True Detective: Ray Velcoro, the Burnout

Colin Farrell plays Detective Ray Velcoro of the Vinci PD in the second season of True Detective, not exactly the epitome of an upstanding law enforcement official. We first met him when he was dropping his son, Chad (Trevor Larcom), off at school. A little “head up, be strong” pep talk lets you know the chubby red-head is a target for bullies.

Velcoro sees an attorney about visitation rights and it is revealed that Chad was born exactly 9 months after Velcoro’s ex was raped. There has never been a paternity test. “My son is my son,” Velcoro says. The attorney wants to know if there is anything in his past that can hurt him and he replies, “I welcome judgment.”

Well, that’s probably not such a good thing since he’s been involved with Frank Semyon (Vince Vaughn), an enterprising fellow who operates on the other side of the law, a position he got in after Semyon gave him the 411 on his wife’s rapist.

At the Vinci Police Department, Velcoro learns about the disappearance of city manager Ben Caspere. Lieutenant Burris (James Frain) and Police Chief Holloway (Afemo Omilami) assign him to check into with Det. Teague Dixon (W. Earl Brown). They go to Caspere’s fetish-filled home, prompting Velcoro to say: “Now we got us a somethin’-somethin'”, and Teague to observe: “I had no idea he was so… adventurous” and to inform Velcoro that he has instructions: “Anything happens to me, you burn all my shit– quick.”

Velcoro decides they don’t belong on this case, it’s not a missing person– it’s a kidnapping. Then he goes off and beats the hell out of the reporter that is writing a series of articles that Frank Semyon feels threatened by and later delivers the guy’s laptop and files to Semyon.

Velcoro brings his son a new Coleman sleeping bag for a camping trip but he got the timeline screwed up on. It was the week before. He notices that Chad’s Nikes aren’t on his feet and calls the kid a fat p*ssy in front of Richard, his wife’s new man. He threatens Chad with a spanking in front of the cheerleading squad if he doesn’t give up the name of the kid that destroyed the expensive kicks. Chad folds. It was Aspen Conroy. Velcoro uses his resources to get Aspen’s address. He beats up the kid’s father badly in front of the 12-year-old boy. We can’t really say he was out of control because he put brass knuckles on!

After his meeting with Semyon, and sleeping off a bottle of booze, Velcoro is sent to the scene where Highway Patrol Officer Paul Woodrugh (Taylor Kitsch) found Ben Caspere’s dead body after an intense ride on his motorcycle. Ani Bezzerides (Rachel McAdams) and her partner Elvis Ilinca (Michael Irby) from the Ventura Sheriff’s Dept. also show up. He informs one and all that the dead body is a missing person

In Episode 2, “Night Finds You,” Velcoro finds himself teamed up with Ani Bezzerides. She is head of the Task Force assigned to solve the Caspere homicide and she is also supposed to find out what she can about Velcoro. He is told to control the flow of information by the Vinci higher-ups. He’s not sure if he’s supposed to solve the case or not. “Just no surprises, Detective Velcoro,” Mayor Chessani says. “Ray accepts dualities must be effected to serve public interest,” Lt. Burris says. “I really do,” Velcoro responds. Later, he and Bezzerides go to see the mayor, where a guy named Ernst (Alain Uy) answers most of the questions. She doesn’t know Velcoro already talked to the mayor. Teague Dixon and Paul Woodrugh are also on this task force.

Velcoro’s ex informs him that he’s not getting visitation at all anymore because Chad gets anxious when he has to be around him. Velcoro denies having anything to do with the beating of Aspen’s father but says: “Sometimes a good beating provokes personal growth.” Gena flat out tells Velcoro that he’s a bad person. There are cryptic references to an awful deed and who Ray really did it for. Gena threatens to have a paternity test. Velcoro all but falls apart. He knows Chad is not biologically his son but Chad is all he has. Gena points out that Chad deserves better and leaves.

Velcoro and Bezzerides visit Dr. Pitlor (Rick Springfield), Casper’s psychiatrist, and don’t get much out of him they didn’t already know except that Pitlor knew Bezzerides’ guru father. On the ride back, Velcoro tells Bezzerides that she will hear rumors about his bad habit and that he hurt a guy that hurt his wife and is in hock to a Southland mob. He claims that only the bad habits part is true.

He asks her what that was all about with her father and she says it was “some hippie sh*t” back in the 70s and 80s, but ignores him after that. Velcoro says he is trying to “effect transparency” between them because he doesn’t think they are supposed to solve this case. He points out that if they really wanted it solved, they would have appointed a team of grand jury investigators instead of just her and Paul Woodrugh, whom he refers to as “the kid.” He ignores her question: “Tell me, how compromised are you?”

At a meeting with Frank Semyon, what Velcoro actually did to the person he believed raped his wife becomes clear when Semyon refers to a dead body that could put the detective in prison. Velcoro is sent by Semyon to investigate a Hollywood location Ben Caspere took hookers to. There he is shot by someone in a crow costume and this episode ends.

In “Maybe Tomorrow,” it turns out that Ray is alive because “the Crow” was using rubber buckshot and he’s just got a couple of cracked ribs and a pissed off Bezzerides to deal with. By the end of this episode, Ray Velcoro has been described as a “burnout” by both Frank Semyon and Bezzerides but the Crow incident has given the detective an incentive to change some of his bad habits. Trouble is, now the state is coming after him.