8

I put this in spoilers as I have no idea if this leads anywhere but it seems a possibility, albeit a small one:

The following is my prediction and sort of ties in with that photo.

My prediction is that it's a quasi religious cult doing the rapings / druggings / killings. A cult branched off from traditional Christianity, at least in affiliation.

The guy on the lawn mower is employed by the church -- for some reason he is cutting the lawn of a property that looks so out of commission it would make Kafka feel creeped out. So why cut the grass? To give their henchman something to do, perhaps? Whether or not he is the "spaghetti monster" I feel he is in this religious cult. Just so absurd a guy gets paid to chill on a lawnmower cutting grass in the most unused corner of the universe.

The cult has strong ties to the Christian churches in the area. 1) in Episode 1 that fat guy (governor I believe?) comes to the station and says they need to find out these anti-Christian criminals, which of course Rust scoffs at because he feels they're more abstract in nature than just "anti Christian". Knowing how tied up the political and religious groups are in the Deep South, it would make sense for both groups to cover it up. I think that's why they want Task Force to handle it and the Task Force angle will probably be played up in the next 2 episodes: TF can be the puppets and paint the murder(s) anyway the State wants 'em to.

2) In episode 3's beginning multiple eye witnesses from that outdoors church confirm that LeDoux had attended their gatherings. Maybe the cult likes taking impressionable, searching young girls and then twisting them into their erotic fables.

From the way it seems strange things happen (that one father having muscular dystrophy or whatever) the "spaghetti monster" girl not having her disappearance recorded by the police, it seems like a gov't/religious shadow power is behind things -- there is just no excuse for not recording her disappearance. Also the 16 year old girl at the bunny ranch grew up with an uncle who sexually assaulted her, the lady who worked at the cleaners hinted her husband molested their daughter, and that one creepy photo of clansmen/festival goers mounted on horses in front of the little girl in the dress . . . it all hints at the pervertedness of old men in power doing whatever the hell they want . . . also the maddame of the Bunny Ranch said something about the sheriff pretty much protecting their operation . . . Im going to guess in return he gets whatever side puss he wants.

This all makes sense when considering MMs nihilistic assertions on human biology and psychology. People get power, they fall back onto the old perverted and reptilian brain, and use the legal and religious systems to get away with ridiculously evil stuff. They have the power to let their wildest and most abstract fantasies become played out.

So I don't buy into the arguments Rust's philosophy let the killer escape, he is the killer, ect. I think it'll turn out in the end it was just him and Hart vs the State and Religious organizations, and LeDoux was the fall guy. MM knows they are powerless against it and that's why he smirks at the 2 new detectives, because he knows there is no stopping what is going on -- heck I bet Task Force will take over the new case as well.

In places where sheriffs protect trailer park bunny ranches and after all the child rape/molestation rings exposed in the Catholic church in general, I think this is an extremely logical prediction for what is going on behind these crimes.

The abstract brain of humans can venture into some incredibly dark and evil realms. I can picture MMs character saying something like "They had such elaborate sex and violence and drug use simply because the reality of this world is so goddamn boring".

PS - also consider how short LeDoux's jail sentence was and once he was out of jail no one bothered to keep an eye one him. Smells like the State rigging things.

i was pretty creeped out by the dude who had his balls ripped off.

found this on reddit, dont think its been posted here yet. check out the bottom right.

Daniel,

That is a much richer version of what I was thinking with where the general plot was headed. I really don't think this is a "who-done-it." And it follows from the thematic arc so far about authority & human nature (at least from MM perspective). It's a path that makes sense. I was trying to fit it in with the detectives career and it didn't work but that isn't necessary for the plot to be moving in that direction.

My prediction, going to put it in spoiler tags

He works for the government. A parish in Louisiana is a county.

Rust would've been proud of Holmes' best man speech in this week's episode of Sherlock:

I don't think MM will ever sleep with Woody's wife.

MM would likely be diagnosed with clinical depression though it's obviously much more complicated (synesthesia even? I'm really wondering how much we can rely on MM's self-diagnosis throughout - along with any revelations of his past). He's not at all interested in sex (scene with hooker, doesn't pursue blind date).

