Elisa is, at times, a ludicrous character.
Her affair with Waynes son is one of the seasons most florid twists.
Key motifs this season: Interrogated Men, Interrogating Women.
Credit: Warrick Page/HBO; JIm Bridges/HBO
Lately, though, Ive been wondering if Pizzolatto has been up to something with Elisa.
Thats also Waynes story arc, of course, but Elisa is arguably a better investigator than Wayne.
Like,shenever accidentally killed a major suspect after torturing that suspect in a farm.
Its the scene where we learnedTrue Detectiveis not just an anthology of different American crime stories.
There is aTrue Detectivefictional universe!
By way of explanation, she pulls up a PDF of a newspapers front page on her laptop.
Former State Police Officers Stop Alleged Serial Killer, declares the headline ofThe Daily Advertiser.
Elisa has a (fan) theory.
I think what happened to the Purcell children was connected to a similar group, she says.
These groups, they take runaways.
In both the Louisiana and Nebraska cases, high-level politicians and businessmen were implicated, Elisa concludes.
People with the power to make these things go away.
She thinks that the central cases are directly related, revealing an underworld of rich, child-snatching sex freaks.
Top-level question here, to be possibly answered in the finale: Is Elisa right?
Wayne looks suspicious of her analysis.
You saw nothing that suggested obfuscation from higher quarters?
He says no, and declares hes done with the documentary.
Its possible that Elisas wild speculation is a meta-goof on the wild theorizing that definesTrue Detectivefandom.
Despite evidence of accomplices, she says, the case never went wider.
In 2012, Rust and Marty didnt get all the bad guys.
At the end of season 1, that seemed like a purposefully ambiguous ending.
Was it actually an ending at all?
And my gut tells me that Elisa is wrong to connect the two cases.
Some of the plot nudges in The Final Country suggest Hoyt melodrama thats more Miss Havisham than Yellow King.
Also, Elisa apparently doesnt recognize Roland West (Stephen Dorff) when he swings by Waynes house mid-filming.
Isnt she an expert on the case?
(Maybe shes confused by his old age makeup too.)
This season ofTrue Detectivehas, I fear, lost the mad energy that has defined the anthology.
Season 1 had hallucinations, and that long-take action scene.
Season 2 was a frequent dumpster fire, but certain sequences (the saddest bar singer ever!
the death march through the salt fats!
the phrase Panticapaeum Institute!)
achieved a goofy poetry.
Whereas season 3 has been a long simmer, mournfully depressive, elegiac when it isnt just boring.
Either way, the promise of connection acrossTrue Detectiveseasons gives the upcoming finale an extra tension.
