“Please be careful,” says Ani (Rachel McAdams). “Please get out of this,” responds her sister, Athena (Leven Rambin), as she and their father leave Los Angeles to go into hiding and keep out of sight until Ani, Ray Velcoro (Colin Farrell), and Paul Woodrugh (Taylor Kitsch) can solve the Caspere murder in the penultimate season two episode of the HBO dramatic crime series True Detective.
Still reeling from the drugs forced on her during the orgy in episode six, Ani sits dazed and feeling lightheaded in a motel room with Velcoro. She was able to get the missing girl out of the mansion and away from the weird sex party, but she’s worried about killing the security guard and having his death connected to her or her sister. Confused and in need of a distraction, Ani begins to make a move on Ray who very gentlemanly declines her sexual advances telling her that won’t help her.
Feeling embarrassed, Ani tells Ray it’s the drugs in her system. He responds by telling her she’s way out of his league and he’s going to go next door and check on Paul and the girl. Once next door, Ray and Paul go over the contracts and documents they stole from the mansion. The signatures include the Russian Osip Agronov, Mayor Chessani, the Mayor of Vinci’s son, and other very powerful men, all of whom seem to be part of a big real estate conspiracy.
While Paul and Ray are discussing the papers, Paul receives a text on his phone that includes compromising photos of his night in bed with his old Special Forces buddy. Paul tells Ray he needs to head home.
Realizing he’s going to be blackmailed and worried about what happened at the mansion the night before, Paul decides to move his mother and his pregnant girlfriend to a motel outside of town for a few days to keep them safe. Both his mother and girlfriend don’t like it but agree to do as he says until he contacts them again in a few days.
Meanwhile back at the Molera Motel where Ani and Ray are hiding out, Ray tells Ani she needs to lay low until he can check on the damage and see if she’s implicated in the murder at the mansion. He asks her to handle the interrogation of Vera, the missing woman they pulled out of the mansion, while he’s gone and Ani agrees. During the interrogation, Vera reveals she was never “missing” and that she never wanted out. After Ani shows her some photos, Vera tells her that Tasha, Caspere’s favorite hooker who went missing, was working on trying to blackmail Caspere and some other people and ended up being taken out into the woods. She also mentions to Ani a different girl in the photo who Ani believes is named Laura.
Refusing to testify and arguing with her sister who arrives because Ani called her, Ani tells Vera that she needs to stay out of sight for the next few days and recommends she stay with her sister. Ani warns her that if she doesn’t and tries to get in touch with the men from the mansion, she’ll let them know that she helped a cop who’s investigating them.
Ray meets up with Frank Semyon (Vince Vaughn) at one of his casinos and tells him about the night he had at the mansion and that it looks like Caspere’s shares of the land deal were spread around and sold for peanuts. He also lets Frank know about Osip the Russian being seen at the mansion and being in on the land deals. Ray asks Frank if he has the name of the guy in his crew who gave him the wrong name of the man who raped Ray’s wife. Frank promises he’ll have it for Ray by the end of the day.
Ray goes to meet Assistant District Attorney Davis – the one who put Ani, Ray, and Paul back together to find the real killer of Caspere – to bring her up to speed on the investigation. Pulling into their meeting place, Ray discovers to his horror she has been shot to death and her body left in her car. Ray quickly drives out of the area.
Frank has Blake (Christopher James Baker), his second-in-command, meet him in his office to supposedly go over collections but instead beats him to a pulp to get information out of him. It seems Frank has been at war with Osip and didn’t even know it. Little by little over the last six months Osip (Timothy V. Murphy) has been buying Frank’s clubs and casinos out from under him and turning all his men against him, except for his bodyguard, Nails (Chris Kerson). Blake tells Frank that Osip wants California for himself and wants Frank out of the way. He even confesses to murdering Stan for trying to blackmail him about betraying Frank. Frank asks why Blake gave him the wrong name to give to Ray about the rapist and Blake admits it was a low-level drug dealer who was gunning for Blake believing he had stolen money from him. He saw an opportunity to get rid of his problem.
“Is there anything else you can tell me?” asks Frank, and Blake tells him about a meeting with Osip and another investor on the land deal. The meeting will involve an exchange of $12 million and Blake suggests Frank let him do a triple-cross and let him attend in order to help Frank get his money bank. Unfortunately for Blake, Frank decides to shoot him instead and lets him bleed to death in his office as he calmly finishes his drink.
