True Detective Roundup: S2E1 “The Western Book of the Dead”

TITLE: "The Western Book of the Dead"RAY VELCORODetective Ray Velcoro is the first character we meet this season. Introduced via a conversation in the car with his awkward, red-headed son(?) Chad, it’s clear Ray can’t connect with this kid -- but he wants to. In a conversation with his custody attorney, Ray fights for further custody of Chad on the basis of having raised him alone for 2 months when his wife ran out, and shows the attorney the “digital recorders” he bought for himself and Chad because a parenting book told him “that might be effective”. This conversation also reveals that Ray’s wife was raped 9 months before Chad was born, and they never got a paternity test. VELCORO: “My son is my son”. As we’ve come to expect from Pizzolatto’s true detectives, Ray is not squeaky clean, as evidenced by the bribe he offers his attorney -- “I just need you to come up with something” -- and his conversation with the shady Frank Semyen.

FRANK SEMYENIn a flashback scene, a clean-shaven Volcoro wearing a sheriff’s uniform enters a bar and approaches Frank Semyen. Semyen reveals he has info about the man who raped Velcoro’s wife, and hands him a picture with his address. Semyen claims to be doing this out of principle -- VOLCORO: “What do you want from me?” FRANK: “Me? Not a thing.” -- but the benefits of a police officer that owes you a favor become clear later in the episode.

Current day, Semyen puts on a dress shirt in front of his wife for a big business meeting -- JORDAN: “Suits you better than you think.” FRANK: “Behold what was once a man.” -- and worries over whether or not he should have rented out a country club rather than a casino. At the casino, Frank talks strategy for the presentation with his wife and associate Blake Churchman, mentioning the absence of a man named Caspere, until Churchman hands him a newspaper with a headline about corruption in the Vinci district. Churchman assures him that they “got nothing on us”, but Semyon is not convinced, as this article was just the first of an eight-part series aimed to expose Vinci corruption. He tells Churchman to get Velcoro, because “[Velcoro] won’t get carried away.”

THE CASEA man in sunglasses sits in the back seat of a car - license plate 2PCE109. Next to the driver, who is dressed in all black, sits a dead raven. The car pulls onto Mulholland Drive and merges onto the freeway.

ANI BEZZERIDESSheriff’s detective Ani Bezzerides is introduced shortly after she wakes up in a house filled with books about samurais, guns, Chinese food, and Jim Beam. Her boyfriend brings up something they tried for the first time last night, and mentions how he wants to take their relationship more seriously, but she kicks him out because she has to go to work: “Right now is not the time you want to have this conversation.”

Ani, and other members of the sheriff’s department, break into a house to find a group of naked girls in front of webcams. She questions the man in charge, and discovers that every girl is indeed a legal citizen, and they are only making webcam videos - no law has been broken. Ani turns and sees a girl with a green wig trying to leave through the front door, and pursues her. The girl is her sister, who takes offense to Ani calling with they do porn: “Not everybody has a problem with sex. I’m a performer.” Ani continues to question Athena, who she suspects to be off her meds, but Athena won’t listen. Ani’s partner Elvis Ilinca reveals the webcam HQ has a business license, and they are forced to leave.

RAY VELCORORay meets with his superiors, who leave no ambiguity as to the implications of the corruption article: “That low, background rumble is the sound of paper shredders on the third floor.” Police Chief Halloway lists off the areas of corruption that the reporter is prepared to expose with his series of articles, one of which is “policing practices.” When Velcoro inquires about the potential of subpoenas, Halloway indicates they are unlikely for the time being because city manager Ben Caspere has gone missing and cannot be reached. Halloway assigns Velcoro to investigate into Caspere’s disappearance with Detective Teague Dixon. VELCORO: “Dixon? Seriously, lieutenant?”

PAUL WOODRUGHWoodrugh is a motorcycle COP (California Highway Patrol) cop who catches a red convertible pulling dangerously onto the freeway then drifting lane-to-lane. He pulls the driver -- a pretty, young girl -- over and asks for her license and registration. Woodrugh sees she is wearing a house arrest ankle bracelet. She tells him that she left her license at home. When Woodrugh asks her to step out of the car she starts bargaining, first claiming that she can’t get in trouble again because she has to pay her parents’ bills, then offering “Maybe you could just escort me home, and we can talk, or do something?”

Woodrugh later finds himself in Commander Floyd Heschmer’s office, as the woman claimed that he was the one who solicited sex. No one believes her, but he is placed on administrative leave with pay to prevent the tabloids from running with the story. Woodrugh fights this, as he is wary that they will look into his past with a mysterious organization called the Black Mountain: “The Black Mountain work. Do you know how hard they’re looking?” He eventually accepts his suspension, but insists that once he is reinstated he is allowed back on his motorcycle: “I like the bike, sir. The highway - it suits me. I am no good on the sidelines”. Before leaving the room, Woodrugh brings up the Black Mountain once again, telling the Commander “Black Mountain. We were working for America, sir”, to which the Commander replies, “I know you were, son.”

