I'll be disappointed if somehow Russ is the Yellow King.

This series has gotten kind of tough to follow for me. I'm going to have to re-watch the last few episodes to catch the details that may have fallen between the cracks for me.

2/18/2014 4:00:49 AM

Quote :

"Okay so I'm a little unclear as to what exactly just happened so someone please correct/add details if I am missing something... - They stopped/killed Ladoux and figured that the case was closed and all was good up until 2002 when Russ was interrogating that guy and he started talking about the Yellow King. - Shortly after talking about the Yellow King, the guy was either somehow killed or convinced to kill himself. - This implies that there is some kind of coverup here, with Ladoux just being a pawn for the real killer and something a lot bigger is at play. - After Russ heard about the Yellow King from dude in jail and he turned up dead, Russ followed up on some of his old leads and found a bunch of those stick things, confirming that the killer is still around. This is around the time that Russ went a little crazy and got into heavier drinking, so perhaps he uncovered something so sinister that it caused him to quit the police force and go off the grid. Perhaps trying to track down the Yellow King or something? - In present day after Russ showed back up, the preacher died and Russ has been seen around the crime scene of the recent killings. The police see him as a major suspect. Maybe his storage locker has his findings about the Yellow King and a bigger conspiracy?"

this is a good recap, as well as my understanding of where we currently are in the story

2/18/2014 6:25:58 AM

so my thought when they were investigating earlier was that the lawnmower guy at the school was involved. then that thought came back when he went to investigate the school again, so I googled for a picture of the lawnmower dude. then this showed up:

2/18/2014 7:39:26 AM

This show would have been perfect for Netflix. All the details are better when you binge watch instead of waiting weeks between episodes when you might forget some of them.

Although I'm sure I would miss details like ^ no matter what.


Still an awesome show. I'll probably binge it all right after the last episode. I think I read somewhere that the creator of the show says everything you need to know about the current day investigation is in the first episode.

2/18/2014 7:51:18 AM

I usually circle back a couple days later to the reddit site, lots of people with theories and screenshots they snag, so it's interesting reading for the stuff that I miss.

http://www.reddit.com/r/TrueDetective/

2/18/2014 8:57:05 AM

Thanks for getting me distracted at work.

2/18/2014 9:28:00 AM

Wasn't Ladoux supposed to have facial scarring btw? He just looked a little cracked out last night, didn't really look like he had scars on his face. Or am I mixing him up with someone else.

Also I think Marty's younger daughter in 2002 is the same girl who plays the psycho little girl on The Walking Dead.

[Edited on February 18, 2014 at 9:59 AM. Reason : ]

2/18/2014 9:56:59 AM

^ yes she is the same girl

2/18/2014 10:25:10 AM

Maybe Russt has been deep undercover since 2002+ trying to find the real killer. Maybe Russt and Marty are still friends but playing like they haven't spoken.

2/18/2014 5:14:42 PM

just re-watched the first episode.

Here is my wild speculation theory (which I have heard a few similar aspects of other places):
I think the first scene of the series may actually the last as well. I don't think what we see there is the killer bringing Dora Lang to the tree and starting the fire, I think its Rust bringing out something or someone (it is very hard to actually see what is being carried, but doesn't necessarily look like a person) and then burning it in present day, the fire that they show looks pretty large, but there really isn't much of a burnt area at all when they show up to the Dora Lang crime scene. I think its Rust getting closure, either burning the actual killer or perhaps all the wooden devil catchers that he collected from the school at the end of the last episode (perhaps thats what he is keeping in his storage shed), to try and put and end to the cycle. also- cant exactly tell, but it looks like it maybe a silver zippo lighter that is used to light the fire, just like he is seen using to light his cigarettes just a couple scenes later

couple other things I noticed- when they go to visit the sheriff about the little girl that had gone missing years earlier, they see the report and it says that it was possibly filed in error, just like all the ones Rust is looking up at the end of the latest episode on the computer, I had forgotten about that.

Also there was a line that he says about imagining allowing yourself to be crucified. In the end perhaps he will allow things to get blamed on him in order to get the real killer.

