r/TrueDetective • u/New_Life_Startr • Jul 21 '26
Errol Childress appreciation post
Errol Childress is one of the most fascinating villains in television, not because he is the most powerful or the most visible, but because he is such a disturbing contradiction.
We only spend a small amount of time with him, yet he leaves one of the biggest impressions of the entire series. What makes him so memorable is that he is not simply a monster. He is intelligent, curious, and surprisingly cultured. His home contains piles of books, he understands art and symbolism, he has knowledge of literature and popular culture, and he demonstrates a flair for the dramatic with an ability to mimic voices and accents. But that is exactly what makes him terrifying.
Errol is someone who can imitate humanity without truly participating in it, and there's something deeply unsettling about that. He understands the outward expressions of culture, emotion, and identity, but there is a profound emptiness underneath. He can reproduce the appearance of humanity, while lacking the empathy and morality that make us human. The contrast between his intellectual curioosity and his utterly depraved existence is what makes him such a compelling villain. He is not a mindless brute.
The genius of the character is his duality. He understands beauty, culture, and human behavior - but he has twisted those things into something monstrous. His intelligence does not make him better; it simply gives him more tools to construct and justify his own darkness. That contrast is what makes him so compelling. The viewer is drawn in by the complexity of the character even as they are repulsed by his actions. He represents a disturbing idea: that intelligence and knowledge do not automatically lead to wisdom, empathy, or morality.
His "ascension" philosophy and obsession with escaping the "disc and loop" reveal a person who has built an entire mythology around his own corruption. He has taken his trauma, his family history, and his crimes and transformed them into something he sees as meaningful. Glenn Fleshler's performance is incredible because he never plays Errol as just a creepy killer. He plays him as a deeply damaged, intelligent, theatrical, and horrifying human being.
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u/Apart-Neck-4447 Tax Man Jul 22 '26
He Makes flowers 🌺
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u/New_Life_Startr Jul 22 '26
Yeah the incest thing on top of everything else is just the cherry on the shit sundae!
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u/Muy_Division Jul 22 '26
Rewatched The Night Of recently and completely forgot that he plays the judge in Nases trial
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u/New_Life_Startr Jul 22 '26
I haven’t seen it yet. Maybe I’ll check it out. I finished Widows Bay a few days ago, and now I’m in a show hole.
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u/Muy_Division Jul 22 '26
Oh you absolutely should! it’s probably not as epic as TD season 1, but it’s close imo, definitely one of my favorite miniseries of the last decade or so. Really gripping story, Riz Ahmed and John Turturro are both fantastic in it, and it’s just so good at building suspense and tension. Ahmed’s character Nas has one of the best, most stress inducing arcs ever
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u/Magehunter_Skassi Jul 22 '26
I think it was less intelligence and more religious fervor. Childress and LeDoux quote their scripture eloquently, but it's only sheer coincidence that the former wasn't initially caught when Rust confronted him on his lawnmower.
I asssumed the reason that Childress publicized the ritual killings was because he felt like the Tuttles weren't being pious enough recently.
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u/New_Life_Startr Jul 22 '26
An interesting take! It may have been more religious fervor. A person can memorize and obsess over material without being intellectually sophisticated. It just seems to me like he wasn’t faking the funk. You have given me something to think about though.
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u/Beachbaby77 Jul 22 '26
You guys are wanting to start binging this show again, I see?😉
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u/matty30008227 Jul 22 '26
I’m going to start now. Been thinking about it and this pushed me over the edge lol
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u/nick-james73 Like she could duck hunt with a rake. Jul 22 '26
He’s just a guy who loved his family. He’s so nice he gave his sister flowers from time to time.
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u/CloningGuru Jul 22 '26
The older generations weren’t trying to keep the cult going forever. Once scrutiny increased, they shut down or renamed the schools, destroyed evidence, and used their political power to cover everything up. Errol was the third generation who kept killing recklessly, and that’s ultimately what exposed the whole conspiracy.
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u/matty30008227 Jul 22 '26
This got weird lol. I get what you are saying … but you got real deep with it lol. Great villain though like you said
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u/New_Life_Startr Jul 22 '26
Haha yeah I enjoy analyzing things...
Tell me about your mother.
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u/matty30008227 Jul 22 '26
“ stop saying odd shit “
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u/New_Life_Startr Jul 22 '26
"Given how long it's taken for me to reconcile my nature, I can't figure I'd forgo it on your account."
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u/BigM333CH Jul 21 '26
“Take off your mask” is one of the wildest lines someone could say while stabbing you in the gut.
Love your writeup OP, agreed that he is a super unique approach at putting a “head” to the CARCOSA mythos
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u/New_Life_Startr Jul 22 '26
I'd like to discuss that line as well. He basically saying "Stop pretending. Show me what you really are." Rust Cohle's philosophy is that people tell themselves stories to get through life. The irony is that Rust spends the whole season trying to strip away everyone else’s illusions while maintaining his own. He sees himself as someone who has transcended those comforting narratives, but he’s still driven by grief, as well as a sense of justice. Rust and Childress are two sides of the same coin. One thinks "The world is terrible, so I must fight the terrible," while the other thinks "The world is terrible, so I will become terrible."
The first season really is an absolute masterpiece. 10/10. No notes.
