Ten years later, in 1990, Hayes is being interviewed during a deposition by his superiors about the case - but he is unaware why, then in 2015 he is being interviewed in his own home by a reporter, with his son Henry (Ray Fisher) by his side, again in relation to the Purcell case.
It's a lot to take in in the first couple of minutes of the premiere and it's obvious True Detective once again isn't too concerned about unneccassrially confusing audiences by jumping back and forth through this timelines. Mahershala, however, navigates Hayes through his years skilfully.
Thankfully, this episode spends most of it's time at the very beginning of the Purcell case with Hayes and West (and the audience my extension) methodically trying to figure out what could have happened to the Purcell children and who the suspects are. Naturally, their almost-separetd parents Tom (Scoot McNairy) and Lucy (Mamie Gummer) come under suspicion, and their bereavement and blaming of one another almost comes under risk of being cliche (plus the unfortunate Hayes re-telling of the situation in future timelines confirms that Tom is not involved). Lucy's brother Dan, however, is revealed as having stayed with them recently, and also seems the likely culprit of owning the Playgirl magazines hidden under Will's bed and having drilled a peep hole in his closest into Julie's room.
Other suspects include a group of older students from West Finger High School, Freddy Burns (Rhys Wakefield, who will always have a great appearance for a villainous character), Brett Woodard (Michael Greyeyes), and Alan Jones (Jon Tenney) who are seen menacingly staring down Tom and Julie as they ride their bikes past Freddy's purple Volkswagen beetle, and again later riding their bikes at the town's local hangout, Devil's Den (and once again Hayes' retelling narrative makes the scenes without him being featured very annoying, as he could not have possibly know what was happening making him an unreliable narrator).
Hayes and West visit the school to ask about Will and Julie and question the boys, and meet Amelia Reardon (Carmen Ejogo) a schoolteacher who we learn is married to Hayes and writing a non-fiction book, Life and Death and The Harvest Moon, about the case by 1990, and who has passed by 2015.
As the first day of the investigation comes to a close in 1980 Hayes discovers one of the children's bikes near Devil's Den and follows a trial that leads him to a handmade bride doll of straw and hay on a tree stump, he finds another on higher rockier ground and there in a crevice he finds Will's deceased body, hands posed in prayer, presumably killed by head trauma.
Hayes is shook and is desperate to continue looking for Julie, but in 1990 he learns that the reason he is being questioned by his superiors is that Julie's fingerprints have been linked to a robbery meaning that she is alive.
Despite a disorientating first couple of minutes, and the continuing difficulty the multiple timelines often forces True Detective to have, The Great War And Modern Memory was an entertaining start to the season.
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