[Edited on February 18, 2014 at 6:17 PM. Reason : $$$]

2/18/2014 6:11:59 PM

Some interesting ideas here: http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/02/true-detective-review-the-secret-fate-of-all-life.html

2/18/2014 6:41:29 PM

Probably not important but still cant get the question out of my head:

So was that Ginger cat tied up in the back of Rust's truck during the entire Ledeux firefight?

2/18/2014 8:41:20 PM

Pretty sure he said he threw him in a ditch

2/18/2014 8:54:00 PM

ugh. He said he threw him in a ditch. Pay attention people.

2/18/2014 9:32:46 PM

Sorry, at that point I was getting amped up for a firefight (searching for my NERF guns like I always do)

2/18/2014 9:44:44 PM

Pretty sure there are multiple killers. It has been made clear there is a bigger conspiracy, the governor showing up early on implicates him pretty strongly in my opinion (he hasnt done anything suspicious, but why introduce the character in that way).

2/19/2014 11:14:44 AM

I would be disappointed if Rust ends up being involved...that would be a very Scooby Doo ending to everything they've built up so far

2/19/2014 12:51:10 PM

I don't think there's any way he is the real killer like the present day detectives are suggesting, he's just been working it off the books (as he has been known to do), since he has a feeling that people in high up places are in on it

2/19/2014 1:47:39 PM

Yeah I don't think he's a part of it either. Seems like it'd be too obvious from the get-go for that to be how it turns out.

Sucks that they're only on the show for 8 episodes. I like the characters they've developed, sucks to have to get into brand new characters each season.

2/19/2014 2:08:27 PM

Maybe the present day detectives (or at least their superiors?) are in on it and are trying to pin it on Russ since they know he is close to finding out the truth or getting some solid evidence?

2/19/2014 2:22:21 PM

Quote :

"Maybe the present day detectives (or at least their superiors?) are in on it and are trying to pin it on Russ since they know he is close to finding out the truth or getting some solid evidence?"

But why "solve" a crime you know is going to keep happening?

2/19/2014 3:45:46 PM

My thinking was that they were "solving" it to "lead" them back to Russ so that outside people wouldn't know they were in on it. Or maybe one of their superiors has made it look like Russ is the killer to hide his own tracks and they don't even know that they are being played. Just a thought.

2/19/2014 5:38:46 PM

I would feel kind of gypped if it turns out Cohle and/or Hart is the actual killer (or killers). it would feel too Usual Suspects-ish. I actually got a little paranoid about that when they showed the difference between how they described the Ledoux takedown and how it actually happened. It got me thinking if they lied about that, what else could they be lying / have lied about? That being said, I don't think the show would re-use a plot twist from a well-known movie.

[Edited on February 19, 2014 at 6:33 PM. Reason : .]

2/19/2014 6:32:26 PM

Cohle clearly isn't the Yellow King. We've seen too much of how he behaves when he's by himself; it wouldn't be realistic at this point for him to realistically be the Yellow King secretively, unless there's some multiple-personality explanation, which would be kind of a lame cop-out (and I think this show is better than that).

However, I do think Cohle probably killed Tuttle because he thought he was the Yellow King (which he obviously wasn't, since the killings have continued past Tuttle's death). I think Tuttle has something to do with what's going on, but obviously he isn't the Yellow King

2/21/2014 6:33:25 PM

I don't really think Hart is the killer either because it just doesn't seem to add up, but there have been a few subtle things they've shown that i find slightly suspicious (i binge-re-watched the first 5 episodes and thats only reason i noticed some):

they've shown him calling on pay phones twice and both times he fingers the change tray when he's done (maybe his prints show up on the phone that called the inmate that killed himself, perhaps this leads to the falling out between him and Rust)

he says he bagged a 10 point buck the year before (that's what was on Dora Lang)

twice he has acted like he was going to attack someone and then stopped and said "i'm not a psycho" (whenever someone says that i jump to the conclusion that they are probably a psycho)

his daughter has shown obvious signs of molestation, I don't particularly think he's the one that did it, but i guess anything is possible

2/21/2014 6:59:33 PM

Neither Rust or Marty are the killer. The 2 2012 detectives are not part of any cover up or conspiracy. They are trying to pin the original murder on Rust. Rust has been deep undercover to find the killer since sometime after 2002. Rust and Marty are still friends.

