True Detective season 3

Hi all

I'm a big fan of True Detective (I even like season 2 a bit) and last night I binge watched the first 3 episodes of season 3, having saved them for just such an event. I love this season's characters and atmosphere, and the acting is superb! The imagery is also very strong, and all round the show is great so far. But... I think I figured out after the 1st episode who the killer/kidnapper is, based totally on my analysis of writing and storytelling techniques. (Hint, I'm a budding writer and therefore quite interested in such things). Not wanting to spoil anything, I will follow @Addi Ras' suggestion and post my theory in spoiler tags here in case you good people want to discuss

Spoiler: Who Kidnapped the kids in TD3?

I believe the culprit is Margaret, the heavyset neighbor, because:
1) She's a neighbor and kidnapping/murder victims almost always know their attacker
2) Was one of a handful of people who saw the kids cycling down the street
3) She was taking down Halloween decorations the first time we saw her, smiling to the kids. We know that Julie Purcell got her straw-bride puppet while trick-or-treating
4) She doesn't (as far as we know) have children/a family herself and might desperately want one
5) She inserted herself into the investigation by always hanging around the Purcell family, comforting Lucie Purcell.
6) She told the detectives that she didn't think the Purcells were very good parents (possibly implying the kids would be better off living with someone else... someone like her)
7) She could very easily have seen the photo album where Will poses for his first communion at the Purcell house, or she might even have been present at the time of photographing, and the image could have stuck in her head, causing her to prop the body of Will accordingly

Someone groomed the kids with quality play time and toys at a secret spot in the wilds, and I think it was Margaret.

I don't think it was the kid's creepy uncle, because he's too obvious a suspect. Similarly, I suspect the peeping tom hole drilled in Will's closet to spy on Julie was not made by the uncle, 'cause he'd be smart enough to remove the sawdust. No, I think it was the other boy (his name escapes me at the moment) who had a crush on Julie and probably slept over at Will's at some point, taking that opportunity to spy on Julie.

Finally, what's going on with Wayne Hays I've got no idea! There's a dark secret in there somewhere, with Wayne, Amelia, and/or Roland West, but I can't for the life of me figure out what it is yet!

Thoughts?

 

Yeah, there probably IS a conspiracy at work, and something fishy is definitely going on beyond "just" the kidnappings. At present, my head-canon is that the theory posed above plays into the larger conspiracy somehow, possibly peripherally.

Also, Pizzolatto doesn't like religious charities

 

Here is some stuff from episode 4 to supports my theory:

Spoiler: Two additional clues

--Julie favorably mentioned an “aunt”, but she doesn’t have an aunt. Margaret, who hang around the Purcell house and are friendly with the kids’ parents might be this "aunt".

--The decorated dinner plate taken out of the box of the kids’ school stuff says “I HEART Mom”, but the “mom” on the plate is a fat woman. Again, Margaret is the only heavyset female in the show right now.

(Correction from earlier. The man I called “creepy uncle” isn’t actually an uncle, but a cousin of Lucy Purcell)

 

So, I just watched the 5th episode. Not too much there this time in regards to my theory, but there's one piece of information that might speak against it.

Spoiler: Clue that perhaps doesn't fit my theory

The girl on the phone, who presumably is Julie, says "he took me". This could, depending on what that means, contradict my theory that Margaret was behind it somehow.

Waiting to bingewatch the entire season is not a bad idea, @Messi. It sure is driving me nuts having to wait an entire week between episodes! As for quality, TD3 is gearing up to be something really fantastic! As with TD1, I think it will be even better on repeat viewings


And now an exciting second piece of information gathered from the "to come on TD3" promo that HBO released recently:

Spoiler: HBO promo reveal

There's a quick shot of the journalist lady interviewing Wayne Hays in 2015 and she has her laptop open and facing Hays/the camera. On the laptop is a news story about how Rust & Marty tracked down and killed the bad guy in season 1 (3 years before the events of season 3). In other words, TD1 & TD3 are at least tangibly connected!

Finally, and this isn't really a spoiler but I'll tag it nonetheless just in case people want to remain in the dark even though they check out this thread

Spoiler: A non-clue TD3 ep.5

There's a "hidden" owl in this episode, similar to the owl in the church in season 1. It's a wooden figure stashed away under Ronald West's back porch It doesn't mean anything to the plot, of course, but it is still cool. And, as we know from Twin Peaks, the owls are not what they seem...

 

Agreed! Season 3 is great! I too prefer season 1, which just fits my taste even more, but by the Whills the 3rd season is well acted and intriguing!

Spoiler: Season 3 main plot spoiler

And while I do personally prefer the pseudo-supernatural/cultic feature of season 1 more, I think it was very gutsy of Nic Pizzolatto to "relaunch" True Detective with a crime story where it turns out there really is no major conspiracy, and that's the entire point of it! Very cool. You never know what you'll get from Pizzolatto