True Detective: Night Country Review – Gripping Crime Drama Delivers

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Category: Streaming, Cable

Published on Wednesday, 26 June 2024 10:34

Written by Janet Walker

True Detective: Night Country, from HBO, presents a compelling and unusual crime drama, that begins at a remote research science facility in Alaska's furthest regions, where night lasts three months, and slowly unearths the deep-frozen secrets.

As Episode one begins we see an herd of caribou and a Native American hunter, slowly making his way across the barrier tundra, preparing to take down the animal, when suddenly and without warning as the sun, on the last day, before the long night begins, sinks, the caribou as if spooked by an unknown and unheard sound make a fast break and run full speed off the edge of the cliff, drowning themselves in the icy Alaskan waters. The hunter stares, in both shock and surprise, as the herd commits suicide.

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We then move into the research lab, on the border of the town, where a group of scientists, who live on site, are doing what they do on their off time; watching television, facetiming, laundry, sleeping, and one is still working on the laboratory experiments, when one of the scientist arrives in the kitchen, shaking and panicked, he screams, "she's alive." Then the lights go off.

The weekly supply driver arrives a short time later. He calls out to the group, no one. As he unloads, he keeps calling asking for their help, nothing. He arrives inside and finds no one and then looks on the floor and sees a portion of someone's tongue. The message appears clear: Someone is talking about things they shouldn't or so it seems.

Obviously, something has happened to the men, and the police are called. Arriving on the scene, Police Chief Liz Danvers, played by Jodie Foster, her deputy Hank Prior, played by John Hawkes, and freshman deputy Peter Prior, played by Finn Bennett.

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At this time, we also meet Rose Aguineau, played by Fiona Shaw, who is gutting a deer when she looks up and sees her dead lover, Travis, played by Erling Eliasson. Later than night, she sees him again, and she begins to follow him, soon they are deep onto the ice and frozen in some gruesome ice sculpture, the bodies of the men from the research lab, naked, with horrified frozen faces capturing the last shocking, and yet, still unknown moment.

As the mystery of the lab workers begins to unfold, an unsolved murder from the past, a local tribal woman, was murdered and her tongue was severed links the two. Danvers contacts her old partner, Evangeline Navarro, played by Kali Reis, who became an Alaskan State Trooper, and the two of them begrudgingly work together to solve what appears to be an unsolvable crime.

Of course, when the evidence trail leads back to a larger holding company, which funds the research facility, the pieces of the puzzle begin to slowly fall into place.

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Throughout each of the episodes, Danvers is dealing with her daughter, Leah, played by Isabella LaBlanc, who is at a place where she believes she is an adult, and is acting out, protesting the mine, and the mining company which is polluting the town's water.

Each of her deputies are experiencing family and martial troubles, and as the long night sets in, Navarro's sister is on the edge, each of these back stories keep the episodes intriguing and compelling. There is also the wandering one-eyed polar bear that wanders through the town, and the blinding blizzards.

True Detective: Night Country, told over six episodes, is a gripping and surprisingly good crime drama. Jodi Foster and company deliver smart, authentic performances. The nuances of the long night in the Alaskan northern regions, which cause one to wonder what draws people to this barren wilderness with limited daylight, is a central to the intrigue as the crime drama.

As the episodes progress, we realize the characters confront issues common to all, alcoholism, loneliness, holiday desperation, mental illness, and the location is all that separates them. As the series does include mental illness, and suicide, the idea of walking peacefully into the endless night, glorifies the incredibly selfish act which leaves loved ones alone with no answers and places a burden upon them that they don't deserve. And yet, even that was true to the delirium that hypothermia can cause.

True Crime: Night Country is streaming now on HBO. It is a binge worthy crime drama. Stream it.

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Country: U.S.

Language: English.

Runtime: 6 episodes/59minutes.

Director: Issa Lopez.

Producer: Layla Blackman, Sam Breckman, Princess Daazhraii Johnson, Cathy Tagnak,

Executive Producer: Jodi Foster, Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Issa Lopez, Nic Pizzolatto, Barry Jenkins, Steve Golin, Mark Ceryak, Alan Page, Adele Romanski, Chris Mundy, Richard Brown, Cary Joe Fukunaga, Mari-Jo Winkler.

Writer: Nic Pizzolatto, Issa Lopez (creator, writer).

Cast: Jodie Foster, Kali Reis, Finona Shaw, Finn Bennett, Isabella LaBlanc, John Hawkes, Diane E. Benson, Aka Niviana, Angunnguaq Larsen, Tim van Eyken, Pablo Anibal Frana, John Albasiny, Nicholas Goh, Porsteinn Bachmann, Adam Burton, Jeff Mirza, Owen McDonnell, Daren Foreman, Joi Johannsson, Aron Mar Olafsson, Kathryn Wilder.