It's discovering and proving and prosecuting (or killing) the five men who practiced some supremely fucked up and Satanic version of Courir de Mardi Gras, where they rape and murder women and children (and tape it, which was incredibly sickening). But internet theories about his green headphones being the 'green ears' that the traumatized girl remembered all seem to match up and be clear here.īut finding Errol isn't the end-game. I had to look up how Rust could have missed this the first time, and it was because Rust originally saw him with a beard, hiding the scars. The other part of that is so interesting is that Errol, the lawnmower guy, is revealed to be the Scarred Spaghetti Monster. She asks if he's saying goodbye - is he? It feels very much like the two men are going on a suicide mission. When Marty visits Maggie to find out what she told the detectives, he thanks her for raising their kids up so well, and looks around at their flourishing life without him. 'It's like you've been alone too long.' This case gives them meaning. They're both alone and seemingly washed up. Besides, what else do they have going on? Marty is eating TV dinners alone night after night, and Rust is dumping his beer bottles in the trash can on his way to work as a bartender. Both of these men proved in this hour that they are both 'true detectives.' They internalized the case (and other cases, as we see Marty's reason for leaving the force was one too many a microwaved babies), they've lived it for almost two decades, and in that moment, they decide to see it to the end no matter the personal cost. The possibilities of either Marty or Rust being the perpetrators of the crimes ends early in this episode definitively. Ultimately, Marty is man with a sense of justice. If Rust hadn't slept with Maggie, they might have been able to keep working the case. If Marty hadn't hauled off and killed Reggie Ledoux, they might have been able to get the truth out of him. Rust compels Marty, who now runs a private investigator / security business, to continue working the case with him because it was owed. They have to be together, because the case is inside them.

Even though their relationship is tied in completely with The Yellow King case, Rust's years investigating without Marty are only alluded to and not seen.

We never really see the years that they spent apart.

The show is, after all, a 17-year look at the course of their relationship. I think everyone can agree at this point that True Detective is the Ballad of Marty and Rust.

True detective season 1 setting