True Detective Season 3 recap: The 5 things we learned from The Big Never
By John Dotson
The latest episode of True Detective brought insight into flaws in the Purcell investigation and much more. Here are five things we learned from the latest episode!
Last week the first two episodes of True Detective sparked a bunch of questions with very few answers. The show had a chilling two-episode premiere which showcased a case involving missing children knowns as Will and Julie Purcell. We also got insight into the two men who were investigating the case and the impact it had on them throughout the years. Detective Wayne Hays, in particular, seems the most haunted by the case and more of the reasons why were revealed tonight.
More things that happened: Young William Purcell’s body was found in a strange formation like he was praying. Little strange dolls were left as a path to find his body. A message was left in the mailbox with a cryptic response about Julie Purcell’s whereabouts. And they discovered Julie’s fingerprints were found at the scene of a robbery. Needless to say, none of it makes sense quite yet.
This week some of those questions were answered while others were only made even more ambiguous. We also found out Hays has more regrets about the investigation than previously thought. A lot transpired, so let’s get right to it. Here are the five things we learned from the latest episode of True Detective Season 3.
1. Wayne suffers from either dementia or Alzheimers
One of the reveals this week involved Wayne’s medical condition. At the end of Episode 2, Wayne found himself at a cross-section and looked terrified and unsure how he got there.
Around the start of the episode, in the 2015 timeline, Wayne is seeing a doctor with his son and explaining the memory loss. Wayne explains that the event did not involve a blackout because he remembers driving to the cross section for a reason but can’t remember the purpose. We also find out the area had to do with the Purcell case.
During the interaction, the doctor calls it a disease, which makes William defensive. He tells the doctor “you call it a disease but don’t know what it is.” The doctor clarifies he can almost certainly tell him what the diagnosis will end up being.
Wayne tells his son if he puts him in a home, he will kill himself. All this being said, at least we have an answer to the question of what is happening to Wayne’s mental state– which appears to be early signs of Alzheimer’s/dementia.
2. A secret friend?
One of the weirder parts of the episode was the discovery that the kids were lying about hanging with the neighbor kid, Ronnie Boyle. This leads Hays and Roland to believe the Purcell children had a secret friend they were meeting. But the question remains, who?
Most of this is not answered but it does encourage the detectives to start from scratch and see what they overlooked. Once they do, they find a bunch of weird cutout notes with mysterious messages hiding in one of the kid’s spirals saying: I am always here; Don’t listen; I’ll always keep you safe. These messages appear to be for Julie and are found inside a Hoyt’s Food bag.
Roland also finds a drawing that looks like a secret map to something. Either a hiding place or where the kids play perhaps?
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3. An overlooked detail
Around the halfway point of the episode, Wayne tracks the spot where the boy Will Purcell died, finding blood on a rock, as well as the bag full of his possessions. When they follow a trail, they see it leads to a road with only one big white house in full view. Roland and Hays realize this house was never questioned by authorities so they take it upon themselves to ask the resident.
Once they do, the man living in the home gives some weird answers to their questions. He first explains that a law official who was not them came asking about the kids in the case. A nice looking caucasian man in a suit.
He also explains he told the man he saw a mysterious brown car coming around during the time before the kids disappeared — and the suspects were a male and female, one black and one white. The weirdest part, Hays then asks if he would let them search his property and he says not without a warrant. So does this mean he is hiding something?
Fast forward to the current timeline, Wayne is being interviewed by documentarians about the case. During the discussion, the interviewer Eliza brings up that she found numerous people in the area who reported seeing a nice upscale brown Sedan before and on the night of the Purcells’ disappearances. She also conveys reports of others seeing a black man with a scar and a nice suit.
Wayne looks perplexed because he believed they covered all steps and he is in disbelief that something was overlooked. This only further drives his regret over the case.