TRUE DETECTIVE 206: Church In Ruins Recap

true detective church in ruins 206 2015 images

true detective church in ruins 206 2015 imagesI got my wish this week on “True Detective” as Ani showed her cutlery skills on a real human instead of her workout dummy. It was just as fulfilling as I had envisioned, and perfectly in line with her reasoning earlier in the season on why she carried the knives. A big male hoisting a woman in the air is pretty overwhelming….until he is in need of a blood transfusion and about 455 stitches.

The fact that both Ray and Frank survived their standoff over coffee was a relief. It was a real tense scene and I believe what Frank had to say. Of course he could be lying, that’s what I would have done if confronted with a pissed off ex-cop with a drinking problem who has killed before. Frank tried to make Ray feel like it was the detective himself who was capable of the darkness he turned to after his wife was raped. Ray did choose to kill the guy he thought assaulted his wife, but it was the crime that forced his hand. Circumstances and events shape our decisions, so for Frank to say Velcoro was already the kind of man to murder someone is unfair. No rape, no murder.

Ray is now tasked with finding Casper’s hard drive for Frank, while the gangster is going to find the name of the man who gave him the wrong info on the rapist from the beginning. The fact that Ray is “one of the last friends” that Frank has is very telling about how far he has fallen since Casper was killed.

Ray’s visit to prison to see the real rapist was necessary to see how much hate was inside him…which led him to murder the wrong guy originally. We don’t have to worry about Ray offing this fellow, who surely will die in jail with all the DNA evidence against him in multiple rapes.

We are left to wonder who stole the diamonds back in the days leading up to the L.A. riots. Paul talks to a broken former detective who described the crime and how the kids of the jewelery store owners had to watch what happened to their parents. Was it Mayor Chessani who did the professional robbery that led to start up the high powered ladder?

I am thinking of offering a P90X type workout video featuring Ani with her knives. Part cardio, part self defense, 100% incredible. If I can just get a Rachel McAdams look-a-like to star in the workout DVD. We see just how detached Ani is from everyone as she ignores her sister except when she needs info for her case.

Frank’s visit with his murdered employee’s family is another piece of evidence that he is a good guy at heart. His talk with Stan’s son was pretty moving and meant to help the boy move forward.

The coke and liquor fueled rage scene was rock bottom for Ray Velcoro. But that scene only happened because of the dreadful supervised visit between Ray and his red headed son. Having another adult watch over you as you try to interact with your child has to be on the top ten list of worst events possible for a parent. That was tough to watch! And why the hell is that kid watching ‘Friends’?

Ani finally made her way onto the whore bus with just her wits and a tiny transponder. In the meantime Frank had to deal Gonzalez and the Cisco Kid again as he searched for Irina Ruffo (lady who pawned off some of Casper’s things possibly). Well that didn’t go well. Ruffo ended up with her throat slashed and the Mexican leaders ended up with some drug selling rights at Frank’s club. I guess loopholes exist even in verbal criminal contracts.

Whoever chose the music background for this freaky sex party Ani attended got it right. The whole vibe left a filthy feeling on me like one might have gotten being trapped in a whorehouse dumpster for a few hours. I had a sick feeling once the mouth-spray drug kicked in on Ani. She was left semi defenseless, but managed to snatch a knife off the pig platter before her mind got clouded. As the freakiness went into full swing, Ani had some flashbacks of her childhood and a creepy dude leading her into a van. This explains a lot about her life now and made an already uncomfortable scene even worse.

Ani finally forces herself to vomit to get the drugs out of her system. The old guy who wanted a piece of the detective paid the price with a nut stomp when he laid hands on her. Ani basically abandoned the mission to try and get the missing girl out of the house once she recognized her. Good person, bad detective move. But by this time Paul had broken into the house and retrieved some contracts with plenty of incriminating evidence.

The huge security guard snatched Ani up like a child, just as she alluded to in the beginning of the season, telling how a female could be easily overpowered by a male. Years of knife practice paid off as she sliced this thug up in a bout two seconds. Dude didn’t even know he was cut until he felt the life drifting out of him as he lost strength. He was pretty easy to handle with 33% of his blood on the floor when Ani pushed his hand aside like a child when he made a last grasp toward her.

The getaway was awesome and I am now looking to lease a new Dodge Charger based on Ray Velcoro’s driving. Paul, Ani, and Ray all made it out safely along with the girl from Ani’s missing persons case. Ani is upset about killing someone off the time clock, but I imagine all those shady rich guys know how to make that body disappear. So no worries there.

Only two episodes are left to wrap all this up so there should be lots of answers coming next week. I have no idea how the diamonds tie in or the missing girl. All I know is I want Frank to come out on top of the corporate scum and Ray to get some kind of happiness back in his life. I’d like to see Ani and Paul get to the top of the detective ladder also, but good police work is rarely rewarded on shows like this. I’ve seen how the good cops end up on ‘The Wire’ and even Rust from True Detective’s first season.