That was Stan’s wife. One of Frank’s men that was killed in episode 3.
I don’t know that he was the husband to anybody. The only time we’ve heard about him (as far as I can tell) is when Semyon was talking about some guy (he may have said a name) who bought his land and then died in a supposed accident which probably wasn’t an accident. If I recall correctly, Semyon was talking to the mayor about it. I could check but I’m not even sure what episode it was.
Stan and the guy who died in the “drunk driving accident” are two different people.
What in God’s name was with the background music during the sex party/escape scene? It seemed like such a bad fit that I was distracted through the whole thing. For a minute I thought I had the audio on the wrong channel or something.
I kind of liked it. I was thinking it was supposed to call to mind a sixties-seventies “caper” film. Kind of a juxtaposition of the dead serious action on screen in this very dark series with the music from the type of film where the sentries would be knocked out cold with one punch and the bad guys might be disarmed by getting the gun shot out of their hand. In other words a much lighter hearted film.
Absolutely this, it was indeed sixties crime caper music, and it gave the whole scene a disorienting feel.
The man who was killed in the suspicious car accident (I think it was a Japanese name) was involved in the company Frank had used to contaminate the land. The impression I got was that the company was sold to him after the deed had been done but I could be wrong. I believe this was all discussed in episode 5. Frank was talking to McCandless, head of Catalyst which is the company in charge of the land deal for the railroad. This was the scene where McCandless offers him land in exchange for the missing hard drive.
I am enjoying this season. It’s different from season one but I like it.
This latest episode almost made up for the six middling-to-shitty episodes that preceded it.
How the hell did the guy know Paul was going to come out of that door after escaping from the guys in the tunnel?
Maybe he knew the payout and it was the only logical exit?
Good episode, theres a lot to tie together in the finale, thankfully they have 90 minutes to do it next week.
Great article in Slate that will answer all of your questions.
That definitely helps with getting the story and the players figured out.
That is SO helpful, thank you! Especially because it has pictures to go with all the names. I had no idea watching the episode that the black guy in the tunnel was Holloway, I’d heard the name but don’t really remember seeing him.
They really seem to be taking a lot of pages from LA Confidential.
So… rubber bullets again? 
(Joking, obviously.)
It helps, but it’s too much to absorb really.
I don’t understand why it’s assumed at this point that Caspere’s murderers are the two children (now adults). I get that they have motive, but where’s the proof? Am I missing something?
A nitpick, but perhaps important: The article asks the question Is it possible for two brunettes to have a redhead?, then links to an article titled “Two redheads can have a brunette child”, which is totally different.
That Slate article, while immensely helpful, illustrates what a hot mess this season has been. There are several key plot-advancing points that viewers are asked to glean from characters we never see and events that occur off-screen, or that are alluded to in a very oblique fashion.
Not to mention the sheer number of different things going on. While there were sub-plots in the first season, they were fairly coherent and seemed to flow organically from the main story. This season, there just seem to be things tacked on for little to no reason. It’s like a scaled-down and modern version of the Game of Throne books.
Thanks much for the linked article, that helps a lot. I think I absorbed it all, but I’m left still scratching my head regarding the question from the previous page:
Is this answered by that article?
You said yourself that it was an assumption, which means there isn’t yet proof. The detectives do think the picture of a lady at one of the parties matches with the picture of the little girl, plus Blake’s claim to Semyon that they didn’t kill Caspere seems plausible, so those items appear to be the only evidence other than motive at this point.
The guy waiting at the door for Paul was too much for me. Hollaway told Paul that those tunnels run all over the place. Paul then climbs a ladder (and I would assume Hollaway didn’t come down that ladder - why would he when there are steps?) and stumbles out the very door where his killer was waiting, gun in hand? The killer then jumps in a car and speeds off not going to check what happened to Hollaway and the rest of the crew?
That’s still an open question to me also.
Another thing; I’ve had the impression almost from the beginning that there was going to be some sort of weird cultish conspiracy involving bird masks, 60s new age movements, and someone who objected to killing but still wanted to be able to stop any interference in their plans (the rubber shot used on Velcoro). It doesn’t appear now that that’s going to be the case (although we can’t say for sure till next week). I get the impression that the writers started down that path and then changed their minds.