| Anyong Bluth |
07-25-2015 09:16 AM |
I don't care about the plot theories in the article, but I am interested in the possible real life source for the storyline in the 2nd season.
There’s a strange allure to True Detective Season 2, even for those who aren’t enjoying it very much. Beyond the fleeting thrill of seeing a main character potentially kick the bucket (only to be immediately resuscitated), lies the deeper fascination with why Season 2 is failing to land with many viewers when Season 1 was such a cultural phenomenon. It’s beginning to seem like Season 1’s delicate, winning balance of occult mystery and humanist philosophy may have come from the lightning-in-a-bottle mix of Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, director Cary Fukunaga, and creator Nic Pizzolatto. With only one of those four puzzle pieces back in place for Season 2, the balance is off.
But if it’s just occult mystery and bread-crumb trails you want, True Detective Season 2 has that in spades. And three episodes into this season, evidence is stacking up that in order to get to the bottom of the death of Ben Caspere and the rotten, interconnected corruption of Vinci, California, we’re going to have to look to Northern California and a real-life secret society that exists there to this day: the Bohemian Grove. Tucked away in the redwoods of Sonoma County, the mysterious summertime retreat boasts a roster of powerful, land-your-private-plane-at-a-tiny-local-airport, elite members and has prompted curious speculation and frustrated investigations ever since it was founded over 130 years ago. Here are five ways Pizzolatto has made a strong connection to the Bohemian Grove and how it could help unlock the mysteries of True Detective Season 2.
Location, Location, Location:
Any sharp-eared Northern Californian will have noticed that the tiny town of Guerneville (population 4,534) was mentioned twice in episode 2. Once in connection with Antigone’s father’s cult, The Good People (”Commune around Guerneville in the late 70s, 80s. Hippie shit.“), and again as the last-known location for the missing girl she’s trying to track down (”The call came from a Guerneville address,” her partner said). Sorry, Paul, I don’t think it’s Guerneville’s gay-friendly reputation we should be looking out for. But guess what’s just 12 minutes from Guerneville? That’s right, the Bohemian Grove. The missing girl’s co-workers told Ani in Episode 1 that she left to work the “club circuit” somewhere in Sonoma County. The Bohemian Grove hires young men and women to staff their summer gatherings every year so this could be where the missing woman with obvious ties to Ani’s father has disappeared to.
Friends in High Places:
The Bohemian Grove’s mystique is due, in large part, to the caliber of its famous members who are usually rich, white, and Republican and always male. Some notable Bohos (as they’re called) include William F. Buckley, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Calvin Coolidge, Walter Cronkite, Bing Crosby, Clint Eastwood, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, Barry Goldwater, Charlton Heston, Herbert Hoover, Henry Kissinger, Jack London, Steve Miller, Robert Mondavi, John Muir, Colin Powell, Ronald Reagan, Nelson Rockefeller, Theodore Roosevelt, Karl Rove, Donald Rumsfeld, and Mark Twain. To join the Bohemian Club, you must either be invited by several members, or wait for decades. Once you’re in, there’s the $25,000 initiation fee and the hefty yearly dues.
In the realm of the fictional True Detective universe, we have now seen photos of Mayor Austin Chessani posing with George W. Bush in both his office and his home. Depending on who you ask, the Bohemian Grove is either a hotbed of depraved, occult bacchanalia (more on that later) or the ultimate private location for back-room deals. (The Manhattan Project was allegedly conceived there in 1942.) The truth is probably somewhere in the middle, but suffice it to say that the Grove is definitely known for its parties. In Episode 3, Chessani’s son told Detective Bezzerides he plans all kinds of parties, and his current wife tells Officer Woodrugh she met her husband at a party. So here we have a party-loving mayor with powerful, white, Republican friends, a history with mind-altering drugs, and ties to Vince Vaughn, Colin Farrell, and now (because he’s got a vendetta against her) Rachel McAdams. No better candidate to be at the center of a Bohemian Grove–esque mystery.
