True Detective

[Winston Legthigh]

Not a mystic cult 

 

Why did Tuttle have that videotape?

[KevinG]

Why did Tuttle have that videotape?

 

Tuttle was only tangentially involved in the murders that Rust and Marty were investigating.  Lawnmower / spaghetti man was abused by Tuttle and was a factor in his mental illness.  But the murders themselves were not a cult sacrifice.  It was the product of mental illness.  

[Sir Stewart]

Even if Marie Fontenot's rape/murder not a cult sacrifice, it was a ritualistic event participated in by multiple people in disguise. Certainly the whole thing was a lot more than one man with mental illness.

[Winston Legthigh]

Even if Marie Fontenot's rape/murder not a cult sacrifice, it was a ritualistic event participated in by multiple people in disguise. Certainly the whole thing was a lot more than one man with mental illness.

Agreed.

 

I thought that Rust and Marty even lamented (when they were in the hospital) that they were only able to get Errol, and not any of the higher-ups involved.

[bjorn_skurj]

They did. The point being that while we yearn for neatly wrapped up endings and closure and whatnot, reality hardly ever provides such things.

[bjorn_skurj]

Which is why I liked the way it ended, despite the ravings of what is apparently an entire Internet-based industry of hack writers who speculate about the outcomes of TV shows.

[Sir Stewart]

Still got this show on the brain.

Scripts: http://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/episode_scripts.php?tv-show=true-detective-2013&season=1

Scenes: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf35vvWagw6q8SRwuuYoXAA/

[bjorn_skurj]

I was really impressed how they reached into my brain and came up with the Twin Peaks-Apocalypse Now-devil worship movies hybrid I didn't even know I wanted to see.

[Sir Stewart]

Indeed.

[KevinG]

Even if Marie Fontenot's rape/murder not a cult sacrifice, it was a ritualistic event participated in by multiple people in disguise. Certainly the whole thing was a lot more than one man with mental illness.

 

I am not sure.  Errol Childress was the bastard son of Tuttle.  Whom Tuttle abused and disfigured and used in his his ritualistic cult activities.  The Marie Fontenot murder was a product of Errol and him alone.  It was because of what he experienced he did the murder in a ritualistic way.  But I don't think it was part of the Tuttle cult.  Think about it.  You really want this dirt ball bastard son working with you in your ritualistic cult?  Tuttle hated him so much he melted his face.  

 

The Tuttle cult is tangential to the Marie Fontenot murder.  Sure they wished they could have gotten Tuttle, but I don't think he had anything to do with the murder.    

[Sir Stewart]

I am not sure.  Errol Childress was the bastard son of Tuttle.  Whom Tuttle abused and disfigured and used in his his ritualistic cult activities.  The Marie Fontenot murder was a product of Errol and him alone.  It was because of what he experienced he did the murder in a ritualistic way.  But I don't think it was part of the Tuttle cult.  Think about it.  You really want this dirt ball bastard son working with you in your ritualistic cult?  Tuttle hated him so much he melted his face.  

 

The Tuttle cult is tangential to the Marie Fontenot murder.  Sure they wished they could have gotten Tuttle, but I don't think he had anything to do with the murder.

What did you, avert your eyes even before Marty did? There were at least half a dozen people in that video.

[Winston Legthigh]

I am not sure.  Errol Childress was the bastard son of Tuttle.  Whom Tuttle abused and disfigured and used in his his ritualistic cult activities.  The Marie Fontenot murder was a product of Errol and him alone.  It was because of what he experienced he did the murder in a ritualistic way.  But I don't think it was part of the Tuttle cult.  Think about it.  You really want this dirt ball bastard son working with you in your ritualistic cult?  Tuttle hated him so much he melted his face.  

 

The Tuttle cult is tangential to the Marie Fontenot murder.  Sure they wished they could have gotten Tuttle, but I don't think he had anything to do with the murder.    

Errol Childress was the son of Sherriff Ted Childress, who was a bastard son of Sam Tuttle. Sam Tuttle was Billy Lee Tuttle's father. Sherriff Childress was the one who dismissed the Marie Fontenot missing persons report. 

[gogo]

But the video was of Marie Fontenot's murder, and weren't there five men in the video (Cohle watched the whole thing, hoping that one of them would take off his mask)?  That murder pre-dated Dora Lange, so I'll give you that maybe the cult dissolved after that.  But then what about the 2012 Lake Charles murder?  Tuttle was already dead, but why then did that have the similarities to Dora Lange?

 

So yeah, there's still something cult-ish going on.  Maybe it's dying out, and Childress is the last gasp, but Childress didn't do Marie Fontenot and Dora Lange on his own, they were full-on cult activities.

[Winston Legthigh]

But the video was of Marie Fontenot's murder, and weren't there five men in the video (Cohle watched the whole thing, hoping that one of them would take off his mask)?  That murder pre-dated Dora Lange, so I'll give you that maybe the cult dissolved after that.  But then what about the 2012 Lake Charles murder?  Tuttle was already dead, but why then did that have the similarities to Dora Lange?

 

So yeah, there's still something cult-ish going on.  Maybe it's dying out, and Childress is the last gasp, but Childress didn't do Marie Fontenot and Dora Lange on his own, they were full-on cult activities.

