Well, this writer did not have the opportunity to watch “Part 5” early, and let me say, it was tough to ignore the buzz about it. Now, after finally opening up some time to take it in, I offer my thoughts on this big episode.
Wow, right off the bat we were counting on a lot of results out of the ice cave exploration. It shouldn’t have surprised us that it was dynamited shut as we need some headway here. The main focus of the opening minutes is a planned protest walk at Silver Sky Mining. Leah and her girlfriend are in on it, and the mine security can’t handle the anger the crowd is packing; police reinforcement is called in putting stress on Navarro in riot gear. She saves Leah from getting bully-clubbed. The Prior family is in turmoil as well. Pete’s wife kicked him out and he has to crash at Daddy Hank’s. It is all well and good as we care about the character arcs here, but we also want headway in the case at hand. It is coming at us about as slow as a snail’s pace in an Ennis snow squall.
What we do end up getting, thanks to Pete, is s paper trail linking big business Tuttle to Silver Sky Mining and Tsalal. What are we saying here, that the scientists were not exposing the environmental & health 
concerns but paid to cover them up? Danvers is going to reveal that paper trail to McKittrick & Connelly in a meeting with them that she was ordered to attend. It seems security cameras caught Danvers and Navarro at the ice cave entrance. It is at this meeting that it is revealed that officials in Anchorage have ruled the Tsalal deaths as due to a weather event and that all investigations, including on Silver Sky property can be halted. Connelly also decides to pull out facts, when he has Danvers alone, that the Wheeler case didn’t come out as clean as Danvers always said it did. He is really going after her for shoddy work. The case is closed. Our hackles go up; there is a huge cover-up afoot.
Whoa, the next scene has McKittrick and Hank, excuse me, she calls him Henry, meeting at a remote location. He climbs into her vehicle and viewers can now verify that they are in cahoots. She tells Hank that Danvers cannot find access to that ice cave and that only Otis Heiss can get her there. That makes Otis a sitting duck. And as the scene plays out “in cahoots” is a poor choice of words – Hank is just a sad, pathetic puppet.
Navarro is all hepped up to get into the cave system. She learns that the term “Night Country” refers to the underground tunnels that hold wonders and the answers she and Danvers have been seeking. Danvers has to drop the news that the case is closed. It falls on deaf ears as Navarro recruits Rose to help her pick axe an access point into the ice. Psych! It wasn’t to get into an ice cave but to place her sister Julia’s ashes into the ocean.
Intensity is in the air, in the soundtrack. This New Year’s Eve is building up. I think it is building up to a shocker. Is Navarro or Danvers going to ignore orders and seek out the ice cave? Will Danvers lead Hank Prior to Otis? Come on, this is TRUE DETECTIVE. It does not go the obvious route. Danvers is obsessed on another matter. No, not Leah, though she did try to reach out to her and Leah actually throws her a bone, as they say, a bit of hope for them. No, what Danvers focuses on almost seemed a throwaway moment. She focuses on the fact that Connelly knew about the truth regarding the Wheeler case. Peter investigated the Wheeler case and discovered that Wheeler was left-handed, but the fatal gunshots were on the right side of the body and to top it off all forensic photos were reversed for the official files. That information got into Hank’s hands when he snooped onto his son’s laptop and Connelly learned the truth. The consequences of all that remain unseen.
Complicating matters is that Danvers bribes Otis Heiss with heroin to show her the ice cave. She takes him to her house to look at the maps. He points out a spot on the map and then heads to the bathroom to hit up. Hank Prior knocks on the door under the pretext that Connelly wants Hank to take him in. Otis walks in on them and Hank pulls a gun. Peter walks in gun drawn… Danvers, Navarro and now Peter Prior are in it neck deep. Let’s just say, the junior Prior is left to clean up a crime scene in Danvers kitchen and the ladies are off for the ice cave.
It has built up to this in true TRUE DETECTIVE fashion. The final episode comes on SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 18 on HBO and Max. Don’t miss it.
