This True Detective: Night Country episode one review contains spoilers.
The first season of HBO‘s True Detective was one of the last great series in the Golden Age of Television that kicked off with The Sopranos. Starring Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey as Marty Hart and Rustin Cohle, respectively, it received widespread critical acclaim and was the definition of “can’t miss TV”.
Unfortunately, seasons two and three reflected the end of TV’s Golden Age and failed to live up to the high standard set by their predecessor. Like Westworld, audiences tuned out as quality declined and True Detective is now largely remembered as a single season of perfect television.
While it’s too soon to say if True Detective: Night Country will revive the series in the mind’s of audiences, “Part 1” was an undeniably promising start.
“Part 1” – Episode One review
Night Country takes place in and around the fictional town of Ennis, Alaska which is entering the winter period of continuous night as the episode begins. When the entire crew of the Tsalal Arctic Research Station mysteriously disappear, police chief Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) and team are dispatched to figure out what’s afoot.
Syrupy mayonnaise on a ham sandwich and wet laundry left in the washer tell Danvers that the crew have been missing for at least 48 hours, having seemingly disappeared in the middle of their daily routines.
As viewers, we already know that the scientists have been missing for three days – we saw the hungry sandwich maker startled by a crew mate convulsing before ominously saying, “She is awake.” But who is “She”? And who wrote “We are all dead” on a whiteboard? I guess we’ll have to wait to find out – but it probably has something to do with the base’s research into the origins of life.
Among the abandoned cell phones and uneaten bowls of popcorn, the police make a particularly startling discovery: a severed tongue. From markings on its surface, Danvers deduces that the tongue must have come from a Native American person.
Back at the police station, Trooper Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis) confronts Danvers and says that she believes the tongue belongs to Anne Kowtok, an Iñupiat woman who was murdered years earlier.
Atmospheric and creepy, Alaska feels like an alien world in Night Country. Supernatural elements add to a sense of mysticism that permeates through the episode. True Detective has never been afraid to flirt with paranormal themes but writer Issa Lopez leans into it here with great effect.
The episode’s particularly gruesome conclusion is more than enough to hook viewers for next week’s Part 2; however, it’s Jodie Foster’s characteristically strong performance as detective Danvers that, I suspect, will make True Detective: Night Country not only worth watching but something not to be missed.
Overall Rating: 8/10
What did you think to episode one of Night Country? Let us know in the comment section below and don’t forget to check out our other Film & TV articles…
