True Detective: Night Country Season 4 Episode 1 Review: Part 1
True Detective: Night Country Season 4 Episode 1, “Part 1,” opens the door to an intriguing, supernaturally-fueled mystery, with a stellar Jodie Foster leading the charge. We get quite a bit of world-building that never sacrifices or butts out the narrative at large. The story boasts definitive movement.
The Environment Is a Main Character
One thing that’s for sure upon watching “Part 1” is that the town of Ennis, Alaska, is, in itself, a character. The episode thoroughly cements this fact. Kali Reis’ character, Evangeline Navarro, acknowledges the unbiased cruelty of the landscape in which they live.
We’re well-acquainted with the blistering cold, windswept terrain as the hour closes, thanks to the writers driving home Ennis’ importance to the plot. However, this setting also has a quiet, majestic beauty, as “Part 1” beautifully captures in the episode’s opening minutes before the darkness, both literally and figuratively, takes hold.
Foster Is a Force of Nature
Performance-wise, Foster leaves an indelible impression in her heralded return to TV. Liz Danvers is a hardened, jaded, and acerbic detective who serves as the brick wall to Reis’ fast-moving, more pliable Detective Navarro. Navarro refuses to put up with Danvers’ racist remarks and bullsh*t, which is refreshing. Side note: there should be a lot to unpack regarding that racism, considering Danvers herself has an Indigenous daughter.
Foster is at the forefront of a talented cast in True Detective: Night Country, Reis included, and delivers a fully realized character in just the first episode. It’ll be fun to watch how the veteran actor continues to flesh out Danvers in the coming episodes. Reis isn’t quite up to Foster’s standards yet (she also doesn’t have as much experience as Foster). Still, she makes Navarro a fascinating character with an interesting connection to the current case and Annie’s murder. There’s a lot of potential here.
Like Fiona Shaw, John Hawkes is always a great addition to any show roster. We get a taste of Hawkes’ Hank Prior, who seems to be hiding something regarding the aforementioned murder. However, we know next to nothing about Shaw’s Rose Aguineau, save she’s adept at removing animal guts and sees visions of a dead relative (presumably). She’s a delightful enigma.
Tackling Relevant Issues (and the Supernatural)
The representation in True Detective: Night Country is excellent, especially on the Indigenous front. “Part 1” highlights the racism Navarro experiences, no thanks to Danvers, while shedding light on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, a human rights crisis that deserves more attention. Navarro’s point that if Annie had been white, the town would’ve rallied to find her is a spot-on takedown of what’s happening in real life.
Danvers and Navarro’s dynamic is as prickly as a cactus, and the source of their animosity seems to be deeper than surface-level. It might go beyond the murder case. “Part 1” cleverly inserts a few linking parallels that feel rooted in the supernatural before their reunion at the research facility, including the “She’s awake” remark (also spoken by the scientist at the beginning) and Navarro seeing a one-eyed polar bear. At the same time, Danvers encounters a stuffed one-eyed polar bear on the floor.
It’s an organic way to bring them together, especially with Danvers’ discovery while investigating the missing scientists case that might be a breakthrough in Annie’s murder investigation. True Detective: Night Country presents a well-balanced mix of grounded and fantastical elements, which will be exciting to explore in this unforgiving, no-holds-barred atmosphere.
Easter Eggs
Additionally, there are quite a few Easter eggs, as it were, in the season’s opening credits. The shot of the Tsalal Arctic Research Station, the one-eyed stuffed polar bear, the real one-eyed polar bear, and what looks like a pineapple rolling down the road (Navarro’s sex buddy Qavvik mentions that SpongeBob lives in a pineapple before she steals his SpongeBob-themed toothbrush). There are also the frozen corpses of the scientists and a frozen foot.
Overall, “Part 1” of True Detective: Night Country is a solid start to the season, bolstered by nuanced character work, a plot that unravels methodically and carefully, and a genuinely engaging mystery at the center of it all. Only time will tell if Season 4 maintains the momentum established here or becomes stuck in that icy lake with the preserved corpses.
Regardless, the attention to detail and care in laying the groundwork for this environment, the narrative, and its characters is appreciated. The more we know about the latter, the more we’ll (hopefully) root for them (or dump Baileys in their gas tank as Navarro did to that abusive a-hole).
Stray Observations:
- It’s a Killing Eve reunion. Owen McDonnell, one of the research facility scientists (who’s possibly connected to Annie’s murder), played Niko on the series. Fiona Shaw, aka Rose, portrayed Carolyn Martens.
- Speaking of Fiona Shaw, I didn’t have on my 2024 bingo card that we’d see her disemboweling a wolf in Alaska, but here we are.
- There’s something very apropos about this season premiering while there’s a bitterly cold front ripping across the US.
- I like “bury a friend,” but I’m unsure it works as the show’s theme song. It pulled me out of the gorgeously shot, immersive opening minutes. Perhaps something more strings-heavy and musically darker (although “bury a friend” is lyrically dark) would fare better?
- You know what I also didn’t have on my 2024 bingo card? A dead man doing a barefoot interpretive dance in a desolate tundra. I dig it, though.
- As much as I love Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, I, too, would lose it if I had to listen to “Twist and Shout” one too many times.
What did you think of this episode of True Detective: Night Country? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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True Detective: Night Country airs Sundays at 9/8c on Max.
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Melody McCune
Melody loves TV. Maybe too much. Besides being a Senior Writer for Tell-Tale TV, she's the Managing Editor for Geek Girl Authority, an Independent Contractor for Sideshow Collectibles, and a Senior Writer for Eulalie Magazine. Additionally, she has bylines in Culturess, Widget, and inkMend on Medium. To top it all off, she's a critic for Rotten Tomatoes and CherryPicks.