FOUSIA ABDULLAHI
campus editor
fousia.abdullahi@my.tccd.edu
“True Detective” is back with season four: “Night Country”, and in true fashion, the first three episode were chilling.
The HBO show airs on Sunday nights and is set in Ennis, Alaska. Eight men operating the Tsalal Arctic Research Station disappear from their station appearing as if they have vanished without a trace. Detectives Liz Danvers played by Jodie Foster and Evangeline Navarro played by Kali Reis have no idea what happened to the men or have any leads as to why they disappeared.
One of the great things about True Detective is that each season stands alone, so you can jump to whichever season grabs your attention. Season four of Night Country: Part 1 started on Jan. 14, at 8:00 pm CST, and will end on Feb. 25. It has been five years since season three aired.
The setting, a fictional town in northern Alaska, helps play up the eerie feeling of the crime and missing scientists. It’s cold and the days of darkness have started, hence the season title Night Country. You don’t know if it’s the wind howling, that everything is always dark or the references to spirits, ghosts, or the symbol of the spiral from season one that has returned. Still, you are always aware that something or someone is watching and listening to the characters.
Music is an essential part of TV shows because it invokes emotions. The theme song is Bury a Friend by Billie Eilish. The song is just as dark as the show, with the lyrics, “Step on the glass, staple your tongue, “bury a friend try to wake up cannibal class, killin’ the son bury a friend…”
There is a lot of tension between Danvers and Navarro throughout the first and second episodes. The flashback to their problem helps in viewing the tension and understanding why they don’t see eye to eye. Much of their scene consists of Navarro begging to work on the case and Danvers rebuffing her.
In episode 3 we get more of an insight into what happened between Navarro and Danvers, and it’s not completely surprising because of their dynamic but it does show that working together will bring out the worst in each other.
Danvers doesn’t get along with anyone except the youngest Detective, Peter Prior, played by Finn Bennett, who is a young father. She takes him under her wing to teach him how to solve the case. Her character often seems angry; She frequently lashes out or has a witty comeback.
You also see her relationship dynamics with her daughter. Flashbacks in the first episode hint that the two had suffered a tragic loss and haven’t come to terms with their past.
Some people are calling the show woke because much of the focus is on the female cast, and the male cast storylines start with a wife-beater and the father-son relationship of Officer Finn Bennet and his father, Hank Benne, played by Hank Prior, who is borderline insubordinate to Danvers.
The writers develop each character with background information, helping the audience to understand why they act the way they do.
You get introduced to a lot of characters from the town: miners, the town drunk, the hockey mom, the high school science teacher and Navarro’s sister, who has mental health issues they touch on. They are all incorporated into the story, giving you an insight into what kind of town Ennis is.
Each episode grabs your attention right from the start, episode 3 started out with a mother giving birth waiting for her baby to cry and as a mother I was holding my breath, just like I did when my kids where born. The baby crying is the first sign a mother listens for so that she knows her baby is OK.
Despite all the intertwined plots and darkness, I recommend this season. Much like seasons 1-3, the audience wonders what will jump out of a dark corner.
