When a series is ostensibly set in the real world – as in a world not dominated by science fiction or fantasy trappings – but still pulls from the realm of the supernatural in its storytelling, there’s a fine line that needs to be walked to ensure that the story remains grounded in reality while still keeping the door open to more fantastical options. True Detective: Night Country, much like Showtime’s Yellowjackets, is trying to walk that line without tipping its hand too far in one direction. After all, when tragedy and danger comes from purely human actions, the story can evoke a particular type of fear in its viewers. When it comes from something more otherworldly . . . well, that can be a mixed bag in terms of success. There’s a certain contract between creator and viewer that exists and if the game changes too much from what the audience is expecting, it can shatter the story being told. While Night Country has done a good job keeping the balance intact through its first three episodes, “Part Four” was the first time things really started to wobble.
Having actors whose performances – and whose chemistry – is so great that you become completely invested in their performances is a good problem to have. It’s really not even a problem, unless those actors are at the center of the supernatural vs. mental illness question that is floating around the central mystery of the series. Because those scenes between Navarro (Kali Reis, who is absolutely the find of this series – she has been sensational throughout) and her sister, Julia (Aka Niviâna, utterly harrowing in her tragic role), were so incredibly powerful that I found myself taken out of the story when it jumped from the very human desire for peace and calm to the jump scare of the dead woman under the bed. It felt almost like it cheapened that emotional impact of Julia finally seeking help – and Navarro having the chance to potentially save her sister after the guilt of their mother’s death (and Annie K’s) continues to eat her alive – in a way that really disappointed me.
Navarro has become the emotional center of the story – perhaps a bit surprisingly, as Reis is the least known acting name out of our central characters. But her journey, from her dogged desire to find justice for Annie, her fears that she would lose her sister as they lost their mother, and her deeper fear that if she starts to let people in she will just fail them as she thinks she failed all those she has loved and lost (something that definitely isn’t getting better after Julia’s death) to a very capable investigator who has a view point that Danvers desperately needs (and the ability to call Danvers on her bullshit as required) has been great to watch. But, now that Navarro has become the catalyst for the creepy visions that have dotted the supernatural arm of the storytelling, I’m genuinely worried that the series is going to push aside all the great character development it has done with the character – outside of the hints of her own connection to the mystical – and use these final two episodes to flesh out the ghost connection and not really look into how another loss has impacted Navarro’s ability to compartmentalize her life.* Because the human side of this story, as is often the case, is much more interesting than the potential for some supernatural connection.
*And I haven’t even gotten into the connection Navarro seems to have with the spirit of Danvers’ dead son, which had me rolling my eyes when the polar bear once again popped up. The writing has done such a great job of letting us into Navarro’s past traumas and how they continue to impact her, but it’s really failed to dig into Danvers beyond the surface. And we’re running out of time to give that character the same complexities that Navarro has gotten – but having her son talk to Navarro from beyond the grave isn’t the way to accomplish that.
And that’s the pitfall when telling a story where supernatural elements might have an influence on the action. Sure, you can hand wave away the more complex supernatural bits and say that some people are just able to intuit things beyond our limited understanding without fully saying “There were definitely ghosts and a demonic presence in this story.” But “Part Four” was the first time I’ve felt frustrated with the continued reliance on the supernatural as such a key part of the narrative. And now with Navarro our last true link to these things – plus the reveal that she’s been seeing dead people for years, and that Danvers was aware that something was off with her in the past – it’s really starting to feel like this story is veering into the realm of the fantastical and away from the real, human reason for these crimes. The first season of True Detective went down a similar path – although neither of the detectives were seeing dead people, the series was very much hinting that something otherworldly was responsible for at least some element of the crimes at hand, because the revelation that a human could be so cold, callous, and monstrous was too much to imagine – and held onto the supernatural possibility a bit too long in the end, making the revelation of the real killers feel a bit anticlimactic. I genuinely hope that Night Country manages to get things back on track in next week’s penultimate episode, but I worry we’re too far in the weeds now that not even strong, focused writing – to match the strong performances – can bring us back.
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Writing
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Acting
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Direction
