Directed by: Issa López
Distributed by: HBO
Written by Alexander Reams
35/100
“Look how they massacred my boy.”
Marlon Brando, “The Godfather”
Brando’s famous line came to my mind as the final moments of “True Detective: Night Country” unfolded. Lopez threw out the baby with the bathwater. The penultimate episode had scenes that felt like they could have fit right in with creator Nic Pizzolatto’s original vision for the anthology series. Despite the constant online debate as to how much of an imprint the combination of Director Cary Joji Fukunaga and Pizzolatto had on the original season, the voice of “True Detective” remained steadfast throughout the first three seasons; however, that strained and now estranged relationship between Pizzolatto and HBO is what brought forth this newest iteration of “True Detective,” “Night Country.”
I’ve been enamored with “True Detective” since viewing the first season. It is a show filled with morally reprehensible characters that are entrusted by the people of the state to protect its citizens while battling forces that seem well beyond the physical realm. A southern gothic tale about the dark corners of the bayous of Louisiana that introduced the duo of Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, one of the best pairings since Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Nearly 10 years later, that television season is held up in the pantheons of great TV. With that anniversary, HBO decided to revive the show after a 5-year absence, but without original creator Nic Pizzolatto, replaced with “Tigers Are Not Afraid” writer/director Issa López.
Right off the bat, López establishes this season as her own. Its opening scene is an exercise in dread with unnamed members of a research station in Ennis, Alaska, who become terrified by unknown forces. It’s a fantastic kick-off, but there’s already a problem. The format of “True Detective” is what makes it so explicitly deserving of that name, and one of those is the absolute focus on the detectives and their relationship with each other, even in Season 2, which paired the characters up towards the end of episode one, had their lives crossing paths long before that. Instead, Jodie Foster’s Chief Liz Danvers is investigating the disturbing Tsalal Station incident from the beginning, while Kali Reis’ Trooper Evangeline Navarro is handling a workplace dispute. Eventually, the pair meet, only for Foster to kick Reis out of her office.
The main narrative that López has her investigation around is the disappearance and soon reappearance of six scientists in a frozen block dubbed the “Corpsicle.” The reveal of this set piece is brilliantly done and allows López to tap into her horror roots to great success. The concurrent narrative and López’s way of playing with time through the cold case of Annie K. leaves much to be desired. Annie’s tongue is found at the Tsalal Station, tying her death to the murder of the Tsalal men, and as the show unfolds we learn how Navarro is personally connected to the Annie K. case. The show fails to convince that this is a significant emotional force for her. The crime itself is not given the screen time required to convey the importance of this tragedy that the characters put on it. The investigation introduces various subplots into the narrative, including the deterioration of Pete Prior’s (Finn Bennett) relationship with Kayla (Anna Lambe), the protests that surround a local mine that may be connected to Tsalal Station, and how Liz’s daughter Leah (Isabella Star LaBlanc) is involved with them. These subplots aren’t given the time to develop, and eventually it makes their presence feel like either a complete left turn from where the narrative was heading, or the complete wrong direction to head after a previous scene. The seemingly random prologue of a poorly realized CGI caribou running away as the sun sets on the town of Ennis accentuates the tonality issues that “Night Country” has.
The inherent problem with “Night Country” is the idiotic mandate from studios that shows have to be 6 episodes now (I mostly blame a certain Mouse-House for this asinine format). There is no room to breathe. The dynamic between Navarro and Danvers should be front and center, with the narrative then going into their respective lives, and then intertwining the case with that. But the duo rarely shares a scene together until halfway through the season, but it’s fairly entertaining when they do. Foster is great as the curmudgeon chief, and Reis is doing a strong emulation of McConaughey in Season 1, but the moments don’t hit like López intended. The emotional climax to Peter’s arc is when he gets into a standoff with his father, Hank (John Hawkes), over a witness in the case. The standoff ends with Peter shooting Hank, and while it should feel like a big emotional moment, what’s felt instead is the relief of tension and the impressiveness of composing such a scene. Hawkes and Bennett are great together as on-screen father and son, and while those scenes before help make it feel like a big moment, the gunshot is framed as a similar moment to the standoff in the stash house from “Who Goes There” (season 1, episode 4), López never does achieve that.
López employed “TÁR” cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister to shoot the extensive night sequences (and the series is almost entirely shot in the dark). With several recent TV outings seemingly forgetting how to shoot night scenes (“Game of Thrones” Season 8 is the most egregious example), the brilliance in Hoffmeister’s lighting and camera work makes even the biggest blizzard still comprehensible on screen. Traditional lighting tropes of heavy blues and blacks being the only color on screen, López shows white in the form of snow, which lights up the night but still suffocates the horizon. Just because the weather is bad doesn’t mean the shot composition goes out the window, and Hoffmeister keeps the frame clear and clean, but he never achieves what Adam Arkapaw did in Season 1. Hoffmeister’s work remains one of the best aspects of “Night Country,” along with the pair of Jodie Foster and Kali Reis. The duo calls back to the first season of “True Detective,” but doesn’t scrape the heights that McConaughey and Harrelson did. While it may seem unfair to continuously compare “Night Country” to Season 1, the show makes it clear that it wants to be connected to that season, from the appearance of another member of the Cohle family to the constant usage of the spiral “Night Country” wants to be connected.
It’s easy to see why original creator Nic Pizzolatto distanced himself from the project from the get-go. There’s almost no imprint of his original style or tone, with López herself even saying that this season is supposed to be the exact opposite of the original trilogy of seasons. This lack of stewardship for what Pizzolatto created is maddening alone. But consider your (Nic Pizzolatto’s) creation being taken from you and given to a new creator that takes bits and pieces that made the sum of its parts great but misappropriates them into a story that appears meant for another format. The disparaging of Pizzolatto on the internet is expected, but after all is said and done, are any of those stories remotely as watered down as what is ultimately delivered in “Night Country?” The answer, of course, is no.
“True Detective: Night Country” is full of great ideas, and López deserves all the credit for having a specific vision that she wanted and for going for it, but the restraint of modern streaming formats condensed her vision into something half-baked that likely needed at least eight episodes to form its story fully. Particularly when concerning the “ending.” López teases and teases what happened to the men from Tsalal, more so after revealing the part they played in an earlier tragedy that was connected to the Tsalal investigation early on. But when what happened is “revealed,” it’s anticlimactic on levels this writer hasn’t experienced before. The laziness of the route that López takes to close the investigation ranks among the most underwhelming finales I’ve ever seen. Despite my abhorrence for how the investigation was wrapped up, López’s tease of another story with Danvers and Navarro is intriguing. If only because of the brilliant performances that the duo gave. However, the lack of coherent storytelling crammed into six episodes makes the show itself an astounding disappointment, especially after a five-year hiatus. At least this gave audiences another entry into the “Jodie Foster investigating weird murders” genre.
“True Detective: Night Country” Trailer
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