review of True Detective Season 2 finale 

True Detective Season 2 Finale: Good Smoke but No Cigar

True Detective season 2 more than have most of the people who have publicly been posting about it, but I gotta say that the season finale, though certainly powerful and even justified, was a little too grim for my ever-hopeful taste.

Ray dying and the reason he did was also a little trite.  He could have made it, gotten away with Ani and the money, except, against all reasonable caution, he needs to see his son one last time.  You just knew that that would be his undoing, and you have to wonder why Ray didn\'t realize it, too.   And even then, why not let him escape in this woods, and maybe kill Buris in the act, too?

Frank\'s death was also predictable, given the commitment that he made to meet Jordan in two weeks "or less".   The twist of who did him in was strong, though - as was the way he want out, walking, mortally wounded, in the desert.   That was certainly a fitting way to go.

Ani and Ray were good couple, and their all-too-brief relationship was handled well.  Especially memorable was Ray\'s telling Ani that this was the first time for him in a long time, Ani saying she could see that, Ray asking how, and Ani saying he seemed like a man who was "making up for lost time".   That scene was one of the best of season, capped off by Ray\'s smile in the car, when he can\'t quite bring himself to tell Ani he loves her, though she knows that\'s the way he feels and she the same.

Ani and Kelly\'s survival, with Ani and Ray\'s baby, was also a nice way to end this story.   All in all, enjoyable television, but not even close to the masterpiece that this series was in its first season.

See also Season Two: True Detective: All New ... True Detective 2.2: Pulling a Game of Thrones ... True Detective 2.3: Buckshot and Twitty ...True Detective 2.4: Shoot-out ... True Detective 2.7: Death and the Anti-Hero

And see also Season One: True Detective: Socrates in Louisiana ... True Detective Season One Finale: Light above Darkness

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Paul Levinson, PhD, is Professor of Communication & Media Studies at Fordham University in New York City.  His 8 nonfiction books, including The Soft Edge (1997), Digital McLuhan (1999), Realspace (2003),  Cellphone (2004), and New New Media (2009, 2nd edition 2012), have been the subject of major articles in the New York Times, Wired, the Christian Science Monitor, and have been translated into 12 languages. His science fiction novels include The Silk Code (1999, ebook 2012), Borrowed Tides (2001), TheConsciousness Plague (2002, 2013), The Pixel Eye (2003), The Plot To SaveSocrates (2006, ebook 2012), and Unburning Alexandria (2013).  His short stories have been nominated for Nebula, Hugo, Edgar, and Sturgeon Awards.  Paul Levinson appears on "The O'Reilly Factor" (Fox News), "The CBS Evening News,"  “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” (PBS),  “Nightline” (ABC), NPR, and numerous national and international TV and radio programs. His 1972 album, Twice Upon a Rhyme, was re-issued in 2009 (CD) and 2010 (remastered vinyl). He reviews the best of television in his InfiniteRegress.tv blog, and was listed in The Chronicle of Higher Education’s “Top 10 Academic Twitterers” in 2009.

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