‘The Final Country’ is another perfect example of the agony and the ecstasy that is True Detective Season 3.
We finally made headway with the story, and yet at episode’s end we’re left with our fists in the air loudly exclaiming, ‘That’s how you end it?’
It’s not the ending was bad in any way at all, but it just like we got the story shifted in the proper gear, and the story ends. We’ve got so many questions that need to be answered, and yet — we get this sudden stop in the episode and the credits roll.
The penultimate episode proved a lot of theories I had last week. Tom was killed by Harris, and (most likely) the discovery of the call from Julie, and his homosexuality would used as the cause for his staged suicide. In return, because of the inaction and politics of the police force Roland and Hays go out and try to beat a confession out of Harris — only to kill him — and then bury/burn the evidence.
However, there was also a lot we didn’t see coming. First, the car that everyone believes Hays is imagining seems to actually be surveying him. Second, the man with one eye definitely is real, and looks to have been a procurer of children for Hoyt.
However, the biggest but possibly most inconsequential reveal was that this is all tied to the events of True Detective Season One. I’ve been thinking this for quite some time as all signs pointed to another rich, influential family who ran the rural backwood regions of state were tied to the death, and sexual abuse of children. This happened with The Yellow King. We also had the dolls, which were not unlike the totems from Season One. It probably means nothing in the long run, but it’s truly an interesting occurrence.
Now — that ending. It seems that Hoyt (voiced by Michael Rooker) knows everything about the murder of Harris. How is the big question. How could anyone but Hoyt and Roland know about this? Did Roland spill the beans?
And this is the biggest problem with Season Three of True Detective. We spent so many weeks taking this methodical journey through three timelines; painstakingly combing through dead end leads and Hays mental and marital issues. Now, we’ve got one to hopefully wrap everything up. Let’s be honest there’s a lot that needs to be wrapped up here.
The fear, as with any finale, is that the series will either rush through things, will crowbar illogical logic to justify an ending, and/or we don’t get a definitive answer to everything (which could easily be the case).
Rating: 8 out of 10
True Detective, ‘The Final Country’ is now streaming on HBO Go.