Animal Imagery:
One of the more startling physical features of the Bohemian Grove is a 40-foot owl statue that looms over the lake. The Owl Shrine serves as the backdrop of the yearly Cremation of Care ceremony. At one point in the Grove’s history, Walter Cronkite reportedly recorded the voice of the owl for the annual ceremony. According to famed conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who infiltrated the Bohemian Grove in 2000 with a camera crew, the Cremation of Care ceremony is an occult event honoring the ancient god Moloch. However while documenting Jones’s investigation for his The Secret Rulers of the World series, journalist Jon Ronson interviewed comedian and former Grove attendee Harry Shearer, who said the ceremony was just harmless theatrics. But either way, a replica of the footage Jones captured of attendees dressed in robes and burning an effigy at the foot of the giant stone owl would make for striking television that might even rival the Yellow King in Carcosa.
Whatever the truth about the Grove may be, a reference to the owl statue could be the reason why we keep seeing bird imagery pop up everywhere this season. It’s not just that raven-head shooter from last week, there were birds in Rick Springfield’s office, in Chessani’s office, on the totem pole outside the Panticapaeum Institute, and in the Ben Caspere sound-proof sex bungalow. If we’re counting ducks, even Ray Velcoro’s dad had a bird figurine in his house and his bitter line of, “No country for white men,” in Episode 3 could easily be mistaken for the Bohemian Grove motto.
It’s All Connected:
There are a couple ways the connection aspect applies here. First of all, there are some critics who believe that the Season 2 mystery of True Detective might tie back to Season 1. (This kind of surprise connection worked really well for Fargo last year.) If that’s the case, I could easily see Reverend Tuttle from Season 1 folding into a Bohemian Grove conspiracy.
But more literally, this season of True Detective is all about a transportation project that will connect Southern and Northern California. (That’s why Ben Caspere’s G.P.S. reveals he was scouting out locations up north near Monterey, Fresno, and Gilroy.) Pizzolatto hinted to Vanity Fair that he based Vinci, the southern anchor of the story, on the real-life location of Vernon, California. Some speculate he also based the mystery of Season 1 on a real-life case out of Louisiana. Doesn’t it make sense, then, that the northern anchor of Season 2 would have a real-life counterpart as well? And doesn’t the Bohemian Grove just outside of Guerneville perfectly fit the bill?
Frustrated Masculinity:
So if Pizzolatto is trying to evoke the Bohemian Grove in Season 2, what’s it all about? Well, if we were to pinpoint one theme the series seems to be hitting pretty hard this year it would be frustrated masculinity: from Frank Semyon’s impotence and possible infertility, to Paul Woodrugh’s self-hatred surrounding his homosexuality, to Ray Velcoro’s utter failure as a father and husband, to the penis envy on Ani Bezzerides (what, you missed the part where she said she armed herself with knives to be more like one of the guys?). And if you want to look at bastions or frustrated masculinity, look no further than the Bohemian Grove.
Though there have been four honorary female members in the group’s history (including the club’s librarian!), no woman has ever been given full membership to the Bohemian Club. Women are allowed as daytime guests of the Grove, but they’re not allowed to the upper floors of the City Club nor are they allowed to attend the main summer encampment at the Grove. The Bohos were sued in 1979 for not hiring women and the case went all the way to the California Supreme Court who ruled, in 1986, that they would have to start hiring women at the Grove. In short, the Bohemian Grove is the very definition of the old boys’ club. How clever, then, if Nic Pizzolatto were to use this location to address the male-driven sins he was accused of indulging last year. It’s clear from a few rocky lines of dialogue that Pizzolatto is trying to directly address the gender criticisms from Season 1. Could striking at the heart of a fictional Bohemian Grove be the ultimate way to show his critics, once and for all, which side of the gender war he fights for? Maybe, maybe not. But one thing is for certain: this isn’t the last we’ve heard from the mysterious goings-on in Northern California. As for the Grove itself? I hope you have your bird figures ready because the 2015 session starts on July 10.
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