Issa López’s True Detective: Night Country has now come to a close, with the sixth and final episode of the season now available to stream on Max after airing on HBO on Sunday. It was a solid season overall, as I’d teased in my full review back in January, though I do wish the finale had been paced a little better. We’ll get to this, as well as the load of reveals that it packed.
Once again, my biggest takeaway from this episode (written and directed by López) was the performance by Jodie Foster, who was given some really rough material to work with and took it to a whole new level. It’s been an absolute joy watching her on a down-to-basics murder mystery that also tries to get to the core of some real human psychology issues — and this episode was no exception.
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Part 6 wastes no time, picking up exactly where we left it off last week (spoilers ahead for episode 5). Danvers (Foster) and Navarro (Kali Reis) find the cave, which turns out to be the domino piece they need for all the rest to fall. Meanwhile, Peter (Finn Bennett) is trying to reconcile with his snap decision from the end of the last episode. Will this be what finally sets him straight and makes him appreciate what he has? Or perhaps will Peter killing Hank finally force Danvers to let Peter off the hook and enjoy the life he deserves?
There’s really no other way to discuss what happened in this episode than to raise a spoiler warning, so beware of the major reveals below. The season finale of True Detective: Night Country is now available to stream on Max.
What Happened at Tsalal Station in True Detective: Night Country?
Soon after they find the under-ice caves, Danvers and Navarro run into Raymond Clark, Annie K’s (Nivi Pedersen) boyfriend before she died, and the only survivor of that deadly December night. Why he waited for the two of them to see him to run away, remains one of the biggest mysteries of the show, though.
So they eventually find out that it was all for the purpose of scientific research, which itself raised plenty of interesting questions that True Detective had no time to marinate on during the short time it had left. Apparently, the researchers at Tsalal had found a revolutionary and much sought-after cure that could mark a before and after for mankind. However, getting to the cure would have implied a heavy toll on the Ennis population, decreasing the quality of the water and causing severe diseases for many of its residents.
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I’m glad that they didn’t go down the “evil mine corporation wanted to hide their actual pollution numbers” route, but the philosophical questions that are brought up by that twist are too juicy and they didn’t fully explore all of its potential.
The death of the scientists, however, was tightly linked to this twist and specifically, the death of Annie Kowtok. She was a beloved member of the community, and even though her actual spirit wasn’t responsible for the death of the scientists, in a way, it was. Inspired by the legacy her presence left behind, the Tsalal cleaning staff took it upon themselves to exercise their revenge.
How that tongue appeared underneath that table remains an open question. Was it left by the spirits so that Danvers and her team would link both cases? Did the cleaning ladies find it somewhere and decide to leave it there? And is it even Annie’s? (I can’t remember for sure if we’ve firmly established that it was hers; some of those ladies didn’t speak a word…)
Danvers’ Backstory in True Detective: Night Country
One of my favorite parts of the episode was the reveal of the backstory for Jodie Foster’s chief Danvers. Once upon a time, she was a mom. Not a stepmom to Leah, but the biological mother of a young child named Holden who died in a car accident long before she came to Alaska.
Her facet of a grieving mother is the key to unlocking every secret that had been kept from us this entire season and adds so much weight to most of her interactions with the people closest to her, including Leah, Peter, and Navarro. She also says that she came very close to shooting Wheeler, which is probably another manifestation of that rage she’d been keeping in since Holden died.
Prior Found the Peace He Was Looking For
The ending of this season of True Detective was a rather peaceful one. The horrors of the Long Night were not easy to handle for everyone, and they were especially painful for Navarro and Peter. The former went rogue after the events of the season, as revealed in the epilogue, but didn’t really go that far away. The latter was finally able to reconnect with his family.
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It’s obvious that Peter was on the losing side of the battle he’s having all season, and we certainly understood Kayla’s (Anna Lambe) position all the way through. But it took the kid shooting his father and keeping it for himself for his wife to finally understand that he’s also been suffering in silence for a long time. That doesn’t make his actions less reprehensible, but it certainly added a lot of weight to his character. Seeing him with Darwin at the end of the episode filled my heart with joy. It’s implied that Kayla is also around, though never explicitly shown.
Overall Spoiler Thoughts on True Detective: Night Country
Once again, I think it was a good season of True Detective, which HBO needed. There’s always some level of disappointment once the magic trick is revealed, but I believe Issa López managed to keep that to a minimum, while also leaving some doors open for additional interpretations, some of them more plausible (and realistic) than others.
Jodie Foster absolutely took over the season, and it probably wouldn’t have worked half as well without her. But I also gotta commend López and her writing, especially this being the first time she has taken on a project of such magnitude. I look forward to seeing what she cooks up next. Will it be another season of True Detective or perhaps another HBO original show?
The full season of HBO’s True Detective: Night Country is streaming now on Max.
About True Detective: Night Country
Release Date: Jan. 14, 2024
Director and Showrunner: Issa López
Writers: Issa López, Alan Page Arriaga, Namsi Khan, Chris Mundy, Katrina Albright, and Wenonah Wilms
Produced By: Princess Daazhraii Johnson, Cathy Tagnak Rexford, Sam Breckman
Executive Produced By: Issa López, Mari Jo Winkler, Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski, and Mark Ceryak for PASTEL, Chris Mundy; Alan Page Arriaga, Steve Golin, Richard Brown, Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Cary Joji Fukunaga, and Nic Pizzolatto
Production: Anonymous Content, HBO Entertainment
Distributed by: HBO
Cast: Jodie Foster, Kali Reis, Fiona Shaw, Finn Bennett, Isabella Star Lablanc, Aka Niviâna, Anna Lambe, and Joel D. Montgrand with Christopher Eccleston, and John Hawkes
Synopsis: When eight researchers at Tsalal Station suddenly disappear, Danvers (Jodie Foster) orders a search but tempers expectations of finding the men. After handling a workplace dispute and checking in on her sister Julia (Aka Niviâna), Navarro (Kali Reis) tries to convince a skeptical Danvers (Foster) that the men’s disappearance is connected to the murder of local activist Annie Kowtok, a case that has long gone cold.
So, what do you think? Did you enjoy the finale of True Detective: Night Country? And what about your overall thoughts on the season? Did you see some of those twists coming? Let us know your thoughts via our Twitter or on our Discord server!
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