True Detective: Night Country Episode 1 Review

True Detective is back, one of my all-time favorite series (but shhh, I’ve never seen Season 2), with the fourth season called Night Country, featuring one of the greatest actors of any generation, Jodie Foster. Jodi’s character, Danvers, is the police chief in the fictional town of Ennis, Alaska, and working alongside, begrudgingly at times it seems, state trooper, Navarro. Interestingly, Navarro is played by former boxer, Kali Reis, and fiction reflects reality: In real life, as in the show, Reis is an active supporter of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Movement.

Now, anyone who has read my book reviews or prior film and/or television reviews knows I’m a sucker for a great setting, which is partly why True Detective is one of my all-time favorite series. And I’m especially a sucker for a cold, dark, and desolate setting, such as Alaska. Particularly, the events of the season take place during that stretch of time in late December when this town in Alaska, set further north than the Arctic Circle, is in complete darkness, i.e., the sun will not rise again until the New Year. Showrunner, director, and writer Issa López completely captures the setting, atmosphere, and mood perfectly: it feels cold, dark, and desolate. It feels like these characters are about to be shit out of luck with whatever’s coming their way in addition to the pitfalls of such a setting.

The first episode starts off with a nice table-setting quote, “For we do not know what beasts the night dreams when its hours grow too long for even God to be awake.” Again, I’m a sucker for that kind of ominous table-setting with a quote that evokes God, and in this case, the limits of God’s reach. That’s how screwed these characters are seemingly about to be. Then, the episode swoops into its title sequence with Billie Eilish’s “bury a friend” song. I saw some fans of the show dumping on that song choice, but I couldn’t wait to look it up afterward because it was haunting and perfect, I thought.

And I think that song evokes the style of the episode that followed: a hint of the unbelievable, supernatural, and surreal. Eight men working like monks (as Danvers jokes) at the Tsalal Research Station all disappear, leaving behind a woman’s tongue. Weirdly, they took a while to discuss the uh, elephant in the room that was the tongue. Incidentally, Navarro’s been searching for the killer of an Indigenous woman, Anne Kowtok, whose tongue was severed from her mouth (hence my mention of Reis’ advocacy of the MMIWG movement). Later, Danvers makes a connection between the woman’s parka and that same parka being worn by one of the researchers.

A weird scene happens where Rose Aguineau (played by Fiona Shaw)’s husband shows up to her house, barefoot (remember, this is Alaska!), and tries to signal something to her after bringing deeper into the wilderness and doing a bizarre dance. He points to something in the desolate distance. Rose then summons Danvers and Navarro, where we learn a.) the husband is dead, so uh, and b.) three of the eight researchers are buried in the ice.

I have to say, I didn’t think I’d like a supernatural tease or twist on True Detective, but I do actually! It fits with the setting and the themes, like the Iñupiat (the Indigenous Alaskans) vibe of spirits and supernatural elements, along with whatever these researchers were looking into. Danvers’ young deputy thinks they were looking into the origin of life. Maybe they encountered another dimension? Another universe? Alien life? Supernatural life of some kind? We shall see.

Almost half-way through the episode, we get an exchange between Navarro and another character (I’m not exactly sure who he is, to be honest) that I think brings us back to the introductory quote about God’s limit:

“Do you believe in God, Agent Navarro?”

“Yes.”

“Mind if I ask why?”

“It doesn’t matter.” (There’s a scene where she’s serving in Iraq and talks to a fellow soldier missing half their head.)

“Must be nice, knowing we’re not alone.”

“No, we’re alone, God, too.”

Even in this part of dark Alaska, God has his limits. Can God create a town so remote even he can’t reach it? López seems to think so. Let’s go.