Quote :

"both times he fingers the change tray when he's done"

that's what 99% of people that use pay phones do. To check for change they think they hear drop into the coin return.

2/21/2014 7:39:07 PM

some interesting articles i was looking at earlier today when i should have been focusing on other supposedly more important things:

yellow king theories:
http://www.vulture.com/2014/02/true-detective-who-is-the-yellow-king.html

is rust cohle the monster?:
http://www.pajiba.com/tv_reviews/is-rust-cohle-the-monster-in-true-detective-heres-the-evidence-for-and-against-.php

hart's crown:
https://tv.yahoo.com/blogs/tv-news/hbo-true-detective-poster-yellow-king-clue-195650813.html

2/21/2014 7:44:24 PM

Quote :

"his daughter has shown obvious signs of molestation"

Do what now

2/21/2014 7:45:22 PM

^maybe not molested per se, but she has displayed signs of some kind of sexual trauma- when she was little she set up the dolls in what looked like a gang bang, and drew the people having sex, then when shes in her teens shes getting double teamed by 2 older dudes in a car

Quote :

"that's what 99% of people that use pay phones do. To check for change they think they hear drop into the coin return."

i'm not arguing that, i'm just pointing out that they have specifically shown him do that on multiple occasions in the show, it could be nothing, or it possibly could have been a subtle hint

[Edited on February 21, 2014 at 7:55 PM. Reason : $$$]

2/21/2014 7:52:43 PM

Quote :

"his daughter has shown obvious signs of molestation,"

I think you are reading into that too much. I never once got a hint that she was being molested. Even if she did, the only two males it has shown her interact with are Russ and Marty. I can't see the show introducing a new random character that has been molesting her and I highly doubt that Russ or Marty are pedos.

2/21/2014 8:51:43 PM

Seems like the most popular theory I've read about ^ is that it could be her grandfather.

2/21/2014 9:19:30 PM

What? Has it ever even mentioned her grandfather on the show? If she was being molested it would have introduced the character by now.

2/21/2014 10:55:48 PM

episode 2, they were at Harts inlaws place, the kids were fishing in a canoe, and Hart had a conversation with him, then again Hart talked to the grandfather on the phone when his wife left him (episode 4 or 5)

[Edited on February 21, 2014 at 11:22 PM. Reason : $$$]

2/21/2014 11:21:29 PM

^
they have. they were at the grandfathers house when the girls were on the boat, and marty and the grandfather got into a fight on the phone.

[Edited on February 21, 2014 at 11:28 PM. Reason : x]

2/21/2014 11:27:56 PM

^ right, that fight was when his wife left him with the kids. They went to stay with her father. So the girls actually lived the grandfather temporarily it seems. It was tough to tell how long they were separated due to how the timeline is presented. But it seemed like it was a fair amount of time based on the episode when he met them to go skating and was talking with his wife about taking him back.

And I agree with whomever mentioned that she had signs of being exposed to sexual material or possibly molested. The whole thing about her drawing the penises and what not was "where did you see that (to even know how to draw it)", which was never actually answered when Hart asked her.

It could just be adding subtle (or not so subtle) depth to the characters and be unrelated to the overall plot. But they definitely have hit on her attitude/behavior toward sex very clearly a few times so far. And that seems like it's more than just "hart was dealing with teenage daughter bullshit at home", you know? If it was meant to just show that Hart was dealing with teenager shit and didn't handle it well or something, that (two guys at once) is a really unnecessarily bold direction to go. And the writing so far as seemed very intentional, without any real filler stuff. So I'm inclined to think there's some specific purpose behind it. But we'll know soon enough.


If one of them were involved, it's definitely Hart and not Russ. But I'm not so sure I think that he is involved. But there are some established things that would make it palatable in hindsight.

[Edited on February 22, 2014 at 9:05 AM. Reason : .]

2/22/2014 9:01:44 AM

Could just be a kid she knew in school or something. We might be looking too far into it.

2/22/2014 10:46:19 AM

oh for sure, just iterating that it was clear she knew about such things at an unusually young and age. And also that the grandfather is an established character who was around the girls quite a bit despite not having a lot of screen time. I don't necessarily think he molested her. But I wouldn't be surprised at all if it went that direction.

