True Detective Review: Now Am Found (Season 3 Episode 8)
Wayne chooses family over answers on True Detective Season 3 Episode 8, “Now Am Found.”
The answers still do come, but they are in ways that may frustrate or disappoint some.
The finale does good work of drilling into the minds of its characters. Wayne joining the public information office, with the endless clacking of typewriters and seemingly endless paperwork to come, is such a confining moment for his character, and the show uses its sound and tight focus on Wayne’s face to really sell the confinement.
The honesty session between Wayne and Amelia is one of the defining moments of the finale. A secret hangs over the entire conversation, but it’s in everything around it where a common ground is found, a moving on where both can find happiness.
Carmen Ejogo and Mahershala Ali are equally compelling in this scene. It’s as though both characters are shedding their past, and are finally able to breathe as the Purcell case is put to rest. There’s an optimism there, one that has been long missing.
Stephen Dorff is perfect throughout “Now Am Found.” It is such an emotional performance outside of the bar, beaten and bloody, and the origins of his love of dogs comes to greet him. He plays the heartbreak with such rawness, petting the dog and holding it close, that really shows the loneliness Roland feels.
Dorff ends up with most of the great lines of not only the episode, but the season. They are certainly colorful, but he says them with such charismatic nonchalance, it works wonders.
For all the good, there is still one major misstep.
The explanation of Julie’s disappearance is fairly convoluted and leaves the entire season as a wild goose chase. None of the pieces given could have ever fit for someone to figure out, and so it’s down to exposition to fill in the pieces rather than some clever pieces always having been there.
There is a picture on a wall during a questioning scene during True Detective Season 3 Episode 3, “The Big Never;” there are hints of exchanged money at various points throughout the season, and people hiding something; and there is Mr. June, who is somehow involved.
Those appear to be the only major clues of what happened to Julie Purcell and her brother. It’s never a true hint at the full picture. Some of the fun in mysteries is the guesswork; you’d have to be a world-class detective to piece all of this together.
The scene of Mr. June (or Junius, as we find out) is still quite powerful because of his desperate need for punishment after everything that’s happened, and Steven Williams’ performance in the scene is gripping; however, the information dump does leave a little to be desired.
Wayne meeting Julie, but in a state of forgetfulness, will likely disappoint some viewers. For me, it fits with the show and is a poignant moment.
We, as the audience, see that Julie has a good life and a great family; for Wayne, she is a nice woman who helps him in a time of need.
In terms of character closure, the scene may be a non-starter. It does, however, allow for us to know everything turned out okay. There is the concern that Henry, Wayne’s son, may take the address to Elisa, the documentarian, but for now, everyone ends up for the better.
One of the final scenes, rightfully, is of the reconciling of Wayne and Amelia after the events of 1980 leaves Wayne without his job. Despite the investigation, their relationship has been one of the more interesting pieces of the show.
Both Ali and Ejogo play the scene a lot like the previous scene at the beginning of the episode: they are finally honest with each other. Honesty wins out between them, against everything else. It’s a great cap to the season, one I really enjoyed.
The final shot, of Wayne Hays descending into the thick jungle all alone, can be interpreted several different ways. It could mean he is taking off on a new life, one without any guidance and one full of new mysteries.
The way I interpret it, though, with how the scene before begins inside of his 2015 eye, is that Wayne is locked inside his fractured memories. He is in the jungle of his mind, every forgotten thought a threat like he faced in the war. He can’t help but go it alone, because it is his mind, and his alone.
I view the season as Wayne reflecting back on defining moments which mean something at the time they are portrayed. It’s why his reflection comes back on him, and why his past selves glance in the direction of where his older self is positioned.
It’s perhaps a downer interpretation, but with his family all around him as it happens, at least he is surrounded with those he loves.
True Detective Season 3 Episode 8, “Now Am Found,” is a good end point for the season, even if it takes something away from all of the guesswork along the way.
There’s enough on the finale that leaves it on good footing, and with such incredible performances from its leads, Ali, Ejogo, and Dorff, some of the slights far outweigh the disappointments.
Some stray thoughts on the episode:
- There are some more mirrors and scene reflections of different time periods in the episode: one as Wayne and Roland head for the pink room (showing their younger selves), the car scene reflects the three time periods as they drive to Junius’ home, and Wayne looking toward his old self in the bar at the end.
- Roland’s bar fight is a fun little scene for Stephen Dorff, whose frustrations have poured over and he takes on nearly an entire biker gang single-handed. The fight is impressive and well-staged, Dorff up against so many bigger than him. He can certainly throw a punch.
- Michael Rooker is a fantastic addition to the episode, as short as it is. He brings a fatigued, done-with-it-all style to his performance, and helps make the somewhat unhinged Hoyt an unpredictable force while standing so close to the edge of a cliff with Wayne.
What did you think of this episode of True Detective? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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True Detective airs Sundays at 9/8c on HBO.
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Kevin Lever
Kevin Lever has been following television closely for most of his life, but in starting to cover it, he has grown a further appreciation. He strives to give the blockbusters their due, and give the lesser known shows a spotlight to find more fans.