The conclusion of the fourth season of True Detective Night Country is as divisive as it can be, but I, who was among the fans who loved it until the halfway point, will not be with them at the end. Still, although the story took too many turns, left plots loose, and created unnecessary doubts, overall, I rate it as positive. Let’s get to the review.

“Some Questions Simply Have No Answers”, warns Liz Danvers

The season signed by Issa López, is completely independent of the franchise’s creator, Nic Pizzolatto, and ignored the other two preferring to tie its plot to the best of all, the first season. From symbols, phrases, and even characters, there was a parade of Easter eggs that made the story much more interesting.

In the tradition of placing two detectives in crisis and confrontation, True Detective worked with Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis) and the chemistry between the actresses sustained the drama.

The crime from six years before the beginning of the story separated the two investigators, but the lack of a solution also tormented them and brought them together. The strange death of scientists at a research center suggested that they would finally be able to solve the mystery and that is why they come together again to try. And they succeed.

There is a lot of conflict in the personal lives of these two women, as well as in little Ennis, Alaska, where something supernatural also haunts these tormented souls who must survive the winter at the North Pole.

I’ll take this opportunity to remember that I got the theory of who killed Annie K (Nivi Pederson) right: it was the scientists. The only reason I wasn’t accurate with their deaths was because I fell for the supernatural trick, but the final explanation, although more plausible than spirits, was so exaggerated that I swear I laughed.

So Annie discovered that Tsalal’s team was directly involved in local water pollution and was going to expose them, after destroying years of research. She was killed by men who managed to live without any remorse or fear since Hank Prior (John Hawkes) moved the body and no one was able to trace the activist’s connection to the laboratory.

However, six years later, the cleaning women revolted and invaded the premises to avenge Annie. Why only now became unclear, but ultimately it was tit for tat. Danvers was more shocked than Navarro with the truth, but let it go. After all, the autopsy had indeed determined that the men died of hypothermia and there was no need to change anything.

The open ends

Who left Annie K’s tongue in the lab? No one knows and it will stay that way, Danvers shrugged and Navarro is more than ready to accept the supernatural.

With all this, we are worried about the mental health of Peter Prior (Finn Bennett), who, after killing his own father, had to dispose of his body personally. He is warned by Rose (Fiona Shaw) that the worst part was not pulling the trigger, but having to live with the pain of being a murderer and carry on with his life as if nothing had happened. At least Peter has reconciled with his wife.

Another who has issues with trauma and depression is Navarro. She tries to hold her own amid every storm because she is determined to solve Annie’s murder, but with that resolved and the peace she has reestablished with Liz, she has less motivation to move forward.

In a flashback, we know that she and Danvers fought more over Navarro killing a man who murdered his wife than over the issue of Annie K’s murder. In an emotional catharsis, Navarro connects with spirits, receives and transmits an important message to Danvers, and confesses that she considers “disappearing”. The ever-practical Danvers doesn’t stop her, but she does ask to come back every now and then…

We then discover that Navarro is a woman of her word because six months later, Hank’s body was never found and Navarro was never seen again in Ennis, without anyone really knowing what happened to her.

Before she left, Navarro left Danvers with Raymond Clark’s recorded confession about what was happening at Tsalal and his deal with Silver Sky. The video was ‘leaked’ onto the Internet and the mine was closed. We can conclude that unemployment in Ennis must be breaking records…

The one who is well, at peace, and even happy is Liz Danvers, who recovers her relationship with her stepdaughter, Leah (Isabella LaBlanc), and continues her life in Alaska without much fanfare. She answers questions from the internal investigation while remaining cynical and omitting facts. Maybe she doesn’t know how Navarro “left,” but she also knows that the detective needed to go. We have an image of the two looking at the balcony, which could be something “real” or just a spiritual connection between the two.

“That’s Ennis,” Danvers warns again. “Nobody ever leaves.”

Really?

Even with criticism and misogyny: Issa López rescued the franchise True Detective Night Country

The fourth Season had its launch postponed more than once, the second time being a strategic decision by Max to cover the space caused by the 2023 strikes. Although the delay suggests uncertainty about the franchise and whether it would have the strength to return, Issa López is to be congratulated for the Herculean mission well accomplished.

Even without critical unanimity, the series’ audience suggests that we will have a fifth season in 2025, and we must wait for the announcement. The loose ends could see us return to Ennis or Liz could go find Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey), who knows?

The performances of Jodie Foster, Kali Reis, and Finn Bennet were consistent with the material they were given. Issa’s script is less interesting, even if it achieved a positive result for the franchise. She flirted with terror, and created pranks, but ultimately failed to keep her promise to awe us. There are surreal situations, crude scenarios, and many holes in a plot that need not have been so complex if the crimes were so obvious. In a warm to hot result, you can praise it. But you can also expect more in the next one. And may there really be another season!

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