Was there a ghost in episode 3 of True Detective: Night Country?

It seems relatively routine – some “hillbillies” scuffling in a hospital waiting room, calling Danvers (Jodie Foster) away from an interrogation. Navarro (Kali Reis), left behind to monitor the bedridden victim, pokes her head around the corner and cranes her neck to see the commotion. And then the man behind her suddenly sits up in the hospital bed.

The scene is scary enough on its own, a kind of casual horror a bag rustled in Audition. But the sound design makes it even more hair-raising: First, a gasp on the soundtrack; Now the man’s voice is different, rough and growly. “Hello, Evangeline. Your mother says hello. She’s waiting for you.” Then he points, lies back, grabs and encrypts. True detective pretty shitty with this one.

This seems like a strong argument for the supernatural hovering over the town of Ennis, in an episode full of unreal details like this. Hell, early in the interview, Navarro was nervous after the victim muttered the ghostly phrase she had heard earlier in her car: She is awake. But episode 3 is also about the practical matter, the murder of Annie K., and we get the best insight yet into the woman and whatever happened to her. The hour spends a lot of time tracing Annie’s movements – an Ariana Grande sweatshirt that marks the start of a relationship, blue hair dye that leads to someone who knew about Annie and her secret scientist boyfriend, the influence she had as a midwife and the vacuum it left behind.

Ultimately, the best evidence yet is last week’s cliffhanger: Annie’s phone contains the creepy final video she recorded somewhere in the ice, with her screams playing the episode. It’s stomach-churning (Prior can’t even bring himself to watch it again) and is just as chilling as the moment between Navarro and the surviving scientist. Something about this mystery seems beyond our understanding, and paranormal explanations increasingly seem like the simplest reason why. But again, Episode 3 carefully reminds us that not everything is as it seems: As Danvers recounts the case that drove her and Navarro apart, her voiceover becomes a memory of the couple raiding a house The last time they worked together. Foster’s voice sounds tired from all sides here. She seems tired of the dead man’s excuses, of her inability to help a 19-year-old girl out of an obviously dire situation, of her own limitations. And as she tells the story, everything went to hell there: an abusive asshole killed his 19-year-old girlfriend, “then he shot himself.”

Photo: Michele K. Short/HBO

Photo: Michele K. Short/HBO

But that’s not what we do see; Immediately after this line from Danvers, the man in the flashback turns around with a creepy look on his face and starts whistling. It makes sense that Prior doesn’t get the full story from Danvers, nor does the audience get all of Danvers’ gory details Nightland (still – hopefully). We don’t yet understand what Annie K’s murder is or what that damn orange is doing on the ice (and again in the opening credits, peeled and spiraling as “Bury a Friend” plays over flashes of important scenes-shot). One sympathizes with Navarro’s attempt to break Danvers’ Socratic method – Fuck your games – and still follow up on the demand: Ask the question.

In this way, True Detective: Night Country makes it clear that this is the best season yet, and makes the journey along the way seem just as important as the question of who killed Annie or whether Navarro really saw a man become possessed. When the show tells us to look one way or another, it feels worthwhile, even if it may seem like a distraction from the matter – whatever.

At the end of everyone Nightland End credits sequence, there is a new picture. In episode 3 it’s a small fishing hut, isolated and lonely on the ice. What happens there is certainly a breakthrough in the case – Navarro finds the whereabouts of a former Tsalal researcher – but it is more of a personal breakthrough for Navarro, as she tells part of her life story to one of the few people she trusts, who makes a small break and smiles as she comes panting back into the hut to fulfill his request. The conversation she has there goes beyond just the case Nightland it is wise to stay there. True detective doesn’t tell us everything, but that doesn’t mean it tells us nothing.