I would definitely give room to the idea that Errol Childress was also doing awful things on his own, so perhaps everything after Marie Fontenot was his own doing, but there's really nothing there to prove either way.

 

And, who was the guy with the sewn-up lips in the creepcabin? IIRC, Errol called him "daddy", so was that Sherriff Ted Childress?

[gogo]

The thing about the whole series that was most inconsistent to me was the distance between Marie Fontenot's murder (totally private, body never found) and Dora Lange's (body left exposed, as if meant to be discovered and investigated).

 

So yeah, I'll give you that all of the missing people after a certain point (missing people whose bodies were never recovered) could have been Errol Childress's doings, but there's still some disconnect between those two scenarios.  Which were the cult, and which were the lone psycho?  What about the Lake Charles murder, why did that break the pattern?  I've got no good answer.

[gogo]

And, who was the guy with the sewn-up lips in the creepcabin? IIRC, Errol called him "daddy", so was that Sherriff Ted Childress?

 

For full-on creep factor:  in the hospital, they said that based on DNA, the woman was "at least" Errol's half-sister.  But when they were "making flowers", he asked her to tell him about grandpa in the field.  I was kind of assuming that she'd become pregnant following the rape by her father, making her Errol's mother and half-sister, so the old guy would be his/their father, as well as Errol's grandfather.

 

And now, I need a full Silkwood shower...

[Winston Legthigh]

What about the various kids' "knowledge" of the crimes? Who was the kid who drew the spaghetti monster with green ears? Or Marty's daughter - what did she know? Was she just drawing pictures of Urban Legends? Was the spaghetti monster kid doing the same thing?

 

or were there kids/potential victims that had witnessed awful things, but had escaped?

 

What about the maid in episode 7, who started freaking out "Carcosa! Carcosa!" - Had she witnessed terrible crimes? (was she also drugged on meth/LSD, like the other victims, so that it was an awful hallucination?)

For full-on creep factor:  in the hospital, they said that based on DNA, the woman was "at least" Errol's half-sister.  But when they were "making flowers", he asked her to tell him about grandpa in the field.  I was kind of assuming that she'd become pregnant following the rape by her father, making her Errol's mother and half-sister, so the old guy would be his/their father, as well as Errol's grandfather.

 

And now, I need a full Silkwood shower...

I was eating stirfry during the making flowers scene, and the first reveal of the creepcabin. I definitely heaved.

[gogo]

Totally different topic:  I'd be interested to know if the series has any affect on Louisiana's tourist industry.  On the one hand: no thanks.  But on the other, some of those locations were so beautiful, so lush.  Also, I imagine there would be no end to the creeps who would want to take a "True Detective" tour of the area.

[bjorn_skurj]

I took what was going on with Marty's daughter as not something directly tied in with the plot, but a symbolic reflection of evil, wickedness and sexual dysfunction, as well as a disturbing bit of reality creeping in to Marty's perceived (yet totally unreal) oasis of calm that was his home life.

That said, can we get "Hart Investigative Solutions" T-shirts yet? Yes, apparently you can!

[Sir Stewart]

The green-eared spaghetti man sketch came courtesy of a child who was chased by him and got away, no?

[Winston Legthigh]

The green-eared spaghetti man sketch came courtesy of a child who was chased by him and got away, no?

I think you're right.

 

And, I agree with bjorn's take on Marty's daughter.

 

I read another article, that pointed out, and asked - why was there - in Marty's daughter's room, a painting of flowers (I'm really trying not to think of "making flowers" right now, dammit) - that was the EXACT SAME of the mural that was in the children's hospital - where the little girl that they rescued from Reggie LeDoux's meth trailer. What was with that??

[KevinG]

The thing about the whole series that was most inconsistent to me was the distance between Marie Fontenot's murder (totally private, body never found) and Dora Lange's (body left exposed, as if meant to be discovered and investigated).

 

So yeah, I'll give you that all of the missing people after a certain point (missing people whose bodies were never recovered) could have been Errol Childress's doings, but there's still some disconnect between those two scenarios.  Which were the cult, and which were the lone psycho?  What about the Lake Charles murder, why did that break the pattern?  I've got no good answer.

 

 

Yeah I apparently got my murder victims mixed up.  Errol Childress responsible for Dora Lange.  Tuttle responsible for Marie Fontenot.  The Dora Lange murders which was the impetus of the show were the sole product of a mentally ill person.  As far as the show the Marie Fontenot murder was never solved.     

[Mr. Heartbreak]

http://youtu.be/PZX38aoElN0

[Sir Stewart]

Sorry for the Reddit link, but I like a lot of what is being said here: http://www.reddit.com/r/TrueDetective/comments/20t571/the_one_in_question_errol/

[bjorn_skurj]

That was interesting. Perhaps the cult bred (well, inbred would be more accurate) Errol to be the high priest/lead malefactor, kinda the way the Bene Gesserit was trying to create the Kwisatz Haderach in Dune. In the end, though, this may be overanalysis on an epic scale: writers can and do make shit up out of thin air and don't always have elaborate backstories for it that they attempt to telegraph in subtle ways.