True Detective Episode 7

Published February 18, 2019 · Updated July 6, 2022

Dear Shat,

So i’m in this weird area in my mind with this show, that I feel the mystery is mostly solved (who took julie), but there is so much more that’s really left to be resolved. Can someone tell me where Tom Purcell’s car was, he drove it to the Hoyts. I didn’t see it at the tower…? I just felt they could have kept it in the detective’s perspective. Just showed tom going to see dan, and that conversation, but without us seeing him drive to the hoyt mansion. I think we are smart enough to understand that it would have been suspicious either way, purcell just turning up at the tower without knowledge of him finding the pink room. That whole sequence bothered be from last episode, and the gay heavy narrative that they used as a plot twist, instead of a way to make a character deeper. So much of this season, pizolatto has been essentially dipping his toe in the water of various social issues, rather than just jumping into one. Which is ok, but it’s not giving us anything of real substance, we aren’t learning a lesson or some underlying message of wisdom. He’s just acknowledging the existence of racism and homosexuality, which, we are already aware they existed. That’s my gripe with it, I like the season, didn’t like episode 6, that’s my opinion. I did like episode 7 though. First, Wayne is an A+ dishwasher, that guy doesn’t mess around. It’s pretty crazy that in the scene, he basically told Amelia to write the book, that someone needs to tell the story. Which kind of leads me to a better understanding of Amelia, and the way they have chosen to portray her. But this scene gives us a lot to go on, in just a few words. How many times with another family member or a significant other, have you had someone encourage/support you on something and a few years later that same person criticizes you for said thing. This happens with memory, things we don’t remember clearly. Here, wayne is fully behind her in writing her book, only to chastise her in later timelines. I loved this moment in the show, I love that we are seeing wayne and amelia, more specifically , the relationship early on. Them being a team, being of one mind.

The way Amelia is being portrayed has been a key issue for me this season. We obviously see her mostly through wayne’s eyes, and then we get the book reading encounter as well, a long with a few select encounters of her and lucy. It’s not hard to see how she’s been painted by Nick P.. Hell, we’ve discussed her character throughout the season a ton, and it’s been mostly in a negative light. Because that’s what we are shown.

I have been wanting to see her in a positive light this whole season. Elisa, the few times we see her interviewing wayne is also a direct parallel as well. In general, it seems at the very least Nick P wants us to see them as profiting off of the tragedies and suffering, of the poor and weak. However, if we look at the very examples nick p is drawing inspiration from, mostly the West Memphis 3 events, we should know that it wasn’t law enforcement or political figures that broke through on that case. It was a documentary and journalists that shined a light and allowed the case to be opened up again. In reality, these people who write about the small town cold cases, shed light on victims, families, communities that otherwise would never be heard from again. It’s quite possible that seen from this perspective, they are the true heroes of stories like these. I have no idea what nick p. wants us to believe, but based on this season, and previous seasons, it’s fairly reasonable to conclude that women aren’t heroes, or anything more than a foil for our Male heroes. The reality is Amelia was the strongest female character I am pretty sure Nick P has written, and she was a really compelling character. It’s more than likely she’s the only one who understands wayne and prolly is his rock. She’s clearly an empathetic and caring woman by her few appearances with the school children, and her own children, lucy purcell. Etc. We know she was a teacher and she was smart. But nick shrouded her in ambiguity and made her seem like a pain in the ass to wayne, made it that she solves issues with sex and her body. If that’s not enough, we see Elisa press wayne, and every encounter made her seem pretty much like Amelia (with profiting from tragedy). If that’s not enough, Elisa is also banging wayne’s son for info. The only other woman we see, is Lucy and again, cheating , sex, drug addict, cares more about money than being a responsible parent. I don’t know that Pizzolatto is purposely doing this, more likely it’s just a systemic behavior based on the traditional roles females have played in our society. I understand how a mystery works, but that doesn’t excuse a writer from things like character development and progression, possibly sexism. It’s just a commentary that continues to grow as I see more of true detective, and how we need to understand where we are, and what we need to work on to be better. I would be interested in a female’s opinion of how women are portrayed in this show. I also am curious as to what the takeaway from this show is, what’s the underlying theme, what exactly is nick p saying that wasn’t already said in season 1? I have a 3 year old little girl, and big D has a little girl as well, and it’s somewhat concerning to see someone still views women in this way, even if it’s unintentional.

With all that in mind, and with so much unanswered, I hope that the finale answers a lot of our questions. I think Amelia is just as much (*if not more*) a threat to the Hoyts as Wayne (as mentioned above). I hope we get an explanation as to how Hoyt knew Wayne and Roland killed Harris James. It was curious that they showed Becca going to college, with Amelia noticeably missing. I think in general, most people believe something nefarious happens to Becca, I think it would be poetic and real if she just left for college and became a independent, strong young woman. That, just like in real life, people can drift away, people do their own things and go different places. It’s no one’s fault, but I can totally see Wayne feeling guilty that Becca isn’t around.

Last thing I want to address, was the scene where roland and wayne go out to the lingering dark sedan, the car drives off. Wayne is left, suddenly alone walking on a street, with darkness everywhere else. Whoever came up with the idea to film like that, is a genius, it was a brilliantly done scene. That’s def. my favorite scene from last night. The transitions between timelines, was a lot better as well, i’m glad they not only brought it back, but they used it much more. Looking forward to what should be an interesting finale.

Kenny P, (sometimes i’m really busy and don’t have time to screw around with how I write my name, not intentional)

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