I missed the first season of True Detective with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson and stayed away from the second season upon hearing the criticism. But the third season which took place in northwestern Arkansas, a couple hundred miles away from my doorstep intrigued me. I must admit the flashing through different time frames as Mahershala Ali and Stephen Dorff (an actor I had long given up on but amazingly showing restraint here) as two investigators with the Arkansas State Police investigating a kidnapping was very clever.
So, when I saw the ads for True Detective: Night Country, I was hooked to watch it from the start. And I’m glad I did. It may be one of the best TV thrillers to fill the void left by the end of Fargo‘s amazing fifth season. And just like that show, it’s set mostly in a part of the American landscape that seems more barren of modern civilization. One thing I’ve been most fascinated in real life that both series have managed is to show how isolated and reserved these places are. Everyone talks about the simpler life but both shows indicate a more harsh way of life. And the people in both locations seems to be more unfriendly, apprehensive and even critical of their own as well as outsiders.
It helps that the show dropped its first episode while America itself was hit with a huge polar blast where temperatures were so cold people who attended the Kansas City/Miami game at Arrowhead Stadium resulted in health issues including amputations of fingers and toes that were frostbitten. It could relate to people who were watching because it felt like the upper Alaska where the show takes place in the fictional town of Ennis at Christmastime. The community has just entered into a period in which there won’t be any sunlight for a while.
And as the show starts, tensions are already high. Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster is a great role) is a veteran law officer who has been named the police chief in recent years much to the chagrin of Capt. Hank Prior (John Hawkes) who feels he deserved the position and passive-aggressive about it. His son, Peter Prior (Finn Bennett) is a young officer on the force and there’s obviously tension over who his real superior is – Danvers or Hank?
There’s also Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis), a trooper with the Alaskan State Police who is also a native Inupiat and both her and Danvers have a checkered history for a previous case where they investigated a murder/suicide that might have been something else. They’re also haunted by the fatal stabbing of another Inupiat woman, Annie Kowtok (Nivi Pederson), from six years earlier. Annie had protested the construction of a local mine prior to her murder. The case has gone unsolved but it affected Navarro more.
The show opens with a delivery driver discovering the Tsalal Research Station is empty but signs point to something strange has happened. The TV is blaring but there’s no sign of any of the six researchers. A severed tongue has been found believed to belong to Kowtok because it appears to be that of an Inipuiat. But the researchers are nowhere to be found until an older woman, Rose Aguineau (Fiona Shaw), discovers them frozen in a solid mass. Rose, who lives on the outskirts of the community, claims she was led to them after seeing the spirit of her late husband who guided her. The researchers’ clothes are also found nearby neatly folded.
Danvers is also having to deal with her troublesome stepdaughter, Leah (Isabella Star LeBlanc), as the school has discovered a video she made with her girlfriend having sex. Pete’s home life is hazy with his partner, Kayla Malee (Anna Lambe), and their daughter. Issa Lopez who directed all six episodes and wrote the first two and last one as well as co-wrote the other three, seems to be less focused on what happened to the researchers than the daily lives of the people of Ennis. The town is modeled after Utgiavgik, formerly known as Point of Barrow, which was the northernmost town in America. People who live there are either born there or they’ve moved there for a reason.
When you add the frustration of no sunlight for weeks mixed in with the holiday blues, it adds a lot to the tension. Lopez can’t also hide the fact that there is some sexism and misogyny that’s worse there considering the indigenous women of many areas face bigger discrimination from white people. Leah is becoming more involved in protests with other indigenous people against the mine which angers Danvers. This might be one of Foster’s best acting roles in years. And she hasn’t appeared on a regular TV series since she was a child actress. This coming out just after her Oscar-nominated role in Nyad makes us glad Foster hasn’t given up on acting even though she’s choosing her roles ever more wisely as she’s gotten older. And if she doesn’t get an Emmy, Golden Globe nomination and everything else for this, there is no justice.
However, Danvers is a complicated character. I wouldn’t say she is a heroic figure but not exactly an anti-hero figure. In one scene, you can understand why she gets underneath the skin of so many people, especially those close to her. In the next, you understand why she is the way she is. She has a job to do as a police officer, yet there’s obviously some inclinations that both her and Navarro have done some unsavory and possible illegal activities. I also think it’s great Danvers has an intolerable hatred toward The Beatles.
And Reis has a tougher role, I think. Her skin color and her name have her walking a tightrope between the indigenous people of Alaska whose ancestors have lived there for generations. On the other side, she is seeking some justice for people but only can see the same double standards happening over and over. There’s a great scene between Navarro and Joel D. Montgrand who plays her lover, Eddie Qavvik, where they hold each other in bed that should be used in acting and directing classes. There’s no dialogue but they’re body language tells everything.
This is where some people might think Lopez and the rest of the crew have made it “too woke” as it focuses on mostly women and they’re investigating the deaths of men. But you could argue other movies and TV shows which usually have men law officers investigating the deaths of women or even children have been around while no one has said much. The show’s sixth and final episode has divided some people. I’ll admit, it does seem to move a bit too fast trying to wrap everything up but still leaving some things open. Maybe it’s because the third season seemed to work by coming to a conclusion. I guess some people expected Christopher Eccleston’s role as Alaska State Police Capt. Tom Connelly, who has constant sexual hook-ups with Navarro, to be something more.
Yet, I think it’s better that it kinda leaves a few loose ends unresolved. Foster has said that is a one-and-done season, which I think is good. Not all police investigations end happily. I think the beauty of this episode is it shows how past trauma and the complexity of some crimes to connect the dots stick with law officers.
As for the series, supernatural horror elements, I have a few theories about this. I don’t think that Rose actually sees her late husband. She just thinks she does. It’s often been said a lot of people who are isolated or living remotely away from a lot of human contact sometimes hallucinate. They see things that aren’t there. And you add isolation with lack of sunlight and Vitamin D, you might think you see some things that aren’t there.
Or it could be something more spiritual as the series has many native people there. There’s a lot of strange things that happen that have no explanation. Craig T. Nelson once said he found himself in an Oklahoma town near the cemetery where Will Sampson, his co-star on Poltergeist II, was buried. He couldn’t make it to Sampson’s funeral but decided to go pay his respects. It was the middle of summer and the cicadas were out. But once Nelson said he approached the burial site and began to speak, all the cicadas stopped making noise at the same time.
There’s some indications that the Night Country is connected to the events in the first season. Both Fargo and American Horror Story have made subtle connections indicating that each season takes place in the own respective universe. Maybe we’ll find out more in the fifth season which has already been renewed.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 