True Detective Amelia Theory

Published February 23, 2019 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hi guys,

It seems my Amelia theory for the season was incorrect. I was really hoping for less of conventional story this season. I wanted them to move away from the “rich guys do bad things” that was at the core of the 2 previous seasons. It would have been interesting if it had been an accident that spiraled into a decades long mystery that could have been solved with some better communication and police work at home. The acting was so good this season they could have done it. Instead, like season one, all the speculation and theorizing early on in the show will be for naught and in the final 3 episodes it becomes a pretty conventional cop show. In true True Detective fashion the mystery will be a let down and we will realize again that it’s the characters themselves that were the best part of the show. Rust, Marty, Roland, Wayne and Amelia are great characters, but the writers do not seem to be able to entwine those great characters with an intricate enough mystery that would make the show truly great. In the end I fear the mystery will be pretty straight forward CBS type procedural fare. I think that most people who watch the show wont be that surprised by the finale. I hope we are, but the early season speculation around the red herrings will be likely be better than the show. The real gut wrenching punch I believe will be at the end when Wayne immediately forgets that he just just solved the mystery, just like he forgot that he solved it in the 90’s. Maybe in closing we will get a shot of Wayne in a nursing home in 2018 marking pages in Amelia’s book trying to solve it again.

It was a shock and pleasure to hear the voicemail I left for you played on the podcast. At the time I called I was home with a severe cold hopped up on some seriously strong cold medicine. My monotone delivery has generated a lot of laughs in my household and I am regularly ridiculed for it by my kids. I must say that I really connected with this season. I’m not a cop, but I have been both a prosecutor and defense attorney. I am very familiar with criminal cases and investigations. 3 years ago I moved my parents close to me. My father has dementia and he is often confused and suffers from memory and time loss. Like Wayne, my father was a LRRP in Vietnam serving with the Army’s 101’st airborne. Also, like the creator of the show, I grew up in a rural area (Nebraska). Tragedies and violence in small towns create an atmosphere of dread that no one living through it ever seems to forget. Strangely, season 2 also hit close to home as I worked on a case where the local politicians of a small municipality in Los Angeles county were alleged to have been deeply involved with organized crime. I love the podcast. I started listening to you with American Gods, Taboo and Westworld. I’m on board with Shat for Game of Thrones and season 2 of American Gods. Keep up the good work.

– Joe in California

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