In True Detective: Night Country, HBO’s neo-noir anthology series heads to Alaska where two estranged detectives must work together to solve a mysterious case that blurs reality with the supernatural. The highly-anticipated fourth installment, which contains a total of six episodes, will premiere on Sunday, January 14 to HBO.
Oscar-winner Jodie Foster stars as Detective Liz Danvers opposite professional boxer-turned-actress Kali Reis as Detective Evangeline Navarro. Joining the duo are Christopher Eccleston as Ted Corsaro, Fiona Shaw as Rose Aguineau, Isabelle Star LaBlanc as Leah Danvers, John Hawkes as Hank Prior, Finn Bennett as Peter Prior, Anna Lambe as Kayla Malee, Aka Niviâna as Julia Navarro, and Joel D. Montgrand as Eddie Qavvik. Acclaimed horror filmmaker Issa López (Tigers Are Not Afraid) is the showrunner behind the season – she also directed each episode and holds a writing credit, as well.
It goes without saying that buzz is riding high for these new episodes. But do they deliver the goods? Here’s what critics are saying about True Detective: Night Country:
How does it compare to previous seasons?
(Photo by Michele K. Short/HBO)
The most thrilling and invigorating season of the show since its first.
— Hoai-Tran Bui, Inverse
True Detective: Night Country returns to the level of quality True Detective achieved in its first season, while taking the series in a much different direction.
— Steve Erickson, Gay City News
Night Country feels less like a replication of that first season and instead serves as a mirror of that journey’s more effective elements; Season 4 trades the humid and sun-baked South for the frigid winter of Alaska at the time of year when the darkness is inescapable. Rather than the fringe beliefs of more radical religions, revival tents, and cult-like worship seen in Season 1, we’re seeing communities who believe in the land and something far more ancient and powerful than can even be grasped by outsiders. While previous seasons had opening credits featuring Blues-inspired riffs, Night Country opens with Billie Eilish’s “bury a friend,” signaling to audiences just minutes into the season premiere that we’re venturing into fresher territory.
— Patrick Cavanaugh, ComicBook.com
The end result is a lean, mean, six-episode season that retains most of what was great under Pizzolatto, while leaving behind the more self-indulgent or outright clumsy parts of those years.
— Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone
Night Country pushes aside Pizzolatto’s trademark masculine brooding for a female-forward story that personalizes and internalizes the anthology’s typically convoluted plotting in a way that’s refreshing and frequently potent.
— Dan Fienberg, Hollywood Reporter
How are Jodie Foster and Kali Reis?
(Photo by Michele K. Short/HBO)
Previous seasons of True Detective have been anchored on the success of their actors, and Night Country continues that trend. It’s impossible to look at Ennis police chief Elizabeth Danvers and not see Foster, who feels simultaneously meant to play this character and perfectly suited for such a role at this stage in her career.
— Carly Lane, Collider
Foster, in a performance so steely that she could cut through armor, is magnetic to watch as the obsessive Liz Danvers, a brilliant detective exiled to this cold small town. Foster’s casting as one of the lead detectives is a clear callback to The Silence of the Lambs, but she instantly sets Liz Danvers apart from Clarice Starling with a performance as harsh and brutal as the show’s winter setting.
— Hoai-Tran Bui, Inverse
Boxer-turned-actor Reis brings a physicality and intensity that isn’t often highlighted in the series, yet does so with restraint and an unexpected vulnerability, allowing her to avoid being pigeonholed into being a stereotypical character who is merely rough around the edges.
— Patrick Cavanaugh, ComicBook.com
Navarro is a woman and a person of color working in a system that seldom protects either, and you can feel the latent fury and exhaustion in each of her movements. It’s a mesmerizing performance, as Reis simultaneously conveys the character’s protective outer shell and the vulnerabilities beneath it at all times.
— Ross McIndoe, Slant Magazine
What about the writing and directing?
López’s writing is particularly strong here. When the audience is not delving into the two main mysteries, they also attempt to understand the unspoken personal issues affecting the main characters. This circular storytelling slowly unveils clues through the six-episode run. As the story progresses, revealing an interconnectedness that never feels contrived.
— M.N Miller, FandomWire
Utilizing some cinematic inspiration from John Carpenter’s The Thing, Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, Jonathan Demme’s Silence Of The Lambs, and David Fincher’s Seven, while still feeling like a wholly original work — like a sprawling whodunnit Western taking place in the eerie enigmatic artic — López returns True Detective to its roots while simultaneously turning the series inside out, making for a series that feels familiar (in the best way possible), while still totally unique.
— Rodrigo Perez, The Playlist
Director of photography Florian Hoffmeister (Pachinko, The Terror, Tár), paired with López’s keen directorial eye, makes the show an evocative, striking feast to look at but also makes it impossibly easy to see what’s happening, even in some of the season’s blackest moments.
— Carly Lane, Collider
Tying the supernatural elements in with its Indigenous storyline proves to be both narratively smart and emotionally profound — Night Country coming off the year of Scorcese’s Flower Moon and Reservation Dogs’ final season feels like a staggering evolution of Indigenous stories in Hollywood.
— Hoai-Tran Bui, Inverse
Does it deliver the scares?
(Photo by Michele K. Short/HBO)
In this, True Detective is like a gorgeous, baroque puzzle box, laying mystery on top of mystery and serving it with more spine-chilling moments than most horror films.
— Vickey Jessop, London Evening Standard
True Detective: Night Country doesn’t ever quite hit the smarmy noir notes Pizzolatto’s seasons were known for, but it’s crisp, chilling fun.
— Meghan O’Keefe, Decider
It is perfectly acted by Foster & Reis, yet the story built around this Alaska town is so dark & terrifying. Lopez truly has developed an amazing new world in the TD universe!
— Samuel Leggett Jr., JVS Media & Productions/Team JVS
Writer-director Issa López uses her experience in Mexican horror cinema to her advantage here. Scenes remind you of a Robert Frost poem of white, endless death.
— M.N Miller, FandomWire
It’s arguably Lopez’s spine-chilling fascination with the dead, the departed, and the creepy supernatural influences that truly make Night Country an evocative ghostly experience.
— Rodrigo Perez, The Playlist
Any final thoughts?
(Photo by Michele K. Short/HBO)
The anthology’s fourth season thrives on its ability to exist as both a brisk, thrilling genre piece and a weighty, philosophical drama.
— Ross McIndoe, Slant Magazine
Night Country is a breath of fresh air, not simply because it injects the series with new perspectives but also because of its willingness to highlight people who are so often shoved to the margins.
— Carly Lane, Collider
The night country and the dead are always calling, whispering, and crying out in filmmaker Issa López’s spellbinding version of True Detective, an incredible return to form for the series.
— Rodrigo Perez, The Playlist
Night Country proves there can still be life in the True Detective brand, so long as HBO continues to empower ambitious storytellers like López, while also showcasing that a gripping adventure is comprised of far more than just a recognizable title.
— Patrick Cavanaugh, ComicBook.com
For all the True Detective references and branding, what Night Country ends up feeling like is The Terror meets Mare of Easttown.
— Dan Fienberg, Hollywood Reporter
This installment restores faith in True Detective itself.
— Leila Latif, Primetimer
100%
True Detective: Night Country
(2024)
will premiere on Sunday, January 14 on HBO and Max.
Thumbnail image by HBO
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