True Detective - Recap: Strange Bedfellows
Recap and review of True Detective - Episode 6 - Haunted Houses:
As the tale for this cycle of True Detective nears its close, it was inevitable that the timeline would catch up with the present day. Last week gave us our first peek into the 21st Century, and "Haunted Houses" brings us the rest of the way, explaining just what happened between Rust (Matthew McConaughey) and Marty (Woody Harrelson) to cause the dissolution of their partnership. I don't think the show ever tried to pretend that the end of their partnership sprang from any other well but that of an affair between Rust and Maggie (Michelle Monaghan). But what we learn is that the dust-up between Rust and Marty actually had much deeper motivations beneath. Yes, the affair with Maggie is what drove Marty over the edge against Rust, but their adversarial relationship had been eroding by increments over time. The affair was simply the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. If you're friends, or if you share certain values, you might be able to overcome the division Rust and Marty reached. But when your respective worldviews are this different, when your ideologies are this powerfully contrasted, it's only inevitable that you'll go ten years without seeing each other. And when you meet each other again for a beer, of course you're going to bring your gun.
Credit: HBO
The episode starts out attempting to match the procedural quality of some of the past episodes, yet it's merely a feint for the more incisive character study underpinning the narrative. For a while, we get Rust investigating leads in 2002, as he's come to the conclusion that someone has been murdering women and children, and has been covering it up for who knows how long. Rust believes the entire criminal enterprise is the result of an Evangelical education program run by Reverend Billy Lee Tuttle (Jay O. Sanders), and he sets out to get to the bottom of the case by interviewing the families of missing people, and tracking down Joel Theriot (Shea Whigham), the tent preacher from "The Locked Room". Theriot has left the faith after several of his tents were vandalized, yet he steers Rust in Tuttle's direction with his tale of the education program at one of the Evangelical schools in which he discovered that one of the teachers had taken pictures of children in compromising positions. However, Theriot's discovery was ignored, implying a farther-reaching cover-up in play, particularly after Rust's case is quashed by his boss, who doesn't want Rust turning the missing persons department into homicide unless he has bodies to show for it. Yet Rust persists and gets himself suspended as a result, and this is where things start to come off the rails for the mercurial detective.
Credit: HBO
Over the intervening seven years, Rust has grown even more cold and distant with Marty than before, barking out orders to him like a drill sergeant instead of working with him like a partner. This coldness is reflected in a positively chilling scene in which Rust gets a confession from a young woman who murdered her child as a result of Munchhausen by Proxy. In detailing what will happen to her once she gets to prison, Rust bluntly tells her, "If you get the opportunity, you should kill yourself." It's to the point where Marty can't really overlook Rust's tiresome nihilism anymore, nor can he stick up for the partner that he's been defending to the bureau for the better part of seven years. Rust simply believes his off-the-books work in investigating Tuttle's potential crime ring is more important than Marty getting home to be with his wife and children, and I'm not entirely certain the show views Rust as being in the wrong. At the very least, had Marty actually gone home to his wife and kids, there would be a case to be made for how he was putting his time towards the repair of his marriage, yet that's far from what he actually does. Instead, he's meeting up at a bar with Beth (one of the young prostitutes from the bunny ranch in "Seeing Things") and continuing in his philandering ways after seven years of fidelity and sobriety. So it's almost as if the show is making a value judgment against Marty when Rust and Maggie inevitably have their affair.
Credit: HBO
It's a completely passionless, unpleasant experience for both parties, but one that feels compelled by the inertia of their own lives, as neither is in any position to move forward. Maggie basically seduces Rust, who tries to resist but caves, giving her an intense thirty seconds that inspire shame and regret in the both of them. Framed against the light of the evidence in Rust's apartment (namely the stag's head model), the scene is particularly chilling. As is Rust's and Maggie's respective responses to the aftermath, as Maggie reveals she wanted to hurt Marty, while Rust angrily barks at her to get the hell out of his apartment. It's a scene matched only by the eventual confrontation between Maggie and Marty, as she confesses to the incident and makes like it was some glibly pleasurable experience. Marty flies into a rage and nearly strikes Maggie, who eggs him on and calls him a coward when he doesn't follow through. His masculinity is being challenged by Rust, since Marty is the kind of guy who sees his home as his castle (as evidenced by how effortlessly he commandeers control of the TV set from his family early in the episode) and his family responsibilities as his sole dominion (as evidenced by the classic "Did you mow my lawn?" exchange earlier in the season). Marty sees Rust's actions as an infringement upon his rights as a man, and so it's no surprise when Marty takes Rust down outside the precinct in one of the most visceral scenes of television so far this year.
Credit: HBO
The fight between Marty and Rust is clearly a long time coming, and while Papania (Tory Kittles) and Gilbough (Michael Potts) likely know about the fight from records in 2012 (then again, they might not, since no charges were filed), they don't know why the fight happened. And Maggie isn't telling them, either. In a mirror of Rust storming out of his interview last week, Marty decides he's sick of their questions and leaves, as does Maggie, who feigns ignorance about the reason behind the broken partnership. Yet all these moments are fittingly contrasted with the sheer brutality of the fight scene, as Marty just SACKS Rust in the parking lot and goes to town on him. Rust, playing defense, allows Marty to throw wild punches and tire himself out, gaining the upperhand in the process. Rust implores Marty to stay down, but it isn't until colleagues from the precinct get in the middle of the fray that the fight truly ends. Marty shouts that it's not over between them, and although he probably didn't think it would take ten years, he's right. As Marty makes his way home from the precinct in 2012, he's pulled over by Rust, who tells him they need to talk. And Marty has his gun, because of course he does. And Rust's taillight is broken because of course it is. What better visual representation of Rust Cohle than a light that's broken yet still shines bright regardless?
Credit: HBO
"Haunted Houses" doesn't reach the dizzying heights of the best True Detective has to offer, but it's a crucial episode in understanding what makes these characters tick. As we near the end of the season, and the conclusion to this terrific story, these character studies will become more important than ever. Far more so than the mystery, and more than the fights and shouting matches. And that's what separates True Detective from similar crime dramas of its ilk. Understanding the solution to a mystery is all about context; caring about it, however, is all about character.