Detective Season 2 Stan _verified_ — True

That is the horror of Season 2 . Stan is every disposable soldier. He is the loyal friend who isn't interesting enough to survive the plot. He is the guy who shows up to work, does his job, and gets vaporized so the main characters can feel sad for exactly four minutes before returning to their existential crises. Later, Frank visits Stan’s widow. She’s standing in a cheap kitchen, holding a coffee mug. She asks Frank what her husband really did for a living. Frank, the king of bullshit monologues, has nothing. He mumbles something about "consulting."

That’s Stan.

True Detective Season 2 isn't about solving the murder of a city manager. It's about the Stans of the world—the loyal, the quiet, the background furniture of crime—who get erased so the powerful can have a moment of pathos. Next time you re-watch Season 2 (and you should—it ages like bourbon, not milk), don't watch Frank. Don't watch Ray. Watch the edges of the frame. Watch the guy carrying the box. Watch the guy holding the door. true detective season 2 stan

Then, one night, Stan gets into his car. The engine turns over. And the car explodes. Here is where True Detective Season 2 does its best, most brutal work. After Stan dies, Frank has a conversation with his right-hand man, Ray (Colin Farrell). Frank isn’t crying. He isn’t raging. He’s confused. That is the horror of Season 2

“For you. What did he actually do?”

“What do you mean?”