'True Detective' Detective: Ray's Riding Shotgun

Warning: This recap contains storyline and character spoilers for this week’s episode of True Detective.

Well… that certainly took a sharp turn, didn’t it? After a bleak, confounding season premiere, True Detective bounced back this week with a reassuring return to form — and delivered what looks to be a major character death. But before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s strap on our holster and scour Episode 2 for clues as to who killed kinky city manager Ben Caspere.

Related: Get Caught Up With Our ‘True Detective’ Recaps

Hey, remember when we said last week that Frank Semyon was the only main character without a Tragic Backstory?? Well, not anymore! This week opens with Frank lying in bed, contemplating a water stain on the ceiling and telling his wife a horrific story — which is undoubtedly going on Vince Vaughn’s Emmy reel — about his drunk dad keeping him locked in the basement for days, leaving young Frank to (ick) smash rats with his bare hands. In the immortal words of Bill McNeal: “Good times!”

The coroner informs our Tragic Trio — that’s Ray, Ani, and Paul, naturally — about the state of Caspere’s body when he died, while their superiors fight over whose jurisdiction the case actually is. If you’re looking for bureaucratic squabbles over law enforcement jurisdiction, you’ve come to the right place!

But all we really need to know is: Despite working for three different departments, the Tragic Trio will continue working the case together. And that’s good, because their awkward, prickly interactions — Ray and Ani’s, in particular — recall Rust and Marty’s uneasy partnership last season.

This week’s car conversations teach us that Ray thinks e-cigarettes are “a little too close to sucking a robot’s d–k,” and that Ani’s knife expertise is a pre-emptive defense against male attackers… leading to Ray hilariously growling, “Just so you know, I support feminism.” Good to know, Ray.

Actually, Ani’s also tasked by her bosses with looking into all the corruption in Vinci, so she has an ulterior motive for prying into Ray’s life. She even asks him point-blank, “How compromised are you?” And his stammering non-response says it all. Plus, we couldn’t help giggling during the history lesson from Ani’s boss about what a crap town Vinci is. Someone alert the Vinci tourist board: We have a new motto!

Ray’s brass-knuckle beating of that bully’s dad does come back to bite him this week, when his ex-wife threatens to take full custody of their son because of it. Ray defends his violence with the wise maxim: “Sometimes a good beating promotes personal growth.” And rather than let his ex take his son, he vows that “I will burn this entire f–king city to the ground first.” But hey, he bought the kid a new modeling kit, right? What more do you want from him?

Plus, Ray and Ani pay a visit to a swanky cosmetic-surgery/rejuvenation clinic, where Caspere went for treatment. The tight-faced doctor reveals that Caspere had “a weakness for young women” (i.e. escorts), but otherwise, he’s not a lot of help. Plus, he has a rather, um, vaginal-looking geode on his desk, which elicits this beautiful SMH reaction shot from Ani that we’re still laughing about:

He does recognize Ani (or “Antigone”), though, as the daughter of Eliot the guru; he knew Eliot years ago, but Ani’s not exactly eager to reminisce. Of the five kids who grew up in Eliot’s “community,” she says, two are in jail, two committed suicide… and the fifth is Ani. So does that mean her sister Athena (the webcam girl from last week) didn’t grow up in the cult? We have a feeling Athena and Ben Caspere may have crossed paths at some point; we haven’t seen the last of her.

Related: ‘True Detective’ Mystery Solved: Paul’s Girlfriend Is NOT the Missing Girl

Speaking of Ben Caspere: The full coroner’s report indicated Xanax and alcohol in his system at the time of death. His eyes were indeed burnt out with hydrochloric acid (ouch), and his genitals were blasted off by a 12-gauge shotgun (double ouch). They found no prints and no DNA on his body, but his bank records reveal some mysterious ATM withdrawals that Ray and Ani theorize could mean an out-of-control escort habit. Hmmm… Athena, maybe?

Meanwhile, Frank’s land deal is falling apart because Caspere had all his money, and now that he’s dead, Frank is… kind of screwed. He tries to get Ray to do some sleuthing for him, but ends up taking matters into his own hands, questioning call girls in a seedy nightclub and getting an address for one of Caspere’s love nests.

Back in the Saddest Bar on TV: Frank offers Ray a shot at being chief of the Vinci PD someday, but Ray’s too beaten down by life to accept. In fact, he seems downright suicidal — when the scar-faced waitress suggests they run off to Mexico together, he can’t even flirt back — but he does go check out the address Frank gave him. It looks abandoned, with mounted animal heads, sex swings, surveillance equipment… and a huge pool of blood on the floor.

And he’s not alone! Before he can pull his weapon, a mystery assailant wearing the raven’s head from last week shoots him in the chest with a shotgun — the same weapon used to shoot off Caspere’s genitals, mind you. And just in case we held out any hope for poor Ray, the Raven walks over and shoots him again.

So is that really it for poor Ray Velcoro? Did Colin Farrell really just sign up for two episodes? Would Nic Pizzolatto really pull the rug out from under us like this? (There’s no sign of Ray in next week’s previews.) All we can say is: We can’t wait until next week… and we certainly weren’t saying that last week.

Loose Clues:

* Although we found out this week that he, too, has a Tragic Backstory? — drugged-out son, dead wife — Vinci’s Mayor Chessani is still making a strong case for Worst TV Mayor Since Mayor Quimby. Could he have something to do with Caspere’s gruesome death? It wouldn’t shock us.

* Can we talk about Ray’s ridiculously stereotypical partner, Dixon (Deadwood’s W. Earl Brown)? If you looked up “old-school hardboiled private dick” in the dictionary, you’d find a picture of this guy with a mustard stain on his shirt. And based on the death stares he’s giving Ani, it doesn’t seem like he’s keen on taking orders from some broad. Mark our words: This won’t end well.

* This week in Paul’s sexual dysfunction: We meet his trailer-trash mom, who loves KFC, Clint Eastwood movies, and giving her son inappropriate back rubs. And he runs out on his girlfriend Emily again, who’s had enough of his excuses and dumps him, adding that he’s “not right.” Plus, Paul makes an alarmingly offhanded “fag” comment to Dixon — and later, we see Paul gazing out his window at gay guys in angel wings holding hands. Is he hiding in the closet? Is that secret tied to his war trauma? If so: Come out already, Paul! The gay community would welcome you with open arms, we’re sure. #LoveWins

True Detective airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO.