True Detective - Who Goes There

The incredible ending which looks like it was shot in one long continuous, uninterrupted take, is quite an exhilarating and maddening bookend to the episode, “Who Goes There”, as Cohle learns from Hart that his former gang while undercover, the Iron Crusaders, were using Ledoux, their suspect in the murder of Dora Lange (when in prison with Dora’s beau, he showed Ledoux sexy pics of her which stirred up the creep’s interest), as a meth cook. Cohle will hope to reacquaint himself with Ginger in the gang, taking coke from police storage as a device to earn his trust, hoping he can get access to Ledoux. Ginger, though, wants Cohle to join in him in a madcap, ridiculous attempted robbery in a neighborhood stronghold of African-American rivals, as too much blow and lack of common sense or timing results in shootouts and an eventual police raid. Seeing Cohle, despite snorting a lot of white, circumvent danger all around him, while dragging Ginger with him (repeated blows as incentive for Ginger to do as he says), very carefully and expertly dodging gangland gunfire and turf fellows is stunning.

Hart’s life encounters complications (that is putting it mildly). After testifying in court for a case, we see Lisa as stenographer, eventually addressing him afterward in not-so-pleasant terms. Hart tries to just end it and go their separate ways but Lisa will have none of it…going to Maggie about their affair! Sufficed to say, Hart is left alone with an empty house, trying to contact his wife, with the kids at her parents’ house, as his father-in-law dismisses any chance to speak to his daughter. Trying to get Cohle to help his cause of reconnection with a pissed-off Maggie by talking to her at a diner fails as does Hart trying to talk to her while at work as a nurse at her hospital. It is indeed a disaster. Cohle just wants no part of any conversation about Hart and his affair, his regret and boozing guilt, trying to reemphasize that it is none of his business. And Cohle, using his father’s “leukemia”, visiting “pops” for a bit of a vacay, is on the record so he could revisit Ginger. This remains official when Gilbough and Papania address with Hart that they have no record of Cohle’s father having leukemia. Cohle, when asked by them, mentions being dumped with his survivalist father by a runaway mother and living a bit in Alaska, estranged from his pops as they didn’t see eye to eye (and pops considered his leaving an act of betrayal). So parents who weren’t there, a messy divorce, trip to psychiatric hospital, dark descent into the narco world, and the loss of a daughter: this was a lot of heavy baggage Cohle was carrying around!

Lisa really had a problem with Hart just disregarding her and Maggie has no interest in much of anything her husband has to say. He tries to convince her he was cutting ties with Lisa and made a terrible mistake, but Maggie needs time away from him. So with all of the personal dramas affecting Cohle and Hart, trying to solve a highly complex case with a lot of moving parts proves difficult. Distractions on the job can be a detriment. Cohle tries to get Hart’s head into the game. At least Hart did track down Ledoux’s former associate, through the stripper girlfriend. The scenes where Hart inserts himself into an underground club rave and later in a biker bar both certainly recognize that the job as an investigator can take a detective into very unique and unforeseen situations. And that cell Dora’s ex is currently residing in prison, filthy with a puke paint job, is horrifying…you do not want to fuck up and end here. Knowing that because of him Dora probably found herself in peril with Ledoux because Cohle won’t sugarcoat his involvement shows us that while Hart is a bit more soft in his approach in that regard his partner is not.