S03 of TD was amazing. Very impressed by the acting, storyline, and haunting/brooding atmosphere. Very seamless transitions between 1980, 1990, and 2015.

Elements of this storyline were obviously inspired by the infamous & heinous crimes that occurred in West Memphis, AR in the early '90's, which led to the imprisonment of the "West Memphis Three" teens.

As in S01, the theme of the older detectives remembering & being haunted by crimes they investigated earlier in their careers is a very strong element here. Having the two lead detectives (Hays & Dorrf) be veterans was interesting, especially given that Hays used his tracking skills (honed in Vietnam) to find the horrific crime scene.

I'm amused by the "Purple Hays" nick-name, which was an obvious reference to Jimi Hendrix & his iconic track "Purple Haze"...a song that American troops in Vietnam - and state-side - would have been listening to in the late '60's & '70's.

Re: Episode 4, the interrogation scene with the long-haired "bad" kid seems to be a reference to the fact that the authorities in the WMT true-crime case framed three teens for the crime, at least partially due to their being into heavy-metal music, etc.

The finale of the fourth episode was amazing. Great penultimate scene when the Vietnam Veteran trashman spotted the trucks coming down the road & knew they were coming for him, so he threw off his bag & took off his shoes (so he could run faster) & hauled @$$ back to his home. He was obviously a munitions expert in Vietnam, and was ready for the vigilantes that were coming after him (presumably, he had somehow kept a lot of weapons he had gotten in the war). I especially liked how this episode ended - very jarring & sudden.

As we saw at the end, it was obvious that neither the veteran trashman - nor the teen boys - had anything to do with the death of the boy, or the kidnapping?! of the girl. As in the actual WMT case, they are just convenient scapegoats due to the fact that they're poor, can't afford decent legal representation, and live on the fringes of society.

Caught up with TD S03 episodes 5 & 6:

Wow - especially gripping/creepy was the final scene of Episode 6. Several points/observations, that I got from the last several episodes:

-Even when I saw this the first time, I was certain that the trashman (the vet that Hays was forced to kill) didn't have anything to do with the death of either child. The physical evidence re: the kids (that was found in his house after he died) was obviously planted by someone who got there after the firefight & just needed a convenient scapegoat....almost certainly the former LE officer (or someone working for him) that Hays & Roland interviewed, i.e. the manager of the chicken factor. Going along with this:

-The sudden appearance & angry questions that milky eye asked of Amelia during her book signing (presumably sometime in 1990) were obviously not the ravings of a lunatic, but more someone who was trying to figure out exactly how much Amelia knew about the case.

Re: EP06 & EP07:

-The scene at the end of EP06 when the "father" of Julie/William finds the pink room was extremely unnerving, especially when the chicken factory boss creeps up behind him...Obviously he killed the father, and left the body on the top of that staircase/walkway, where he was later found. The father did not kill himself, but it was made to look that way.

-The chicken factory boss also almost certainly killed Lucy (in the seedy hotel outside of Las Vegas) and made it look like an OD.

-Not that surprised to see that Wayne & Roland "kidnap" the boss from the chicken factory & interrogate him in that barn...which led to his death. Obviously there was something bad that happened between them, which led to their estrangement after 1990 - we just didn't know what it was, until now.

-Also, Wayne's Alzheimer's/memory issues in 2015 are getting worse, as seen when he thinks an unknown young woman is his daughter & that he's taking her to college...which is also shown in this episode:

IIRC, for the first time in S03, we see a scene outside of the three regular eras (1980, 1990, and 2015). This was the one where Wayne Hays was taking his college-aged daughter to school, presumably for her freshman year. I suspect she was around 18, so that would probably be around the 1999-2001 time-frame. I was surprised that they showed this, since IIRC it's the first time they time-jumped to a scene outside of the three regular eras. In any case, good sequence.

Brilliant final episode to TD S03. This ended in a way that was the complete opposite of what I thought would happen, but it was great because it was so unexpected. Very satisfying. So, to sum up (and don't read any further if you haven't seen the final episode):

-Will died due to a tragic accident (fell and hit his head, while trying to rescue his sister) and Julia wasn't "kidnapped" for any sadistic/nefarious purpose, but to serve as a "surrogate" daughter for the disturbed woman whose own daughter had died in an accident. This disturbed woman was the daughter of the big shot who owned the chicken factory, and it's very possible that Julia was actually his daughter (that he had with Lucy). Lucy was initially onboard with his "taking" Julie (since she was being paid off), but then she probably started having second thoughts & said she was going to expose the whole thing, which is why the chicken factory guy killed her in '88 & made it look like an OD - in that hotel room outside Las Vegas.

-The "pink room" was just that, a room that Julia was kept in to keep her from prying eyes & to isolate her from the rest of the world. Julia was given a drug in order to keep her docile, but she eventually escaped & since she couldn't remember what had happened in her past life (due to the drug and/or being too young) she ended up wandering/drifting, which is how/why her fingerprints were found @ the Walgreens in 1990.

-Wayne's daughter is alive & well in 2015.

-Great dialogue-free sequence when Roland & Wayne were driving in the car, and the scenes seamlessly went from 1980, to 1990, to 2015, and back again, etc. Well-done.

-The sequence when Wayne thought the ghost of his wife was telling him that Julia was still alive, etc. were just delusions, and nothing more.

Re: why/how Amelia Hays died, it seems obvious that the reason had nothing to do with the case, but almost certainly due to natural causes/illness (cancer?!) and/or an accident.

I also thought it was funny how Roland got into the huge fight at the bar by instigating an argument with that guy who was twice his size; great scene. The insults were hilarious ;) However, it was amazing that he walked out of there alive - but you knew he obviously survived.

-Fantastic final scene, i.e. the flash-back sequence showing Wayne alone in the jungles of Vietnam. Well-done, and great way to close out the series.

When I first saw the finale of S03, I initially thought that:

- The truth re: what finally happened with Julia was exactly what Wayne & Roland found out during their investigation. I.e., she ended up being taken care of by nuns at a convent, stayed there for a while afterwards, and unfortunately died there. The scene when Wayne & Roland stood in front of her grave (with the nun) was sad, but it was also nice for them to get closure on a case they had been investigating (off and on) for 35 years.

Unless:

Maybe the nun(s) did lie to Wayne & Roland about Julia dying, in order to protect her from anyone nefarious that came looking for her. And, maybe Julia was the wife of the groundskeeper & mother of the child, that Wayne went to see (and forgot why he went). I.e., it's possible that - as Wayne suspected - the groundskeeper with the family was the same kid who had a crush on Julia when they were children, and then re-connected with her when he coincidentally saw her at the convent, years later (as Wayne imagined).

However, it's also possible that the the nun was telling the truth to Roland & Wayne, and Julia did die in the convent.

I guess that still leaves the story open-ended.

In any case, brilliant season & possibly my favorite of the series - even though S01 was incredible as well.