This article contains spoilers for True Detective: Night Country.True Detective: NIght Country came to a dramatic conclusion on February 18th, with the sixth and final episode of season 4 of the anthology series that began in 2014 on HBO. The series has earned rave reviews from fans and critics alike, with Jodie Foster and Kali Reis taking the lead roles of Detectives Liz Danvers and Evangeline Navarro respectively, as they try to solve the strange deaths of a group of scientists at the Tsalal research station in Ennis, Alaska.
Danvers and Navarro link the deaths to the brutal unsolved murder of an indigenous woman called Annie Kowtok, who was protesting against the pollution that led to the deaths of many people in the area. The brilliant series featured strong supporting performances from Fiona Shaw, Finn Bennett, John Hawkes and Christopher Eccleston. Season 4 has been the most watched season, narrowly beating the legendary True Detective Season 1. After the release of episode 5, it had 12.7 million viewers, which surpassed the first season's record of 11.9 million.
True Detective: Season 4 Episode 5 Recap
True Detective: Night Country heats up in the penultimate episode in the anthology series, with episode 5 pointing toward potential answers.
What happens in True Detective Season 4?
Police chief Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) is investigating the strange disappearance of a group of scientists on the Tsalal research station in Ennis, Alaska, and later discovers the men all frozen to death in the ice and a murder investigation is launched. As the investigation progresses, she notices many links in the case to the murder of an indigenous woman called Annie Kowtok.
This revelation catches the attention of a renegade police officer, Evangeline Navarro, who initially investigated Annie's murder before being taken off the case. Danvers reluctantly allows Navarro to help her connect the dots to the mystery that involves a peculiar 'crooked spiral' that potentially holds the key to solving the case.
Danvers is helped throughout the investigation by an up-and-coming officer called Peter Prior, who is fiercely loyal to her despite the ramifications it has for his family life.
Peter's father, Hank Prior, is also on the Ennis police force and is covering up his involvement in Annie's murder, and Peter has to make a choice between saving Danvers' life or killing his father, as Hank tries to stop a man called Otis Heiss from leading them to the mysterious caves known as 'The Night Country.' Pete kills his father, and Danvers and Navarro head to the caves in search of Raymond Clark, who was the only scientist to survive during the attack on the Tsalal station, while trying to figure out what happened to Annie Kowtok and how her murder led to the deaths of the scientists.
How does True Detective Season 4 end?
Danvers and Navarro enter the caves of Ennis and discover Raymond Clark hiding out there, and they discover it leads to the Tsalal station. Clark leads them on a chase and, after a battle, the detectives track him down, and interrogate and torture him for the truth about the Tsalal scientists' deaths and how they were linked to Annie Kowtok's murder.
Clark tells them Annie found out Tsalal was forcing Silversky to pollute the environment of Ennis because it was aiding with their research and could be key to “saving the world.”
The Tsalal scientists were willing to accept the deaths of the natives in order to complete their work and save more lives. Annie did the right thing and destroyed Tsalal’s research to put an end to the deaths and the scientists killed her for ruining their research. Despite Clark not taking part in the stabbing, he was the one to suffocate her. Clark also claimed Annie's severed tongue could’ve been cut by Hank, to send out a message to other protestors.
Navarro allows Clark to walk into the cold and freeze to death, which makes Danvers angry as he was the key to solving the case. However, Danvers has the idea of checking for fingerprints on the hatch that led up to the Tsalal station and notices a unique imprint of a hand that didn’t have all five fingers. Despite Clark thinking Annie's ghost killed the scientists, this imprint leads to a more logical answer.
Danvers and Navarro leave the station and visit Beatrice and Blair Hartman. Beatrice tells the detectives that her and the other Inupiat women killed the scientists after finding out they killed Annie Kowtok. They kidnapped the men, and made them walk into the icy, cold darkness. However, Danvers and Navarro tell Beatrice and the rest of the women that they are in the clear as they'll stick to the official story that the Tsalal men died under natural circumstances.
The timeline moves forward to May as Danvers sits down for an interview with two detectives, and tells a false story about Hank and Otis' deaths in order to cover for Pete and Navarro, who has now disappeared from Ennis. Danvers also leaks Raymond Clark’s confession video, which leads to the shutdown of Tsalal and Silversky Mining. Danvers and Navarro relax on the porch of her house as the season ends.
True Detective
Taking inspiration from the hard-boiled mystery genre, True Detective has told four separate stories about complicated men and women getting to the bottom of intense cases, all the while uncovering the darker sides of humanity. The latest season, Night Country, stars Jodie Foster and Kali Reis, and takes place in chilling Alaska.
