True Detective Confirms Popular Rust Cohle Theory Linking Seasons 4 and 1

A fan theory linking the first and second installments of True Detective turned out to be true, which makes the new installment of the series seem even more intriguing.

crime story
Pamela Jakiel22 January 2024
Source: True Detective, Nic Pizzolatto, HBO, 2014
i

Warning! This article contains spoilers from Night Country (Season 4) and the finale of Season 1 of True Detective series.

As a reminder - True Detective is an anthology, which means each season focuses on a separate story. However, as we found out from watching the second episode of Night Country, Season 1, which set the bar very high for subsequent installments, has links with the newest release in the series in which Jodie Foster is starring. We received a confirmation that an intriguing fan theory about Rust Cohle, played brilliantly by Matthew McConaughey in 2014, is correct.

This theory involves Travis - a deceased partner of Rose (Fiona Shaw) whose spirit pointed out the location of the missing scientists' bodies. In the very first episode, there were very clear suggestions that the man could be Rust's father. And it wasn't just about the visual similarity between the characters. The kinship was already indicated by the name itself - Travis - which we know was also mentioned by the detective. Additionally, Rose mentions that her beloved suffered from leukemia - the same disease that happened to Rust's father as we know from Season 1. As if that wasn't enough, in the first installment of the series portrayed by Matthew McConaughey, the detective mentions that he once lived in Alaska with his parent.

You must admit that all these coincidences could not have been just a coincidence. And indeed â?? they were not . The second episode of Night Country confirms the theory that Rose's significant other was indeed Rust's father. In the latest episode, the woman played by Fiona Shaw reveals Travis' surname, which turns out to be Cohle. This dispels any doubts about the connection between Rust and the hero whose spirit we saw in the first episode.

Rose also reveals other details about Travis. The man did not want leukemia to take his life, so he committed suicide and his body was found by Evangeline Navarro - the same one who is trying to solve the criminal mystery and is a partner of Jodie Foster in Night Country. However, Rust's father did not leave completely and from time to time - when he had a specific purpose - he returned to Rose in the form of a spirit. So it's not impossible that during this season we might see the detective's father again.

And what about Cohle himself? Will Matthew McConaughey return to the part? We cannot rule this out completely, but it's unlikely. If McConaughey was to return, we would definitely hear about it up to now. However, it is possible that there are some connections between the two cases - the one from Season 4 and the one concerning The King in Yellow from Season 1 - as indicated not only by the introduction of the character Travis but also by the motif of the spiral present in both series.

The fact that none other than Rust's father returns as a ghost in Night Country sheds an interesting light on the last scene of the first season of True Detective, in which the hero played by Matthew McConaughey, in the hospital parking lot, describes his spiritual perimortem experience to his friend and partner, portrayed by Woody Harrelson. In his story, Rust Cohle talks about his consciousness, but also about the moment when he was close to crossing over to the other side, he clearly felt the presence of something good, bigger, and for a moment became one with everything he ever loved. In this supernatural plane, he felt the presence of his daughter and father. Although he longed to stay, he made it back to the world of the living. Could this be related to Travis's will to keep Rust alive? Perhaps the next episodes of Season 4 will clarify this issue as well.

Pamela Jakiel

Pamela Jakiel

Finished film studies, graduate of the Faculty Individual Studies in the Humanities at the Jagiellonian University. Her master's thesis was about new spirituality in contemporary cinema. The editor of the Filmomaniak service since April 2023, supports the lead editor and the boss of all newspeople. She used to write for naEkranie. If she's not watching The Ninth Gate for the hundredth time, then she's reading books by Therese Bohman and Donna Tartt for the first time. She prefers gnosis over dread, dramas over horrors, Jung over Freud. She looks for symbolist paintings in museums. Runs long distances, and does even the longer ones on a gravel. Loves dachshunds.

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