“True Detective” Season 2: Who Really Killed Caspere
The truth about this season of True Detective has been right before our eyes, in plain sight, all season long.
Leonard Cohen even sings as much leading into each and every episode:
Nevermind all the facts and lies and stories told. The man who orchestrated all this evil lives among you, well disguised. He has a name, but nevermind.
Well, I think this name we’re not supposed to care about is “Frank Semyon.” Why? Let’s begin with this really, really long list of the facts, lies, and stories told that we’ve seen so far.
Frank had a deal with Ben Caspere to buy cheap land in to the Corridor Valley.
He’s liquidated all his money and pulled out of criminal enterprises he owned and ran. On paper, he’s clean. And he’s making it clear in a very public way.
Caspere was killed with $5 million of Frank’s money—not yet invested, no records, nothing tying Frank to any deal except Frank’s own saying so.
Caspere’s disappearance comes at a very inconvenient time for Frank…but also at a time where no one else but Frank could put all the necessary parties together—at least that’s how it appears.
Frank doesn’t like Chessani as he’s an obstacle to where Frank wants to go, but needs to deal with him.
Frank has a little bit of leverage on Chessani in that he helped clean up a drug-related matter involving his son, Tony, a few years before.
It’s obvious that Chessani and his son aren’t exactly concealing what they’re doing. They believe they are beyond the law, through their connections and their grip on Vinci.
Catalyst and Frank never had any direct dealings until after Caspere was killed.
Frank was surprised to learn that Caspere took more of his money than was necessary for the land deal, and used some of it to feed his personal habits.
Frank’s a little paranoid, never too comfortable and always suspicious of every move, look, or touch that happens in and around his world.
Frank uses big words and has been made to look silly so often. And it’s by his own design.
Frank is too smart and too careful to not know all of this was happening.
Do we really believe that Frank, a career criminal and cynic, would make liquid everything he has and put all those millions of eggs in one basket?
Caspere was tortured, systematically and in brutal fashion, for something he did to someone he crossed.
Caspere was taking compromising videos of subjects to use as leverage in his dealings with the California elite.
Caspere’s mutilated body was dumped at the Point Mugu overlook, a place that was conveniently sponsored by Catalyst.
These powerbrokers that Caspere was involved with—and probably ready to blackmail with explicit videos of odd sexual behaviors—don’t have the time or would want to assume the risk of leaving such a statement or signature on a body. Only someone that tortures enemies and has that kind of history would make a statement and do something like that.
Or possibly someone who wants to implicate another party in a strange and bizarrely specific crime scene that blazes a direct trail to one place.
We know the Raven masked killer murdered Caspere in that Hollywood sound proofed sex pad.
Frank sent Ray to that address. Why would he know that address?
Ray was subsequently shotgunned with police-issued riot dispersal ammo so he would live. So he would tell the tale of the now missing video camera and hard drive with the compromising footage that’s out there in the world. So everyone knows it’s out there and everyone’s nervous about what’s on it.
Blake has been mysteriously absent during the crucial major events that have happened. Blake is also Frank’s right hand man, and definitely doesn’t have a soul.
Frank conspicuously calls out Blake among all his crew, so now people think there is bad blood between them. Now, everyone is suspicious of Blake and his activities and beyond where his true loyalty lies.
If Blake isn’t in lockstep with Frank and his wishes, he’d be replaced. We’ve seen what happens to people that don’t play nice and toe the line, right Danny Santos?
Caspere knew about and had the diamonds that have roughly the same value as the money that Frank is missing.
We know Teague Dixon was probably dealing with the pawnshops and looking for the blue diamonds, the diamonds we know were connected to a robbery by masked robbers during the LA Riots.
Ani, Ray and Paul all have skeletons in their closets. They’re all not very good cops for various reasons. But we’re supposed to think that they randomly ended up on this high level, high priority task force.
Frank supposedly owned the building that housed both Ledo Amarilla and the meth lab where the shootout took place.
Frank didn’t look all that worried that a building he owned exploded, yet did look invested in what was happening.
The shootout was obviously rigged to get rid of all the players on the board, and pin the Caspere murder on Ledo Amarilla.