MM's whole deal and the reason he's ****ed up (though details are obviously uncertain) is due to the loss of his family. Which he sees Woody throwing away. Due to MM's general lack of social skills he doesn't just say to Woody "I know what it is to lose my family and if you don't knock off this bull**** mid-life crisis crap you're going to do the same." Instead he sets up awkward confrontations with Woody. First in the locker room, and then when he visits to "mow her lawn" (I really hope nobody didn't get that common euphemism as it seemed upthread). He's trying to show Woody how he'd feel if his wife cheated on him.

But Woody's not good with subtlety or empathy and just takes it as a challenge.

If MM wanted to sleep with the wife or blow up their marriage he already could have by confirming the wife's suspicions. But he doesn't, not out of any loyalty to Woody or bro code but because he doesn't want to destroy the most important thing he's lost (even more important than his sanity or will to live). Family.

wow those last few minutes, with the dark ass plotting music, the psycho speech/voice over by mccaughagnghgnaghgnhaey and then that final shot of the goon walking with the machette and gas mask.

gave me the chills. lovely stuff!

"I'm not a psycho"


who is Hart trying to convince?

How often does a film/show employ monologues wrought with the writer's need to soapbox his philosophy? This show does the very same thing, but perfectly sews it into the show's narrative, complimenting the plot rather than pausing it. It was perfectly setup with MM being initially quiet, then Woody poking him to speak, and being sarcastically annoyed at his deep diatribes, but slowly intrigued, just like the audience. It's an expert method to allow the writer to have fun with words. That, along with the absolutely perfect usage of not-too-slow motion under brooding music give this show a haunting, ethereal quality. I've found my mouth agape several times through each episode, not in any usual shocking reaction, but just a mellow awe. The final shot is simply spectacular.

I love how this show introduces plot points and facts. There is no need to follow the standard, here's something, now here are the characters reacting and speaking of it. Woody and his wife, talking with their daughter about the drawings, allow the viewer to toil in bewilderment for a bit, forcing your imagination to fill in the blanks before showing you the drawings. It adds to the hazy confusion the show strides in. Even better was the end, when Woody asks if the interviewers have ever been in a gun fight.

"Then what the **** would you know about what happened?"

Followed by MM talking about his dad's experiences in Nam, inter-cut with a house in a field, and ending with that dreadful shot of a monster. This show hits every note, every stride, every moment, with a second nature artistry.

hahaha

Nice, I think this is much more likely to be the case. I think the lack of wedding ring in 2012 and blow up in 2002 are just red herrings. As I said before, I'd be pretty shocked if Hart's marriage makes it anywhere near 2002, and if it does, it would be one of the most miserable marriages ever (though the scene where his wife was confronting him about potential infidelity turning into sex was, um, disturbing, and shows how it could get to 2002). However, they did set up the idea that he could come back to "working" on his marriage, since his mistress broke up with him. It makes you wonder if one of Cohle's purposes is to show Hart that he can sleep with his wife anytime he wants to (almost like a predator or killer), to try to get him right (through stages of escalation, instead of just talking to him, since Hart won't want to hear anything about it). If Hart goes and gets another chick on the side, he's hopeless. I'm kind of surprised they already broke them off, because that's rich character material.

Nice post. I think the only show that competes with the artistry of this show on TV right now is Hannibal. Still, it doesn't even get close to this show, because this show clearly has a much higher budget (and they're doing it in slightly different ways, TD apparently going for surreal beauty in a horrific universe, while Hannibal apparently is going for horrific surreality in a normal universe). If someone can find a better use of slo-mo in TV history, I'd like to know what it is. I generally hate slo-mo, but it is like watching pure art with how it's used in this show. The show is going to get a lot of EMMY notice.

I'm not sure if it was because I was watching on my normal TV, with secondary set up, instead of my studio, but this was the first episode where I thought they were a little heavy handed with some of the writing and symbolism (though I still loved it). I personally think it's going to be hard for this particular director to sustain total momentum with this show, because hardly any directors could (this is the equivalent of doing 4 or 5 feature films back to back to back, and these are done like feature films AND on film). There's a reason why directors don't direct entire seasons of TV shows, and it might be unprecedented for a drama director to direct 8 episodes in a row of an American television series. It's awesome for cohesiveness of vision, but this guy probably lost a lot of his sanity along the way. It's just too much work. It's also probably a career maker for this guy, too.

