The episode opens with our main characters examining the pile of bodies. One of the troopers accidentally rips the arm off one of the bodies, and the dead man begins screaming as if he’s in pain.
Agent Navarro and Rose talk about Travis. Rose tells her about the last time she saw Travis before he died. Navarro asks Rose about seeing the dead. Rose says it started with Travis but she knows people who are born with it, and she says it happens all the time in Ennis. Navarro reveals that she’s inquiring because her little sister has been seeing the dead, and that’s why she had a breakdown last episode. Rose tells Navarro to not confuse the spirit world with mental illness. She suggests that Navarro’s little sister gets help. She says they tried to get her help but it only made matters worse. Navarro brings up the symbol that was seen on the body of one of the corpses. Rose says the symbol is so old, it’s probably older than Ennis.
Liz meets up with a teacher friend to ask about the research that was being done at Tsalal Station, where the scientists went missing. Teacher friend says they were looking into a microorganism that could potentially cure cancer and other diseases– revolutionary work. The captain is at the station and tells Liz the bodies will go to Anchorage but Liz refuses. She states that the bodies were found in Ennis that means they’re her responsibility. They bicker for a moment but Liz puts an end to it when she pulls out a manual and reads from it. She proves herself right in this scenario.
Now that Liz needs to find her own spot to keep the bodies, she goes to a local ice skating rink. She speaks with a woman named Kate and asks if the bodies can thaw out at the rink since it’s the perfect temperature. The woman is acting cold towards Liz but she agrees. She says she’s doing it because she loves this town and not for Liz. After the bodies are transported to the rink, Navarro tells Liz that the symbol was a tattoo on Annie and also on one of the guys’ foreheads. Navarro and Liz fight about neither of them wanting to work with the other. Navarro says to Liz that nobody can stand her.
Pete and Liz are going over the evidence, asking themselves questions, but ultimately getting nowhere. Then, they stumble upon a video showing the incident with the scientists. The video shows when one of the scientists started convulsing and then saying “she’s awake” before the feed cuts out. Liz and Pete leave to go question the delivery driver and the cleaners of the facility. They both ask about Clark, the man that was convulsing in the video. The cleaners and the delivery guy both say he was acting strange. Pete shows the symbol to the delivery guy and he says that Clark had that tattooed on his chest.
Liz is going through Christmas decorations and she comes across the toy polar bear, and we see old memories of her and her son. Hank walks up to Pete and slaps him for stealing the file. Liz does some investigating into the tattoo and finds out that Clark got that tattoo just four days after Annie died. She found a picture of them together on Clark’s social media. They had a relationship that not even Navarro knew about. This is what leads Liz and Navarro to realize that they need to work together on this case.
After this we get a sweet scene with Pete and Leah. They talk about Liz and Hank and how they used to be more fun in the past. Leak talks about how Liz and her dad used to smoke weed, and Pete talks about how his dad used to be a musician.
Navarro goes off to investigate a trailer that Clark purchased to keep his relationship with Annie a secret. Pete calls Navarro and Liz in because there is a problem with the bodies. They arrive at the scene and they see that the bodies have started to thaw, and they now realize one of the scientist’s bodies is missing. The missing scientist is Clark.
This episode expands on the plot and the town of Ennis. Jodie Foster rules in this show, and the supporting cast is strong alongside her. The eerie and dark tone are one of the key strengths of the series thus far. The use of sound and visuals to convey that sense of eeriness and dread in the town of Ennis are just brilliant. Coupled with solid writing and an interesting plot line with the scientists, and the strong characters this show has introduced: True Detective: Night Country has been a fascinating and gripping watch so far.
Rating: 8/10