I have to watch each True Detective episode a couple of times to figure out what the hell is going on, and even then it helps to read a couple of online summaries and then watch a third time for good measure. Partly due to the labyrinthian plotting, partly due to the general slurring and murmuring. But hoowee, did things come alive last night or what? For the first time this year I sat up and went “whoa, whoa…wait, wait!” It began around the 45-minute mark and lasted for just about nine minutes. Easily the best action scene of this kind since the downtown L.A. firefight in Michael Mann‘s Heat (’95), which lasted about 90 seconds longer. A lot of cops and non-involved citizens went down before it was over. Those Mexican drug dealer guys (especially the baldie with the white T-shirt) are really crazy — all they want to do is waste as many cops and bystanders are possible before being killed. I didn’t believe Rachel McAdams would run after the bad-guy SUV and fire away — too reckless. In real life she would have caught a bullet or two or three.