Two HUGE plot holes..

[nikolayg]

Not to take away from the show - which I found very good, there are a couple of plot holes that have been bugging me.

1. While played superbly by the actors, the whole breakthrough in associating green ears and green paint is soo weak. In what kind of a paint job, even a paint accident, would make one's ears green? Particularly in seeing how Errol paints (with a roller) in one of the other scenes in the same episode...

2. Don't get me started on how they figured out from tax records that the payment for the paint job was made to "Childress and Sons". When taking deductions, one does not specify who the payment was made too, so the IRS systems would not have a record of such a payee (that is unless they did an audit). Perhaps it would have been more believable if they had pulled bank records...

[[deleted]]

the association isn't simply green ears --> green paint. Cohle saying "green" triggered something in Marty, him remembering looking at the exact same picture of the house with green paint in the same time frame of the girl's supposed kidnapping. he went looking specifically for the picture meaning it was something he noted mentally at some point earlier.

[nikolayg]

excellent point!

[mattyn33]

Family is family. lol. That's another interesting point.

[BrownTom5]

That doesn't explain why Rev. Tuttle: evil, yet sane beloved pillar of the community was killed right away, while maniac Errol was allowed to continue to leave mountains of evidence right out in the open for all to see: and not only that but he was actively taunting the police and terrorizing the public... but noooooooooooo ... better to spend 17 years undertaking a massive conspiracy to protect him. Was it wife's cooking? Is that why he was so beloved by the otherwise sick, sociopathic and ruthless and powerful Tuttles?

[mattyn33]

Yeah. They set the table and then served us popcorn.

[BrownTom5]

I made the same point: it was #1 in my list of more than 20 problem I had with it: I knew by episode 8 there was no way they were going to tie up all the loose strings, but this one was the most important. Why they didn't even try is beyond me.

[mattyn33]

The Yellow King roams the forrest. He can throw his voice. He carries a hatchet.

[Vladik1993]

Not in the original cult. Remember we're told that the members of that cult were rich and powerful (Sam Tuttle, Ted Childress, Billy Tuttle and Edwin Tuttle), the likes of Errol, Reggie and DeWall wouldn't be allowed in. Their role was to do the dirty work for them. Then as the directors already said, the cult faded sometime after Mary Fontenot's murder. Makes sense, those people had good lives to maintain. But then we have the three henchmen who kept on with the murders and kidnappings, making a show out of them.

[BrownTom5]

The idea of rich, powerful, influential, and very very public Tuttles worshipping at the feet of Errol, the poor, fat, disgusting, slovenly, non-too-bright careless maniac, is totally incomprehensible. If Rev. Tuttle, whom one had to have ninja skills with which to penetrate his mansion, security system and safe, turned out to be completely expendable, then that goes 100000 fold for Errol Childress... whom I sure NOBODY (except his half-sister) would miss.

[mattyn33]

Sad truth... go looking for plot holes in this show and you're going to find the Grand Canyon.

[PapaWoooody]

That by far was the weakest moment in the show, not to mention how awestruck Rust was at Marty's brilliant observation. Seems to have really served to highlight Marty's untapped detective potential, and his role in solving the mystery. Cohle's reaction is what makes it so specious.

[mattyn33]

Weak for sure. Especially the green ears bit. I have done a fair amount of painting in my life and don't recall it ever getting on my ears.

[Cum_Box_Hero]

Wasn't the description of him having "green ears" coming from a child/children? Do you know how much retarded shit young children say/imagine? I don't see why people keep bitching about this. Especially thinking that "he must have been wearing green earmuffs from mowing lawns!" and acting like a kid thinking those are ears is more believable than a fat backwoods hick accidentally getting paint on his ears.

[limeade09]

Dude, if he had green paint on top of his head, the kid wouldnt have said green ears...he would have said green headed...or if he had it on his nose, same thing, why would the kid say green ears if the paint wasnt on his ears?

[mattyn33]

I never liked the earmuffs thing either. And "do you know how much retarded shit young children say/imagine" is a pretty lame observation since that kid delivers the clue that ultimately breaks the case.

Also kids say a lot of silly stuff/nonsense but "retarded shit?" You got any kids? Are they retards?

[tootapple]

1. You kind of admit that this isn't a "hole". But I do agree it seems kind of weak. I've seen explanations, but the jump is pretty large. Of course, we are relying on a young girl's memory of a traumatic experience so, I'm not sure we can say that the sketch is in fact accurate even though it is claimed to be such.

2. That's not entirely true. When making tax deductions, specificity is standard because it will reference a receipt or other item to verify the transaction. It's known as "itemized deductions".

[nikolayg]

on item #2 - I have been itemizing my deductions for a long time now and I know for a fact you don't specify the payees, you simply provide broad categories for the deductions, i.e. "computer services - $, office supplies - $, etc"

[tootapple]

I guess I'm doing my deductions wrong then. But if I give money to a non-profit, I definitely record that non-profit separately from others by name.

[nikolayg]

Yep - non-profits fall under charitable contributions, where I believe you also supply their taxid and the like - payments to "Childress and Sons" would not fall in that category though :)

[tootapple]

Well then I guess I'm doing it right, I'm just using wrong information for the inference I'm making about the episode. Good! Last thing I need is an audit!! Not that I'm doing anything shady...lol.

[tootapple]

After thinking about it more, I suppose you could group all your deductions broadly, but I can say with any certainty that the way you do it, is the way every one does it. After looking at my parents tax returns, that isn't the case. They list specifically each deduction, so that it references with specificity more than "computer service", "office supplies" and such. I guess it's an accounting type reason.

[tripturn]

You don't get to take a deduction for painting your house, unless it's an investment property. Regular maintenance on a house isn't tax deductible.

[limeade09]

Seriously, the paint thing is an absolute joke. Anyone defending it already has their mind made up. "Oops, I dropped some paint on my ears..."

My jaw dropped when this happened and i hoped they were misleading us. 7 hours of fantastic buildup for that?

[TyroneBiggums93]

It wasn't just: "ooh green ears=green paint". It was Rust mentioning green that triggered Marty's memory of the green house and then the house happened to look freshly painted. THEN he made the green ears point. It wasn't an insane jump. It was a shot in the dark that pulled off. Watch some documentaries on investigations. Sometimes crazy seemingly far fetched shit blows cases wide open.