S02.E06: Church In Ruins

[paigow]

It seemed to me that she felt that serving eviction notices was a waste of her time and she looked into the missing girl because it was an actual case....

..that other cops were ignoring...

[represent]

 

When Ani visited Pitlor, she said there were five kids who grew up in commune.  2 committed suicide, 2 were in jail, and the 5th became a detective. Her sister is none of the above.

This is why in one of my previous posts  I was questioning where her sister was on this commune. I was saying that the actress playing the sister seems to be playing her as having not as bad of an experience living on this commune. Could be just differences in personality but she just doesn't seem bitter. Even when she says to Ani on the beach that for someone who pretty much hated where they grew up, she never really got that far, she says it like she doesn't have those same feelings IMO, almost like she did not live on the commune. It just confuses me, but I never thought those four children whose lives were screwed up on that commune were Ani and Athena's siblings. 

Which confused me because I was like where was Athena then? Maybe she didn't live on the commune. When did the mother die? Did she leave the commune with Ahtena and Ani when Ahtena was a baby? Then kill herself? She did kill herself right?

This show needs more episodes or something because I want answers that I'm not getting and don't think I will. Finding out who killed Caspere at this point is not one of the top questions either. I'm a character driven viewer. I get into the characters and their backgrounds and what motivates them etc. .

[LilaFowler]

I am questioning the purpose of going to the orgy as well.  Ani's disguise was not really a disguise.  If they thought that even one person that she's interviewed or otherwise come into contact with, would be at that party, her cover was blown.  It makes no sense.  I think NP just wanted an undercover-at-an-orgy scene regardless if it made sense.   

 

Did that technician really say the blood in the shack was female and there were 'dead gonorrheal bacteriophage present?

Hm.  When they did Caspere's autopsy, didn't he have gonorrhea?

[meep.meep]

Ani's flashback:

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/07/27/07/2ADEBA0400000578-0-image-m-121_1437977699390.jpg

Bob:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1y5cbpL4XrQ/Tl6mgM7ddBI/AAAAAAAADb4/ok5qs86BKdM/s1600/FWWM+Bob+emerges.jpg

Thanks for doing the research!  They do look alike.

[Knittzu]

I was proud of him for "Don't you fucking shoot me, Ray."  That line was relevant to the scene that was actually unfolding before him.

 

That line was so atypically topical, relevant, and concise that I can only conclude VV ad-libbed it. The Pizzolouge version was probably a rambling speech about night falling upon the memories of impotent regret and btw have I mentioned that STAN WAS MY FRIEND?!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Along with a five minute monologue about this one thing that happened that one time when he was a kid.

[kieyra]

Along with a five minute monologue about this one thing that happened that one time when he was a kid.

And then the rats came.

Sorry, it's Pavlovian for me at this point.

[Muffyn]

I am pretty sure the only reason I have kept watching this season is for this board and, of course, my love of Stan. 

[theajw]

I am pretty sure the only reason I have kept watching this season is for this board and, of course, my love of Stan. 

A million times yes. When I was trying--and failing miserably because the show is so freaking convoluted--to give a recap to mrajw, who quit watching a few episodes ago, I started talking about the scene with Widow of Stan and Son of Stan.  mrajw asked, "Who the hell is Stan?"  I burst out laughing.  

 

I seriously think I'm only watching to be better able to understand the conversation on this board.  Everyone's commentary is so much more interesting than the show itself, which is a bloated, self-important mess.

Edited July 29, 2015 by theajw

[Crim]

Maybe here-in lies the difference...in Nic P's defense, he's only got 8 episodes.  He has to deliver a powerful punch in a short amount of time/

He knew he only got 8 episodes though, and he still chose to include all those plot tumors.

 

I agree that Ani went to the sex party because she wanted to, not because it was safe or even particularly promising. My problem with how it was handled was the amazing coincidence of the others happening to overhear a conversation that pointed them to the room with all those contracts with signatures all over then (that line still cracks me up) instead of, for example, Ani pointing them in the right direction.

[kieyra]

I guess the important issue for me is this: James Frain didn't actually appear in this episode, did he?

