Highlights

Season 4 of True Detective, titled Night Country, is the best one since the first season.
Liz Danvers and Evangeline Navarro are close to uncovering the truth behind the deaths and murders.
The episode ends with a shocking twist as Pete shoots his own father to save Liz Danvers.

True Detective: NIght Country sees Jodie Foster return to television screens for the first time in nearly fifty years. Season 4 of the anthology crime thriller series landed on HBO on January 15, and has earned rave reviews from fans and critics alike. The bleak Alaskan setting and brilliant supporting performances from Kali Reis, John Hawkes and Christopher Eccleston have contributed to Season 4 being the best one since the legendary Season 1, starring Matthew McConaughey and Woddy Harrelson way back in 2014.

Liz Danvers (Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Reis) are close to finding the answers to the mysterious deaths of a group of scientists on the Tsalal research station and the link with Annie Kowtok's murder in this stunning penultimate episode of the series. Ennis, Alaska is still in darkness as they head towards the caves known as 'The Night Country.'

True Detective: Season 4 Episode 4 Recap

True Detective: Night Country has been a return to form for the anthology series, and episode 4 is the stand out episode thus far.

What happened in True Detective Season 4 Episode 5?

It's New Year's Eve in Ennis, Alaska, and Navarro is still reeling from her sister Julia's suicide as she turns up at the crematorium to collect her ashes. Navarro heads out to spread her ashes in the sea with the help of the mysterious, Rose Aguineau. However, Navarro has a hallucination which nearly sees her drown before Rose tells her to lay down on the ice and throws a bag her way for her to cling onto, and brings her to safety.

Liz Danvers is hell-bent on getting Otis Heiss to reveal what happened on the day of his injuries, and also wants him to mark the entry points of the cave system. He warns her not to go alone, but Danvers has already decided he's going with her. Otis has a severe drug problem and demands heroin in order to help her. Danvers tells him she can't get hold of that for him, but soon changes her mind, and is prompted by the guilt felt at not solving Kowtok's disappearance and Connolly's decision to shut down the investigation. Danvers takes Otis out of the clinic to look into the entry points of the caves and brings him some heroin from the evidence room to get him to comply.

Danvers was summoned to meet with Connelly (Christopher Eccleston) and Kate at Silversky Mining. Connelly is furious with Danvers for going to the exploded entry point with Navarro, which it turns out is on the potential real villain Silversky's property. Danvers tells Connolly that Silversky and Tsalal are funded by the same parent organization, but Connelly is more interested in bringing up William Wheeler’s murder-suicide and claims Danvers was involved in his death. This is the excuse he needed to shut the current investigation down.

Qavvik returns the rock with the crooked spiral on it to Navarro, and it's revealed that it’s a marker for spots in the ice where it can break and lead to the caves. Navarro tells Danvers, but she tells her the case has been shut down.

Pete's marital problems with Kayla have reached boiling point, as she packs his bag for him and tells him to leave. With nowhere else to go, Pete turns up at his father, Hank's house and finds him in a morose mood, playing a haunting song on his guitar. Rather than interrupt him, he waits for the song to end and calls him and asks if he can stay with him.

Leah Danvers continues her vendetta against Silversky Mining and turns up there with other protestors. A fight breaks out, and the police unit arrive, with Navarro on board, despite her feelings towards Silversky Mining. She sees one of her colleagues getting physical with Leah and attacks them. She brings Leah into the station and Danvers wants her daughter put in a holding cell to teach her a lesson.

Hank's involvement in Annie Kowtok's death is hinted at when he meets up with Kate to discuss getting rid of Otis Heiss because of what he knows. Hank points towards him for being the one who moved Annie’s body in exchange for getting the top job of chief of police. That job ended up going to Liz Danvers, but he's promised another shot if he kills Otis Heiss.

How does True Detective Season 4 Episode 5 end?

Danvers notices that Hank is tailing her and she is getting a rather bad vibe about what he's up to and what he might know. She orders Pete to come into her office, and he reveals he's been looking into the murder-suicide of William Wheeler and thinks Danvers and Navarro killed him. Hank managed to access Pete’s laptop and found out what he was looking into and told Connelly about it. Connolly used the information to shut down the case.

Danvers is impressed with his deductions and gives him a key to the shack behind her house, so he can stay there, to keep him away from Hank and his prying eyes. Danvers takes Otis Heiss to her house and tells Navarro to come along. Otis successfully marks the easiest way to enter the caves on the map, so Danvers rewards him with heroin which he smokes in the bathroom.

Hank turns up at Danvers' house claiming he's been ordered to take Otis in. However, Otis figures out what's going on and tries to run, but Hank shoots him dead. He turns the gun on Danvers, but after hearing the commotion, Pete enters the house with his gun firmly pointed at Hank.

Hank confirms he was the person who moved Annie Kowtok's body and points his gun at Danvers, leaving Pete to make the impossible decision. Does he shoot his own father to save Liz Danvers? Pete does exactly that and Hank goes down to the floor, appearing to be dead.

Navarro turns up at the house, and is shocked to see the horrific scene, but quickly tells Danvers they need to head to the caves before the evidence is covered up by Kate and anyone else involved in the conspiracy. Pete says he'll clean up the mess of Hank and Otis' dead bodies, as Navarro tells him to take them to Rose. Danvers and Navarro get in the car and head to the caves as the episode 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.