True Detective Season 2: 10 Big Questions From Episode 1

9. How Dark Does Ray's Backstory Go?

The episode consists almost entirely of backstory, an understandable restriction given the number of major characters and the need to draw them all together. Viewers are first introduced to Colin Farrell's Ray Velcoro, a bent cop with a shockingly dark background. Although True Detective fans will have been sufficiently prepared for unsettling plot points after Season 1, even the most hardened viewers will have struggled to learn of Ray's history without wincing. Nine months prior to giving birth, the mother of his son was attacked and raped, throwing the parentage of his child into serious doubt. Such a traumatic event has clearly taken its toll on tortured Ray, who spends a good portion of the episode drinking, smoking and snorting anything that comes his way. His sense of masculinity is clearly a very fragile one - evident in his explosive temper and the way he furiously pressurises his son into revealing the name of a schoolyard bully (even labelling the poor kid a "fat p****"). Questions Raised: Is the child really his? What happened between Ray and the mother? Why does he have limited visitation rights?