“Night Country” creator Issa López — who directed every episode and gets the sole writing credit in the final hour — does an admirable job bringing it all together...
True Detective” Season 4 succeeds where it matters most: Revealing the truth isn’t just surprising, but heartening. Finding out who did what and how is only half the story, and the second half is where things get really, really cool.
Absolutely agree. A complex case w a complex solution I didn’t see coming. Satisfying ending all around. Justice prevailed. And btw, I’m now a bigger Jodie Foster fan than I had been.
shareJodie and the other actors were wonderful in this story. Imo, Ep. 5 should also result in some Emmy nominations!!!
Here's part of another review:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/review-true-detective-night-country-season-4-episode-6-part-6/ar-BB1iuCZ4
True Detective: Night Country is easily the best season of the anthology series since Season 1—and it’s not because of its first-season Easter eggs. In True Detective Season 4 Episode 6, the Night Country finale is a stunning testament to building up a story layer by layer. This episode doesn’t rehash the past but instead ties together every story in the HBO limited series thus far.
Once on opposite sides, Danvers is on board with Navarro’s retribution.
Danvers is no longer about holding it all together, but instead, she is about allowing justice to happen outside the court system. The way that the two come together and accept their roles to restore justice in Ennis, for Annie and the other indigenous women, is always the center of this episode.
it’s in securing a world Leah (Isabella LaBlanc), one where she doesn’t force her daughter to hide who she is, captured in the final moments of Night Country Episode 6 as they head to a new home.
Peter Prior (Finn Bennett) has to clean up his dad’s (John Hawkes) blood.
Episode 6 capitalizes on everything we’ve seen this season. The pollution, the racism, and the winding anti-indigenous murder that led to a cascading for Ennis and its people is undeniable. Even with its stark message that prioritizes Kali Reis’s performance as Navarro, True Detective: Night Country never stops leaning into the noir detective story. It pulls in social commentary that is all to the benefit of the narrative’s conflict with every choice.
True Detective: Night Country Episode 6 is a stunning finale. With a little bit of horror, a lot of noir detective grime, and a dedication to showcasing a bitter reality, the series ends with an emotionally resonant bang.
Here's Part of Another REVIEW:
https://www.vulture.com/article/true-detective-night-country-recap-season-4-episode-6-part-6-finale.html
Liz’s reticence to feel stands in tension with her capacity to care. I can’t think of any more crushing question than the one this show has cruelly posed to Liz: Did my baby call for me as he died? You can believe that Holden died instantly and peacefully or not. You can believe his screams of “Mommy” are echoes from the accident or the cries of an eager ghost or a mother’s worst fears reverberating for years.
Leah huddles on Kayla’s sofa and leaves Liz a voicemail: “Just don’t die out there or anything, please.” It’s a teenager’s guarded version of calling out for Mommy.
If you decide to walk out on the ice, Danvers tells Navarro, try to come back. It’s what Qaavik asked of Evangeline last week, what Leah wants from her stepmom, and what Kayla begs of Peter: Just come back. Like Clark, Navarro tells Danvers she’s been holding her own hatch against the ghosts only to realize there’s been another option all along: to let them in.
Eventually, light will find its way back into the darkest places and, sometimes, the darkest people. Evangeline’s mother knew that, too. That’s why she named her eldest daughter, the one restless for justice, Siqiññaatchiaq — “the return of the sun.”
Thank you for these excerpts. Well-written reviews.
shareAnd Thank you for posting a message letting me know that you've read them.
They are "Well-written" aren't they ... and VERY INSIGHTFUL as well.
Here's parts of still another REVIEW from Rolling Stone:
https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-recaps/true-detective-night-country-series-finale-recap-jodie-foster-1234967345/
The finale to the inaugural Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson first season felt like a letdown, whether or not you were invested in the idea that the Yellow King references were meant to be literal.
the finale soared over wherever the bar was set. It feels like the appropriate conclusion to these stories, and for these characters. It leaves some of its mysteries ambiguous, while at the same time does a far better job than the original season did in terms of distinguishing reality from otherworldly forces.
it’s Danvers the skeptic who is converted, glimpsing Holden as he calls for her from below the ice, then sobbing in grief(*) when she finally allows Navarro to reveal her son’s message: “He says that he sees you. He sees you, Liz.”