Frank’s rivals and former business partners are all turning up dead. But he, the leader and facilitator, is still alive.
Frank was in league with Osip, but probably never truly trusted him.
Frank also knew that Osip would predictably be tempted by and trade up to be in league with those deeper pockets, like McCandless and the folks at Catalyst.
We also know that there was a tall white “cop” who paid Irena Rulfo to pawn Caspere’s belongings.
Know who is tall, really white, has money to pay her off, and he has a mouth that he can use tell Rulfo that he’s a “cop”? Blake.
Irena conveniently turned up dead so that she couldn’t finger anyone, maybe Blake as the “cop” who paid her to pawn Caspere’s belongings.
Frank may have had a good idea that the cartel guy and the Cisco Kid would kill Irena for “working with cops.”
And isn’t it quite a coincidence that right about now, we’re seeing that Frank is a relatable guy that cares for his people, especially the recently departed Stan and the wife and son that have been left behind?
Frank has been working and manipulating both sides for as long as he’s been in California.
Frank also believes that, “Sometimes your worst self is your best self.”
Frank has been a horrible gangster. Which might actually mean he’s the best gangster.
Whomever killed Caspere has Frank’s millions, right?
So what if Frank killed Caspere? Then he has his own millions.
What if Frank has been playing the long game all the while?
What if he’s gone above and beyond to make it look like this Bohemian Club-like power sex cult is responsible for all of these goings on?
Frank is haunted by the water spots on his ceiling that look identical to Caspere’s acid washed eyes. How would he know anything about the way his body looked if he didn’t see it or have first hand knowledge of what happened to Caspere?
Frank sent Blake to have Caspere tortured. And later sent him to kill Stan, a relatively insignificant member of Frank’s crew to make it look like someone is gunning for Frank. Frank then goes back—months later—to make a show of how much he cared for his beloved Stan.
Frank most likely sent Lt. Burris to shotgun Ray at the address he provided and to retrieve the camera and hard drive. Then also to arrive at his own crime scene to ensure that any forensic evidence will be ruled out.
For his part in undermining Chessani and his crew, Lt. Burris has probably been promised that he’ll come out clean and take up a leadership position in Vinci.
Frank authorized Blake to use the poker room to run hookers.
Frank hired and used Ray to then track Blake back to Tony Chessani and the stable of “top gear” Eastern European girls.
Frank fabricated this entire thing, put it all in motion.
He wants to make it appear as though Blake is rising up and working against him.
But Frank is pulling all the strings on both sides.
Frank got rid of his criminal assets and enterprises then leveraged his influence to maintain a presence there, hence all those meetings and shitty negotiations.
He’s making it all look good so he’s beyond suspicion.
He’s the one that’s done all this “harm” to himself.
No one would ever suspect a guy who lost everything he had, his house and his life’s work and sabotage his own future. He’s the victim here.
Now, having killed Caspere, Frank has his “clean” millions back.
Plus, when Frank turns up in possession of the hard drive with compromising footage of all those VIPs, he’ll be gifted those parcels of land from McCandless, which now will hold even more value than his originally proposed deal.
Everything—the masked killers, the blue diamonds, very publicly putting Catalyst and Osip and Mayor Chessani all in the same place talking about the land deal, Caspere and Tony’s high end, high-powered sex parties, the death of the much beloved Stan—has been manufactured or leveraged to link everything to California’s elite power structure.
Surely, the crazy power sex cult existed before Frank, but he found a way to leverage them and pin his crimes on this old guard, insane occult conspiracy.
In the end, Frank will have all the money, the blue diamonds, all the land for his legitimate legacy, and none of the opposition…and he’ll have all of it for free. Other than the moral cost of killing Caspere, Stan, and orchestrating the demise of a few cops, innocent citizens, and a couple of Santa Muerte drug dealers.
And after episode 6’s Mission Impossible: Power Sex Party and the escapades of our intrepid-yet-flawed detective task force, Frank’s success is all but sealed, right?
Frank’s worst self is this laughable gangster act he’s been performing all over Los Angeles. And it’s also his best self because he’s the guy no one believes is a gangster anymore—the gangster that gets away with it.
In losing everything he had, Frank has all that and more to gain. He’s fooled us all.
