RECAP: WEEK 1
I'm not American so a lot of stuff really passed over my head for TD S1. I had never heard of
HP Lovecraft before so the whole Yellow King and Carcosa stuff never meant anything to me - and I still enjoyed the story. I imagine a lot of people know about this stuff but I'm guessing a lot of people do not, so I thought I would recap all the stuff I learned from
The Ringer and
Vanity Fair recaps. If you know of any other tidbits or your own personal theories lemme know and I'll add them. I'll try and put these up to refresh people before the next episode.
WHO - The Charachters Suspects
Wayne Hays - the main charachter, a bored detective in 1980, Vietnam
LRRP, we learn he has memory issues that are getting worse as time goes on
Roland West - Hays' partner, we learn that he has done "very well" when we jump to 1990, requires an appointment to see
Amelia - an English teacher who did painting in SF, joined the Black Panthers, then came back to finish university and become a teacher. We learn that she becomes a celebrated author and Hays' wife but is no longer with the family in 2015
Rebecca - Wayne's daughter who in 2015 is no longer coming to Arkansas and staying in LA
Henry - Wayne's son
Tom Purcell - the dad of the missing, having problems with his job and his marriage
Will Purcell - the deceased boy, found dead from blunt force trauma, posed with hands in prayer
Julie Purcell - the missing girl, may or may not be Tom's, supposedly received a bride doll on Halloween, ransom note sent to police on her behalf telling the cops to stop looking for her
Ted Legrange - aka Robert Hebert, works at a daycare, Vice officer gives Hays and West his name as someone who likes young girls
Judd Kent - Assistant District Attorney in 1980 promoted to District Attorney by 1995
WHEN - The 3 Timelines
1980 - The disappearance of two siblings occurs on the eve of the death of Steve McQueen. A search party is formed and Hays finds the body of the boy. The girl is not found but Hays and his partner begin to interrogate the town. Eventually the town shuts down out of fear.
1990 - Hays is brought in for questioning related to the disappearance and has been notified that Julie's fingerprints have been found in Oklahoma.
2015 - Hays is being interviewed for a tv show for a host with a possible ulterior motive, she might be looking for a racism angle or something else
WHAT - The Clues
The voice recorder
Hays uses a voice recorder to remember his thoughts in 2015 since his memory is not very good. He plays back a dictation to "Remember the nightstand if you need it." A matchbook, gun, clippers, matches, are seen in the nightstand. Also mentions "You don't need any mistakes this late in the game."
The hole
A hole in Will's dresser was found drilled creating a peephole into Julie's room, their uncle stayed in Will's room
The dolls
Creepy hand made bride dolls supposedly given out during halloween to Julie and found by Hays directing him towards Will's body.
Will's bike
The 3 boys were seen horsing around with Will's bike around the time of his murder and forensics have taken it in for fingerprinting.
WHERE - The Locations
West Finger, Arkansas - fictitious small town south of Fayetville
Fayetteville, Arkansas - third biggest city in Arkansas
St. Louis, Missouri - home of the Purcell uncle
Oklahoma - finger prints of Julie found in 1990 at a drugstore robbery
WHY - Themes, Historical and Popculture Influences
Steve McQueen
The "King of Cool" died on Nov 7, 1980. One of the biggest movie stars of his time. Hays pours out a bit of beer for him.
Regan Administration & Right leaning Culture
Not mentioned in the movie but Regan just won the presidential election by a lanslide Nov 4, 1980 and the rising Right Wing culture
80's culture
The beginning of mass media and people reacting to anything written in tabloids or shown on TV shows like Geraldo.
Conspiracies lead to hoaxes and the decay of community.
The Fox
Hays has no issue killing rats, but not the fox. Idk why, but I like the fox.
West Memphis Three
I had never heard of this at all, but others have mentioned it in the thread. The WM3 were basically the 3 kids in the WV bug.
The WM3 were convicted of killing three boys in Satanic Rituals and were eventually released but had served many years in jail. Documentaries like
Paradise Lost were made but basically they had no evidence against them and they were targeted because they were different, outsiders of society, wearing long trenchcoats and listening to heavy metal.
Michelle Remembers & Satanic Panic
Satanic Panic can be traced back to 1980 when a psychiatrist wrote a book about his patient and future wife "Michelle Remembers." The psychiatrist concludes that his future wife was involved in Satanic cults and repressed all her memories of being in that life.
Although their story was basically descredited the couple toured the US teaching law enforcement how to spot the makings of Satanic cults like candles in a park or teenagers gathering at night. They used statistics like 50-60 thousand people were murdered by Satanic cults every year to scare people. At a time before the Internet these Satanic cult claims had huge traction with religious groups and teenagers for different reasons.
Dungeons & Dragons
While looking in Will's room we see that there is a Scout Handbook and an Authorized Dungeons and Dragons manual for The Forests of Leng.
Leng is a term in Lovecraft fiction as a place or plateau where a priest that lives there with a yellow veil, thought to be possibly
Hastur, which leads back to the Yellow King/the King in Yellow.
James Egbert
In 1979, a 14 year old genius who attended Michigan State University suddenly disappeared. His parents hired a sensational investigator to track him down and the investigator's theory was that Egbert was so caught up in Dungeons & Dragons that he was playing it out irl in the sewers of the university. He came out of hiding months later to tell the investigator that he was dealing with issues greater than D&D, but later comitted suicide.
Franklin Scandal
Mentioned by Elisa to Hays in 2015. Was supposedly a 1988 Omaha savings & loan scam leading to Satanic cults allegations in the US government that turned out to be unprovable.
Pizzaman Extended Universe Does S3 tie in with S1 or S2?
- both (S1)Dora Lange and (S3) Will Purcell were posed in a praying position in death
- Elisa mentions the dolls were linked to the Crooked Spiral pedophile gang, possibly related to Dora Lange
The observatory tower in the Devil's Den kind of looks like a Crooked Spiral when viewed from below
God help us if they tie-in S2
![TD_301_030718_WP_0017.jpg[img]](https://media.architecturaldigest.com/photos/5c38f1b448452908810a0691/master/w_768/TD_301_030718_WP_0017.jpg[img])
