While True Detective: Night Country wasn’t perfect, the show’s season 5 renewal proves that the outing provided what seasons 2 and 3 were missing. When True Detective first aired in 2014, it was a massive hit with critics. A pitch-black murder mystery with a slow-burn story that moved fluidly between two timelines, True Detective season 1 took its time uncovering the story of Rust Cohle, Marty Hart, and the unsolved case that ruined their lives. The final episodes skipped ahead to the present day, finally providing Hart and Cohle with answers to the mystery that haunted them for decades.
Although seasons 2 and 3 failed to recapture the unique tone of the series, True Detective season 4 arrived to better reviews and some of the show’s best ratings ever. Night Country told the story of Liz Danvers and Evangeline Navarro, two detectives who unearth a bizarre, murky conspiracy after a group of research scientists disappear from a research station in Alaska. This premise allowed Night Country to bring back a thematic preoccupation that was mostly absent from seasons 2 and 3, and it was this missing ingredient that made season 4 such a success despite its uneven storytelling.
25 Unanswered Questions & Mysteries After True Detective: Night Country’s Finale
The True Detective: Night Country finale left many plot points deliberately ambiguous. Here are all the mysteries viewers will never see solved.
True Detective’s Supernatural Story Made It A Success
Seasons 1 and 4 of the HBO hit needed their horror elements
For all of Night Country’s problems, True Detective season 4 succeeded due to the show’s regained focus on supernatural horror. Compared to season 1 and Night Country, seasons 2 and 3 were too grounded. Although they featured some larger-than-life characters, neither season delved back into the world of supernatural horror in a meaningful sense. True Detective: Night Country’s ending avoided turning the series into a full-blown horror show by keeping its supernatural elements somewhat ambiguous and offering a plausible explanation for everything, but season 1 did the same with its surprisingly subdued finale, which didn’t ruin either ending.
The dark, occult details made viewers fall in love with True Detective season 1, as these elements differentiated the show from its competitors. Although Night Country featured less lengthy excursions into philosophical nihilism, season 4 did return to the show’s horror themes. The influence of authors like Lovecraft, Thomas Ligotti, and even Algernon Blackwood can be found throughout seasons 1 and 4, which could explain why Night Country’s ratings improved compared to seasons 2 and 3. The response to True Detective season 4’s ending suggests the show should take this even further and double down on the supernatural approach.
True Detective Seasons 2 & 3 Forgot The Show’s Supernatural Roots
True Detective season 1’s follow-ups were more grounded and less fun
Where Night Country featured the dead communicating with the living and mysterious occult symbols popping up throughout Alaska, seasons 2 and 3 were much more grounded. Although the outings both had other flaws, this normality was the primary problem that led to their middling reception. It soon became apparent that True Detective season 2’s downbeat tone wasn’t linked to anything out of the ordinary, and the story of corrupt cops getting involved with a political conspiracy just wasn’t as thrilling as the search for a seemingly supernatural serial killer. Similarly, season 3’s ghostly visitation turned out to be a dementia hallucination.
There were logical explanations for True Detective season 4’s supernatural elements, but the show didn’t overexplain its trippier elements, and a lot of big questions were left unanswered in the finale. This mirrored season 1’s ending, where Carcosa was briefly glimpsed before the killer was caught and killed, but the conspiracy that allowed him to get away with murder for decades was still never fully uncovered. In contrast, True Detective seasons 2 and 3 offered tidier explanations for any minor strangeness, disregarding anything resembling full-on horror, and failed to keep viewers engaged as a result.
True Detective Season 4 Has Reintroduced Supernatural Horror (And Has Become A Hit)
Night Country proved viewers want a horror-leaning True Detective
While the truth behind the missing scientists was surprisingly mundane, Night Country still showed that viewers want a version of the series that leans into its supernatural elements. True Detective season 4’s ending never explained exactly how the scientists died, implying that they may have been killed by an Inuit nature goddess as punishment for the pollution they caused and hid. However, it would also have made sense if they died of natural causes, which is what Navarroa and Danvers claimed was the case. The mixed reception of this twist proves that an explicitly supernatural season 5 could work for True Detective.
If True Detective season 5 were to lean further into the show’s supernatural horror elements, the series could fulfill the promise made by both seasons 1 and 4. The critical acclaim that Night Country received, and the fact that much of its criticism came from attempts to justify seemingly supernatural elements, proves that the show can focus on its darker side going forward. Seasons 2 and 3 dropped the horror but keeping the show’s dark tone resulted in outings that felt too morose and hopeless without offering enough excitement to keep viewers engaged. Season 5 could fix this issue.
True Detective Season 5 Can Keep The Supernatural Elements In A Different Setting
Season 5 can bring horror somewhere new, just like Night Country
Now that True Detective season 5 is happening, the show can bring its brand of supernatural-infused mystery to a new location. The story should not be related to the events of Night Country, but elements of the franchise’s lore could be retained. Much like Night Country did mention season 1’s events via the fate of Rust Cohle’s father, Travis, season 5 could include references to the events of Night Country without necessarily following its plot directly. Continuing the story of season 4 would be a bad idea since there is nothing new to be gleaned from the season’s events.
However, transplanting True Detective to a new setting could offer more opportunities to explore the world of supernatural horror if season 5 unabashedly embraces its genre elements. Season 1’s Southern Gothic called to mind Flannery O’Connor and TheTexas Chain Saw Massacre, while season 4 was clearly influenced by 1982’s The Thing and Nordic noir. Once season 5 finds a new setting, the show can make use of its horror elements and make up for the subdued season 3 wasting its Ozarks setting in the process. Thus, True Detective can provide the series that viewers really want.
True Detective
- Release Date
- January 12, 2014
- Seasons
- 4
- Network
- HBO Max
- Streaming Service(s)
- Hulu , HBO Max
- Where To Watch
- Max