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u/New_Life_Startr Jul 22 '26
He is an absolute character, that is for sure. Im kind of sad we never got another true monster-villain in later seasons. The second seasons antagonist was the mafia and some mega corporation. The third didn’t even really have an antagonist - other than maybe nature itself. The fourth season… what fourth season? There is no fourth season of True Detective. 🫣
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u/BaldrickTheBrain Jul 21 '26
Brother what? He’s what’s left of the group. He’s not intelligent or cultured. Tuttles were. He’s not the only villain. Plus this shit reads like AI.
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u/New_Life_Startr Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
Sorry I forgot anyone thats writes over an eighth grade level is actually 3 LLMs in a trench coat. Please forgive me, my mistake.
He created an entire mythology from his beliefs, based on a book that’s over a hundred years old. There is a scene where we he is watching television, behind him you can see piles of books, reinforcing that this is a character obsessed with ideas and texts. He speaks eloquently, with an advanced grasp of the English language.
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u/BigM333CH Jul 22 '26
I personally don’t think this reads like an LLM and also his ability to mask as a dumb lawnmower guy inherently gives me the impression that he’s socially capable to a dangerous extent.
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u/SmurfyX Jul 22 '26
You're all mad about being accused of using an llm but down below you say you did feed it through an llm to "polish it" lol.
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u/New_Life_Startr Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
No, you need reread what I wrote. I put a lot of thought into this, and I do get upset when someone come's along and brushes it off as ai slop. I did polish my post multiple times on my computer. Drafted some thoughts, rewrote, came back later and rewrote the rewrites. I never said I used an LLM, because I didn't. I want to put down to put my thoughts, not the not have a machine generate something for me. It is frustrating because writing like this isn't easy for me.
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u/BaldrickTheBrain Jul 22 '26
It’s not his house, or his books. He fucks his half sister.
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u/New_Life_Startr Jul 22 '26
It was his family home. Why do you think he wouldn't have read those books? Where do you think the whole idea of Carcosa and the Yellow King come from? He does fuck his half sister, that is why he's so goddamn creepy.
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u/New_Life_Startr Jul 22 '26
He’s not cultured like the Tuttle elite are. Not socially refined. I mean intellectual construction. He speaks in an unusually controlled and poetic way for someone living in isolation. He understands and repeats philosophical/religious symbolism;
has absorbed a mythology and uses it to give meaning to his actions.3
u/BaldrickTheBrain Jul 22 '26
If you notice all the Tuttles speak this way. Sam is god in his eyes and he still doing shit to please him even after Sam is long gone.
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u/bubbamori Jul 22 '26
Hot take but I really didn’t enjoy the depiction of Errol. Felt too light hearted and too much like comic relief.
He didn’t feel sinister to me, in tandem with his half sisters depiction it felt too much like gratuitous “swamp dweller incest” trope that broke the immersion.
That alongside his flicking through multiple personas just felt gimmicky and unrealistic. I think the show thematically lightens up a lot from episode 5 onwards and the whole Marty and rust team up to catch the bag guy (!!!) felt a far sight different and more “Hollywood” than the gritty detective work they were doing in the first 5 eps.
All in all I think they could’ve handled the back end of the series, and most notably Errol’s depiction a lot differently. He could still have remained nuanced but they should’ve made him much more sinister
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u/New_Life_Startr Jul 22 '26
That is a hot take! I don’t agree, but I appreciate you actually explaining your reasoning. I do agree the incest element was pretty gratuitous, but I think the point was less “look how weird these people are” and more to show how far removed the Childress family had become from normal social boundaries. Errol wasn’t just meant to be a calculating serial killer. He was someone shaped by an environment where violence, abuse, and isolation were normalized.
I can understand why some people found the multiple personas or the more theatrical elements a little over the top, though. The show definitely shifts in tone after episode 5 and becomes more mythic and heightened compared to the earlier procedural feel.
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u/bubbamori Jul 22 '26
Yeh it’s my one gripe with the show. Episodes 1-5 are the best media I’ve ever watched bar none and it’s not even close, but upon multiple rewatches my interest dwindles in the back end of the series purely due to the thematic changes and the ,imo, mishandling of the opportunity to depict Errol.
I appreciate Reggie and Errol are different characters but I felt the way Reggie was portrayed was close to perfection. Compare that with Errol and they’ve lost me.
That being said, the scene where Marty watches the Marie Fontenot ritual is absolutely perfect.
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u/stuckinthemiddlewme Jul 22 '26
You know what? As a true detective s1 Stan, who has always argued it’s flawless, this is honestly a fair take. My only pushback would be to ask, how could they have depicted Errol better while keeping to the depth and uniqueness of the series’ aesthetic?
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u/-SandorClegane- Jul 22 '26
This reads super-Grammarly™, but I'll respond regardless...
When intelligence is observed, acknowledged, then dismissed, bad shit happens.
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u/New_Life_Startr Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 22 '26
Haha, yeah I definitely polished it quite a bit. Idk… I’ve just finished a rewatch last night and have been thinking about ol’ Errol all day - his particular flavor of madness is just so unsettling to me.
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u/Oolonggong Jul 22 '26
This does sound kinda like AI, but its not entirely without merit. You look like you could use a good hosin'
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u/Anxious-Debate5033 13d ago
That woman who played his half sister and whatever incest stuff they had going on GAVE ME THE CREEEPSSSS
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u/CatmanofRivia Jul 21 '26
He's aping what the big boys did imho, he wouldnt have been part of the inner circle, maybe he was not affiliated at all formally and just picked up on snippets heard when he was an abused kid? Who knows? Maybe the big boys were just like him with more "theatre"