 

Still watching for Rachel McAdams (no to that uniform!) and CF (yes to no mustache) who really, really do their best and elevate their material. I was too indifferent to TK's scenes to have a reaction to his acting, but I thought he sold fury pretty well for a tight space interaction; that storyline is just so boring. Also, since he doesn't have the money he counted on (why would he even leave them there?), is it a good idea to follow his heart and get back in the field? Wouldn't the insurance fraud thing pay more? Or is he doing both at the same time? The monetary aspect was not mentioned when they were recruited, despite the fact that both TK and Ray need money. It would have taken just a few lines to clear this up. Oh, show...

  • Love 2
Link to comment
(edited)

So, at long last, the case it making sense somewhat.  Basically, it sounds like Caspere had been taping his sex parties and has videos of a bunch of important people.  So, it's likely that it was one of them that killed him, while trying to find their location.  We at least know that the guy Frank is trying to buy land from wants it back, so I'm guessing he's apart of it.  And I still think Lieutenant James Frain is in on it: that scene of him showing up at Ray's house has to be more important then him just telling Ray he's being evicted.

 

Pretty much the same as the past few episodes.  Better then the early ones, but I still find Colin Farrell and Rachel McAdams to be way ahead of everyone else.  They get the occasional awkward line and whatnot, but they just sell it better for me, and they make what does work even better.  Colin in particular, was on fire tonight.  His reaction when he found out that his ex was going through with the paternal test, was killer.  As was him finding out that they did catch the rapist.  So, now I really want to know what went down with him and Frank, because it seems pretty clear now that Ray believe Frank screwed him over.  Did Frank send him after another person?

 

Ani at the sexual harassment group, went about as well as anyone could have expected, heh.  Of course, she would be demoted and forced to do evidence room duty.  At least she know is part of this new secret mission.  Also got a kick out of her joining Ray in the world's most depressing bar.  I was starting to think only Frank and Ray were allowed there.

 

I've usually been fine with Taylor Kitsch and even thought he was great at times, but I felt like he was kind of bad in his scene with his mother.  I think he's really not good at the whole yelling thing.  Then again though, I still find his story-line to be a bore.  I've seen it before and I've certainly seen it done better.

 

And then there is Frank and his wife.  I'm still trying, and I'll admit that Vince Vaughn and Kelly Reilly did do solid jobs, but I just don't care.  Not one bit.  Not about them wanting a child.  Not about them wanting to be "legit."  Not about their money issues.  I don't care.  This season would have been much better with just the cops as regulars, and him only being recurring and mainly involved with Ray's story-line.

 

I'm guessing something is going to come out of Dixon/W. Earl Brown going rogue. 

 

Ray beating up Rick Springfield was the best.  They really need to just let Ray loose more often, because Colin Farrell excels at these types of scenes.

 

TK was awful in the scene where he blew up at his mother, yelling but ridiculously still in that low voice and the silly hand gestures.

 

The world's most depressing bar, heheh.  It's become a fun kind of joke in a weird way.

Edited by benteen
  • Love 1
Link to comment
(edited)
but I just don't care.  Not one bit.  Not about them wanting a child.  Not about them wanting to be "legit."  Not about their money issues.  I don't care.

 

 

I'll take it further: Who is there to care about anywhere in this season? I feel worse for the poor folks living around that old hotel than I do any of the characters we have now spent what, 5-6 episodes with?

 

I so miss last season and both the heinousness of the crime and the obsession of the two detectives to solve it. These three bumble around between personal issues.

Edited by Ottis
  • Love 4
Link to comment
The reference to Jordan's three "operations" was too much. I'm sure that,in the tradition of American TV, Jordan will pay in the end for her three "operations."

 

 

Seriously, this is ridiculous.  Why not just have her say "smashsmortions?"   It's 2015 for God's sake.  And this is on HBO.  

 

I know Paul's gf's pregnancy is a plot device used to show him what he thinks is a way to stay out of his "close friendships" with men, but what woman in her right mind would stay in a relationship like that?    And now he sees he just traded coming out and letting go of all that baggage to having his future MIL live with them in that small one bedroom apartment.  Your buddy's place with the waffles and game recorded on the dvr doesn't sound so bad now does it? 

  • Love 5
Link to comment
(edited)
Somebody should tell the writer that male homosexuality is not caused by bad and possessive mothers.

I don't think they were implying his homosexuality is caused by anything other than that is who he is.  I think his mother's issues are just another reason why he probably has a hard time accepting it.   

 

 

 

interesting that so many posters don't see it that way--or am I misunderstanding the audience frustration with the use of the word "operation"?

I think you are correct, it's the characters calling them "operations" as a euphemism, not the writers by proxy.

Edited by jcin617
  • Love 4
Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...