 

Admittedly I fast-forwarded through a lot of it, so I might have missed him, thus neglecting my Frainwatch duties. 

[WaltersHair]

I'm going to take a stab at it and say Birdman is Ani's current partner. I rewatched (in vain I tell you) to better understand the plotline and for some reason he popped into my mind.

Of course, for all we know the red headed kid is Birdman and it will be explained in flashback by Ray in a straightjacket mumbling about Stan.

[ToastnBacon]

I am questioning the purpose of going to the orgy as well. Ani's disguise was not really a disguise. If they thought that even one person that she's interviewed or otherwise come into contact with, would be at that party, her cover was blown. It makes no sense. I think NP just wanted an undercover-at-an-orgy scene regardless if it made sense.

Hm. When they did Caspere's autopsy, didn't he have gonorrhea?

From an investigative perspective, it made little sense. The breaking into the office part, ok, but they could have done that without having Ani wandering around the party high on Bianca or whatever weird name MDMA is called these days.

They could have snatched a John up after the party and beat the hell out of him to make him talk. They could have paid off or threatened one of the girls and got the same amount of information that Ani gathered.

Edited July 30, 2015 by ToastnBacon

[MyPeopleAreNordic]

Hm.  When they did Caspere's autopsy, didn't he have gonorrhea?

That sounds right, but I'm not 100% sure I'm remembering correctly. I really don't want to watch the first episode again right now. Any takers?

[FemmyV]

On second watch, I don't mind the orgy house music. Not sure I could have kept a straight face without it, in retrospect.

[terrymct]

I watched the episode again and it didn't get any better.  In addition to my previous comments and my agreement with what you all have said, one thing really struck me.

 

Why on Earth would all the rich and powerful men in that area want to go to an orgy together?  Ok, assume a handful of them are bent and would enjoy that.  Why would pretty much every single man of influence go to that?   To pick up hookers?  They're rich!  Have your assistant line something up.  Or go to a party where everyone knows your rich/powerful and single.  You'll meet a gold digger soon enough.  I really don't understand why they'd all go to that party.   I also don't understand why the party would be held at the home of one of the men involved with the land/rail deal.  You'd have to bleach the entire house.   I don't understand why that same man would keep apparently all the contracts (with lots of signatures!) in a barely locked drawer in the house where he's holding an orgy.   Why were they meeting about the land/rail deal in the house while the orgy was going on?

 

More and more, this plot line is seeming like something from a 1970's crime/police drama but with boobies and sex.   Lots of very, very convenient things happen to fit the story within that one hour time frame.  In this case, though, the writer had a whole season.  He has no excuse.   Trim some of the crap, like say 99% of the plot lines having to do with Vince Vaughn's character, and the writer would have had more time with which to work.   Vince Vaughn's character should be a minor aside, a way to let us know how Colin Farrell's character went off the tracks.

 

Speaking of those two, that scene at the kitchen table was terrible.  Farrell was good, but the writing was terrible and Vince Vaughn's entire acting range entirely consists of a few head nods and leaning forward or back.   Awful, just awful.

[tennisgurl]

If Stan was here, none of this would be happening. 

[Cindylou]

This show has me reliving so many other shows.  I can't decide if I like it or not!  at the Mansion Orgy, I kept waiting for Spartacus and Crixus to run out and start singing "my C*ck rages on" (I know wrong cable channel).  I saw Masuka from "Dexter", who works with the Vinci PD at the party, but we already knew he was shady,  I guess he brought over his perv from Dex to TD.  And I'm sorry but every time James Frain shows up I just want him to super speed Text like he did on Tru Blood.  Just sayin.  I'm still thinkin he is the baddy, just because of my show theory!

 

Who was Stan?  I mean he had gold in him, he must have been one hell of a man!  *sigh*  As someone said before me, Stay Gold Son of Stan, Stay Gold!

[tljgator]

I just keep thinking that they should send someone over to The Bates Motel to get the flashdrive with all the info on the political dudes at the Orgy Mansion in the woods from Norma since they sorted all of this out last season over on that show. I get that high-end politicos and businessmen at a super-secret whore party (that everyone seems to know about) has become a TV trope at this point, but c'mon -- too soon, True Detective. Too soon.

