“True Detective: Night Country”, journey to the end of the polar night

The anthology created by Nic Pizzolatto ten years ago has the knack of immersing us each time in a singular universe. After Louisiana, northern California and the Ozarks, here we are this time immersed in the polar night of Alaska (even if the filming took place in Iceland). As Christmas approaches, the scientists at the Tsalal research station disappear before being found, a few days later, frozen in ice, naked, with an expression of indescribable fear and a runic symbol plastered on their faces…

It is up to Liz Danvers, the police chief of Ennis, a fictional town located in the northernmost county of the state, to unravel this strange affair. Strong-headed, the fifty-something resolves to team up with Evangeline Navarro, a former detective who hates her, but who suspects a link with an old unsolved case, the mysterious murder of a young native.

Mystical dimension

Two women leading the investigation is something new for this HBO series, for the first time written and directed by Mexican Issa Lopez (“Tigers Are Not Afraid”). To embody this duo of antagonistic cops, two shock actresses: Jodie Foster, double Oscar-winning cinema gifted, plays a confident and rational police officer despite her grief and injuries; and Kali Reis, an indigenous world boxing champion, embodies a force of nature linked to the afterlife…

Even if “Night Country” was not originally intended to integrate the famous anthology, this opus does not differ from the first three, on the contrary: broken-down characters whose personal journey is ultimately more important than the plot – with a special mention to Fiona Shaw in the role of a former academic turned wildlife enthusiast – and a largely chilling and dark atmosphere.

Alongside the investigation, the mystical dimension also makes its way through the beliefs of the natives and the ghosts who roam. A nod to the first season, the reference to Nietzsche’s eternal recurrence (“time is a flat circle”) completes the disastrous picture of an endless night inside which “we are all stuck”. Even if Nordic series have accustomed us to crimes on icy expanses, this foray into darkness will leave its mark in the snow.