TOO OLD TO DIE YOUNG (S1EP5+6) ”The Fool” & “The High Priestess”: An Outsider Looking In

Hello reader, are you ready for some more neon lights and sickening violence? Because episodes 5 and 6 of Too Old To Die Young have bucketloads of both. Titled “The Fool” and “The High Priestess” these episodes dive deeper into the world of revenge, justice and lone assassins.

To quickly recap, Detective Martin Jones has turned into an assassin-for-hire and teamed up with former FBI agent Viggo. The pair receive their hits from the mysterious Diana, who finds them despicable people to get rid of, to pure the world from. In Mexico, Jesus plans to avenge his mother’s death at the hands of Martin and his now-dead cop buddy Larry.

A Violation of Body and Mind

Episode 5 has one of the most disturbing openings of all time. A young, presumably gay man sits in a brightly lit room, surrounded by macho men in Stetsons and dark denims, their thumbs casually hooked in the belt loops. A man sits in front of the young man and questions him about his sexual history; he’s a virgin, looking to not be very soon. There’s a camera sitting in the middle of the room. After some more talking, the conversation takes a dark turn and the young man is visibly confused and increasingly scared. The man, played by James Urbaniek, gets up and walks to the door. Just before he walks out, he says the two most horrifying words I have ever heard.

“Rape him.”

I audibly gasped on my sofa, refusing to believe this was a line written in the script, even by a provocateur like Nicolas Winding Refn. The act isn’t shown, thankfully, but it doesn’t lessen the impact of those two words. I have since come to have some sort of twisted appreciation of that line. Sexual assault is so often depicted as something that can have shades of grey, the intent playing a huge part. Maybe the rapist insists the victim wanted it, maybe the act itself is always only implied visually, through editing and performance rather than verbally confirmed by a character. At least NWR has the balls to call this atrocious act exactly what it is. Rape. A violation. An assault. Purposely committed act of violence on someone’s body and mind.

“The Fool” could also be called the Miles Teller -show. The episode follows Martin as he hunts down two brothers who make presumably some pretty graphic and horrific porn somewhere in New Mexico. The more the series progresses, the more it feels like a meditation on modern America. Who in this world is pure? As a Danish filmmaker, it feels like NWR is constantly on the outside, looking in and trying to understand. So far, his exploration hasn’t been very favourable. Trump-era America is a broken, corrupted country, where the police are the laughing stock.

Martin follows the creepy guy from the beginning of the episode, Stevie, around for a while, including into a church where a preacher preaches on about America, swastikas and God. The holy trinity of modern America with a side of sex, consensual or otherwise. Martin follows Stevie to a bar where Stevie’s brother Rob is waiting and Martin attempts to join them, pretending to be Kevin, your all-American male; young, beautiful and once in bed with a 16-year-old. The brothers are very impressed by this and offer “Kevin” the chance to be in one of their infamous videos and the trio head to a set, where Martin executes Stevie (YEEEESSSSS, I yelled), but Rob and his henchman Little Billy escape.

Too Fast, Too Furious?

What follows is the most NWR-scene to date. When Drive premiered back in 2011, there were several complaints from moviegoers that the film didn’t contain any car chases. They had gone in with their giant tubs of popcorn and XL-sized sodas, expecting a Fast & Furious rip-off, instead they received a moody thriller about a nameless driver killing people. And they were pissed.

Those people will hate this scene. It is the slowest, most anti-climactic car chase committed on screen. Martin chases Rob and Little Billy in their little electric car in traffic while Barry Manilow’s Mandy plays on the radio. “Chase” might be a bit of a reach really, Martin really just drives behind them, there is absolutely no excitement or any kind of high speed involved in this. It’s a thing of beauty and NWR knows exactly what he’s doing with this. He’s trolling us again and it works.

I really can’t praise Teller enough. In this episode he gets to showcase his range more, because Kevin, unlike our guy Martin, is a fun guy. Relaxed and easy-going, Kevin is a carefully constructed character and Teller pulls the double act so great, sprinkling Kevin with traces of Martin. Throughout the series now, Teller has put in a humble, selfless performance which solely serves NWR’s purpose.

There’s A New Power Couple In Town

Episode 6, “The High Priestess” sees the return of Jesus and Yaritza, now married and back in Los Angeles, where Jesus announces to a nosey neighbour that he is there to take over Magdalena’s business. The entire house is littered with large pictures of Magdalena; she is ever-present and always watching over the newlyweds.

The episode plays a lot with the dynamic between Jesus and Yaritza, a lot is communicated without words and it ends with Yaritza crashing a party near-by. She sneaks into the house and is discovered by the host; a young girl who recognises her as Jesus’ new wife and asks if she has any of the good coke with her. She then leads Yaritza to another room where her friend awaits. Can you guess who it could be? It’s Martin’s girlfriend Janey.

They play a game where Janey has to identify a lie about Yaritza or Yaritza can slap Janey. Janey refuses to believe Yaritza has killed 23 people, but that’s definitely true so Yaritza brutally strikes Janey again and again while her friend laughs maniacally in the background.

“The High Priestess” might be my favourite episode so far. There is so much going on and it’s both visually and thematically richer than other episodes so far. Jesus and Yaritza are the ultimate power couple, oozing sexy charisma and world domination. The lack of dialogue just emphasizes their power, their mutual understanding of their individual ambitions, which I don’t think will quite line up in the end.

I’m even more intrigued by Yaritza, a character we know barely anything about. She has a threatening presence; we know what she’s capable of and her refusal to speak is like adding fuel to the flames. There must be an explosion coming soon. The women of the show are at times infuriatingly silent like Janey and Yaritza, but they seem more powerful than the men. If the men in the series are doomed, self-destructive and active agents of chaos, the women must inherit what’s left of the world after the men.

You must have noticed by now that all episode titles are named after Tarot cards. In “The High Priestess”, we see Yaritza handle a deck of Tarot cards and it all seems to fit into the narrative that in the end our characters are powerless to change the trajectory of their lives. There’s also a strong theme of duality; just like NWR is both Danish and American, and insider and an outsider, so are our characters. Both Martin and Jesus are somewhere in between, not quite belonging, struggling to find their true identity. Martin is both inside and outside the law and Jesus is both Mexican and American, struggling to be taken seriously by both. I’m starting to really fear what happens when these two finally meet. Will The High Priestess reign over all of them or will The Fool come out on the other side unscathed?

The Fool and The High Priestess: Where Do We Go From Here?

We are over half way! The latest episodes have definitely accelerated in pace and upped the action and there is so much on screen at all times. Too Old TO Die Young might be NWR’s most beautiful project so far; almost all frames are flawless and filled with so much thematic richness. Yet, I can’t help but wonder if there really is meaning to everything we see here. Or are some of the episodes just collages of whatever looked pretty that day? I am deeply in love with this series, I don’t know if it’s NWR’s best work but it’s fascinating and I love being challenged on this level. The episodes have an intoxicating, hypnotic quality to them and they have utterly bewitched me.

So what’s next? I would like to see Jesus’ plan revealed in full. There’s got to be something more going on here and I’m assuming he’s after Damian, who’s been absent recently. I also need some more Viggo in my life. He’s a very tragic character; one-eyed loner, looking after his Alzheimer-ridden mother while going through dialysis treatment. There must be something big coming. I am deeply in love with this series, but my patience is wearing thin. Too Old To Die Young is an exhausting watch and I can only assume there will be a big reward at the end for us loyal viewers. We shall see.

Where do you see Jesus and Martin’s storylines going? Are you team Yaritza like I am? Share in the comments!