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Case files... We're gonna hafta be lookin' at these records with fresh eyes, alright? Like we're totally green. Marty and Rust use every last resource to chase down Marty's hunch about the green-eared spaghetti monster. Green eyes, green ears, green paint, and then the Yellow King in Carcosa. [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Nov 4, 2014 - 7 comments

Rust convinces Marty that he has a debt, and the two begin to work together on the investigation again after a decade. Aside from one brief jaunt back to recount Rust's interview of Johnny Joanie, the story mostly moves forward in the present time as they follow up on the missing persons reports (not) filed about Marie Fontenot. [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Oct 28, 2014 - 6 comments

All the threads through 1995 and into 2002 begin to weave together as we watch the fate of both Marty's marriage and Rust's investigation. Cohle visits the families of missing children and follows up with old leads Joel Theriot and Reverend Tuttle, and realizes that his fears about the scope of the problem might have been an underestimation. Hart makes good on his down payment at the Bunny Ranch, and beats the crap outta pretty much ever'one. And in an oddly empty scene (that is, one with neither Rust or Marty in it) Papania and Gilbough bring in Maggie for some friendly questioning: In a former life I used to exhaust myself navigating crude men who thought they were clever. [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Oct 21, 2014 - 3 comments

Time is a flat circle. The story and its telling deviate explicitly, as Rust and Marty wrap up their respective interviews with Gilbough and Papania by relating the culminating, heroic events of their 1995 investigation and summarizing the subsequent several years. [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Oct 14, 2014 - 3 comments

The Detectives jump on the Reggie Ledoux lead, retracing some steps but altogether making progress in a new direction, earning leeway with their commanding officer in the process. But Rust's history and Marty's present personal situation make timely and not-so-timely intrusions (respectively), and the seeming inexorability of their plan to find Ledoux weighs heavy on them both. [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Oct 7, 2014 - 9 comments

Rust and Marty put off handing the case over to the fly-in boys for as long as possible, following scant leads to remote locations and coming away with a description of the monster at the end of their story as well as a name. A tall man, with facial scars. "Reggie Ledoux." The world needs bad men. We keep the other bad men from the door. - Rust | You just look them in the eyes and the whole story's right there. - Cohle [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Oct 1, 2014 - 5 comments

The interview continues, Rust and Marty illustrate just how boring and frustrating chasing gossamer leads can be, and we continue to examine their slow drive investigation of Dorie Lang's murder and interpersonal relationships. — Days of nothing. That's what it's like to work cases. Days of... lost dogs. — It goes on like that.... you know the job. Lookin' for narrative. Interrogate witnesses. Partial evidence. Establish a timeline. Build a story. Day after day. [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Sep 22, 2014 - 16 comments

After a setback, the Detail scrambles to make the most of a bad situation. For once, interdepartmental communication (or lack thereof) helps the case instead of hindering it. For once, good policing is rewarded with rock solid evidence and suspects in custody. For once, all the police seem to get what they want—closed cases, busted unions, scrambling crime lords. But for all that finally went right for the Detail, the world continues to turn, criminals adapt, and the scope of what they're fighting to bring to justice just keeps scaling up.
posted by carsonb on Sep 21, 2014 - 6 comments

Meet LA State Police Criminal Investigation Division Detectives Martin Eric 'Marty' Hart (Woody Harrelson) and Rustin Spencer 'Rust' Cohle (Matthew McConaughey), both retired from the force, as they each sit down with State CID detectives in 2012 to go over an old homicide case of theirs from 1995 that has mysteriously resurfaced. As Nic Pizzolatto's story seeps slowly out of director Cary Joji Fukunaga's vision of their recollections, dank and withered and burned out hollow, the tale of occult, ritual, (iconic, planned) murder emerges from the jungle of coastal Louisiana like so much aluminum-tinged smoke and ash. People out here, it's like they don’t even know the outside world exists. [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Sep 15, 2014 - 10 comments

As much as they'd like to continue investigating the sprawling criminal activities of the (still largely unknown) Greek, The Detail's hand is forced and with the help of the FBI they break down all the doors they know, gathering evidence and suspects. Valchek finally gets to participate in a very special perp walk. Sobotka eventually visits Ziggy, after a stop at the union hall and a quick trip downtown. Lieutenant Daniels and Omar Little dash off to deliver very personal messages to Landsman and Mouzone, respectively. [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Sep 14, 2014 - 9 comments

