True Detective “Omega Station”

Well, that was something.

OK, so, in terms of plot, what happened?

Who killed Caspere?

It was the son of the folks killed by the crooked cops during that diamond heist.  His sister was working for Caspere as his secretary.  She found her brother.  He found out she’d been bouncing around, acted as a hooker, met Caspere at one of those parties, and Caspere gave her a real job.  Ani and Ray met the brother on the movie set.  His sister had gotten him that job.  Originally, they were going to just scare Caspere into naming names, but it got out of hand and Caspere died.  The brother dies this episode stabbing one of his parents’ killers in a train station in a hail of police gunfire, and Ani helps the sister flee to safety.  They also had the hard drive.

Then what was up with all the corruption in Vinci?

Well, all those crooked cops and crooked city administrators?  Caspere’s death really just shone a light on all that for truly dedicated cops like Paul, Ani, and Ray.  Even though Paul’s dead when this episode starts, and Ray is being framed for it, and Ani is already wanted for a murder she actually did commit, um…actually, that doesn’t seem like it might help anyone at all.

What was on the hard drive?

As it turns out, nothing.  Once the two orphans unplugged it, the thing deleted itself.  Nobody else really knows that, though, particularly the people who took advantage of those sex parties that thought there were still incriminating photos on them.

So, is there justice in Vinci?

Well, none of the legal variety.  Ray goes to Frank, since Frank has been screwed over just as much as anyone and quite frankly he works outside the law anyway so who else is going to take those people down, and then he and Ray storm the cabin in the woods and murder everyone they find there, then take all the Russian mob money there.  They got most of the robbery folks.  Frank also arranged for his wife to go to Venezuela, then for Ray and Ani to be smuggled there.

Problem is, with Ray and Ani both wanted by the authorities, it may only be a matter of time before at least one of them gets caught.  One night of passion between the two, plus mutual confessions of past trauma (Ani’s molestation, Ray’s killing the wrong man), suggests a strong bond between the two.

Anyone live?

Ani gets away, and in the last scene we see she’s hooked up with Frank’s wife Jordan in Venezuela, and they manage to get the paperwork and a lot of other recordings to a reporter.  Ray gets gunned down by Vinci PD in the woods.  Frank bleeds out in the desert after being stabbed by angry drug dealers.  Also, Ani had a child by Ray, another son.  Ray might have gotten away had he not made a detour to see his boy one last time.

What else?

Paul got a highway named for him.  His fiancé had a baby boy.  Ray was blamed for his death.  Ray’s ex learned Ray was the father of their son.  The mayor of Vinci was killed by his son from the looks of things, and junior is the new mayor.  Corruption still rules in Vinci.

Any creepy parallels to the real world?

It struck me the mayor was a rich politician living in a house far more expensive than his civil salary would seem to suggest he was worth with a couple of creepy kids and a young Eastern European trophy wife.  That seemed familiar somehow.

So, what was wrong with season two?

Oddly enough, I stand by my assertion that it wasn’t all bad.  True, the mystery at first glance is a lot more convoluted than season one’s, but it wasn’t that nuts.  Had the show just made Ray and Ani central characters, not bothered with Paul, and kept a better-cast Frank in the background, well, it would have been a hell of a lot better.  As it is, I found it better than I thought I would have; it just still wasn’t as good as the first.  Averaging the two shows together, I’d rate this a eight and a half corrupt authority figures out of ten.

So, we’re at the end of another series write-up.  What’s coming up for future Tuesdays?  Well, let’s say we cover the BBC mini-series Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

The book was a ton of fun, so I hope the TV version is as well.