It’s not everyday I get to talk to two of my favorite people I’ve never met in the real world. And within the next month, that will all change. I asked Garrett Collins, host of the Binge Aftertaste, to join me in discussing a few things I’ve had on my mind lately. Most notably, those two things are the True Detective S2 finale and all of the crazy changes that are going on in Garrett’s life right now (think Caitlyn Jenner).
Before that, we call the great Adam Simon because we’re bored with our own stories and voices. Adam, en route to Utah, hypes up the world premiere of Synapse this Saturday August 22nd at the Wizard World Chicago Comic Con! Adam has been on the Binge Aftertaste a few times, as well as the director Kenlon Clark. These guys are super pumped about this project and we can’t wait to check it out. Adam also talks about karaoke’ing with and getting choked out by Noah Danby, a project he wants to work on with Clifton Collins Jr., and how he’s going to crash my wedding and sing Spanish love songs. Orale! Bring it!
After Adam dumps our asses, Garrett and I get down to business. I was so affected by Frank’s death that I had to write about it. Being that Garrett is one of the few people that I know that loved it, I had to talk to him about it. What I wrote, the “companion piece”, that we discuss in this show is below. We then get into what has been going on in Garrett’s life and how he’s dealt with some of the hurdles and hoops he’s had to go through. This gets DEEP yo. If you liked my discussion with Luke, you’ll definitely love this. Enjoy.
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Dignity and Frank Semyon
“There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My
courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.”
― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
It was early on that I wrote off the second season of True Detective, and for the most part, I maintain my
feeling that the season was self-flagellating with poorly written dialogue, bad storytelling masked as
“mystery” or “noir”, and acting that didn’t live up to the combine talents of those involved.
Nevertheless, and despite my own misgivings as well others’ opinions that I respected, I pushed forward.
What was it that kept me engaged each week? Was I hate-watching this? Was the viewing experience
itself my own exercise in masochism, deliberately tying myself to the tracks, waiting for the shit train to
plow over me?
Whatever the reason, I continued watching without consequence and took in the season finale, partially
thankful that it was finally over and then surprised by how much I liked it. Looking back, alright, that
was a first for the season. The “shootout” episode was ok, Woodrough’s being killed was tragic but
needed for the story, Ana was always annoying, and Ray and Frank were the more interesting
characters, even though their storylines were sometimes flimsy at best. I went to bed that night like I
normally do.
And then something happened.
I woke up in the middle of the night.
I was haunted.
I couldn’t get back to sleep.
And my mind went back to the season finale. In particular, all I saw was Frank Semyon, limping through
the desert like a wounded lion, still determined, still maintaining the strength to push on. And it wasn’t
even so much for Jordan and the plan to hightail it to Venezuela that he was pushing on for, but himself.
It’s a drive to move forward, in spite of everything, even with a fatal gut wound. I realized that what
Frank was fighting for, and had always fought for, was maintaining his dignity, the last remaining virtue
he had when everything else was out of his control.
If you think back to Frank’s storyline in the season, all of the long, ponderous monologues and
reflections, you realize that Frank’s ultimate fate was his ultimate fear: being stripped of his dignity. I
mean, for fuck’s sake, he died for it. The cartel member wasn’t just taking Frank’s suit because he
thought it looked nice, he wanted to strip him of what made Frank who he was. But it’s exactly what
Frank was fighting against-people taking advantage of him, ridiculing him, not treating him as a
legitimate business man or forcing him out of business -that stripped him of his dignity. In a “choose
your own adventure” game of dignity, Frank was fucked. He had no options, and he saw that. To go out
swinging was a better option than to end up in your underwear in the middle of the desert with
nowhere to go. In the end, there’s no better option. There is no dignity, bleeding out and penniless
(except for those diamonds), in the middle of the desert when all you had to do was give up your suit.
It’s that stubbornness of Frank’s that haunted me. That had me hitting rewind, and replaying his death
walk in the desert. Granted, it had some pretty laughable dialogue, and the hallucinations were cheesy,
but it still didn’t take away how effective the scene was to me. And it all came down to dignity, a virtue
that is relatable to literally everyone. It made me think of people like the Kardashians, TMZ vultures,
and the stupidity of the viral phenomenon where people will do almost anything to get their 15 seconds
of fame. Where IS the dignity? And how important do people consider their own character and self-
worth? If what we take in on social media and the news is any indicator, people don’t consider this at
all.
Say what you want about Frank Semyon, but he had character. He had dignity (until he didn’t); he had
self-worth even if we didn’t believe it sometimes. He was a guy who came from nothing and built
himself into the head of a criminal organization. That takes something a lot of us possess: ambition,
drive, character and the dignity to not exploit or prostitute yourself based on your own code of ethics.
And when he tried to go legit (come on Hollywood, this is way too old of a storyline, it rarely works out),
that’s when the cards came crashing down. It was a blow to everything he believed in that the business
he craved to be a part of chewed him up, took his money, and spit him out. Thanks for the 5 mil. And in
a very Godfather III way (a reference nobody should make), he had to go back to the business that he
was trying to get away from. And he had to literally fight his way through all over again to earn respect.
I rooted for Frank’s demise. I wanted it to be ugly, violent. The comeuppance for everything he had
done from taking his old club back, forcing himself into a drug operation in an apartment for a
percentage, contemplating using Jordan to get in the club business with a skeevy money guy she used to
date, being a dick to Velcoro, and generally just being an unlikable asshole, I couldn’t wait to see this
fucker get his. Crazy gun fight? Sure! Domestic fight that turns into Jordan killing Frank? K!
I just didn’t expect this show that I felt mostly negative towards to affect me in such a way. Season 1
finale got a lot of shit online for Rust (and the show), more or less, going out on a spiritual high note. If
Nic Pizzolato’s whole point was to end on a dour note, he did. Arguably, he did it poorly (I really didn’t
care for the cheesiness of Velcoro’s demise, and yes, I know his father predicted it while Ray was out),
but Frank’s arc made the most sense in terms of character and where that character had to end up, and
it left a lasting impact on me and a few of the other people I talked to about the finale. Kill a man like
that in cold blood is part of the game, but to strip a man of his dignity, that will haunt him on his death
walk into eternity.