And during that same perilous walk out on the ice, Navarro is rewarded by finally learning her Inupiac name, which Beatrice later translates as, “The return of the sun after the long darkness.”
It’s a really graceful balancing of possibilities and tones, generating huge emotion from both the real and surreal moments.
There’s a sense throughout the finale of history repeating itself,
Once upon a time, Hank Prior frantically chopped at the ice to save the life of his drowning son. Now, that son deploys a similar axe to dispose of the corpse of his criminal father. Like her mother and her sister, Navarro walks out onto the ice, but appears to survive the journey, returning in the episode’s closing moments as a guest at Danvers’ lake house. (Though even this is presented with enough ambiguity that perhaps Danvers is being visited by her spirit in the same way that Rose periodically sees her late husband.)
in terms of the mystery, and in terms of the big emotional moments for these two characters — who were so well drawn by López, Jodie Foster, Kali Reis, and of the creative team — it all landed beautifully.
step outside the story and look at this as a television show, then it’s a happy new beginning, which has been greeted with both critical acclaim and ratings that make it the most-watched season of the franchise.
a new standard has been set for how strongly a True Detective case can be closed.
Thanks!
shareDisagree. Way too many beats stuffed into a finale when you consider how slowly it all moved during the middle episodes. The penultimate episode should've contained some of what we saw in the last.
shareThe penultimate episode should've contained some of what we saw in the last.
I think part of your reply is geared towards what others said rather than what I did. But to answer that side of things anyway: The major dramatic question here was what happened to those guys that night, not who killed Annie. The former gets saved for the finale, but the other might've been the climax of the penultimate episode. And I don't think anyone would bail out after finding out what happened to Annie, b/c they didn't care what really happened to the men.
But beyond that, there's still too many beats. The idea of having all this back and forth centered with those two at a TSALAL camp out felt clumsily written. And so much of what was included had not been developed prior to a level where it would have the desired impact. If you have too many things, and play them too small along the way, there's no momentum heading into the end. You should feel like you're at the crest of the rollercoaster, about to zoom straight down into the climax. Instead, we have them hanging out for exposition, then conveniently separating or slipping away - like Danvers taking a nap alone just to shove in another dream sequence and to leave Navarro to do whatever alone. I don't think your primaries should be taking naps in a finale, but that's just me.
Since what happened to the Scientists was because they killed Annie, isn't the MAJOR question (as you've put it) both what happened to her and then to them??? Unlike you, I see no way to separate the situation where we found out in Ep. 6 what happened to both Annie and her killers.
And since we also found out the reason why the Scientist died in Ep. 5 (when they discovered they had hidden the pollution of the mine by producing bogus numbers), wasn't that also revealed to us in penultimate episode???
How else does one resolve the ongoing traumas that both Navarro and Danvers suffered??? Both lost close family members (Danvers her son and husband/Navarro her sister). And both dealt with the trauma of COVERING UP the death of Wheeler, only to find themselves in still another situation where they had to help COVER UP the death of HANK for Peter.
And then they also couldn't stay to help him CLEAN UP Hank's BLOOD and dispose of the body of OTIS because of the storm which they needed to COVER UP their footprints at the ICE CAVES (which were located on mine property which was also surveyed by security cameras).
In other words, imo, finding out the reason for the DEATH of ANNIE was the momentum heading into the end. But I also agree that the CREST of the ROLLERCOASTER RIDE comes in Ep. 5 when Peter kills his father HANK to stop him from killing Danvers (who had also become a surrogate mother for him). Because after that scene the rest of what happens to Clark did feel like coasting downhill and wrapping up loose ends (with our also already knowing how HANK's the one who moved Annie's body to another different location as a way to COVER UP what had really happened to her).
If Danver's hadn't taken a nap to dream about her son and woke up freezing in the cold, she probably wouldn't have been in a frame of mind to see him under the ice and fallen into it (which then leads to her letting go of her defensive hostility and asking Navarro what her son had said to her).