[DEM]

Hm.  When they did Caspere's autopsy, didn't he have gonorrhea?

 

Yes, great recall!

 

MEDICAL EXAMINER: TOD between 4:00 and 9:00 AM morning of the 26th. Tox shows Xanax, alcohol, also had gonorrhea, for what it's worth. Hydrochloric acid on his eyes. Burn pattern tells us he was on his back. Lack of spray around the orbital cavity indicates precision. Some kind of glass eyedropper, maybe.

[kieyra]

I just keep thinking that they should send someone over to The Bates Motel to get the flashdrive with all the info on the political dudes at the Orgy Mansion in the woods from Norma since they sorted all of this out last season over on that show. I get that high-end politicos and businessmen at a super-secret whore party (that everyone seems to know about) has become a TV trope at this point, but c'mon -- too soon, True Detective. Too soon.

 

We need to parachute Norma Bates into Vinci. Within a week she'd have a drunken hookup with Ray, break up Frank's marriage somehow (become pregnant with his baby, perhaps), be a replacement mother figure to Paul after chasing his real mother out of town, get the flash drive, lose the flash drive, accidentally shoot James Frain in the face and talk Ani into helping her hide his body, then be elected mayor after successfully spearheading a grass-roots anti-rail lobby. 

 

Then she would bake a pie. 

[Lemons]

On second watch, I don't mind the orgy house music. Not sure I could have kept a straight face without it, in retrospect.

 

I was putting clothes away and in the other room a TV was on.  Background noise but all of a sudden the music starting to agitate me.  I look and it's the orgy house music. 

[mattie0808]

I can't take it. I just caught up with the last two episodes, and while this is one of two shows I'm hate-watching because there are so few episodes left (though the other I also actually have a several-years-long interest in)...this just took the cake for me. I can't believe I'm still watching, while I'm determined to watch the last two. Help!

 

Seriously though -- I could not care less who killed Caspere, unless it is also Birdman. I do want to know who that is and what their connection is to the rest of the story. The only other thing I honestly care about, is Ray's poor sad sack son. I can't get over the wife being willing to out the fact that his father was a serial rapist (or some random dude she hooked up with at the time), when she KNOWS that the kid has a father in Ray that is complicated and difficult enough to deal with...but who also truly loves the kid and has never wavered in considering him his son. Ray is $%#&-ed up, yes, but you're not "saving" your son from that at this point. Too late. Ray is his dad, deal with that, don't pretend like a DNA test is going to erase any of it, he will ALWAYS be that kid's dad, screwed up and all. And anwyay, the other option is...? All you're going to do is make things AWFUL in literally every way possible for both Chad and Ray. Why would you do that? Who would do that?!

 

Give me the identity of Bridman, let VV have a few more on-point lines ("Don't you $%-ing shoot me!" "Mexican standoff!"), let Rachel M continue to work (I do think she and CF have been as good as possible with the material), and let me know that Chad is not going to be completely crushed and utterly destroyed as a human being. I'm crying uncle, this is all I ask.

 

Something tells me Season 3 will be at least two years from now, and it will manage to constitute a MASSIVE rebound.

 

[Crim]

Something tells me Season 3 will be at least two years from now, and it will manage to constitute a MASSIVE rebound.

Since the seasons have nothing in common except some of the showrunners, it might simply be a matter of giving NP a minder to curttail his worst tendencies and heavily promote that/those person/s are working on the show. After a successful first season, and this, there is still conversation. Sure, taking a long break would mean the negativity would die down, but so would the previous hype.

 

Why on Earth would all the rich and powerful men in that area want to go to an orgy together?  Ok, assume a handful of them are bent and would enjoy that.  Why would pretty much every single man of influence go to that?

The show tried to explain it as a networking thing, a place where they clandestinely meet and sign contracts and such. Sort of like Frank and his Bar of Depression, but with different music, more people and less clothes. It's just silly, of course, like most of this season.

[carn.lac]

Here's a very thorough explanation of what's really going on at those sex parties--and some other symbolic references on the show: http://www.lippsisters.com/2015/08/02/private-eyes-the-masonic-symbolism-in-true-detectives-church-in-ruins/