Down Will Come

The season is set in California, and focuses on three detectives, Ray Velcoro (Colin Farrell), Ani Bezzerides (Rachel McAdams) and Paul Woodrugh (Taylor Kitsch), from three cooperating police forces and a criminal-turned-businessman named Frank Semyon (Vince Vaughn) as they investigate a series of crimes they believe are linked to the murder of a corrupt politician.

Velcoro (Colin Farrell) and Bezzerides (Rachel McAdams) send the burnt Cadillac to a repair shop and discuss corruption in Vinci.

Semyon also begins rebuilding his criminal empire by contacting old properties he owned, including a low-income housing unit and the nightclub Lux Infinitum, as well as starting business with local drug suppliers.

When Bezzerides arrives at the Ventura County CID station, she finds out she has been suspended, as Steve Mercer (Riley Smith) has filed a sexual harassment complaint.

The site's consensus states: "Though the final scene of True Detective's 'Down Will Come' was spectacular, the events hardly felt earned after a brooding, clunky hour of storytelling.

"[6] Alan Sepinwall of HitFix wrote, "The one potential bonus of the insane level of that shootout is that it almost certainly has to blow up the structure of the show as it's been struggling to work so far.

Whether or not any of the survivors actually lose their jobs over this, it's hard to imagine the task force staying in place, and I'm expecting some kind of notable change in the status quo.

Of course, the first season grew a little weaker as we began jumping through time (and as Rust and Marty stopped narrating the action), but we can hope for the inverse of that.

"[7] Gwilym Mumford of The Guardian wrote, "At the halfway point of this disappointing second season, so much remains a blur – to paraphrase Frank Semyon, someone needs to hit the warp drive.

"[9] Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "The show's fourth hour fails to connect, despite ending with a blood-pumping shoot-out.

As the title's play on words suggests, evil things are all but guaranteed to fall upon us, as cyclical as the physical forces that bring dawn (or light) to each new day.

"[12] Tony Sokol of Den of Geek gave the episode a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "The labored post-traumatic stressed breathing of Ani Bezzerides, Detective Ray Velcoro and Officer Paul Woodrough at the end of tonight's episode is their minds getting around the idea that they sidestepped a steamroller that they set in motion that caused an unexplainable amount of collateral damage.

"[13] TV Fanatic gave the episode a 4.2 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "We had to wade through a lot of emotional angst, dark looks and procedural plot points before getting to the explosive last few minutes of 'Down Will Come'.

"[14] Shane Ryan of Paste gave the episode a 8.5 out of 10 and wrote, "The special feeling many of us associate with season one came about because of the controlled way the entire True Detective team deployed philosophy.

This time, left to his own devices and with the kind of individual mandate you rarely see in television, Pizzolatto has made use of his full philosophical arsenal.