Ziggy continues to wreak havoc but this time his unchecked impulsiveness takes him over the line and into a lot of trouble. Trouble that spreads and pools and spatters on everyone. – Valchek is pissed and brings in the Feds to assist the Detail. The Feds assist the Detail, and Valchek is pissed. – Just as Stringer's off-brand plan goes into effect, Brother Mouzone arrives to enforce the status quo and so Bodie and crew begin to understand the nature of the new arrangements. [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Sep 11, 2014 - 4 comments

Bodie's plan to increase sales backfires tragically. So String's gotta make some tough decisions, change tactics, take account for the inevitable crackdown. With Sobotka and The Greek spooked and ready to turn tail the Detail has to adapt as well. Their investigation feels on target despite a minor tantrum from Valcheck, and when the prostitution investigation goes international inside Freamon's assessment of McNulty's bad accent is spot on. [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Sep 6, 2014 - 7 comments

Jimmy McNulty, Captain Chesapeake, has stopped bailing and started drinking again and so finds himself sinking quickly to the bottom. He's desperate to get on the detail where they've got every swinging dick setting up The Wire on Sobotka and The Greek, so Daniels puts what little flex he has on Rawls. Turns out McNulty's just the john they were looking for. [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Aug 23, 2014 - 8 comments

Through the turmoil of low-end product and family troubles, the Barksdale Organization moves on though in different directions. East-side Joe makes Stringer a Proposition that's hard to refuse, but Avon is adamant. Lester and Bunk put Daniels in a tough spot, setting up their surveillance at the off-site office and pleading to join up their murder investigations with the case against Sobotka. Together with Greggs, Russell, and Prez they delve deeper into the smuggling process, getting a handle on how the operation works. The detail also continues to investigate the prostitution racket and make connections between the drugs and the docks. [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Aug 20, 2014 - 8 comments

Perhaps there's no better description for Omar Little than "a rare pleasure," though anyone on the wrong end of his double-barrel sawed-off court testimony might disagree. Having wrapped up the last Bird of business from before, McNulty drops the search for Jane Doe's real name, retires to the boat, and makes another go of his marriage. "I'm done fucking myself up," he declares, and downs a beer. [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Aug 18, 2014 - 7 comments

Detail work starts in earnest on Sobotka, and Freamon looks to make a connection between Valchek's 'too much money' accusation and his own 14 murder investigations. Dockworkers who worked on that ship get summoned to testify in front of a grand jury. Ziggy continues to spend his easy money recklessly, and Nick is forced to help him deal with the consequences. Omar Little finally comes in to testify against Bird. [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Aug 17, 2014 - 7 comments

The full extent of Avon's hot shots plan is realized as the authorities look to shave years in exchange for easy answers. D'Angelo hears his cousin's music but refuses to dance. Burrell puts the hard sell on Daniels and keeps him around with the promise of a promotion, a permanent Detail AND the good police he needs to run it. McNulty continues to try to put a name on his 'floater,' and enlists Bubs in the search for Omar. [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Aug 17, 2014 - 2 comments

D'Angelo's discovered heroin in the clink, and Avon sets a plan into motion that he hopes will discourage his cousin's habit as well as push back some against Proposition Joe's expanding territory. Zero progress is the report Prez gives his father-in-law Valchek when asked about how the new detail's case against Sobotka is coming along, and to boot the Southeastern's surveillance van goes on an unauthorized global tour courtesy of IBS chapters around the world. [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Aug 16, 2014 - 3 comments

The shipping container full of dead women is shrugged off as accidental and everyone still breathing scrambles to cover their own ass and minimize the, well, collateral damage. Everyone except McNulty of course, who pokes his nose into Beadie's "investigation" and sniffs out 13—make that 14 murders. Daniels puts in notice and looks to pursue a career in lawyering. [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Aug 15, 2014 - 5 comments

Having made their move on Avon Barksdale, The Baltimore Police Department's Drug Detail is decommissioned and its members have been scattered: McNulty's riding a boat in the bay, Daniels is hunkered down in Evidence, Greggs is on desk duty (still can't type!), Herc & Sergeant Carver are back on the beat though in separate divisions, and poor Prez is back in the Southeastern under his father-in-law's thumb. Freamon's with Bunk now, real police in Homicide. [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Aug 13, 2014 - 11 comments