It's bigger than that - He's showing Woody that anyone could because of the mess Woody's made of his home life. MM is certainly no ladykiller, and Woody's perception of MM is as a insufferable boor who can't even close a sure thing (his blind date's bar is set at not puking in her lap - That MM might pass on the opportunity would be unthinkable to Woody so MM must have gone down in flames). If MM can make time with Woody's wife than anybody with any game whatsoever is a shoe in.

CMAR, interesting, you're looking at Cohle being Hart's warning shot for the world around him. I like it. It also speaks back to the running theme of tunnel vision. Cohle is really the *last* person Hart should worry about from a fidelity perspective (since he appears to have sex dysfunction, not that Hart would even notice that), but Hart's focused on how Cohle can get in and eff things up. Very interesting, Hart preaches against tunnel vision in case work, but appears to have it in a lot of facets of his life.

OTOH, MM may well be on his way to an "emotional affair" with Woody's wife. Whether Woody would consider that cheating or not is debateable (and he's just as likely to get butthurt over a perfectly innocent friendship) but given the snippets of conversation we've seen about her and MM discussing MM's mental health issues you could make the case that MM's already more intimate with her than Woody on some levels.

This show is very, very much a deconstruction of the odd-couple buddy cop trope. So there are a ton of moments where one makes an observation of the other that's also cutting to themselves or sees the other through the haze of their own filter in a way that colours their judgement.

One thing of note is that in the present interviews Woody seems to have gained a lot more clarity. While he still has reservations and issues with MM he's also willing to give him credit (ie; his abilities as an interviewer or his work ethic). He also doesn't stay mad at or hold a grudge on MM for long in the flashbacks for that matter.

OTOH, for all of MM's monologuing about hypocrisy and self-deception he has no hesitation using it to his own ends when it suits (using religious allusions while interviewing the masturbating burglar). MM's an "ends justify the means" kind of guy. And knows it ("The world needs bad men like us"). That's a big part of his existential ennui.

So, structurally going forward - At the end of this episode they've found Ledoux and next episode is the half way point. So I'm thinking the original murder investigation gets wrapped up next episode and the second half of the season is the new investigation/reopening the old? Woody and MM getting the band back together?

If we were to guess as to the style of the show, it's that it's a chronology of everything leading up to what happened in 2012. My assumption is that they're just going to continue the show in the same style, and fill in more flashbacks, and backstories for Hart and Cohle ("solving" the case in 1995 is just part of the chronology, and not meant to lead the show, in my opinion). I think at the beginning of the series, the cops wanted the whole story from the beginning to possibly help them solve the 2012 case (or for some other purpose, since we don't even know if the two cops are IA, cold casing for the current case, or what exactly). So, if there is a procedural aspect to the current case at some point, I doubt that will come in to play until maybe the end of episode 6 or at some point during episode 7 (based on the idea that it's an anthology series, and that they'll need enough time to wrap it up to not feel rushed).

Ah, just realized something. The two cops interviewing them could be the focus of season 2 as they continue their investigation once they've gotten past Hart and Cohle's info. So, they probably could do the entire season just as a lead up to 2012 (though we're unsure at this point what part Hart and Cohle could even play up to that point, since neither is a cop anymore, and we don't know when they stopped being cops).

If we keep with the current interview/flashback structure, I have a hard time seeing where this goes after they capture or kill Leduc. Half the season is an awful lot of denouement.

They also have to resolve the present day murder

Yes, the 1995 case isn't the focus of the show, it's the focus of the characters' descent into what they have become today. It's just an important bump in the road, and I have a feeling they're going to move toward the 2002 incident in episodes 5 and 6, and then wrap up with getting to the present (which probably has a lot going on) in the final 2 if that's the way they intend to tell the show (unlike The Bridge where the case being solved meant nothing going forward to the show, but season 2 was perfectly set up by other outside events). It's just really hard to say, because I don't think this show cares anything about being a procedural, it is a character study first and foremost.

So it really comes down to how they're planning on handing off to season 2. Is it a true anthology like American Horror Story (completely different stories), or is season 2 just dropping characters, and picking up the investigation with other people. I don't really have a handle on what the ultimate thing is they're trying to accomplish with the show. I just find it hard to believe that any cases are a big deal on the show, based on the way it's been told so far.