True Detective: Night Country Reveals Another Possible Explanation For The Spiral

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the latest episode of "True Detective: Night Country."

Is "True Detective" messing with us, or are all those major fan theories out there officially off the mark? In fairness, there have been a few loose threads intentionally left dangling over our heads throughout the season, driving speculation among viewers into a fever pitch over all the potential explanations (supernatural or otherwise) that could be offered by what's sure to be a gripping finale. But perhaps that's the one downside of a series drawing comparisons to a mystery-box show like "Lost." When certain developments hint at something much more mundane, fans can't help but feel like the wind has just been sucked right out of their sails. That seems to be the case with episode 5, which offered up one possible hint at what that creepy-looking spiral symbol really means.

In a bit of a curveball, this latest hour of "Night Country" took its foot off the pedal and opted for a more deliberate sense of pacing — until those shocking final few minutes, that is. But before we got there, one unexpected scene between Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis) and her lover Eddie Qavvik (Joel D. Montgrand) appeared to shed some light on the mystery behind the spiral. According to a local, it has traditionally been used as a warning to keep people away from exceptionally thin areas of ice located out in the Night Country, or the network of underground caves where Annie Kowtuk (Nivi Pedersen) is believed to have been murdered. But is that all there is behind a symbol that's been linked with cult activity, both in "Night Country" and obviously in season 1 ... or is this just one big red herring?

Throughout "Night Country," one recurring line spoken by Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) has been about asking the "right" questions. On the face of it, this is meant to encourage fellow officers like Peter Prior (Finn Bennett) or Navarro to think outside the box and follow the right leads that will (theoretically) lead to the ultimate solution. But viewers can certainly interpret it as a challenge issued directly through the fourth wall, daring us to figure out the evidence worth paying attention to versus the dead-ends leading nowhere. Now, the trouble is figuring out which side of the divide this clue about the spiral belongs.

Back in episode 3, a car-ride conversation between Navarro and Danvers (which hearkened back to a beloved season 1 trope) laid out their differing views on science and faith. In one of the show's highlights of dialogue, Danvers hilariously refers to any of her partner's beliefs in the supernatural as "'voodoo, ET, cosmic, chupa-lupa bulls***" that simply isn't worth pursuing. So, with this awfully grounded explanation for the spiral, did "Night Country" showrunner Issa López just throw down the gauntlet and foreshadow that Danvers' worldview will, in fact, be proven to be the correct one? That seems to be the direction episode 5 is heading in ... right up until the moment when Prior is forced to kill his father Hank (John Hawkes), allowing Navarro and Danvers to follow this lead to, well, wherever it leads.

Ultimately, there's reason to believe the spiral, Annie K.'s murder, and the fate of the Tsalal Station scientists are all rooted in something disturbingly human. But since when was "True Detective" ever as straightforward as that? The finale may just shake things up all over again.

"True Detective: Night Country" is currently streaming on Max.