So how else would you have wrapped things up???
Ending was way too arbitrary for me. Didn't like it.
shareIn what way did you find it to be arbitrary?
Can you be more specific?
Provide some examples so that we can better comprehend what it is that you mean???
The ending was too convoluted. It was seemingly pulled out of thin air with no discernible thread(s) to the rest of the season for the major plot-points. There was nothing we could piece together as a viewer and go "I knew it!" or "Man I was thinking that!". In the end it was all just orange peels and girls with guns.
A good comparison would be the recent "Murder at the End of the World". That was a whodunnit we could work through as a viewer and there was a decent, logical payoff.
It was seemingly pulled out of thin air with no discernible thread(s) to the rest of the season for the major plot-points. There was nothing we could piece together
I watched it to the end so that's saying something I suppose. But as a viewer, all I can say is in the end I was like, "OK then". I didn't really care about or what happened to Danvers or Navarro. It was def better than season 2, that's for sure.
As of now I'd rank them 1...............................3,4,2.
Just read the Wikipedia summary of what happens in the episodes of "Murder at the End of the World," but remain clueless as to what's going on. There's just too many names of too many characters to keep track of without seeing them. But I also see how it got good reviews.
Have you seen the newest FARGO story yet?
For some reason ON DEMAND only loaded the first 6 episodes (leaving no way to watch Ep. 7,8,9 or 10 of it). So that's also another really good story that you might want to check out.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fargo_(season_5)
The leading female character in it is even more CLEVER and VIOLENT than Navarro. But she also dresses and behaves like a domesticated homemaker who wouldn't harm a fly.
I'd rank TD seasons as 4, 3, 2 and 1 (in last place).
TD - season 1....last....place??? *faints*
Oh yes - I am all up in Fargo and current. Loved the latest season. Murder at the End of the World is good - it's not great - but it ties into technology in an interesting way. You won't regret watching it, though. It had its share of filler episodes as well.
Yes, imo, S1 SUCKED due to the way that we see the girls playing with their dolls, arranged the exact same way as people were who murdered the girl in the video, yet NOTHING is ever mentioned as to why we saw that scene.
Then when the story also ends with the KILLER being the lawnmower man, who we'd only seen for about 1 or 2 seconds riding by in the background, I was plenty pissed and felt like watching it had been a HUGE WASTE of one's time.
On the other hand, I LOVED the first 6 episodes of S5 of FARGO that I did get to watch. Jennifer is so good at being the BITCHY RICH Mother-in-Law. And her daughter-in-law also SHINES BIGTIME in her role. And she also sums up well the expression or the reason why one should "never judge a book by it's cover."
😁
Don't have HULU though, so won't be able to watch the Murder Show. It's also supposed to have been aired on the FX channel, but can't find it listed there.
PLUS the last season of FARGO (which I missed when it aired on FX channel) only has 6 episodes of 10 available for viewing ON DEMAND.
So if FX ever has MatEotW available for viewing ON DEMAND, chances are they probably won't have ALL 7 of it's episodes either.
Should probably also call the cable co to complain and see if that can get them to load episodes 7 through 10 of S5 of Fargo.
I agree about lawnmower man being a bit random. I am not a fan of that type of "you had no chance of figuring it out anyway" type of reveal. I liked the writing more than anything. Lots of juicy dialogue to swim around in.
shareYes the "TIME is a FLAT CIRCLE" line was a very juicy one which we're also now discussing down at the bottom of this page.
how would you rate it?
shareI give it an A+ due to the way that it explores the AGE OLD PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTION of "RATIONALITY vs SPIRITUALITY" so well.
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230321458_3
Spirituality and Rationality
Rationalism gradually attained its dominant position in Western culture from the nineteenth century. By rationalism we mean a way of life dominated by positive science as the ultimate source of truth and/or by utility maximization and rational choice as the ultimate criteria for ethics and management. The consequences of this dominance of the rational in Western culture and business life are ambiguous. On the credit side we find growing prosperity and improved material conditions of life and life expectations. On the debit side are the collapse of communities and the overexploitation of our ecosystems, causing unprecedented problems.