FRANK SEMYENFrank and his wife mingle at the casino before the presentation. He meets with Mayor Austin Chessani, and asks him if he’s heard from Casper. Chessani deflects, only saying “the newspaper shit couldn’t wait, huh?”. Churchman informs Frank that Caspere hasn’t been in work in 2 days, to Frank’s dismay, as Caspere was the one who came up with the pitch Frank is going to have to present. Frank worries that he should have rented out a country club rather than a casino again, but Churchman assures him it’s fine.

RAY VELCOROVelcoro and Dixon interview a girl at the city manager’s office, who tells them that Caspere had been visiting Montorey Hills and the Russian River Valley, but assures that he was not the type to leave without giving notice. Velcoro asks for a list of Caspere’s properties, and Dixon assures her that information is fine to give away because “we’re the police.”

Dixon and Velcoro arrive at Caspere’s mansion -- “big place for one guy” -- and discover the house is trashed, with various sex objects strewn across the floor and paintings of naked women hung on the walls (DIXON: “I had no idea he was so adventurous.”) Velcoro decides that this is a kidnapping, and it is time to tell the bosses, as the case can no longer be covered by two men.

FRANK SEMYENRussian gangster Osip Agronov walks up to Frank and embraces him before introducing him to his lawyer. Jordan carries Osip away so that he can “meet some people”, and Frank tells Churchman that, “if [Caspere] shows up, I’m going to shove my size 13 so far up [his] ass.”

THE CASEThe man in sunglasses rides in the backseat. When the car hits a bump, he slumps onto the window, revealing various cuts on his forehead.

ANI BEZZERIDESBezzerides and her partner drive up to a house to deliver a note of foreclosure - neither Ani nor the resident, Danielle Delvayo, is pleased about police being the ones delivering the note. Danielle tells Ani and Ilinca that if they want to do real work, they should find her missing sister Vera. Danielle reveals that the last place she knew Vera had worked at was a religious institute which Ani seems to recognize - the Panticapaeum Institute.

FRANK SEMYENFrank is giving the presentation since Caspere has not shown up. He mentions a recently passed Proposition 1, a measure that authorized the construction of a $68B high-speed rail in Central California. He mentions that the land purchased near the rail will be eligible for hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants, and that the feds have guaranteed cost overages - a promise that seems to impress the crowd.

ANI BEZZERIDESAni and Ilinca arrive at Panticapaeum. They see an older man with long, gray hair preaching to a group of people sitting cross-legged in front of him about the meaninglessness of the universe - “today’s exercise is to recognize the world as meaningless, and to understand that God did not create a meaningless world. Hold those thoughts as irrefutable and equal. For this is how we must live now, in the final age of man.”

The man recognizes Ani, and she walks away. She and Ilinca ask the cleaning staff about Vera, whom they claim left a while ago for a job in the “club circuit” that paid more for less hours.

RAY VELCOROPhotographers take pictures of some of the paintings at Caspere’s house.

Velcoro sips a bottle of Bourbon in his car. He sees a woman smoking a crack pipe next to his car. A man pulls into his driveway, and Ray looks down to a picture he printed out of Dan Howser - the reporter planning to expose corruption in Vinci. Howser gets out of his car, Ray takes a sip of Bourbon, then gets out of his car and puts on a ski mask. He puts a finger to his mouth and looks to the lady smoking crack, then kicks Howser’s door in. We hear a fight ensue from outside the house and see someone being pushed into the window.

ANI BEZZERIDESThe man with long hair is Ani’s father. He says he recognizes Vera, but never knew her very well. He says he wonders how Ani has been doing, and Ani brings up Athena. He thinks Athena is doing well as she has a job, but Ani insists he needs to give her direction as that job is in the porn industry. Her father in nonchalant about that news, arguing that people used to label anything they didn’t like as pornography. Then Ani and her father begin discussing her mother: FATHER: “I am not comfortable imposing my will on anyone, and I haven’t been since 1978.” ANI: “Not even to stop them from walking into a river?” FATHER: “Yes. Not even then. And if your mother’s flair for drama had been as present in her acting, she might have gone on to great things.” The father then implies that Ani’s “entire personality is an extended criticism of my values” intended to invoke a response from him, but Ani dismisses him with “Talk to your daughter, prick. Help her.” (to which the dad replies “I just did.”)

RAY VELCORORay meets Chad outside of school, but Chad’s stepfather kindly reminds him he’s not scheduled to pick Chad up until next Friday. Ray hands Chad a sleeping bag for his camping trip, but the stepfather reveals the trip was last weekend. Ray notices that Chad isn’t wearing the expensive basketball sneakers he had just bought them, and grills Chad about it despite the stepfather’s protests. He gets Chad to admit that someone stole them from his locker and cut them up, and forces Chad to give him the name of the kid who did it by calling him a “fat pussy” and threatening to spank him in front of the school.

