True Detectives: Who's Yo Daddy!? (Spoilers)

[happyninja42]

Spoilers below.

Ok so, the last episode of True Detectives, we see the person who actually raped the one cops wife. And...I has questions!!

Ok so, the wife is a Caucasian with dark brown/black hair, and the guy who raped her, is an actor who frequently plays Latino characters for like the last 3 decades. I don't know what his actual ethnicity is, but it sure does seem to be Latino.

So...how the hell did they make a pasty white kid with RED HAIR?

I'm a little rusty on my dominant/recessive genes when it comes to physical features, but I'm pretty sure that red hair is really recessive, and having 2 parents who don't show that hair, not to mention one being of an ethnic group that doesn't express red hair at all, makes it really fucking unlikely that he's the dad of the kid.

So, I'm thinking she had an affair with someone else around the time of the rape, and is hiding it from him. Because, I just don't see how any of those men could have actually fathered that kid, with the hair he's got.

 

[EvilRoy]

I was curious about the same thing actually, and it looks like it is possible if significantly unlikely. So the wife is clearly decended for european roots, so she could totally carry the recessive gene despite showing no outward signs of it. But you are right, both parents need to carry that gene, and since nobody to choose from is displaying then the best chance is 25% possibility of red hair.

So, first the detective. Colin Farrell, I shit you not, is Irish. So yeah. The boy could totally be his, and it would definitely explain the vibrant shade of red the lad sports. Of course I don't know if the detective is intended to be playing someone with Irish decadency (Velcoro, his surname, does not scream Irish to me), so that may be bunk.

Next, the rapist. Accepting that the actor is intended to be Latin, chances aren't great, but there is a possibility. Auburn hair actually happens in Spain, and we know that those guys made a hell of a dent in Latin America in their hayday. It would be reasonable to expect that all the recessive genes introduced by interbreeding between the Spanish visitors and the locals to have been bred out within a generation considering how recessive the gene is, but it is not outside the realm of possibility for many Latin Americans today to carry the recessive gene. But this very same logic applies to Velcoro (presumably intended to be a Spanish sounding surname, but not one that actually exists).

 

[ItouKaiji]

I think the episode was just really dumb and you're putting more thought into it than the writer ever did.The show doesn't have enough time to go into a whole affair thing with just two episodes left and the plot moving along at a snail's pace.The kid is probably his and it'll be used for some cheese revelation in the end to give him peace of mind.

More than anything I think this season has failed to make me care about the characters at all. I don't really want to see any of them get closure or a happy ending. I don't care if anything good ever happens to these guys.

 

[happyninja42]

I was curious about the same thing actually, and it looks like it is possible if significantly unlikely. So the wife is clearly decended for european roots, so she could totally carry the recessive gene despite showing no outward signs of it. But you are right, both parents need to carry that gene, and since nobody to choose from is displaying then the best chance is 25% possibility of red hair.

So, first the detective. Colin Farrell, I shit you not, is Irish. So yeah. The boy could totally be his, and it would definitely explain the vibrant shade of red the lad sports. Of course I don't know if the detective is intended to be playing someone with Irish decadency (Velcoro, his surname, does not scream Irish to me), so that may be bunk.

Yeah, Colin Farrell is most definitely Irish, if you've ever heard him speak normally, it's really kind of amazing how thick of an accent he's got. But yeah, we've no way to know if the character is meant to be Irish.

Next, the rapist. Accepting that the actor is intended to be Latin, chances aren't great, but there is a possibility. Auburn hair actually happens in Spain, and we know that those guys made a hell of a dent in Latin America in their hayday. It would be reasonable to expect that all the recessive genes introduced by interbreeding between the Spanish visitors and the locals to have been bred out within a generation considering how recessive the gene is, but it is not outside the realm of possibility for many Latin Americans today to carry the recessive gene. But this very same logic applies to Velcoro (presumably intended to be a Spanish sounding surname, but not one that actually exists).

Really? Interesting. Didn't know red hair was something that was possible in the Latin population. I think Velcoro is maybe supposed to be Italian sounding? I dunno, something about his character always seemed to scream "I'm supposed to be an Italian mafia type guy".

I think the episode was just really dumb and you're putting more thought into it than the writer ever did.

That's possible, but I'd like to think they thought about it at least a little bit.

 

[EvilRoy]

Really? Interesting. Didn't know red hair was something that was possible in the Latin population. I think Velcoro is maybe supposed to be Italian sounding? I dunno, something about his character always seemed to scream "I'm supposed to be an Italian mafia type guy".

It's not super likely, but it is something that technically can happen. You would never see it in a first generation decendant of that kind of union, but if two such decendants got together and rolled the dice really well, you might see it. All that said, I would never expect the kind of bright hair and fair freckled skin that the kid has to manifest given such a union. Even if the wife cheated with a dude who is 100% Irish and she has some Irish blood as well I really wouldn't expect it, since that kind of complexion and hair is one of those things where everything has to come together perfectly.