The story telling has been pretty tight without much unnecessary filler in the show. I'd be a little surprised if they were just "rounding out" the daughter and his home life with her taking on two guys at the same time in the back seat of a car. But.... maybe they thought it'd be less cliche than alcohol or drugs.

[Edited on February 22, 2014 at 3:29 PM. Reason : .]

2/22/2014 3:27:36 PM

another thing about the daughter. remember that she had the barbie dolls setup in a sexual way too. along with the picture.

2/22/2014 3:50:05 PM

Yeah I mentioned that

[Edited on February 22, 2014 at 4:28 PM. Reason : $$$]

2/22/2014 4:27:56 PM

yeah, I count 3 things regarding the girl and sexual behavior at this point:

The drawings, the dolls (multiple guys, not just a guy/girl which would be much more typical), and the car incident.

They've had three very deliberate scenes about this girl and this stuff. And the show isn't really about the family members so much as how they're impacting Hart. We really only see their characters when seeing stuff about Hart/Russ/the case. And it's not character development (I'm not even sure if her name is Audrey or Aubrey, and that's only because I re-watched an episode last night). It's too big of a thing for someone that is really a third-tier character up until this point. I'd be surprised if something bigger doesn't come from it. --- and honestly, it would be a little off putting. I mean, that's fucked up shit to put in there just to put it in there and never address it.

[Edited on February 22, 2014 at 4:46 PM. Reason : .]

2/22/2014 4:45:50 PM

I think it's there just to show the reason Harts marriage broke up again. He's clearly not married to his wife in 2012 and he speaks of his kids in a way that suggest something went wrong. Either she's dead or they don't talk. I don't think she was molested. Not all girls that grow up to be sluts were molested. The thing I find odd is what's up with the spiral drawing similar to what was drawn on the body that's hanging up on a wall in Harts house.

2/22/2014 5:24:07 PM

Quote :

"he thing I find odd is what's up with the spiral drawing similar to what was drawn on the body that's hanging up on a wall in Harts house."

Maybe the same girl we're talking about saw it somewhere and drew it?

Not to beat a dead horse, but we know that's a kid's drawing. And since it's hanging in his house, we can assume it was drawn by one of Hart's daughters. If you seriously have the question, "why did one of his kids draw something quite similar to the symbol that has repeatedly been related to the crime", you have to give some credence to the idea that this kid saw it somewhere and drew it. And if that's reasonable, then it's reasonable she has seen some of the sexual stuff she has drawn and reproduced with the toys. And yeah, maybe she is just coincidentally a slutty (or is sexually adventurous/exploring her sexuality the more PC term), or maybe not.

Again, that is not saying she was molested. You don't have to have been molested to see a sexual stuff. Maybe she has simply scene photos from Hart's files or something.

[Edited on February 23, 2014 at 9:38 AM. Reason : quote]

2/23/2014 9:27:24 AM

so when can we expect a mea culpa from that grantland writer?

2/23/2014 11:36:33 AM

lol at Andy Greenwald. lost so much credibility on this.

2/23/2014 1:19:33 PM

probably my least favorite episode of the show so far, and I still loved it. It closed the gap between the past and present, answered what happened between Rust and Hart, and Hart's marriage, and now looks like the rest of the show will be in the present timeline.

Although it was my least favorite episode, i think it may have had one of the best moments of the series- Rust telling the woman to kill herself after coaxing the confession from her, fucking epic.

Looks like next week shit is gonna get fucking crazy.

2/23/2014 10:34:31 PM

Nice hook, Marty.

2/23/2014 11:04:15 PM

i'll buy you a beer. actually, you should buy me a beer.

2/23/2014 11:19:11 PM

One thing is for sure, the 2 women who showed some skin tonight get an A++ in the booty category


Ssly though, this show is the shit

2/24/2014 12:54:07 AM

yeah I was going to say. Cops in Louisiana get it done in the lady category





[Edited on February 24, 2014 at 7:54 AM. Reason : .]

2/24/2014 7:49:45 AM

i wonder how many tickets he's gotten in the 12 years his taillight has been like that

2/24/2014 7:57:09 AM