Later in the day, Ray speaks into his digital recorder: “We just had a thing, me and you. Totally, totally, my fault. Childhood is so scary. I used… I used to want to be an astronaut. But astronauts don’t even go to the moon anymore.” A voice on Ray’s radio gives him the address of the boy who stole Chad’s shoes.

ANI BEZZERIDESElvis calls Ani’s dad a “piece of work” in the car, but Ani tells him not to talk about her family. Later, Ani gets dressed in the women’s locker room adjacent to all the naked cops in the men’s locker room.

PAUL WOODRUGHPaul comes home to find a girlfriend(?) anxious to have sex. Paul promises to shower and come back out in five minutes. He runs the shower, but doesn’t get in. He stands shirtless in front of the mirror, revealing a serious scar on his left shoulder. He then takes a Viagra then checks his watch, waiting for it to kick in. Thirty minutes later he comes out, and she gives him a blow job.

FRANK SEMYENFrank assures Osip that Caspere’s absence doesn’t matter, and offers him the chance for his grandkids to be a part of an old money California family where no one remembers where to money comes from. Osip says he will talk more at dinner, then Frank clears the room. Frank confronts Osip about not fully committing yet, and Osip tells him that while he trusts Frank, his organization requires that he do his due diligence first. Osip hints that this deal depends on his meeting Caspere, and once Osip leaves the room, Frank smashes his glass against the wall and yells “Fucking Caspere!”

RAY VELCORERay talks to the father of the boy who stole Chad’s shoes from his doorstep, telling him that he is a policeman inquiring about stolen property and would like him to call the boy out so that they could settle things. When the man goes in to fetch the kid, Ray puts on brass knuckles. Ray asks the kid “Do you like to bully kids, ass head?” and remarks “You’re 12 years old, and you’re already evil as fuck.” The father protests to these comments, and Ray starts beating on the father, and forcing the kid to watch. The kid begs him to stop, and Ray lets him know that “If you ever bully or hurt anybody again, I’ll come back and buttfuck your father with your mom’s headless corpse on this goddamn lawn.” The mother comes out, but Ray speeds away before she sees him.

THE CASEThe car with the sunglasses man pulls over at the side of the road. The sunglasses man is dragged out of the car.

PAUL WOODRUGHPaul’s girl inquires about the big scar. Paul lets her know he got it before his stint in the army. “a long time ago.” Paul gets up out of bed, gets dressed, and tells his girl he needs to leave to work a job.

Paul is speeding down the highway on his motorcycle. The spedometer hits 70.

RAY VELCORORay sits down in a restaurant across from Frank Semyen, smoking a cigarette, as a woman plays the guitar. Ray and Frank sit in silence for a long while, before Ray hands over the reporter’s laptop and files, with the assurance that the story is dead. Frank hands Ray an envelope which he pockets. Ray begins downing shots, as Frank asks about Chad, revealing that the attorney which Ray spoke to earlier was one of Frank’s people. Vera walks up to their table, revealing a huge scar on the left side of her face, and asks Ray about his food, addressing him by his first name. Frank asks Ray if he’s seeing anybody, and Ray responds “I’m not interested in anything like that anymore.” Ray takes a few bumps of cocaine, before Frank departs to meet friends at a SoHo bar. Churchman goes to take Frank’s bottle of liquor, but Ray grabs it, and pours himself a shot.

ANI BEZZERIDESAni downs a cup of liquor at the casino bar.

PAUL WOODRUGHPaul speeds on his bike, surpassing 100 MPH. He shuts his lights off and continues speeding down the highway. He shouts “fuck!”, then turns his lights back on, sees he is headed off the road and slows down in time. He looks up to see a man with sunglasses sitting up on a park bench. He lifts the sunglasses then puts them back on, and shakes his head. Woodrugh looks down to see the man’s wallet has been placed on his lap, and opens it to see the license reads “BENJAMIN CASPERE”. Paul places a 9-1-1 call.

RAY VELCORORay is passed out in the seat where he met Frank.

ANI BEZZERIDESAni is escorted out of the casino by 2 security guards, finishes her cup, then throws it at the men. Her phone starts ringing and she answers it.

RAY VELCORORay’s phone rings. His lieutenant says Saspere has been found and he needs Ray on the scene.

THE CASEBezzerides, Ilinca, and Woodrugh are at the crime scene. Caspere’s sunglasses have been removed to reveal that his eye sockets are empty. A medical expert says they were like removed with a chemical burn, and that he bled out somewhere else. Ray pulls up to the scene, and Bezzerides remarks “This the guy we’ve been waiting on?” Velcoro, Bezzerdies, and Woodrugh exchanges glances, then the camera pans up to reveal the crime scene is right off of the coast.

END EPISODE