Episode Title: “After You’ve Gone”
Writer: Nic Pizzolatto
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Previously on “True Detective”:
Tonight, Matthew McConaughey took home the Oscar for Best Actor. Several months from now, he’ll probably be adding an Emmy to his collection, with Woody Harrelson also picking up one of his own.
I think we can dispense with the pretense. “True Detective” is a career defining project for screenwriter Nic Pizzolatto and director Cary Joji Fukunaga. But it’s hard to picture this series without the phenomenal performances of McConaughey and Harrelson. They’ve delivered everything that could have possibly been asked of them and more. And all four of these men deserve the accolades that they’ve received. The same is true for the rest of the cast and crew.
The presence of McConaughey and Harrelson gave “True Detective” the prestige of having two movie stars as the leads; and it’s probably the first time that the reigning Academy Award winning Best Actor was simultaneously headlining a TV series. But the beauty of telling this story as a TV miniseries is that it allowed the creators to fully flesh out Rust Cohle and Martin Hart in a way that a two hour movie just can’t match. It’s also been a lot of fun trying to decipher the clues and red herrings of “True Detective.” I have to admit that I had never heard of “The King In Yellow” before “True Detective,” but learning about the mythology behind that story added another layer of enjoyment to “True Detective’s” tale.
At this point, it’s too late in the game to introduce a real supernatural element into “True Detective.” When we meet The Yellow King, he is likely to be all too human rather than the agent of some unspeakable otherworldly evil. But we do see The King In Yellow in this very episode, and I’m not talking about the man at the end. The King In Yellow is supposedly a forbidden play that induces madness or despair upon anyone who reads it.
Doesn’t that sound like Hart’s reaction to the video tape that Cohle played for him? Hart can only stand to watch it for a few seconds before crying and shouting in rage. Before that, Hart rejected Cohle’s ideas about the real killer as insanity. Afterwards, Hart was a believer. Much like The King In Yellow, that video tape was a transformative work that no one should ever see. Harrelson deserves special props for making that scene work largely from his reactions alone.
From this point on, there are full spoilers ahead for the penultimate episode of “True Detective.” So if you missed “After You’re Gone,” you should probably skip this review or else you’ll have to get the jumper cables ready.
In last week’s episode, Cohle told Hart that “without me, there is no you.” Those words were probably more prophetic than Cohle originally intended. In our brief glimpse of Hart’s life after 2002, we see that not only is Hart incomplete without Cohle, he’s also become a variation of his old partner. The Hart of 2012 has no family, no woman and no professional fulfillment. He has only a frozen dinner to enjoy at home. Hart has reached middle age and he no longer has much to live for; whereas Cohle is also alone, but he has one last thing to live for: solving the Dora Lange murder from 17 years before.
To hear Cohle tell it, he fully expects to die at the end of this story. And he doesn’t seem to care, as long as he finally gets his man. Even Hart doesn’t see a way out, as he visits his ex-wife, Maggie (Michelle Monaghan) just to say goodbye and to thank her for everything. Although Hart’s “thanks” was the closest thing to a real apology that he’s ever given Maggie for all of the crap that he put her through. The price of Hart’s sins is that he is completely estranged from his daughters, as he relies on Maggie to tell him what they are currently doing with their lives.
One of the few weaknesses of “True Detective” is that there are no other characters beyond Hart and Cohle who have been fully developed into living, breathing people. Our modern day interrogators, Detectives Thomas Papania (Tory Kittles) and Maynard Gilbough (Michael Potts) barely have cameo appearances in the penultimate episode. And when Maggie tries to inject herself into the narrative, Cohle basically chases her away and tells her that she’s classing up the joint.
In the end, all Hart and Cohle have is each other. The sad part is that they don’t even really like each other, but it’s far too late to turn back now or to change partners. Early in the episode, Hart makes it clear just how much he’s come to despise Cohle… and possibly fear him. Up to the first few seconds in Cohle’s storage unit, Hart seems to really believe that his old partner might actually harm him. But the truth is that Cohle has finally realized that his “without me, there is no you” spiel runs both ways. Without Hart, Cohle can’t continue his investigation. Without Cohle, Hart has no purpose.
For all of Cohle’s hilariously bleak musings on life and the nature of the universe, he clings to the notion that he can still control the narrative of his own life. To do that, Cohle has to wrap up the Dora Lange case and take care of his unfinished business. In the face of Hart’s initial skepticism, Cohle links the Dora Lange murder with several missing children cases, including the suspicious disappearance of a young girl named Marie Fontenot.
Through flashback, we see Cohle break into the home of the late Reverend Billy Lee Tuttle (Jay O. Sanders) before finding a video tape that depicts five men in animal masks doing some horrific things to Marie Fontenot. Suddenly, Cohle’s theory doesn’t sound so crazy anymore. Instead of one killer on the loose, there may be even more.
On a side note, did anyone else notice that Cohle had painted the spiral symbol on the door of his storage unit? He’s not getting the deposit back for that one!
Although Cohle has been depicted as the superior detective throughout this series, it’s Hart’s legwork that gets them further than before. That led to a very amusing moment when Hart deflected Cohle’s compliments as “high praise from a bartender.” But time after time, Hart and Cohle hear about the man with the scarred face. The man who wasn’t there on the day that they killed Dewall and Reggie Ledoux back in 1995.
One of the more unsettling moments in the episode came when the former Tuttle housekeeper recognized the symbols of the Yellow King Cult and she started repeating the belief system behind it. Cohle is particularly unnerved by her insistence that death isn’t the end, since he desperately wants to escape the empty cycle that is his life.
Eventually, Hart and Cohle realize that one of their old associates, Sheriff Steve Geraci (Michael Harney) may have had a part in the cover up of Marie Fontenot’s fate. And when Geraci proves to be less than forthcoming with Hart, Cohle steps in and abducts Geraci at gunpoint with the full support of Hart.
Meanwhile, Papania and Gilbough finally make a quick appearance as they try to find the church mentioned by Hart and Cohle during their interviews. As they stop for directions, Papania and Gilbough speak to Errol (Glenn Fleshler), a man whose facial scarring seems to identify him as our killer. Or at least one of the killers.
Naturally, Papania and Gilbough completely miss this detail and they don’t even stick around for Errol’s foreboding comment about his family having been around for a long time. Errol actually appeared briefly back in the third episode, but he didn’t seem to be significant at the time. It would be a little cheap if the real killer only had two scenes before the grand finale next week.
However, this show has never really been about the killer or the victims. “True Detective’s” singular focus has always been on Hart and Cohle. Next week, their story will end and there’s no guarantee that either man will survive. I have to say, I’ve enjoyed this show so much that I would have watched many seasons of McConaughey and Harrelson playing off of each other as Cohle and Hart. On the other hand, there is also a strong case to be made that “True Detective” is better for having only a limited run before wearing out its welcome.
Essentially, everything up to this point has been the prologue and we’re halfway through the two part conclusion of “True Detective.” Unless next week’s episode completely drops the ball, “True Detective” Season 1 will deservedly be hailed as an instant TV classic. Whoever sticks around for a second season of “True Detective” is going to be hard pressed to match this achievement.
But for now, Carcosa awaits.