Is spirituality -- as a way of exploring the sources of our deeper selves and the ultimate purpose of life -- a means to overcoming the deficits of modern rationalism? At least spirituality aims at discovering meta-scientific sources for TRUTH, such as WISDOM, TRADITION, INTROSPECTION and MEDITATION, and it cultivataes meta-utilitarian sources for decision making ...
Neither RATIONALITY nor SPIRITUALITY requires making one choice to the exclusion of the other. The challenge is to find the right priority.
Disagree, I liked where they finished, but I don't think the series fully lead us to the finish. I could be wrong, but Holden was barely mentioned in the first 5 episodes and he turned out to be significant to Danver's story. I also think Navarro's journey could have been more developed during the season. What happened to the guy in the hospital after he woke up and called out to Navarro (I may have missed it if they said).
Also, all the tie-in's to the first season went nowhere.
Holden was barely mentioned in the first 5 episodes and he turned out to be significant to Danver's story.
Several times throughout the story we see Danver's dreaming about Holden and playing "Peek-a-Boo" with him in the scenes where she says:
I SEE YOU
So when Navarro tells her that Holden told her that "He SEES DANVERS," she also understood exactly what her son meant and the reason why he said that to her.
Just like Holden speaks to Danvers through Navarro, Navarro's mother speaks to her by way of LUND who told her that her mother was waiting for her (to tell her what her Native Name was). After that LUND also dies.
But both Danvers and Navarro resisted the messages that her son and Navarro's mother were trying to convey to them.
The TIE IN with S1 was the SPIRAL SYMBOL which was drawn on LUND's forehead (thus also what enables Navarro's mother to speak to her through him)???
The other TIE IN is the "TIME is a FLAT CIRCLE" remark that Clark makes (which indicates TIME isn't a LINEAR PROGRESSION ... due to the way GHOSTS or the SPIRITS of our dead loved ones can come back to this TIME again as a way to relay messages to us or to seek revenge upon us the way that Clark assumed Annie's Ghost was doing).
yes Holden was shown, but it didn't seem to me that it was a real point of emphasis. Just thought it could have been fleshed out better. With season 1 they also had mention of Tuttle and in Clark's RV there were the same "dolls" from season 1. Too many references not to have a connection that should have been explained.
shareWhat's interesting is how Danver's DREAMS about playing the PEEK-a-BOO, I SEE YOU game with her son HOLDEN when she's SLEEPING, whereas Navarro sees VISIONS of him while she's AWAKE.
But then at the end of the story Danver's also sees the vision of her son UNDER the ICE when she's AWAKE, which leads to her being less HOSTILE and DEFENSIVE about SPIRITUAL matters, and enables Navarro to finally tell her what her son said to her.
In other words, Danver's also knew that her son was still playing the SAME GAME with her even after he's not here anymore, which also gives her the PEACE of MIND that she was previously lacking.
So whereas you don't see her relationship with Holden as being a REAL POINT of EMPHASIS, for me it was DEFINITELY the MAIN POINT of the story due to the way what Navarro tells her enables Danver's to settle down, stop acting out, and become a much less HOSTILE person around everyone (which is also illustrated for us in the scene where we see her with her laughing with her step daughter who's also got the TATTOO back on her chin again).
Since Travis was the father of Rust from S1, Clark probably knew Travis, which is probably also where Rust got his "TIME is a FLAT CIRCLE" line from. So the connection would be both Clark and Rust were repeating something that they previously heard Travis saying.
And what that line means is TIME isn't a LINEAR process ... due to the way GHOSTS or SPIRITS who die in this TIME can still CIRCLE BACK or COME BACK again to this place ... in order to relay messages (like Travis does to Rose) ... or seek revenge upon others who did them wrong (such as Clark assumes Annie was doing to him).
