After the huge success of season one and the lackluster showing in season two, viewers waited with anticipation where season three would land on the satisfaction scale. Last night, during the Oscars, the show aired the season three finale to some mixed results from the public.
True Detective Finale pic.twitter.com/WayJWrPVkU — Joe Shmoe (@ostracizedchimp) February 25, 2019
Was this the best season of #TrueDetective yet? After tonight's conclusion, we're saying "yes." Our recap of the Season Three finale https://t.co/UUpFRLD3V4 pic.twitter.com/6D5OGVEC1r — Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) February 25, 2019
*Spoilers Ahead*
The finale juggles through all three timelines and we get answers to pretty much everything, but perhaps not in the way we intend. In the 2015 timeline, Wayne and Roland track down the man known as Mr. June and he divulges everything that happened back in 1980 with the disappearance to Julie Purcell. The story the show had been telling up to this point was dark and grim, but the resolution of the case showed the abduction of Julie wasn’t nearly grisly as one would imagine. It wasn’t a part of a larger conspiracy, it was an abduction that went tragically wrong, leaving a wake of destruction in its path. The case wasn’t really solved by Wayne or Roland, it was just disclosed, leaving Roland to wonder if knowing the full story changes the way he feels about his life.
Mahershala Ali won the Oscar for best supporting actor last night and was the starred in this season of True Detective (Reuters).
The finale wasn’t about the case, but about how it affected these people and this town over the course of nearly 40 years. In 1980, we see that Wayne is relegated to desk duty because of the op-ed piece written by Amelia, leaving a divide between the two only for them to come right back to one another. In 1990, we see Wayne and Amelia continuing to mend their relationship that has been constantly fractured due to the Purcell case. Roland is clearly overwhelmed after murdering Harris James and starts a massive bar fight between some bikers. Outside the bar he seeks companionship with a stray dog, throughout the whole series Roland thrives through presence of others and struggles when he’s alone. The 2015 timeline is where we leaned into a bit of controversy amongst viewers. Wayne does in fact track down Julie Purcell after all these years, but his fading memory leads him to forget where he is. There is a moment where we see that Wayne may remember what he’s doing, but it’s left to us to decide. The final shot of the season shows Wayne, back in Vietnam, walking into the jungle. It’s certainly a choice to have that moment be the capstone on the whole season, but after letting it sit, it may be a brilliant finish to the story. Wayne’s purpose in life was to track, he’s been doing it all his life, it’s all he knows, and the final moment of his fleeting memory that we see is him wading into the dangers of the Vietnam jungle.
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