Between episodes, I was thinking about it and it is all beginning to fall into place. Just ask the question… What do contaminated water, stillbirths, and hallucinations misconstrued as supernatural happenings all have in common? Answer…the Silver Sky Mine. Ask another question… Who stands to oppose the contamination of the environment and society, even though the business in question is the life source of Ennis? Answer… Tsalal scientists are out to cure cancer and better the world.
One more question before we dive into “Part 4.” Question… who is in the mix to solve this crime? Answer… a police chief who isn’t totally comfortable with the indigenous people she serves; an officer who is not clearheaded herself and a captain who is not straightforward and none of them are truly honest with each other or themselves. Welcome to TRUE DETECTIVE.
So, we always need a balance between what is happening in the detectives’ real lives and the case at hand. Episodes sway one way or the other and this one leans hard on the personal issues more. Navarro’s sister Julia has real mental health issues coming to a head; Danvers has a stepdaughter that she deems rebellious. Both have the Annie Kowtok cold case eating at them, which we will find out for certain is linked to the ‘corpsicle’ in some way. The video on her phone shows her surrounded by walls of ice with bones, possibly fossils, embedded in them. An ice cave, except Annie’s body was found in town. Find the cave, find answers.
The episode finds us on Dec.24. We all hope for good gifts. We hope for understanding and caring between loved ones and a huge crack in the case. It starts with a new name in the mix, one Otis Heiss. He is a petty offender and drifter you has medical records showing he suffered the same inflictions as our dead scientists – burnt corneas, ruptured eardrums, and self-inflicted bites. So now, the squad is out searching for two people, Heiss and Clark. But they are in luck in a roundabout way. The person who is credited with mapping the Brooks Range ice caves, the closest caves to Ennis, is one Otis Heiss.
Intercut with that are the personal stories, which seem to hold more weight this time out. Christmas Eve turns out bad for both Navarro & Danvers and Hank Prior also it seems. Julia is having hallucinations at the care facility, either psychotically induced or chemically induced is unclear, but regardless it drives her to flee and walk naked into the cold darkness. Will she freeze to death? Leah was caught by Kate McKittrick, the mine administrator, spraypainting ‘murderers’ on the facade of the mine building. She calls Danvers wanting to press charges. The rift is opened wider between Danvers and her stepdaughter as a result and Leah leaves the house. Is the relationship irreparable? As for Hank, his fiancee stood him up at the airport. Is that 
anything?
Just about all of it turns to shit that Christmas Eve. Navarro has got to handle her grief and gets pummeled by some drunks she had altercations with in an earlier episode; Danvers gets drunk, argues with Connelly, and drives her vehicle off the road after swerving to miss the one-eyed polar bear that pops up from time to time and Pete slips back home way to late to observe a cold wife for missing the Eve and Hank wallows in his own misery.
On Christmas Day, in all their sadness, and anger they get a lead. Someone in a pink parka, believed to be Raymond Clark, has been seen out near the old rusting dredgers. Our leads investigate but Navarro gets separated from Danvers on the old rig. While Danvers finds the missing Otis Heiss in the pink parka instead Navarro is off changing hallucinations of her dead sister. When Danvers catches up with her she discovers Navarro bleeding from the ears.
The end result is that we didn’t get far along in the case, but a lot has opened up about the personal lives of our leads. I didn’t mention every little thing, believe it or not. You need to be watching NIGHT COUNTRY for yourselves for that. It won’t be a waste of time.
Due to the Superbowl, episode five of the HBO Original drama series TRUE DETECTIVE: NIGHT COUNTRY will be available to stream early on Max beginning FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9 at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT in advance of its HBO linear premiere on Sunday, February 11 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT.
