Cold and dark have been the prevailing motifs on this season of True Detective, so it's a bit of a shock when the new season begins with flames and fluorescent lights.

Ironically, it's all in service of one of the most emotionally dark storylines the series has delivered thus far.

We're in a crematorium, and Navarro is on hand to pick up the ashes of her sister, Julia, who took her own life in True Detective Season 4 Episode 4.

From there, we're transferred to a very different type of sterile setting, as Danvers interrogates Otis Heiss, who's in the middle of detoxing in a hospital.

Asked how he sustained injuries so similar to the ones that killed the Tsalal researchers, Heiss says that he followed a sound and woke up in a hospital with injuries similar to the ones that killed the Tsalal scientists.

On their way to the entrance of the cave system where Annie. K. disappeared, and Danvers and Navarro had a tense conversation about the mine and its effects on the local water supply.

Later (that same day?), Navarro steps away from her multiple murder investigation to help break up a strike at the mines.

Storylines accelerate and intersect as Navarro protects Leah from being assaulted by a cop at the protest and then takes her into custody (on Danvers' orders).

At the police station, Peter Prior reveals that the Tsalal station was funded by the mining company, possibly in exchange for the research center publishing "bogus pollution numbers."

We then return to the world of fluorescent lights and shiny chrome for another ironically bleak scene, as Kate McKittrick affirms her place as the season's tertiary villain by attempting to convince Danvers -- with Connelly's help -- that the Tsalal men died in an avalanche.

Connelly accuses Danvers of murdering Wheeler, and Hank Prior meets up with Kittrick, who basically confesses that she's pure evil and offers him Danvers' job in exchange for dispatching Otis Heiss.

Peter concludes that Danvers murdered Wheeler, and his bosses' shaky ethics are on display again when she nabs a large quantity of heroin out of the evidence locker for the purpose of bribing Heiss.

He's in her bathroom getting high when Hank shows up, pretending he has orders to deliver the sketchy German to Connelly.

From there, it's one shocker after the next as Hank murders Heiss, and the gunshot attracts the attention of Peter (who has taken up residence in Danvers' shed), who proceeds to shoot his dad to protect Danvers.

Danvers reluctantly agrees that Hank's body should be disposed of, and she leaves Peter behind to do the job, as she and Navarro set out to explore the cave system where Annie was killed.