And so the story unfolds under a storm of gunshots and meth dealing motorcycle gangs. The fourth episode of HBO’s “True Detective,” entitled “Who Goes There,” took the show to the next level last night — and not just because of the epic last scene. The bromance between Rust and Marty is heating up and I for one couldn’t be happier. These two are the best combo on TV since Walter White and Jessie Pinkman in “Breaking Bad.” But the hunt for Reggie Ledoux took a darker turn after Charlie, Doris Lang’s ex-boyfriend, opens up about a devil worshiping, human sacrificing cult hidden in a place called Carcosa ruled by the Yellow King.
And that’s how “Who Goes There” begins, in Charlie’s dirty prison cell where he is being interrogated by Rust and Marty. This time, Marty seems to play bad cop for the most part until Rust leaves Charlie with the realization that he probably had a part in the killing of Lang. I couldn’t help but think of what it would be like to have to share a jail cell with Reggie after seeing him (or I imagine it is him) walking around a field in tighty-whities carrying a machete and wearing a gasmask.
The case begins to get cold after the interrogation since Reggie disappears from the grid after skipping a parole hearing. When it rains, it pours, especially for Marty. Lisa, Marty’s mistress drops a bomb on the family after she goes to their home and tells his wife Maggie about their affair. Not surprisingly, Marty doesn’t take it well and after a not-so-nice phone call to Lisa, he turns that emotion to the case.
After a night of boozing, Marty follows up a lead on Tyrone, a known friend of Reggie that takes him to an industrial rave in Louisiana’s backwoods — who would have guessed? Sticking out like a sore thumb, Marty ends up finding his man and gets information on Reggie.
This leads us to skeletons in the closet reappearing. Reggie is working for a Texas bike gang known as the Iron Crusaders, which just so happens to be the outfit Rust embedded with during his undercover narcotics days. The two realize that if they want to get to Reggie, they’ll need to break into the bike gang.
Now, out of house and needing a place to stay, Marty gets serious with his relationship with Rust as he moves into Rust’s incredibly bland home. I was left chuckling after Marty tried to do as Rust did and look at the tiny mirror almost statuesque like. Now that he’s a roommate, Marty gets a first hand look at what Rust was like in his undercover days as he begins to transform into Crash, his biker gang persona. Crash is a stubby bearded, heavy drug user with a thing for Jameson and track marks that run down his arms. Marty seems to be in over his head on this one, but after taking some swigs of the Irish whiskey he’s good to go.
Luckily for Marty, he’s the transportation for Rust if things go bad. Rust hooks up with his old buddy Ginger at a biker bar chock full of strippers, trucker hats, and a VIP (members only) section. And after a casual line of cocaine and some mystery powder, they make a deal where Rust will meet Reggie if he helps Ginger out with a little robbery of a trap house.
While Marty is mulling over the loss of his family and waiting for his partner to call him, Rust is doing more lines of cocaine and dressing up as a policeman before the big raid.
After a tense ride through the projects, Rust, Ginger, and two bearded bikers who looked like stand-ins for “Duck Dynasty” pull up to the trap house. Jacked up on high-grade drugs, Rust urges them to remain cool as Ginger fills up a duffel bag with cash and the other two hold up the residents at gunpoint. Things seem to be going to plan accordingly, but outside trouble is brewing. Shadows begin to form around the windows and after a brick flies through the window and almost hits one of the gunmen, the plan hits the fan. A gunfight ensues, and Rust stuns Ginger with a heavy punch to the face before leading him dazed and confused out of the house.
This final scene is where director Cary Fukunaga flexes his visual muscles with an uninterrupted, six-minute play-by-play of Rust and Ginger escaping the projects – which has turned into a mini war zone by the time the police come in. Finally, Rust gets to a phone and he’s able to call Marty for a pickup in 90 seconds. Of course, Marty gets there just in time as bullets whiz by Rust and they make their escape out of the neighborhood.
Episode 3, “The Locked Room,” was an deep look into the psyche. And not only was their a monster waiting at the end of a dream, conveniently shown through the slow motion walk of Reggie at the end of the episode, we saw the demons of Rust and Marty. “Who Goes There” looked outward. The inner-troubles had to take a back seat to the job, as Rust said it, “Enough of this self-improvement, penance, hand-wringing shit. Let’s go to work.”
