True Detective “The Hour And The Day”

So, Wayne Hays is a Vietnam vet, haunted by people from his past in 2015 with a slipping memory.  This episode shows him sitting in a study in his house, and he’s slowly surrounded by silent figures that look like the Viet Cong.

It’s something of a cliche, but damn does it work well in this episode.

Yes, I find writing up these episodes a little rough.  Do I write them up chronologically?  I can’t.  Not really.  The show bounces around, though by this point the 1990 plot seems to finally be going somewhere.  I could go in the order things happen on the show, but I don’t think I can do that without going all twisty-turny.

So, let’s just hit the highlights.

1980:  Wayne and Roland get a clue from a Catholic priest, and while Wayne is a lapsed Catholic, Roland isn’t much interested until he sees an attractive parishioner.  That leads to the dollmaker, and old woman who says she sold a bunch to a black man with a cataract.  That leads to a black neighborhood where Roland may or may not be acting racist (sure looked it to me), but the suspect doesn’t seem guilty, and a teenager who chased the kids off is a better suspect.  Wayne and Amelia go on a date and aside from Wayne talking shop in awful ways, it seems to suggest a future for these crazy kids.

In a nice contrast, Roland sees Tom Purcell and when the man drops a racial epitaph for Wayne, he feels bad an apologizes.  His estranged wife Lucy, on the other hand, gets really hostile and not the slightest bit apologetic to Amelia.

1990:  Roland brings Wayne in, and while Roland believes in Wayne’s abilities, his own superiors are a different story.  Plus, for all Amelia and Wayne seemed to have a sweet relationship before, they sure don’t now as they seem to argue quite a bit.  But then evidence surfaces that Julie isn’t dead, and Wayne sits himself down in front of a security tape until he spots her.  She sure looks a lot like her mom.  Lucy is dead, by the by.

2015:  When he’s not haunted by the ghosts of his past, Wayne is still working the case.  Sure, he doesn’t want his son Henry, himself a cop, to know what he’s doing.  But he does seem to get Henry to agree to find out where Roland is, and he likewise gets the the show host to help him, though she says she has some cards to play later for the sake of her show.

But back in 1980, a vigilante group goes after Brett Woodard, but he’s a bit ready for them with…a ton of guns and a Claymore mine wired to his door.  And it might have gone off as the closing credits start to roll…