Well, I've discussed at length the characterizations of the leads, so I guess it's fair to also talk about what I think about the crime aspect of the show. I don't really like playing join the dots that much with this story because it doesn't really feel like a story where it invites the viewer to join the dots so much as just process the information that's being provided and enjoy what unfolds.
- It's clear to me from the start that the case is not really about a murder so much as a message. Someone is trying to say something but it's not completely clear what that something is. It probably doesn't have anything to do with Rust or Marty, or most of the normal people who see it as just an occult murder.
- In isolation, such a message would mean nothing to the characters on the show, if not for the fact that Rust is takes the case personally and is obsessed to solve it. Why? Initially because it's his job, but as time goes by and he digs deeper, it seems to have turned into a personal crusade for him.
- As a man who lost a young daughter and with it all meaning of a normal life, maybe finding out that this one case could be a conspiracy which links to many other cases of missing women and children in the state over two decades makes want to believe that is true. If it were, this could have a form of redemption and salvation for him. Instead of just stopping a killer who murdered one prostitute, or a few girls, he could be solving a case which represents everything he has lost, he would be putting an end to the suffering of all those other parents everywhere, and avenging all the little girls in Louisiana.
- We don't really know how Marty plays into it, but I would bet that he too sees a bit of that redemption and desires it too. He might not feel it as deeply as Rust does, but as a prideful man whose family seems to be have broken up, and as someone who looks back with regret on how he failed to bring up his daughters properly, I'm sure he would want closure in knowing that he helped get the bastard or bastards who were behind something like serial child killings/kidnappings in the state over two decades.
- And that's really what I think the story here is about. It's closure that the characters seek. Closure in the case would help give them closure in their lives. It's a lot like a story about how someone doesn't have the courage to ask the girl they liked to the prom way back, and he runs into her again in adulthood years later. Or letting a childhood friend move away without ever telling her that he loved her. This is about making things right, in order to move on in life. Making it right just happens to revolve around a supposed cult with powerful people in it.
- So yes, I do think the case will be solved, or as solved as it is satisfying for the audience, but not in the sense that the case is the most interesting part of the story or the part that the writer really wants to tell. It will be satisfying because I am certain that the character arcs will come to a close whether they find salvation or lose it forever. There will be closure.
