Whew – take a collective deep breath. True Detective is back. After a disappointing second season that saw very little critical acclaim, the future of the show was cast in doubt. But, HBO elected to roll the dice and shoot season three. They cast Mahershala Ali as the lead, and from a story standpoint, it certainly seems like Nic Pizzolatto tried to take it back to its season one roots. So far, so good. Let’s hit the review.
Let this serve as your final reminder that there are definitely spoilers within this post. Episodes one and two both dropped last Sunday, and I’ve given y’all an entire week to catch up. But, if you don’t want the show spoiled, DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER.
Okay – those of you left, you sure you want to read on?
LFG
True Detective S3E4
Wow – what a bomb of an episode (literally, hehe). It was just tense – from everything including the church scene at the beginning, to Wayne and Amelia’s argument, the entire ordeal in Davis Junction, and the big cliffhanger at the end with Woodard. Just a completely nuts ass episode.
“Man signs up to go without fucking for life, either he doesn’t know himself for a liar or he’s some tight, limited edition psych, you know? I mean, everybody’s fucking something.”
I’m with Roland here, guys. That priest weirded me out.
We learn Henry’s a cop now (in 2015), and Wayne is writing about the case and slowly working his way back through his memory – this is big. Could be the ultimate story line that leads us to the killer. We also learn that something happened somewhere along the way between he and Roland – it was pretty evident before now, but now it’s all but confirmed when he asks Henry to “find Roland.”
Rewind to 1990, and Wayne is back on the case with Roland and a special sort of task force. The intent is to rectify the conviction of Will’s murder – HMMMM….we must be getting pretty close to finding out who was wrongfully accused, though I still expect they pin it on Woodard.
Wayne and Amelia go on a fancy date and engage in chit chat….but what’s weird to me about this scene is how Amelia deflects when Wayne dives into talk of her family. She says something along the lines of, “I used to be a mess,” which Wayne is not surprised at all to hear. Again, WEIRD.
We’re in 1990, and learn Lucy Purcell dies of an overdose and nobody can find Cousin Dan, who we still haven’t caught up with since the first episode.
*GASP*
Fast forward to 2015, and the interviewer reveals to Wayne that they found Cousin Dan’s remains in a quarry somewhere. She won’t reveal what else she knows.
Back to 1980 – gah, we’re jumping around, we get the very awkward sit down between Amelia and Lucy. Amelia ends up trying to convince Lucy to talk to Wayne, and Lucy blows up…insinuating that Amelia is only there to get info for her “cop boyfriend.” It was pretty strange – what was Amelia trying to accomplish here?
Another trippy Wayne hallucination with, I’d assume, soldiers he fought against in Vietnam. Creepy as shit. BUT, did you notice in the mix of soldiers, the man in the suit? That seemed out of place, and he had a fucking gunshot wound. Wayne actually apologizes to him. Dafuq?
They pin the long-haired teenager (Freddie Burns), discovering his fingerprints on Will’s bike. He seems largely innocent, but did disappear for a bit right after he stole the bike and messed around with it. So, it’s reasonable to think that he could’ve seen something and was silenced or something along those lines.
The Clues
We get the actual security footage from the Walgreen’s that Julie was spotted in, but that’s about it for this episode, unless I’m missing something major.
Remaining list from last week:
- Dolls
- Peephole
- Amelia’s book
- Devil’s Den
- The “ransom” note
- Notes in the journal
- The brown sedan
- Photo album
- The toys in the woods
- Fingerprints on the bike
- Julie’s fingerprints in Walgreen’s
The Suspects
The priest – Okay, so we’re all in agreement that this priest is pretty fuckin’ creepy, right?
Lucy Purcell – Did anyone else feel like a major confession was on the tip of Lucy’s tongue in the scene with Amelia? It’s pretty clear she’s struggling to process everything, but it could be because she knows what happened? Did she give her daughter away to Hoyt Foods to be shipped off to Africa with that dude?
Freddie Burns – I feel like he’s completely innocent, but he and his buddies saw something they weren’t supposed to see. Still, we don’t know for sure just yet.
Remaining list from last week:
- Tom Purcell
- Cousin Dan
- Brett Woodard
- Ted LaGrange
- Amelia
- Kindt
- The black man and the white woman
I almost removed Cousin Dan from the list ’cause he’s dead. I think that’s a key indicator that he is not the “guy at the top,” but it doesn’t mean he couldn’t have been the one to kill Will.
Thoughts
First of all, Patty Faber is a racist bitch. Second of all, I think we learned this week that things are more intricately woven and complicated than we initially thought. I also think this thing goes up a lot higher than just some random killer. We could be looking at a large scale conspiracy that ruined a reputable cop’s name. Let’s just hope Old Wayne figures it out.
Finally, let’s just cross our fingers that the rumored appearance of Rust Cohle is true.
Questions moving forward
From E1 and E2:
- Who did it?
- Who do they incarcerate for it in 1980?
- What happened ‘between Julie and her father’ that they allude to?
- How the fuck is Julie alive?
- What happened to Amelia?
- What happened with Hays’ daughter?
After E3:
- Who’s driving the brown sedan?
- Why does Wayne keep a gun with him in 2015?
- What is he “withholding?” Or, specifically, what did he leave in the woods?
After E4:
- What else, exactly, does the interviewer from 2015 know?
- Who killed Cousin Dan?
- What is Amelia hiding about her past and why is she hiding it?
- Did Lucy know anything about this happening?
- Did Freddie see something when he ran away into the woods?
- Who got blown up at Woodard’s house?
- Is Roland still alive in 2015?
Questions answered
After E4:
- The fuck was in that bag that Woodard went and got? Practically, a damn armory…
- Does the interviewer from 2015 possess new information/evidence about the case? In short, yes – we just don’t the full extent of her knowledge.
Feel free to posit your theories in the comments below!
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD and #BeBetter. “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Alabama Crimson Tide football, the WWE, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
Check out the SoBros Shop. Subscribe to our Patreon. Give us money for no reason. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter @SoBrosNetwork. Listen on SoundCloud. Watch on YouTube.
