True Detective episode 3 recap: You can't keep a bad cop down

In its biggest misstep yet, True Detective sets up a major twist, then gets cold feet

True Detective
(Image credit: HBO/Lacey Terrell)

The second season of True Detective began with two hours of dreary, boring sludge — until last week's episode ended with a sudden and welcome bang. As Ray Velcoro (Colin Farrell) examined a house used by murder victim Ben Caspere, he was suddenly confronted by a mysterious figure wearing a crow mask. As Ray tried to draw his pistol, the figure blasted him in the chest with a shotgun, sending Ray crashing to the ground. And then — just to make sure we all got it — the figure walked over and blasted him again, point-blank in the chest.

It seemed as though the many flaws of True Detective's first two episodes were just a canny bit of misdirection. Sure, Ray Velcoro was an obnoxious, uninteresting, two-dimensional cliche of a protagonist — but now we knew he wasn't intended to be the protagonist at all. The murder of Ben Caspere, California's randiest city manager, wasn't the crux of True Detective's second season. The murder of Ray Velcoro was. And Ani Bezzerides (Rachel McAdams) and Paul Woodrugh (Taylor Kistch) — our remaining True Detectives — would be forced to team up with our True Criminal, Frank Semyon (Vince Vaughn), to crack the case.

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Scott Meslow

Scott Meslow is the entertainment editor for TheWeek.com. He has written about film and television at publications including The Atlantic, POLITICO Magazine, and Vulture.