Contains spoilers for this episode and earlier episodes.
Ginger arranges a meeting with Dewall Ledoux, but Rust's proposed deal fails. The detectives instead follow Dewall to the isolated compound where Reggie Ledoux is hiding. They enter without backup and restrain Reggie. Marty then discovers two captive children, one already dead. He returns outside and shoots Reggie. Dewall tries to escape and dies in a trap, leaving the detectives with a crime scene that cannot support an honest claim of self-defence.
Rust and Marty manufacture a shootout and repeat that account to the authorities. Their rescue makes them celebrated officers, and Marty gains another chance with Maggie. The later interviews reproduce the story they agreed to tell, while the episode shows what they concealed. By 2002, the partners have moved into more settled routines, but Marty's trouble with his teenage daughter and Rust's harsh interrogation methods expose how fragile that stability remains.
A prisoner named Guy Francis offers information about Dora's real killer and mentions the Yellow King. Rust's reaction makes clear that the phrase has reopened a question he thought finished. Francis dies before another interview, following a suspicious telephone call. Rust returns to the old school and finds more twig constructions. In 2012, Gilbough and Papania turn their questions against Rust himself, citing his appearances near later crimes and Tuttle's death. Rust walks out, while Marty begins to grasp the suspicion behind their interviews.