Warning: Spoilers for True Detective Season 2.
Summary
- True Detective Season 2 disappointed viewers with confusing plot holes and unanswered questions.
- Frank’s character contradicts himself, going from a powerful gangster to a naive business partner.
- The abundance of secondary characters and subplots made the season feel disjointed and messy.
The highly anticipated fourth season of True Detective has finally premiered on HBO, and the latest installment of the anthology series has already been met with resounding applause from critics and audiences alike. So far, all signs indicate True Detective: Night Country will deliver on its expectations as a superb return to form, which is quite a relief for viewers who remember the missteps of the show’s sophomore season all too well. Despite its gritty, dark tone and promising premise, Season 2 was riddled with nothing but brooding, sad characters trapped in a convoluted plot. While the season’s finale successfully tied up a few loose ends, whether it all actually made sense in the end was the real question.
True Detective’s second season started strong enough for fans of the series to be hopeful about its eventual conclusion. Given the momentous success of the first season, the second iteration seemed destined to follow in the footsteps of its predecessor and produce an astonishing new season filled with twists. However, by the time viewers reached the end, they were left with confusion and disappointment, above all else. In essence, the season fizzled out and left gaping holes scattered across its narrative. Ultimately, there were too many layers that inevitably created too many plot holes and unanswered questions. While there were a myriad of issues with Season 2, there are a few in particular that really take the cake.
Frank’s Business Dealings
True Detective
- Release Date
- January 12, 2014
- Cast
- Mahershala Ali , Stephen Dorff , Carmen Ejogo , Scoot McNairy , Jodie Foster , Kali Reis , Matthew McConaughey , Woody Harrelson , Alexandra Daddario , John Hawkes , Colin Farrell , Vince Vaughn
- Seasons
- 4
As savvy a professional criminal and entrepreneur Frank Semyon (Vince Vaughn) is supposed to be, the ease with which he manages to lose it all in the wake of Ben Caspere’s death doesn’t make sense. Given how well he clearly ran his many businesses, allowing a corrupt city manager to play so fast and loose with his money isn’t something his character would do. Furthermore, liquidating all his assets and putting all his eggs in one basket for such a deal seems counterintuitive to what the viewers are meant to know about Frank.
The series sets him up to be someone to fear with plenty of power to back him up. He’s meant to be a smart career criminal with politicians and police in his pocket. However, he’s taken down by one bad business deal he leveraged everything against for some reason. As a result, he abandons his efforts toward legitimacy and reverts to his gangster days of old. Except this time, he makes one decision after another and digs himself deeper into a world he once skillfully leveraged himself out of. He can’t be the ultimate gangster on one hand and then a naïve business partner on the other. It makes his character a contradiction ripe for a gaping plot hole.
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Too Many Secondary Characters and Subplots Make the Narrative Disjointed
While Frank’s business dealings don’t make sense, neither does the existence of his character as a main focus. The way he’s tied to the season’s overall narrative feels like a stretch. He and Caspere were business partners, so he’s connected to the larger narrative as a result, but he’s also the reason Detective Ray Velcoro (Colin Farrell) turns into a dirty cop, which ultimately feels like a lazy way to keep Frank in the mix of main characters. The season would have been better if he and Officer Paul Woodrugh (Taylor Kitsch) were secondary characters. Their unnecessary subplots could have been left out of the season’s narrative, which would have ultimately made for a cleaner, more cohesive storyline.
Between Paul’s pregnant girlfriend, his suggested homosexuality, and the sexual misconduct allegations, just to name a few, his subplots go nowhere and provide nothing to the plot of Season 2. The same can be said for any of Frank’s henchmen. So many, like Stan (Ronnie Gene Blevins), are introduced and given backstories just to be killed off in a way viewers are supposed to care about. Accepting the extensive subplots of Ray and Ani (Rachel McAdams) is one thing, but when Frank and Paul’s are so unnecessary for the story, their futile subplots are hard to overlook. As such, the second season feels like a messy juggernaut.
The core of the story had potential with Detective Ray Velcoro and Detective Sergeant Ani Bezzerides. However, the season muddied the water with an abundance of secondary characters and confusing, unnecessary subplots that lead nowhere and add nothing of value to the overarching story. As such, the season felt disjointed because there was too much going on for the audience to keep track of properly.
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Villains’ Motivation Doesn’t Make Sense
One of the most egregious plot holes rests with the motivation of the show’s central villains. When it was all said and done, the entire catalyst of the season started because of two bereaved siblings whose mother was killed. After ending up in the foster system, the kids decide to seek vengeance for the misgivings of their past. It didn’t make sense that something so small, although horrendous for the children, would cause such a massive, intertwined web of disjointed narratives. The effects didn’t match the causes in the way viewers hoped or expected.
In the end, the plot of True Detective’s second season was a complicated and convoluted web of storylines that struggled to stay connected and barely did so successfully. The season was riddled with too many layers and too many characters whose subplots simply distracted from the season’s main narrative. If the season had stuck to a singular story surrounding Velcoro and Bezzerides, like the first season did with its two detectives, then the sophomore iteration might have made for better television. New episodes of True Detective: Night Country premiere every Sunday night on HBO. Seasons 1 – 3 are currently streaming on Max.
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