WhenTrue Detectivepremiered on HBO in 2014 , it experience like a shot in the arm . It was cinematic and riveting , and it now get viewers ’ attention . A year afterwards , however , the show ’s second time of year was almost universally viewed as a letdown , and while its Mahershala Ali - led third season mat up a bite like a paying back to form , genuine Detectiveremained incapable of matching the highs of its first season . When it was announce in 2020 that Divine Nic Pizzolatto had left HBO to start a new partnership with FX , it looked like the series never would reach those former heights .
Against all odds , though , genuine Detectivereturns this calendar week . The series ’ long - awaited 4th season , lawful Detective : Night Country , comes fromTigers Are Not Afraidfilmmaker Issa López , who batten down the behind - the - scene support of not only HBO , but alsoMoonlightandThe Underground Railroaddirector Barry Jenkins . It ’s the firstTrue Detectiveseason in which Pizzolatto does n’t have a single penning citation , but longtime devotee of the show need not worry . Night Countrydoesn’t just prove that HBO and Jenkins were right to put their faith in López ; it also come forth throughout its six episodes as the most memorable , piquant , and distinctTrue Detectiveseason since the show ’s first .
Directed entirely by López and write mostly by her as well , True Detective : Night Countrysuccessfully recaptures a lot of what made this unlikely boob tube enfranchisement seem so unique in the first place . The series ’ first season was consistently raise by the artistic , dreamlike focusing of its director , Cary Joji Fukunaga , and the pondering , entrancing performance throw by its star , Matthew McConaughey . Despite those facts , the two seasons that follow it abandon the one - conductor rule of its first , and while performers like Rachel McAdams , Colin Farrell , and Mahershala Ali did their best to elevate the material they were each hold by Pizzolatto , none of them were able to bring the same intensity and strangely hypnotic gravitas that McConaughey did .
Night Countrydoesn’t fall victim to those same mistakes . Behind the camera , López embrace the surreal nature ofTrue Detective ’s applaud first season , packingNight Country ’s six episode with enough haunting visual motifs , hallucinations , and minute of spiritual tally to give it the nocturnal , ghostly sense that its story demands . As Pizzolatto did with McConaughey , López also finds a star equal to of wrapping their hands fully around the time of year ’s material in Jodie Foster , who co - leadsNight Countryas Liz Danvers , the steely , poor - moderate police head of the perpetually chilly , outside Alaska township of Ennis . Liz is , like McConaughey ’s Rust Cohle before her , bear the corporate weight of several undetermined tragedies from her past whenNight Countrybegins .
She does n’t filter it through the same nihilistic tangent as herTrue Detectivepredecessor , but her pain sensation does tardily , but sure as shooting rise back to the surface when Liz is storm to investigate the sudden disappearance of a team of scientists who seemed to exist peacefully in a well - funded science lab located on the outskirts of Ennis . Once it becomes clear that the scientists ’ disappearance were red — and potentially supernatural — in nature , Liz feels obligated to reteam with her former partner , Evangeline Navarro ( Kali Reis ) , a guarded , but empathetic Ennis police trooper with noesis of other unresolved local compositor’s case that may connect back toNight Country‘s central mystery .
truthful Detective : Night Countrywisely does n’t attempt to incorporate every constituent of the show ’s original three seasons into its story . It forsake the multi - timeline structure ofTrue Detective ’s first and third seasons — opting instead to besprinkle in flashback throughout its episode that offer abbreviated , often haunting glimpses into its leads ’ traumatic pasts . It does n’t have as many ruminative cop motorcar conversations between Foster ’s Liz and Reis ’ Evangeline as someTrue Detectivefans may have hoped , either , but it withal build a moral force between the two characters that is both prickly and compassionate , and which inevitably call off to mind some of the show ’s past human relationship .
Navarro and Danvers ’ scene are further elevated by the performance given by Foster and Reis . The former is the season ’s readable standout — Foster is better here than she ’s been in old age , and she make for all of Liz ’s many fracture with so much unbendable conviction that you never wonder why she ’s able to steamroll practically everyone who span paths with her . While Reis , a former boxer , take an episode or two to seem truly well-to-do in her part , her chemistry with Foster demonstrate to be more than strong enough to supplyTrue Detective : Night Countrywith the emotional basis that its superimposed and challenging plot of land need .
Opposite them , Finn Bennett gives what has all the makings of a breakout public presentation as Peter Prior , the expert - natured youthful cop that Foster ’s Liz takes under her wing . Killing EveandAndorstandout Fiona Shaw also shines as Rose Aguineau , a solitary woman who lives on the outskirts of Ennis and who seems uniquely tapdance into the region ’s supernatural power . Shaw ’s Rose aid introduce some of the otherworldly elements that prove important to realise the write up ofNight Country , which easy rate as the scariestTrue Detectiveseason to date . The HBO serial completely moved forth from the cosmic horror aspects of its first season in its second and third , butNight Countrybrings them back with full force-out .
López commits to the spooky edge of her crime account by fill the season with surprisal jump scares , eery spectral visual aspect , and reality - bending instances of pure horror , all of which imbueNight Countrywith an lend sense of unearthly risk that keeps it afloat even in its quietest and most languid import . Its extra level of repugnance help make up for the fact thatNight Country , like everyTrue Detectiveseason before it , clamber to tie together all of its threads and birth a entirely satisfying determination in its closing curtain . The time of year , gratefully , does n’t completely drop the mark so much as it land just a few column inch away from hitting a bull’s - optic .
As compelling as its various mysteries often are , the ultimate temptingness and power ofTrue Detective : Night Countrylies in just how immediately and securely it ’s able-bodied to mesh you in its own , cold embrace . It ’s a time of year of telly that knows exactly when to loosen and tighten its hold on viewers , and its ability to do so without ever lose your interest or overwhelming you is a testament to the level of prowess that ’s on display throughout it . It may have taken 10 yr , butTrue Detectivefinally looks as impressive as it once did .
on-key Detective : Night Countrypremieres Sunday , January 14 . New episodes air Sundays on HBO . Digital Trends was given early access to all six of the time of year ’s episodes .
