Yeah, the anthology route is super appealing to me with this series as it allows them to do whatever they want with the characters in a single season with a planned ending.
In addition to Marty inexplicably killing Ledoux before allowing time for questioning, why does Rust inexplicably smack around the pharmacy killer? Even if it’s 7 years later, I think he naturally would have wanted to extract much more info from the guy. Because of his outburst, he wasn’t able to get anything else since the guy killed himself (apparently).
Also, how would the pharmacy killer even recognize Rust as the cop who caught and killed Ledoux that much later? Isn’t this something that Rust would want to know?
I really hope that there’s no supernatural explanation at the end of the season. That would ruin an otherwise great show. I’d forgive some minor plot holes, which at this point seem inevitable. But magic would ruin it for me.
ETA: IIRC, in Ep.4 Rust gets heavily patted down when entering the VIP area at the biker bar. But the security person doesn’t feel the 2-way radio that he’s holding. Anyone else wonder that?
Rust thinks he’s infallible, the smartest guy in the room. He’s pissed that he was wrong.
Saw his picture in the paper? Recognized his name? Or he was involved. Too bad Rust didn’t hang around to get more info, but those cops shooed him away pretty fast.
Maybe he felt it but thought it was okay. Dealers carried pagers. The radio’s bigger than a pager though, so good question.
Regarding Marty killing LeDoux: remember that they thought they were just busting a meth cooker who had killed a couple hookers. Sure, it’s bad, but CID is probably used to investigating scuzzy people killing other scuzzy people all the time. Opening a truck and finding two little kids chained to the bed and dying of starvation/abuse/exposure was a big shock, and the children were right around the age of Marty’s. Look at Harrelson’s face as he stalks back to LeDoux and pops him - it’s pure animalistic fury.
Rust gave Marty a cell phone. He didn’t have a phone or radio - he called Marty from the landline of the house they busted through.
Yep. He gave the radio to Marty and told him to monitor Beaumont police chatter, and gave him a cell phone and said the only person calling it would be himself. Rust took no devices with him.
Thanks. I really need to go back and watch these episodes again.
The guy Rust was interrogating for the pharmacy killing was clearly not the killer. They were just trying to find someone to coerce into confessing and close the case.
It was mentioned how great Rust was at getting confessions. This snippet showed us why. It didn’t matter if the person did it or not, Rust could talk them into confessing. He was being brought in from all over to get confessions.
This “skill” was one of the clues the interviewers were using to back their claims that Rust knew that LeDoux wasn’t the ritual killer. That Rust didn’t care who did or did not do the crime.
Here’s my new pet theory: Marty’s daughter witnessed the first killing. She is the new killer, Marty is trying to protect her.
Interesting. I doubt it though. It’s not easy to convict someone based solely on a confession. I assume they had some reason to believe he killed two people in the pharmacy robbery and wanted a confession just to make things go more quickly.
Also interesting that the doofus was being interrogated without a lawyer present.
If I remember correctly Rust stated that they had video. A confession would just make it a slam dunk. But remember, this is TV, it is not reality-based.
I keep coming back to Marty’s “under my nose” comment. It’s been said too much to not have significant meaning.
Cops lie all the time during interrogations. They have video, DNA, fingerprints, an eyewitness. Hey, don’t call a lawyer, let’s settle this right now. Get you off easy. In this case the imaginary bargain was an insanity plea.
The guy had been blacking out while on drugs. He didn’t know where he was or what he had done. Rust was just a friendly cop helping him out of a big jam.
I think you’re making it more complicated than it really is. The guy doesn’t have to be guilty or innocent – he just needs to set Rust back on the trail of the antler killers.
The actor playing him is
Height 6’ 6½" (1.99 m)
Great episode. “Good to finally see you commit to something.”
Right! One of them was even lying on the ground before he picked it up and had it join the others.
I’m still partially on the bandwagon of Marty himself being involved. The iconography of his daughters playing with the crown is compelling (if they’re princesses, he’s what?); but also when the detectives show him pictures of Rust still investigating, he tells them that they’ve given him “a lot to think about”, i.e. he’s now aware that Rust is hunting the killer. On the other hand, it could just be a line to blow them off because they’re both still working it.
All that said, I’m leaning away because it seems like a long stretch for that character.
Were there cell phones in 1995?
Also, I’ve been wondering about something pretty minor from the first couple of episodes. At one point, Marty and Rust were eating sandwiches from a roadside banh mi restaurant. Was banh mi popular in rural Louisiana back in 1995? If so, they were well ahead of the times.
I just saw something that says that the synopses for episodes 7 and 8 were apparently leaked and online. I don’t know if it’s true since I didn’t want to click the link and have anything spoiled for me. But to those that can’t wait for the finale, it’s apparently available (although I hope it’s fake).
Louisiana has a huge Vietnamese population so I’d say that it’s accurate.
Ha! I just got an email from my wife…
It’s certainly a show that sticks in your mind during the week.
Yep. They were bulky like the one that Rust gave Marty.
Yeah, a guy in my high school (who also ran the A/V club, of course) had a cell phone in 1993. It was a brick and cost him over a buck a minute to use.