For our review of the last episode of True Detective, click here.
Synopsis: Following up on new leads, Wayne and Roland track down a man who left the police force in the midst of the Purcell investigation. Meanwhile, Amelia visits Lucy Purcell’s best friend in hopes of gaining insights into the whereabouts of the mysterious one-eyed man. (HBO)
Writer: Nic Pizzolatto
Director: Daniel Sackheim
Rating: TV-MA
Running Time: 57mins
Airs: Sundays at 9pm on HBO Canada (Canada)/HBO (United States)
Next week’s episode is going to big but this one was pretty big too.
After the ending of the last episode, the season has pretty much played its hand with the whole conspiracy angle. In this episode, we start to see how far that conspiracy reached (with one special surprise) and it also helped fill more gaps while further connecting the timelines.
This episode started off again the 90s with some resolution after the events of the end of the previous episode. Hays would be called to Devil’s Den were he and West found the body of Tom Purcell who appeared to have committed suicide which we know was probably not the case (In 2015, Eliza would present evidence that even suggested this). Meanwhile when he returned home, Amelia told him about the one-eyed black man who showed up at her reading.
Just like the Woodard incident ended the 80s investigation, Tom Purcell’s suicide ended the 90s investigation and he would be convicted posthumously for his children’s murder while Woodard’s conviction would be overturned. Despite this setback, Hays wanted to keep going which upset West who was closer to Tom (the episode would feature a look back to when West visited Tom and offered him his help whenever he needed it). West got him back on the case as a favor to help Hays restore his reputation but Hays was getting close to losing it all again. Later on, they would be called to Dan O’Brien’s hotel room where a struggle occurred, however, Dan was missing meaning that may have been speaking the truth (we know he was found dead very soon but we don’t know if Tom Purcell killed him or the shady conspiracy he may have been referring to before).
After Tom’s death, West was reluctant to continue with the investigation despite Hays’ determination. He had found evidence that linked Harris James to Lucy Purcell’s death. Hays got frustrated with West’s reluctance to pursue his lead the way they used to. Now if it didn’t work, they’d be in real trouble. They would later abduct James and confront him with all the evidence while roughing him up. They would not get much about him before things got out of hand, forcing West to shoot and kill James who they then buried. This would explain his disappearance during the 90s investigation.
Meanwhile, Amelia would do an investigation of her own into Lucy’s past as a way to find the infamous one-eyed black man. Ultimately, Hays revealed that Amelia had decided against writing a second book about the Purcell case. The episode would also feature the conversation in the 80s that led to her first book. Part of it stemmed out of Hays’ frustration with the closing of the 80s investigation. 90s Amelia’s investigation linked the one-eyed black man to Dan O’Brien.
In 2015, Eliza revealed that the one-eyed black man kept looking for Julie after the 90s investigation concluded. She would also have evidence that connected him and the dolls to the pedophile ring and the subsequent investigation from the first season. She believed that the Purcell children were sold to this pedophile ring by either Tom or Lucy (most likely Lucy) and Dan O’Brien (which could be the shady people he was referring to). This alleged pedophile group could have had enough power to end both the 80s and 90s investigations. Hays acknowledged that this may have been the case but he had since came to terms with it which disappointed Eliza. As far as he was concerned, he had had enough.
In reality, Hays wanted to continue to pursue the investigation and the one-eyed black man who Eliza had referred to as Watts. A conversation with a housekeeper for the Hoyts revealed that he was a driver for them whose role increased role after his daughter suffered a car accident. During a lucid moment, Hays apologized for the Harris James incident for which West forgave him.
The episode would end in the 90s where Amelia wanted to know the truth after she caught Hays burning evidence. He would warn her against knowing but they would get interrupted by a call from Hoyt (Michael Rooker) who knew about James’ death. He threatened to go to the cops if Hays didn’t speak to him. The episode ended with Hays entering Hoyt’s car that just happened to be outside his home (going back to his 2015 hallucinations about the car).
Overall, The Final Country was an excellent episode of True Detective that firmly positioned itself towards an exciting season finale. More than likely connecting the events of this season with that of the first was a welcome surprise. Though this episode helped to fill more gaps, we still don’t know how Amelia died. However, we can probably guess what happened at this point. Hoyt and his influence has been prevalent throughout the season but we still don’t know how high this conspiracy goes. What more can be said about the performances? Hays and Dorff continue to be superb here and throughout. It is definitely a shame that our time with them is about to come to an end with one episode left this season. Judging by how this season has gone so far, there is little doubt that the finale can live up to the high bar that has been set and looks to be another exciting one, especially the showdown between Hays and Hoyt.
Score: 9.5/10
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The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.
