That F@%*ing Scene : Ray Velcoro kicks Wit Conroy's ass
True Detective is an ambitious show which has largely failed to live up to its most interesting ideas over the years. These failures are most apparent in the much maligned season two. The departure from the first season’s creative paradigm, the ultra-complex storyline that didn’t wrap up in a satisfying way at all and sometimes rigid dialogues killed a lot of the interest in the show. It had a lot of potential, but the execution wasn’t there.
One thing I believe everybody can agree on is that season two peaked with episode one. It had THE best first episode of all three season. Only problem is that is went downhill from there.
Today, I want to break down one of my favourite scenes in the entire show. It’s meant to establish Ray Velcoro’s character and he’s a pretty complicated guy: burnout cop, embattled father, lived the male fantasy of killing his wife’s rapist and let it destroy him. In this scene, he’s trying to assert his fatherhood by avenging his son’s run-in with a schoolyard bully. Commendable, right? Well, press play and watch the scene. Tell me if you still feel the same way after.
What is so funny and endearing about a grow man giving a twelve years old boy a lifetime of trauma?
I’ve identified four reasons:
1) The contrast between day and night. This is not just a simple stylistic choice. Ray Velcoro is an alcoholic burnout who struggles with menial human interaction. When he’s force to be like everyone else (i.e. picking his son up from school), he’s clumsy, aggressive and desperate. When he’s only tasked with causing pain to other people, he’s smooth, self-reliant and convincing. This scene illustrate why Ray is such a complicated man.
The day-to-night transition also grants Ray a boogeyman aura. Everything about him is normal: size, face, clothes, etc. No one would ever expect such an explosion of violence from a forgettable-looking man. Credit to Collin Farrell’s SICK acting game, the inner darkness he channels is downright terrifying. Look at how blank his eyes get when he’s talking to young Aspen Conroy at the end. This is a man with a loaded mind who’s operating on autopilot.
2) "You’re gonna run out on your dad? He’s doing this for you." What a brutal thing to tell a kid before forcing him to watch you kick his father’s ass. This line sells what Ray is trying to do. Both to us and to poor, traumatized Ass Pen. He wants to make him responsible for his behaviour and he does that by making him responsible for his parents’ health. A parent is supposed to be responsible for keeping their child alive and not the opposite.
In a way, Ray Velcoro cracked the code. This is very much how you deal with a bully: find something they love (i.e. the people giving him shelter, clothes and food) and make them responsible for it. By giving him further trauma to look forward to, Ray efficiently pacifies Aspen. What he did was hilariously over-the-top, but it worked. What it means is that it cements Ray Velcoro as competent when it’s time to be a monster. He can fuck people up good.
3) Mom’s dickless boyfriend. Everyone forgets about him by the end of the scene, but he’s one of the reason why it works so well. Because he’s all lovey-dovey and wants to protect Chad. To comfort him in his insecurities instead of dealing with his schoolyard problems. The contrast in philosophy with Ray is startling and uncomfortable. He doesn’t want Chad to experience any form of discomfort, but he’s offering temporary respite at best.
The correct solution was somewhere between Ray’s hands-on, confronting approach and the dickless boyfriend’s looking out for Chad. But it’s so satisfying to witness Ray having his son’s back after struggling to connect to him while fending off a stranger who’s having sex with the woman he sacrificed his soul for. Chad will never be bothered in school again and it won’t be because of that asshole’s lovey-dovey methods. I don’t even remember his name.
4) Twelve years old and you’re already evil as fuck. You knew it was coming. This is one of my favourite line in recent television history. I love it so much because it indicates that Ray has given up on humanity. He doesn’t even try to argue with young Aspen. He skips the talking and goes straight to kicking his dad’s ass. Ray Velcoro’s past actions weight so heavy on his shoulders that he doesn’t really care about what he does in the present.
Ray perceives himself to be a failure, which somehow enables him to do violent stuff. Laymen think of violence in terms of it being innate or taught, but the originality of Ray Velcoro’s violence is that it’s an absence of decency. It has been drained of him through his own shitty choices, rendering him helpless at being normal and great at being violent. That’s why Ray is so great and unpredictable. He’s just not well served by the show.
