NOTE: SPOILERZ
At the end of this Sunday’s episode of True Detective, Colin Farrell’s character, Detective Ray Velcoro, takes two shotgun blasts from a man in a bird mask who caught — or ambushed? — him poking around the deceased Vinci city manager’s creepy sex den. (Happens.) Whether he was alive or dead was very much in doubt within the context of the show, and it remains in doubt. The case for Dead vs. Alive looks something like this:
ALIVE: They’re not just going to kill off Colin Farrell after two episodes. Who does Nic Pizzolato think he is? George R.R. Martin? Plus, there are shots of him in the trailer wearing clothes we haven’t seen him in yet. Unless that’s a flashback or false flag operation by HBO, he’s probably alive.
DEAD: Duuuuuuuuuuude…
Both fair points. I suppose we’ll have to wait. Unless we totally don’t have to wait. Here’s TV Guide’s description for the next episode.
Ani lets Ray know she’s in charge after he goes rogue on the investigation, even though he stumbles on crucial evidence that takes the case in a new direction. Meanwhile, Frank meets with his former associates in the criminal underworld, but they make it clear they’re not taking orders from him anymore; and Paul hits the streets to see if Caspar’s face rings a bell.
Welp.
Considering Ray just met Ani in the first episode, this referring to some sort of flashback is a long shot at best. So, it appears either (a) Ray lives on and someone at HBO screwed the pooch a little bit by tipping it off in the episode summaries they released, (b) Ray lives on and they don’t particularly care if you know, or (c) RAY IS A G-G-G-G-GHOST. Now that would be a dang plot twist.
Thanks to Michael for the tip