Ani, Ray, and Paul are back together at the motel trying to figure a way out of their situation. Davis was the only one who knew about the investigation. Paul did some digging and discovered that Ani is wanted for the murder of the security guard and that whoever killed Davis used one of Velcoro’s old guns to do it, framing him for her murder. Ray asks Ani if there is anyone in the Ventura sheriff’s office she can trust with their evidence of the land deal but she responds, “They’re looking to burn me.” Ani asks about going to the F.B.I. but Ray shoots that idea down saying they don’t have enough evidence. Paul gets another text telling him to meet at the Hall of Records building in Vinci at midnight. He tells Ray and Ani he has to go check in at home and leaves.
Frank meets with Osip and pretends to be okay with working for him as manager of the hotels and casinos. They drink to a new future together. Later that night, Frank removes his money from all the casinos and hotels he used to own and sets them on fire, leaving the gas on to burn it all down. Making fake passports and reservations to Venezuela under different names, it seems Frank has an exit strategy in place and it involves leaving the country with his wife.
Paul is just about to walk over to the Hall of Records when he calls Ray telling him he’s afraid he might be walking into something. Ray, not really understanding what Woodrugh means, tells him not to. Not listening, Paul says he’ll call him back after he’s done. Paul walks up and is met by his old war buddy, Miguel, who tells him he thinks he can get Paul through this if he just does what he says. Miguel tells Paul to hand over his gun and Paul does as ordered, entering the building and going down flights of stairs until they arrive at the old subway tunnels. There they are met by more security guards and Vinci’s Police Chief Holloway. The chief tells him to give back the documents he stole from the mansion the other night. Paul tells the chief he doesn’t have them on him but he can call Velcoro and set a meet, just as long as he gets to walk away from the whole mess with every copy of the photos they have of him.
As Paul goes to make the call, he tells the chief he’s not getting a signal and moves forward to show him. In a flash, he strikes the chief in his privates and takes his gun away, reversing the tables by now holding the gun at the police chief’s head. Paul tells the other men to lose their flashlights and throw their guns on the ground and they comply. Paul then beats in the chief’s skull with the gun and runs down the tunnel trying to escape the armed guards who are now hunting him.
Back at the motel, Ray and Ani have come to the realization the girl in the photo who they thought was Laura is actually Erica, Caspere’s secretary they met on the set of the movie. They also realize she might be the orphan who lost her parents to the diamond heist back in the ’90s. Ani hopes to get her to testify to the Feds about what she knows and that that, along with the documents, will be enough to bring down the corrupt land deal and save themselves. Ray and Ani, both feeling lost and scared, end up comforting each other by having sex.
The armed guards are no match for former soldier Woodrugh who out-thinks and out-maneuvers them, killing all four of his pursuers. Paul then finds a ladder and climbs out of the tunnels. Believing he is in the clear, Paul exits the building and pulls out his phone to call Ray when he’s shot in the back from behind by Burris, the cop. Paul, not quite dead, begins to crawl forward to where he dropped his gun. Burris follows Paul and just as he is about to grab his gun, Burris delivers a fatal shot. He then strolls past Paul’s dead body, picks up his dropped phone, and casually walks away. The episode ends with a fade to black of Paul Woodrugh’s lifeless body.
Intriguing, suspenseful, and gritty, True Detective‘s season two episode seven titled “Black Maps and Motel Rooms” starts to bring all the loose ends of the case together and says goodbye to a major cast member. This is the episode that finally had more answers to what has really been going on with the corrupt land deal and how high it goes. It also revealed the secret war Frank has been having with the Russian who wants Semyon to work for him.
Both Colin Farrell and Rachel McAdams deliver strong performances as Ray and Ani, two dedicated cops who are in way over their heads and are beginning to realize there may be no way out for them. The scene near the end of the episode where they finally come together out of fear and hopelessness is slow and believable. Taylor Kitsch is solid in his final appearance as Officer Woodrugh whose denial of his sexual identity inevitably leads to his destruction. He has the most action in the episode, with a thrilling gun chase down in the dark damp tunnels of Vinci.
With only one episode left it’s going to be very interesting to see if Frank is able to steal from the Russians and skip town, to see if Ray and Ani are able to expose and bring down the big land development conspiracy and clear their names, and to find out if anyone will make it out alive.
GRADE: B
