True Detective - Recap: Racing To A Red Light
Recap and review of True Detective - Episode 3 - The Locked Room:
I've come to the realization that I don't care one bit about the overarching narrative of True Detective. This is simply such an atmospheric, intense series, and its performances are so nuanced and complex that I'd rather just luxuriate in this world, with these characters, across these two time periods than actually get into the nitty-gritty of who killed Dora Lange in 1995, and who's perpetrating the murders again in 2012. "The Locked Room" maintains the show's darker nature, steeping us in the baser aspects of the human experience, and positing that all life is about inevitably letting go. As Rust (Matthew McConaughey) chillingly theorizes, all of our love, hate, memory, and pain are really just the same thing: a dream of humanity. "And like all dreams, there's a monster at the end of it."
Credit: HBO
Much of the story plays as an examination of modern masculinity. Woody Harrelson hasn't always had as much to do on the show as Matthew McConaughey, but it's hard to argue that Marty doesn't own this episode. And much of that is because the series smartly escalates the discord between he and Rust, illustrating that part of the reason Marty doesn't particularly like Rust is because he doesn't conform to the values of manhood that give his own life meaning. In one of the best scenes of the series so far, Marty returns home to find that Rust has mowed his lawn and is enjoying some iced tea in the kitchen with Maggie (Michelle Monaghan). Marty completely flips his lid, as Rust has invaded his domestic territory. In essence, Rust is infringing upon Marty's manhood. When Marty tells Rust to never mow his lawn, that he likes to mow his lawn, it's Marty essentially staking a claim on his territory. "Don't mow my lawn" is essentially the new "Stay the hell away from my wife."
Of course, Marty really isn't doing all that great a job maintaining his home life in the first place. When Marty is mostly unfazed by the discovery of his daughter's collection of lewd drawings, Maggie laces into him for his disconnectedness, arguing that he's been so lost in his work that he's been emotionally and physically absent from his family's life. Lacking any kind of reasonable comeback, Marty basically falls back on declarations of masculinity: "We used to go entire weekends without leaving this room!" Marty tries to argue, as if to state that Maggie is the one that has changed, failing to recognize his own fundamental lack of growth. Maggie's response pretty much calls him out on this immaturity, stating, "Well of course we don't screw anymore like we did when we were 19!" Marty basically admits to being screwed up, and it's a fairly poignant moment that Harrelson nails. I would also be remiss if I didn't single out Monaghan for how she makes Maggie so much more than a long-suffering housewife. She's her own person who has an individual sense of identity that exists completely external to her husband, yet she wants to include him because, in spite of her suspicions about his true character, she loves him. They sleep together, and it seems to get their marriage back on track in a small way, but it slowly starts to unravel just one night later...
Credit: HBO
Maggie sets up Rust with one of her friends, and the couples go on a double date to a honky-tonk bar, where Rust's mercurial personality seems to entice the friend. Meanwhile, Marty ends up running into Lisa (Alexandra Daddario), who effectively ends things with Marty for good before resuming the date she's on. This sends Marty into a spiral of jealousy. After the date, Marty drunkenly storms into Lisa's apartment and jealousy brutalizes her date, freaking Lisa out and prompting her to call the cops. It's the most emotion we've seen pour out of Marty, and it's far from his finest hour, as his territorial sense of masculinity compels him to attempt to take ownership of Lisa. He wants to have his cake and eat it too, maintaining his marriage and his affair without ever expecting the two roads will intersect. Later, when Marty asks Rust if a man can love two women at the same time, Rust confesses that he doesn't think man is capable of love in the way he thinks he is, and it reads as a condemnation of everything Marty holds dear: he's carried on the affair with Lisa not only out of lust and love for the young woman, but also out of his own belief that the affair will make his home life easier. In essence, he's doing it because he loves his wife and wants to keep from being tense at home, but he's pretty much got blinders on, ignoring the (possibly irreparable) damage he's doing to both relationships.
Credit: HBO
Marty's jealous disposition doesn't go unnoticed by Maggie, who calls Rust and asks him point-blank if Marty is cheating on her. Naturally, Rust couldn't possibly care less what Marty does, but he spares Maggie the truth and says that he doesn't know one way or the other. Marty wouldn't tell him, Rust notes, because "he hates my guts." But beyond the yes or no of whether Marty is cheating, Rust tells Maggie that men like he and Marty are men who know what they want, which is why they're so frequently given to solitude. This doesn't really help Maggie in any substantial way, but it's a fitting insight into Rust's character, as it could be argued that his solitary nature is rooted in his resistance to making personal connections. With that said, I find myself wondering if this growing familiarity between Maggie and Rust might not lead to an affair, thus causing the rift between Rust and Marty that happens in 2002. It seems a bit obvious, but it wouldn't surprise me either way, even knowing how difficult it would be to depict a romantic connection for a guy who believes that "Man is incapable of love".
Credit: HBO
As for the actual investigation, Marty and Rust track down the Friends of Christ Revival tent where preacher (Shea Whigham) has his followers in the palm of his hand. From the preacher, they learn that Dora Lange frequented their church, which burned down. This eventually ties into the later tidbit that Dora used to hang around with a tall man with a burned face. They track down and interrogate the man, recently collared for breaking and entering. But it's ultimately a dead end. However, their lack of progress makes Rust desperate, and so he spends the evening poring over old cases, and eventually comes to a realization: Dora Lange was not the killer's first victim. He theorizes that a young woman named Rianne, found floating in a river several years earlier, was a victim of Lange's killer, despite the death being ruled an accident as a result of a flood. After interrogating Rianne's grandfather, they learn of a person of interest named Reginald Ledoux, a drug dealer whom the detectives learn was the cellmate of Dora's husband, Charlie. And with that, Rust and Marty are prepared to make their arrest. All they have to do is storm Ledoux's compound...which is easier said than done, as we're told that there was inevitably a gunfight. A disaster is waiting to happen, and a "monster" awaits. The man in question, all tatted-up and wearing a gas mask and tightie whities (and carrying a machete), is a genuinely chilling visual on which to close the episode, full of portent and foreboding.
Credit: HBO
"The Locker Room" is the best episode of True Detective yet, as McConaughey continues to deliver career-best performances, while Harrelson continues to do yeoman's work in his role. There are very few crime dramas on TV as deeply involving as True Detective, and this is owing to the richness of the show's world-building and character detail. The show will return in two weeks, and I'm already stoked about the possible directions the series can take, as I can't remember a show in recent memory packed with such possibility.