Spoiler alert: this blog details events in the seventh episode of the third season of True Detective, which airs on Sunday nights on HBO in the US, and Mondays in the UK on Sky Atlantic at 2am and 9pm.
‘I told your daddy he shouldn’t do this. It could be dangerous’
Finally, things get properly moving. Tom Purcell is found dead in 1990 at the last known location where his son was seen alive. It’s an apparent suicide and the accompanying typed note says he’s sorry and that he’s “going to see his son and wife”. Mr Harris James has been busy, apparently.
In 2015, the true crime documentary crew stop bluffing and let us know what they’re really up to. Elisa and her team want Hays to shed light on a wider paedophile web, which is the same one that Rust Cohle uncovered – but couldn’t fully expose – in season one. The dolls and blue spirals are a code for the ring, apparently. She questions the medical examiners cause of death for Tom Purcell and Hays plays dumb saying he didn’t suspect foul play, even though in reality, he knew things went further.
In 1990, Hays got those phone records for Lucy Purcell’s room in Paradise, Nevada and found an evidence trail that put Harris James in Las Vegas the day before Lucy was found dead (he flew out the day after she died). Dan O’Brien has also disappeared, snatched from his motel apparently by Harris James, who presumably got the info out of Tom Purcell before shooting him in the head. West isn’t that thrilled. He brought Hays back to reignite his career, not open up some huge conspiracy involving a paedophile ring and a group of prominent businessmen and political power players. But using West’s guilt about the death of Tom Purcell, Hays convinces him to pick up James. After they string him up and try to beat the information out of James, there’s a struggle and both West and Hays shoot him before burying the body. This is the bad thing that the pair have previously darkly muttered about.
‘Somebody’s got to stay. Somebody’s got to remember’
Amelia is still working on her follow-up non-fiction book in 1990. She tells Hays about the one-eyed man at her reading and also visits Lucy’s friend from the last episode, who mysteriously appeared from nowhere and is used to introduce a picture that apparently shows the one-eyed man and his partner dressed as ghosts. She also takes a trip to the bar where Lucy worked to ask about the one-eyed man. Her old boss says he never saw Lucy talking to him, but he did see Dan O’Brien chatting to him. The interview is cut short when she thinks Henry and Becca – whom she took with her after not being able to get in touch with Hays – have been kidnapped from the car. They’re just asleep in the back seat but clearly the panic surrounding the case has begun to affect everyone.
‘Why y’all still police at your age?’
We find out much more about the one-eyed man. Elisa tells us his name was Watts. She suspected he was a “procurer” for the paedophile ring who delivered children (often at-risk) to them. Hays and West interview one of Hoyt’s former workers, who tells them of a Mr June who looked after the Hoyt’s wayward daughter (Isabelle) and lived in the basement of the main house. Isabelle’s husband and daughter both died in 1977, and after that she never left the estate. She caused a huge traffic accident one night and then became the ward of Mr June. One-eyed and shady, Mr June’s real name is Mr Watts. The plot gets closer and closer to season one’s southern gothic overtones.
The final segment sees a bit of call and response between 1990 and 2015. West and Hays spot the phantom car that’s been stalking Hays, and Roland manages to snap a picture of the plate. But then as Hays walks down the street back to the house, West disappears and Hays stumbles upon the 1990 version of himself burning his clothes from the night of the Harris murder. We stay in 1990, and the next morning Hays gets a phone call from Edward Hoyt, who is sat outside his house in a black car. He knows what Hays did last night, and blackmails him into getting in his car.
Notes and observations
Another timeline is introduced. I’m guessing it’s 2000, as that would continue the 10-year leap and would mean Becca – whom we meet for the first time – was the right age to start college.
Will we find out what brought Tom Purcell and West together in 1985? Tom’s death is arguably the most important thing in West’s arc, so surely we will.
Did that washing-up scene in 1980 convince anyone of the Amelia theory? She pushes and probes in an increasingly suspicious manner. I’m almost sold.
Speaking of conspiracies, who are your bets on for Will’s killer, and who is responsible for Julie’s disappearance? Answers in the thread, please.
Is Rust Cohle going to show up? Were all those little metal men he used to cut out of Lone Star cans actually a reference to those dolls? Questions, questions.
Will Hays make it to the end of the season?
