Probably best episode of the season so far for me. Feels like it should've been episode 4 though afraid these last two episodes might feel rushed.

unpopular opinion alert?: season 3 isn't that much better than season 2. far better acted and much more believable storyline, but I found season 2 more entertaining. might be my LA affinity bias coming through here (I actually enjoy Michael Mann-esque overlong shots of freeway interchanges)

The reveals are so confusing. Am I getting this right?

*Lucy sells her daughter to Hoyt to replace his dead grand daughter. Lucy believes that this will lead to her daughter having a better life.
*Hoyt is in some weird church which judges Lucy for being a whore and Tom for being gay, black guy selling dolls is a trusted member of this church.
*Hoyt contracts black guy to pick up the kids. Black guy is innocent and believes he doing the right thing for Julie.
*Something goes wrong and the boy is accidentally killed (possibly knocks his head when trying to prevent his sister from being taken?).
*Black guy lays out the kid using rituals from the weird church.
*Harris is also a member of the church and helps to pin everything on indian guy.
*Harris is promoted within Hoyt's organization.
*Through out the years Lucy probably discovers that the weird church is a cover for some weird ****, and her trying to find out if Julie is OK gets her killed?
*Black guy also discovers the church is into some weird **** and feels regret but is scared? Which is why he shows up at the book signing?
*Julie escaped Hoyt's mansion in 1990 but has turned completely crazy as a result of what Hoyt (& others) did to her?


Crazy theory: In 1990 Roland & Hays obviously get on the right track and eventually kill Harris.
I can't find a single reason why Roland & Hays would back off in 1990?
I'm going to theorize some people close to Roland & Hays died in suspicious circumstances in 1990? Do we know when Amelia died? Letting the detectives die would probably ring too many alarm bells, so they picked people close to them?

Both mom and daughter aren't named Julie, Jesus.

Just shows how confused I am . I edited, should be correct now.

I'm not sure she sold Julie to Hoyt. I think he could be the father or something like that.

My only problem with this theory is did Julie just get locked away for 10 years? I mean I assume Hoyts house isn't that far away so if they took her outside they risk her being id'd

In my mind there are a few possibilities here:

1. Hoyt has clear incontrovertible evidence that Roland and Hayes murdered Harris. He goes to Hayes, shows him the evidence and tells him that him and Roland will both go to prison for life if they don't find a way to derail the investigation immediately.

2. Hoyt has some kind of blackmail material on Amelia from her days in California. Some piece of information that would ruin Hayes' family if it were to ever come out.

3. Hoyt is able to make a credible threat against Hayes' daughter. Maybe he's part of some large rich guy pedo conspiracy, and he makes it clear that Hayes is incapable of protecting his daughter from the group, and even if Hoyt were to go down, other conspirators would get to his daughter. Maybe this has something to do with why Hayes' daughter isn't in the picture now. He might have sent her away to live somewhere off the grid in 90 and she never knew why.

4. Hoyt gets the police brass to shut it down. Roland and Hayes both get fired for some trumped up bs, and whoever replaces them on the case is on Hoyt's payroll.

I think the first three are way more likely because it seems like Hayes is the one that sunk the investigation, and he did it in a way that left Roland pissed at him for 25 years.

My prediction:

I think it's going to come out that Roland and Tom will be gay for each other. Probably the reason why Roland and Hayes have their falling out. Roland made a comment to Hayes about Amelia being a beautiful woman and I got the feeling that their may be something extra to that comment.

There was a picture of her as an older woman in one scene in 2015, so long after 1990.

I like the theory that Julie is a 'replacement' for Hoyt's daughter's dead daughter better. Plus they've pretty strongly implied Lucy was sleeping with Dan and Julie is his daughter.

At this point in the show, what does the church have to do with anything? It's like people thinking it's some old man pedo ring. I guess it can happen but no real evidence for it.

Lol I'm so lost. Have we met Hoyt? I know Lucy worked at the chicken farm, and I gather that was Hoyt's head of security we met in this episode. But I haven't tracked Hoyt at all, and certainly not any backstory with a dead grandkid.

Because the boy was found in a weird religious pose, the dolls were found in the forest, and the black guy with the weird eye who sold the dolls clearly is somehow involved given last episode? It doesn't have to be a church necessarily, I guess. But it's some weird ritual **** and the black man appearing at the book signing makes it seem like he was missled by the people in charge, or he at least regrets what he has done. Doesn't really fit if it's purely a cult, imo.

I thought the scene between father and son was the best of the season, and probably a historically good TV scene.

Before that I really didn't like the whole hallucinating the Vietcong thing, but whatever.

This isn't close to season 1, but it's also not close to season 2. I'll definitely watch this again at some point, and hope the ending delivers.

Seems obvious that the gay conversion therapy church is at the center of this. Tom was attending, or at the very least he hated his own identity enough to consider going. Harris James is also gay based on his comment to Hays about his body. Hoyt also prob gay, as is Blevins and Kindt. They are all involved in the cover up and the murder of Lucy. I suspect James may be the actual leader of the church/cult, not Hoyt. Or maybe James IS Hoyt, who knows.

Here's my left-field theory... the gay conversion church kidnaps girls and brainwashes them. They use these girls to "cure" the gay members of the church, by forcing them to have sex with the men who are trying to be cured of their homosexuality. Lucy ("soul of a whore") was a victim of this church when younger, and her kids are a result of one of the gay men (prob Hoyt) having sex with her. The pink room is where it happens. Julie is now called "Mary" (as in the virgin mother?), the name the church gave her when captive - but the fact that she sometimes goes by July means she has not totally forgotten her life from before she was brainwashed. She somehow escaped but is not sure who she is.

Still not sure how or why Will was killed, it could be something as simple as him trying to save his sister. Members of this church were abusing him at Devil's Den and perhaps they killed him as some sort of ritual, to "cure" them of their sinful desires etc. Then they took the girl.

Goddamn

revots/clayton should be the partners for S4.

Agreed. I haven't given any thought to it, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have gotten their anyway!

Purple Hayes may have been brainwashed and isn’t actually going senile also.

This is a pretty solid theory and fits in well with all the revelations from this past ep. Although I didn't read anything into his comment about how beautiful Amelia was.

Perhaps Harris James kills Tom and the cousin, then Hays and Roland kill James, which is why he goes missing? Also possible that James kills Amelia when she gets too close to the truth, and Hays and Roland kill him in retaliation. That could also explain why Hays conveniently forgets James when the filmmaker asks about him, even though they clearly had met.

lots of revelations in tonights episode. I enjoyed it. Looking forward to finale

The episode was better, but it seems like the first 5 episodes were a waste and after a couple dozen total TD's, Putzatallo has confirmed he isn't a great writer.

Thoroughly enjoyed again. Lego!

Loved the abstract, chilling scene transitioning from confronting the car in 2015 to burning clothes in 1990.