True Detective: Night Country opens with a man hunting deer in Alaska. The deer all get spooked by something, and run off of a cliff, leaving the man stunned. This immediately sets the eerie tone for this series. Then we see a research center with some scientists going about their business one evening, when one of the scientists begins convulsing and says “she’s awake” as the lights cut out and we cut away.
A delivery driver comes to drop off a package at the research center but can’t find anyone. He walks around the center and hears an eerie noise, then finds a severed tongue on the ground. Then we meet our main character, Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster), as she shows up to investigate what went down at this research facility. She is investigating with two other troopers, Hank (John Hawkes) and Peter (Finn Bennett), who are father and son. They don’t find much of anything except for the tongue of course, but she also comes across a white board with the words “WE ARE ALL DEAD” written on it.
Using some evidence from around the place, Liz determines that the men have been missing for at least 48 hours. Back at the station, we meet agent Navarro (Kali Reis). She implies that the tongue may have belonged to “her”, a mystery woman that she and Liz must know of, but she never explicitly says who this “she” that they refer to is. Liz gets a call and has to go pick up her daughter after an incident with another girl.
Navarro gets called to an apartment building. Inside the apartment is her sister, who called the police in hysterics, freaking out and claiming that someone is in her apartment, even though the door is bolted shut and the windows are all closed real tight. Navarro is able to calm her sister down, and they talk about getting her help.
Peter gets a call from Liz to go over to his father’s house to retrieve a file. Peter lies to his dad and says he has to look for an old photo. This seems odd for a father/son relationship especially since they work together, but Hank acts very cold and distant towards Peter. When Peter gives Liz the file, he asks about the case. Liz resists to tell him at first but eventually gives in.
She says Annie was a protester against the mines, and she was stabbed 32 times by an unidentified object. This is the same Annie that Navarro and Ryan, Annie’s brother, were talking about earlier, and the same woman Liz and Navarro were discussing earlier. Annie’s tongue was severed, and she was left with star shaped wounds. Navarro was the one who found the body, and when she was investigating, she went a little over the top. She bothered the wrong people, got into some fights, and eventually got taken off the case. This is when Liz came into town. She and Navarro started working together and that’s when Navarro asked Liz to pick up the case again. Liz rejected because she believed that “Ennis killed Annie”, meaning this town or as Liz says “this fucking place” is responsible for her death.
Back at home, Liz’s daughter says they should have a talk about drunk driving, since they witnessed a drunk driving car accident earlier in the episode. She says how it’s stupid how they don’t talk about that day. She also adds that Liz doesn’t have to pretend to be her mother, and that her father would’ve understood if she left. Liz ignores her and shuts the door.
Later that night, Liz is dreaming and a voice whispers “she’s awake”, then a hand touches her shoulder and she wakes up. Liz looks down at the ground and sees a toy polar bear on the ground. She picks it up and sees that it’s left eye is missing. Navarro is driving home when she suddenly hears the same whisper “she’s awake” and slams on the brakes. It’s revealed that there is an actual polar bear in the middle of the street. Then we see that the polar bear is also missing its left eye.
As Liz finds a potential connection between the scientists and Annie’s death, the scene shifts to a woman being led out into the cold by a mysterious man. Eventually the man stops and starts twirling his arms in the air. He screams but it’s muffled, and he points out into the distance. The woman follows his direction and walks out into the snowy unknown.
Agent Navarro and Liz run into each other at the research center. Liz tells her about the connection between the two cases: one of the scientists may have had Annie’s pink coat. Navarro is pleased Liz reopened the case. Liz pleads with Navarro to let go of Annie, Navarro retaliates, saying that Liz wasn’t the one to find her. She adds that Liz didn’t see the hatred with which they killed Annie. How they cut out her tongue to silence her. Navarro keeps going and says that if Annie was white, the whole police force would have been out searching. Liz says that all happened before she got here.
Then Liz gets a call from Peter and he says they found a dead body on the ice. He says the body was found by a woman named Rose Aguineau. This is the same woman that was led out into the distance by that mysterious man. We come to find out that the mysterious man is actually a ghost named Travis. The body that she was led to was actually multiple bodies. They appear to be the scientists who went missing.
A strong ending to a solid beginning for True Detective: Night Country. Strong performances from Jodie Foster, Kali Reis, and Finn Bennett. An eerie, mysterious, and dark tone throughout, executed thanks to how well its shot and the great sound and visual effects. The plot is intriguing as are the main characters. This first episode serves as a good setup for the rest of the series.
Rating: 7.5/10