Season 3 uses a three-part timeline (1980, 1990, and 2015). By 2015, Hays is an old man struggling with dementia. The title highlights the "modern memory" aspect—how the actual events of the past have been filtered, lost, or mythologized through time and trauma.
" The Great War and Modern Memory " is the title of the , which premiered on January 13, 2019.
The episode’s protagonist, Wayne Hays (played by Mahershala Ali), is a Vietnam veteran who served as a Long-Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) scout. The title parallels the way the "Great War" (WWI) haunted a generation with the way the Vietnam War and the Purcell abduction case haunt Hays decades later.