True Detective Season 4 has genius Silence of the Lambs Easter egg

The time has come – True Detective Season 4 Episode 3 features a subtle yet genius Silence of the Lambs Easter egg, honoring its lead star Jodie Foster, aka Clarice Starling. 

Jodie Foster plays Detective Liz Danvers in True Detective Season 4, aka Night Country – but this is far from the first time she’s portrayed a complex crime fighter in her acting career. 

Foster is best known for her impeccable role as Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs, one of the most critically acclaimed horror movies of all time. 

Anthony Hopkins brought the character of Hannibal Lecter to life on the big screen, immortalizing the words, “I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.” But there’s another line he famously uttered, and it made its way into True Detective.

True Detective Season 4’ Silence of the Lambs Easter egg

In True Detective Season 4 Episode 3, which aired last night, Nevarro (Kali Reis) tries to get some information about Oliver Tagaq (Lance Karmer) from her friend/lover Eddie (Joel D Montgrand), but in exchange he wants to learn more about her, using the term “quid pro quo” – the iconic phrase used by Hannibal to find out more from Clarice. 

To refresh your memory, the nature of Hannibal and Clarice’s relationship is formed in Silence of the Lambs when the FBI trainee goes to visit the cannibalistic convict in solitary, where she offers him a transfer in exchange for information on serial killer Buffalo Bill. 

Not happy with this deal, he instead wants to learn more about Clarice’s traumatic childhood, using the term “quid pro quo” – meaning a favor or advantage granted in return for something. 

“If I help you Clarice, it will be ‘turns’ with us too. Quid pro quo. I tell you things, you tell me things. Not about this case, though, about yourself,” says Hannibal. “Quid pro quo. Yes or no? Yes or no, Clarice? Poor little Catherine is waiting.”

Foster even referenced the infamous line while accepting her Academy Award at the 1992 Oscars for her role in Silence of the Lambs, saying, “Of course, the reason that I’m here, Anthony Hopkins, ‘quid pro quo, Doctor’.”

Though Navarro and Eddie’s relationship is of a different nature, a conversation they have in True Detective Season 4 Episode 3 unfolds in a similar manner as she seeks to find out more about a lead who may help with the Annie K/Tsalal researcher case. 

“Do you know Oliver Tagaq? He worked for Tsalal for a bit. Now he might be a hunter somewhere out on the ice,” says Navarro. Eddie says he doesn’t know, but Navarro pushes further, suggesting he might “know someone who knows someone” due to his job running the local bar. 

Requesting that he asks around, Eddie agrees for a price. “You want me to pay you?” she scoffs, to which he replies, “It’s called ‘quid pro quo’. You tell me something, I tell you something… I’m not kidding. You tell me something about yourself.”

HBO

Eddie simply wants to know more about Navarro, with the pair having slept together for some time. Eventually, she opens up to him about her difficult background, and he is able to help her with the lead. 

It’s a subtle yet smart Easter egg, one that Lopez deserves recognition for slipping into the script. 

True Detective Season 4 Episodes 1-3 are available on Max now, which you can sign up for here.

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