The creator of the franchise True Detective on HBO’s Nic Pizzolatto isn’t in a good mood these days. The fourth season of this series, True Detective: Night Country is the one that had the most success except… it’s the only one he didn’t write. Since then, there have been passive-aggressive comments on social networks to which fans and even certain creators of the fourth season respond. We understand that an author can be frustrated that his creation escapes him, but this throwing of mud in public is not very edifying.
True Detective is a detective anthology miniseries in which each season is independent. The story, cast and direction change each time, but the author has always, until now, been Nic Pizzolatto. The first season in 2014, which took place in Louisiana, gloomy and rough as hell, starred Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson and received a rave reception, enough to launch the franchise. The second season, with Colin Farrell and Rachel McAdams in 2015, was less successful – personally, I gave up quickly and didn’t watch the third in 2019 with Mahershala Ali and Stephen Dorff, which had good reviews.
But since Jodie Foster was part of the season four poster, along with Kali Reis, True Detective: Night Countryentirely written and directed by Issa López, I watched the first episode, then binge-watched the other five without being able to stop, and without ever skipping the credits, carried by a song by Billie Eilish, Bury a Friend, that I love. Moreover, the entire soundtrack of True Detective: Night Country makes a great playlist.
I can’t resist stories that take place in the snow in winter, which we see too little on TV, and here I was served, since the plot takes place in a small fictional town in Alaska, superbly filmed.
Life is hard in these latitudes, where the inhabitants are isolated and somewhat left to their own devices, as if cut off from the rest of the world. Cohabitation between whites and members of the Inupiat indigenous people is certainly not without tensions as well. Issa López explained that he wanted to offer a cold and feminine mirror to season 1, which was hot and masculine. We stay in the police field, with two inspectors, Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis), who must investigate the mysterious disappearance of eight men working at the Tsalal research base, which is very reminiscent of the guys stuck in Antarctica from the cult film The Thing by John Carpenter. The discovery of their naked bodies intertwined in the ice is nothing short of horrifying, especially since there is no clue to determine what could have led them to such a strange collective death.
But since a cut tongue is found on the base, it also revives an unsolved case, the murder six years previously of an Inupiat activist who was protesting against the local mine, because in addition to having stabbed her, her throat had been cut off. language.
Danvers and Navarro are at loggerheads for all kinds of reasons, but they will have no choice but to team up. Two women with strong characters, who each have their own intimate and deep wounds, as well as a secret in common, played brilliantly by Foster and Reis, who form a very moving and effective duo.
In just six episodes, director Issa López manages to create an immersive experience in a fictional community in Alaska, with stunning images of beauty, while we are in the time of year when it is dark, 24 hours a day.
To this, it adds a touch of fantasy, because the characters sometimes have ghostly visions of their dead, which could put off those who do not like the genre, but rest assured, the plot has a logical explanation, and a denouement stunning that we don’t see happening at all.
There is especially in True Detective: Night Country strong female characters, an enveloping and moving sorority, as well as a political subtext that some could describe as “woke” – this is probably what annoys Pizzolatto fans, unleashed in the comments –, but it is a series that undeniably has soul, without sacrificing anything in suspense. In any case, this will definitely be one of my favorites of the year.
HBO revealed to the magazine Variety that the fourth season was the most watched since the start of True Detective, or 12.7 million viewers across all platforms, and announced that Issa López would be at the helm of the fifth season. Which should not reconcile Pizzolatto and López, we suspect.
True Detective: Night Country, in the original English version, as well as in the French version on Crave. The series is also broadcast on Super Écran.