'True Detective' Retro Recap: 'After You've Gone'

​Written by John Edward Betancourt

The quest for the truth, is often times a noble cause. It allows a person to discover something special about themselves, and provides them with the answers they so desperately need in this life. But since life is always about the balance between light and dark, sometimes the truth can be absolutely terrifying when we discover it. It can shatter our lives and our world and we lament its existence. But regardless of what kind of truth one uncovers in their life...the end result is knowledge, and how one deals with the truth going forward, regardless of what they discover, is what truly matters in life.

So it makes sense that the ugly truth, and everything that comes with it would serve as the focus for the seventh episode of True Detective, because truly...this is the episode that we have all been waiting for. "After You've Gone" was the grand reveal of every question we've had this season, of every mystery and guess what? Every single bit of it was terrifying and disgusting. It turns out that there is indeed some kind of weird conspiracy going on behind the scenes with the Tuttle family, and Rust was right all along, the killer has been at this for quite some time and when all was said and done, we were left with perhaps the darkest episode the series ever put forth and one shocking final moment.  

What made this particular episode so dark, was the grand reveal of what's really been going on behind the scenes. The fact that those that have gone missing in the southern part of Louisiana, Dora Lange and even young Marie have in essence been murdered brutally, serving as some kind of sacrifice to Carcosa and The Yellow King and perhaps one of the most uncomfortable moments I've ever experienced watching television period came about in this episode when Rust showed Hart the tape he discovered in Tuttle's safe. Despite the fact that we the audience are spared from the exact details of the tape, the look on Hart's face and the chilling images we are "treated" to moments before the camera cuts away speak to the fact that Marie and no doubt everyone else that faced these rituals spent their final moments in agony and utter fear. 

While that particular moment in essence sold Hart on taking the case back up and getting the old team back together if you will, the horror of it hung over this entire episode and it was only made worse by the visit Hart had with his ex wife since it seemed to imply that the danger here was beyond anything both men had ever faced as police officers. But this episode didn't totally leave us with a bad taste in our mouth and a cloud hanging over our head. There was one wonderful moment early in the story that speaks to the battle between light and dark that continues to permeate the fabric of this show, with Cohle pointing out to Hart that in a way, some of this was their own doing by not finishing the case that they started so long ago. Somehow, that moment, made the horrors to follow palpable simply because at last, they were doing the right thing and making up for their mistake. 

But one cannot discuss the power of this episode, without discussing the power of its ending. Because those final moments, with Detectives Papania and Gilbough lost in the middle of the bayou seemed harmless enough until they ran into a familiar figure riding atop a lawnmower. At first it seemed like coincidence, until the man spoke and then it hit me...this was the caretaker that Cohle was talking to at the Light of the Way Academy back in episode three, and that matters because this man has horrible scars upon his face...this man, is our killer. The weight of that, and the haunting image of him standing in the midst of the beauty of the bayou was an incredible way to end this episode. With dark bathed in light, unaware that Hart and Cohle are closing in. It should be one incredible season finale, until then.

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