WiC Watches: True Detective season 3

Episode 7: “The Final Country”

They’re gonna end it there? C’mon, True Detective.

Those are my immediate thoughts after the strong “Final Country,” although it’s mostly an endorsement. I really wanted to see Wayne’s sit-down with Edward Hoyt, the big bad of the season. They left us hanging, but I wouldn’t be so anxious if I wasn’t knee-deep in this stuff. Is Hoyt going to tell 1990 Wayne what he’s been doing? Do Old Wayne and Old Roland already know the truth behind the Purcell kidnappings, only Old Wayne has forgotten the important parts? And if that’s true, how do we read Old Roland’s behavior? He warns Henry to keep a closer watch on his father, but still accompanies Old Wayne on his investigation. What sort of twist are we headed for?

If some sort of twist is in the offing, it could go a ways toward differentiating season 3 from season 1, because let’s be honest: so far it’s hitting a lot of the same beats. Take the scene where Old Wayne and Roland talk to Hoyt’s former housekeeper, who provides them with a couple of key puzzle pieces. It reminded me of a similar scene from season 1, where Rust Cohle and Marty Hart talk to a woman who used to work for the Tuttle family in Louisiana.

Is the show repeating itself, and if so, why? Has it run out of ideas, or is it underlining the fact that the Purcell kidnappings are directly related to the Errol Childress killings from season 1, as we saw when the reporter brought them up. There were other linkages, like the wreath of wicker Lucy’s friend was carving when Amelia visited in ’80. Then there was the best moment of the episode: Old Wayne watches as 1980 Wayne burns his own clothes…and ’80 Wayne seems to know someone is there. Is this another symptom of Old Wayne’s failing memory, or is time really a flat circle like Cohle said, and these two nearly met on their latest go around the track?

Time has been an important theme all season, and it gets yet more texture here. We drop in at not one but two additional points in time: Wayne Hays dropping his ever-mysterious daughter off at college at some point after ’90, and Roland trying to pull Tom Purcell out of a self-pitying stupor sometime between the first and second proliferations. Old Wayne seems in real danger of getting lost in this ever-complicating time stream.

I haven’t talked about the plot at all, but True Detective is in a groove right now, and I’m more interested in the questions it raises than the answers. Some big stuff happens, though. In ’90, Wayne and Roland finally kill Harris James, which we’ve been expecting for a while. Still, the scene didn’t lose much power. I loved the bursts of music that flared onto the soundtrack while Roland and Wayne are pulling over James and taking him to that barn to beat him for information. Actor Scott Shepherd does a terrific job of playing the sniveling victim, only to turn right around and go for the kill after Wayne removes his handcuffs. My guess is that Wayne and Roland will be forced into some kind of deal with Hoyt, who holds James’ death over them.

But that’s just one viewer’s take. Where do you think this mystery is going? Has this season revived the show for you after the iffy season 2?

Detective’s Notes

• I find Shawshank Redemption-type male bonding powerful, so I was touched by Roland’s agony over Tom Purcell’s “suicide” and Old Wayne and Old Roland continuing to reconnect. “We’re past it, bro.”
• I was surprised to learn that, in ’80, Wayne was the one who encouraged Ameilia to write her book on the case. Given how hostile he is towards her work in ’90, that was unexpected.
• The black man missing an eye is identified as Watts. His name also might be Mr. June. I’m sure they’ll be able to find his name if they ask around.