"I Wanted Privacy. My Hope Being That We Could Resolve This Situation. Just The Two Of Us..."
With the previous two episodes of True Detective successfully managing to bring the heat of the drama to almost unbelievably levels of white knuckle tension, one could be forgiven for heading into the hotly anticipated finale with a stubborn mindset that something majestic and groundbreaking was set to fall upon us. In the case of "Now Am Found" however, whilst Season Three's extra long conclusion did manage to squeeze in an enormous amount of plot and narrative resolutions, the real overarching tone at the heart of the episode was a delicate balance between melancholy and optimism as the chapter widely seen as a much needed return to form finally closed its' doors. With the penultimate episode leaving the audience with the sight of 1990's Hays reluctantly head into the back seat of a vehicle belonging to the mysterious Hoyt, the introduction of Michael Rooker looking more Michael Rooker then Rooker himself as we witness his character swing on a bottle of bourbon whilst accompanying Hays to the outskirts of nowhere, resulted in a delicious back and forth battle of dialogue heavy wills as Hoyt suggested both took the time to confide in each other by swapping their more hidden and secretive confessions. With Hoyt being moved swiftly off-screen with just enough screen time to make a worthy impact, the horror inflicted sensibility of the series warmed up nicely as we finally saw old man Hays and West discover the remains of the Hoyt estate, and with a ripe genre soundtrack on full thrusters in the background as the purpose of the "pink room" was established, such a set piece sought to remind in an uncanny fashion a very similar set piece during the first season's finale regarding the final confrontation with the Yellow King.
Whilst Hoyt was the obvious candidate to be Mr. Exposition in regards to the central mystery, this role instead went to the now identified Julius, the one-eyed black man from the caravan park and disruptor at Amelia's book signing, who casually bloated out and finely tuned the cause of both the Purcell child's death and the reason behind Julie's long-standing disappearance. Whilst I'm all for plot resolutions, particularly when it comes to a series with so many questions, and I understand that not every show is going to be as damn confusing and mind-boggling as Twin Peaks, the five minute sequence in which every single element is rather nicely tied up did seem a tad flimsy, particularly when one of the strongest points of writing this season was the certain oppressive nature in which there always felt a underlying notion that not everything ever seemed particularly right. With other points clarified and others left seemingly abandoned, the finer narrative points of Series Three still left some questions remaining, but with a really well executed final set piece in which Hays' continual memory problems really came around to haunt him, "Now Am Found" effectively made an immediate lasting impression, carrying out both the standout acting and interesting writings which have made True Detective's latest series a real treat to digest, dissect and review, and whilst many thought the series had died a disappointing death thanks to the divisive nature of the show's second season, Pizzolatto has successfully managed to put the show back on its' rightful course with eight hours or so of excellent, intriguing and compelling small screen drama.
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