These two stories appear to take place in the same True Detective Expanded Universe and might be more connected than we thought going into Season 3.
Or — and this is what her inflection made it sound like — there’s a pedophile group called the Crooked Spiral.
But Episode 2 of Season 3, “Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye,” established an unexpectedly direct connection to Season 1 of the previously standalone anthology series.
With its multiple timelines, brooding atmosphere and children-in-peril plot, True Detective Season 3 is thematically, tonally and structurally similar to Season 1, which involved detectives uncovering a cult that ritually murdered women and children.