The first episode of True Detective: Night Country ended with the discovery of a group of corpses frozen stiff in the Alaskan tundra.

So we suppose it's no surprise that True Detective Season 4 Episode 2 opens with an investigation scene that's chilling in more ways than one.

The missing men of the Tsalas research station have been found not only frozen solid and naked, with burnt corneas. shattered eardrums, and expressions of sheer horror.

And then, quite unexpectedly, we're met with a moment that some True Detective fans have been waiting for the better part of a decade -- the reemergence of the crooked spiral, one of the enduring symbols of the show's vaunted debut season.

This time, it's tattooed on the forehead of one of the frozen corpses.

Danvers reveals her emotional connection to the case when she lashes out at her staff and announces her intention to keep the investigation local instead of turning it over to the state police.

We already knew about Navarro's emotional connection to the case, but it's underscored when Rose advises her to go home, and Navarro explains that she can't because the current investigation is connected to the murder of Annie K.

It's then that the crime scene transforms into something even more macabre, as one of the cops accidentally breaks a corpse's arm off, and another body starts ... screaming?

From there, Danvers visits a local earth science teacher to question him about the nature of the Tsalal research, while Navarro talks with Rose about the reappearance of the deceased Travis.

There's a bit more of the clunky exposition that occasionally bogged down the first episode, as we quickly learn that Travis was a romantic partner of Rose's who took his own life when he learned that he had a terminal case of leukemia.

Rose smokes a joint and gets philosophical about her interactions with the dead, a topic that interests Navarro greatly, as her sister has visions of their dead mother.

From there, the science teacher informs Danvers that the research at Tsalal could have been "an absolute f--king game-changer" in the battle against disease and "cellular decay."

After some more talk about the infamous crooked spiral symbol, Christopher Eccleston makes his first appearance as the bigwig from Anchorage who wants the state to take over the case.

We later learn that he and Danvers have been carrying an on-again, off-again love affair for 19 years.

Danvers is initially dismissive when Navarro informs her that the crooked spiral tattoo was also found on the body of the murdered Annie K.

Next, the corpses are brought to a local ice rink to be thawed out, which is also where Peter Prior discovers cellphone footage taken seconds before the lights went out at the research lab.

We learn that the researcher named Clark was a troubled soul who had the crooked spiral tattooed on his chest.

We also learn that the Tsalas station was funded by a mega-corportation called Tuttle United.

Peter asks Danvers why she's so angry at Navarro, but it's too early in the season for such a major question to be answered, so she shrugs him off.

The one-eyed polar bear and Danvers' aversion to the Beatles are then somewhat explained in a flashback, which hints that a young boy is no longer in her life, possibly as a result of the drunk-driving accident that Leah alluded to in Part 1.

Family conflicts arise as Navarro tries to convince Jules to seek treatment, and Danvers lashes out at Leah for showing an interest in her native heritage.

Danvers' investigation of Clark's tattoo leads her to the conclusion that he had ties to Annie K. -- which means that the Tsalas and Annie K. investigations are linked, as Navarro has been insisting from the start.

The episode ends with Danvers and Navarro investigating Clark's trailer and concluding that he's still alive.

We think it's safe to say that he's haunted by the spirit of Annie. K.

But is that haunting literal or metaphorical?

Whatever the case, this episode may have raised more questions than it answered.