Reggie Ledoux told Rust that "time is a circle" and Rust dismissed it.
shareSince it's been 10 YEARS since watching S1, can't recall who Reggie is or very much of anything else. But this article also elaborates more about what Rust said and meant:
https://screenrant.com/true-detective-night-country-raymond-clark-time-flat-circle-meaning/
Raymond Clark repeats Rust Cohle's "Time is a flat circle" quote in True Detective: Night Country's finale, leaving viewers curious about what it could mean. In True Detective season 1, Reggie Ledoux first says, "Time is a flat circle" when Rust holds him at gunpoint at his home. Although Rust initially ridicules him by calling him Nietzsche, he later recalls the quote in True Detective season 1's 2012 timeline and explains how it defines his journey as a detective. Fundamentally, the quote seems to imply that criminal history repeats itself even though detectives like Rust and Marty seek justice.
However, from a philosophical standpoint, Rust explains that if perceived from a higher dimension, time in the three-dimensional world would likely be less linear and more circular and loopy. Although True Detective: Night Country draws several references to season 1, its most confusing season 1 nod revolves around Raymond Clark saying, "Time is a flat circle." Season 1 had already made the quote quite confusing and open to interpretation, but season 4 makes its implications all the more complex.
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Rust Cohle's Best True Detective Season 1 Quote Still Defines The HBO Show's Story, 10 Years On
After 10 years, Rust Cohle's best quote from True Detective season 1 still seems to be one of the primary themes in the HBO show's overarching story.
What Raymond Clark Means When He Says "Time Is A Flat Circle"
Raymond Clark says, "Time is a flat circle" in True Detective: Night Country when he talks about Annie, implying that she returned from her deathbed, and this was not the first time she did it. His explanation seems to portray Annie as Goddess Sedna, who, according to mythology, returns to punish those who disrupt the balance of nature.
Clark's quote also seems to disclose how Otis Heiss experienced the same injuries as the Tsalal researchers even before Annie was born.
Great ending and a great season. The best after the first.
shareWhat do you think will happen in Season 5 (which will also be directed by the same person)???
Do you think the next season will continue in the NIGHT COUNTRY, or will it take place in another completely different place with a whole new cast of characters???
I don't know, but I hope it takes place in a different place with different characters. I love shows like TD and Fargo that do that.
shareHBO also had another different show called "BIG LITTLE LIES" that was only supposed to have been aired for one Season. But then it got another Season, and it's also supposed to be getting a 3rd Season as well:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Little_Lies_(TV_series)
in the wake of the nominations, HBO revealed that a second season was possible, and that Moriarty had been asked to write a story for it.[30] During a April 2017 interview, Vallée came out strongly against the idea of producing a second season: "There's no reason to make a season two. That was meant to be a one-time deal, and it's finishing in a way where it's for the audience to imagine what can happen. If we do a season two, we'll break that beautiful thing and spoil it."[31] When he and the series won several accolades at the 69th ceremony of the Primetime Emmy Awards, the director changed his mind: "It'd be great to reunite the team and to do it.
The first season of Big Little Lies was great, but a second season was not needed and it wasn't as good. To be honest I don't even remember what happened in season two, I just remember it wasn't as interesting as the first. I didn't know they're working on a 3rd season.
I'm not against them continuing the story of s4 to season 5, I mean I'd definitely watch it, but I'd prefer a whole new story.
In S2 of BIG LITTLE LIES basically the Mother of the Dead guy (Meryl Streep) shows up and tries to sue Nicole's character for custody of the TWINS. And Meryl's character also stalks the other character who was raped by her son and had a son by him, and insists that she's lied about the rape and the paternity of her child.
The season also concludes with the character who pushed the ABUSER down the stairs going to the police station to confess what happened with the others (called the MONTEREY 5) are also there with her to support her.
In addition to finding out how Peter's doing in the NIGHT COUNTRY (if he's being HAUNTED by HANK's Ghost like Rose was by the Ghost of Travis), I'd also like to learn more about what kind of a Professor ROSE use to be and what kind of articles she wrote. Because it would also be nice to know more about the reason why she concludes that what she'd written was MEANINGLESS NOISE.
Plus it would also be nice to know if Navarro commits suicide like her sister did or if that was really her and not her GHOST standing there beside Danver's on the porch at the end of the story.
And if the Scientist were successful in finding a CURE for CANCER and other conditions (like Clark claims), it also wouldn't surprise me to find out there's another different team of SCIENTIST located there at the Research Station.