Blu-ray Review: TRUE DETECTIVE: NIGHT COUNTRY (Season 4)

Home » Blu-ray Review: TRUE DETECTIVE: NIGHT COUNTRY (Season 4)

Jul 06 Posted by Kyle Nolan in DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Comments

Disclaimer: “Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray^TM I reviewed in this Blog Post. The opinions I share are my own.”

True Detective: Night Country is the fourth season of the HBO anthology series True Detective. Each season tells a self-contained story, with a different pair of detectives working on a different case. The genre/tone and location also varies from season to season. So there is no requirement to have seen the previous seasons in order to watch Night Country. This fourth season has a unique tone which is a blend of horror/thriller/spiritual/sci-fi/foreign crime drama.

It’s late December in the small, remote town of Ennis, Alaska, and the start of the annual 50 days of darkness. A delivery man notices something unusual at the Tsalal Arctic Research Station, where all 8 of the scientists stationed there have mysteriously gone missing. As Chief Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) of the APF and her young deputy investigate the scene, they discover a severed human tongue, possibly belonging to an indigenous woman. Back at the station, Trooper Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis) is anxiously waiting. Six years ago she was removed from the APF due to her obsession with a case involving an Inupiat woman named Annie Kowtok, who was brutally stabbed to death and had her tongue cut out, but the case was never solved. Navarro is convinced that the tongue may belong to that same victim, but Danvers isn’t so sure, and is unsure how that case could be connected to the disappearance of the scientists. She isn’t thrilled to see Navarro again, and tells her to leave the case alone.

When the missing men are found frozen in the ice, the situation is even more bizarre and mysterious than they ever could have imagined. As Danvers begrudgingly teams up with Navarro to investigate the case, they each take a different approach. Navarro speaks to the odd old woman, Rose Aguineau (Fiona Shaw), who found the men—Rose claims to be able to talk to the dead, and was told where to find the men by a deceased man named Travis. While most people would just think that Rose was a bit crazy, Navarro is a spiritual—though not religious—person and believes in this kind of cultural connection to the deceased. At the same time, Danvers takes a more traditional approach to the investigation, and starts digging up the bodies along with young rookie Deputy Peter Prior (Finn Bennett), the son of Captain Hank Prior (John Hawkes), the man who originally handled the case of the murdered indigenous woman. Meanwhile, Danvers’ superior, Captain Ted Connolly (Christopher Eccleston) has come to town and appears to be in a hurry to close the case, asking Danvers to transfer the bodies to Anchorage, but Danvers is determined to see the case through.

As the investigation continues, the detectives discover that the people of Ennis (including themselves) have many dark secrets, and these start to come to the surface. As they deal with unexpected twists and turns in the case, the detectives also try to navigate issues in their own personal lives.

This fourth season of True Detective is the first to not include the involvement of series creator Nic Pizzolatto, However, I quite enjoyed Night Country, and it may actually be my favorite season of the series thus far. The endless nighttime, cold Arctic setting helps set the season’s dark and creepy tone. It feels like a horror movie mixed with one of those Scandinavian crime dramas. Then you add in all the spiritual elements with people talking to the dead, people having strange visions, and the odd occurrences surrounding the missing scientists, and it helps add to the dark and mysterious tone of the season.

Along with the case, the season also explores the backstories and home lives of the detectives. We see how spirituality plays a large role in Navarro’s life and how she is constantly trying to help others, like her sister Julia (Aka Niviâna), and why she has this obsession with making things right. We also follow Danvers and her strained relationship with her 17-year-old Inupiat stepdaughter Leah (Isabella Star LaBlanc), who suddenly wants to explore her Native heritage, much to Danvers’ disapproval. Danvers also has a complicated relationship with her superior, Ted. And we also explore Peter’s relationships with his his wife Kayla, their son Darwin, and his father Hank, and how his job is causing a strain on those relationships. The season also explores topics of indigenous culture, and domestic violence. This season is a very female-centric production, both in front of and behind-the camera, but the stories that are told still feel universal.

The cast this season is excellent. It was great seeing Jodie Foster back on my TV—she is such an amazing actress, and she does an excellent job portraying this tough detective who has some skeletons in her closet. I wasn’t familiar with Kali Reis, but she holds her own as this very spiritual woman who’s fighting some demons of her own. Finn Bennett is another actor I wasn’t familiar with, but he knocks it out of the park alongside John Hawkes and Foster, delivering on one of the season’s biggest moments.

Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment has released this fourth season of True Detective on both Blu-ray and DVD, and the season is also available for purchase digitally. We received the Blu-ray for review, and were quite pleased with the presentation. The picture quality looks excellent. Much of the series is set in the darker nighttime, but the picture remains clean and clear, with a strong level of detail throughout. I never noticed any issues such as banding or black crush. The audio track provides clear dialogue, and makes nice use of the stereo and surround channels to provide an immersive ambiance throughout. The track also showcases the season’s unique score—which includes indigenous throat singing—as well as the season’s title song, Billie Eilish’s “Bury a Friend”, which really fits the creepy tone of the season.

The fourth season’s 6 episodes are split evenly between the 2 discs, which reside on either side of a standard Blu-ray keepcase, placed in a cardboard slipcase. Unfortunately this time around there is no digital copy included, like previous seasons of the series had, but the discs do contain about 15 minutes of behind-the-scenes bonus material with the cast and crew.

What’s Included:

Episodes:

All 6 episodes of the fourth season:
Disc 1 (3:00:17): “Part 1”, “Part 2”, “Part 3”
Disc 2 (3:19:18): “Part 4”, “Part 5”, “Part 6”
1080p / Widescreen 2.00:1
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, German 5.1 Dolby Digital, Czech 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles: English SDH, French, German SDH, Dutch, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish

Extras:

Meet the True Detectives (2:56)
Stars Jodie Foster (“Liz Danvers”) & Kali Reis (“Evangeline Navarro”) ask each other fun rapid-fire questions related to the series, filming night shoots in the cold, and more.
New Chapter (2:59)
The cast and filmmakers discuss the premise of the season, the cast and characters, the setting, the tone/genre, the female-centric production, and more. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with stars Jodie Foster, Kali Reis & Finn Bennett (“Peter Prior”), executive producer/director/writer Issa and executive producer Mari Jo Winkler-Ioffreda.
Recaps
Previously On/recap segments for each episode. These can be found on the discs with the related episodes.
- Episode One Recap (:59)
- Episode Two Recap (1:00)
- Episode Three Recap (:45)
- Episode Four Recap (1:01)
- Episode Five Recap (:42)
- Episode Six Recap (:47)
Exploring Indigenous Themes (4:43)
The cast and filmmakers discuss how the season explores the stories of indigenous communities, shooting in Iceland, casting real indigenous people both in front of and behind the camera, using throat singing for the score, the themes of culture and spirituality, and more. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with executive producer/director/writer Issa López, executive producer Mari Jo Winkler-Ioffreda, and stars Kali Reis, Isabella Star LaBlanc (“Leah”), Jodie Foster & Aka Niviâna (“Julia”).
Max Inkblots (3:13)
In this fun featurette, stars Jodie Foster and Kali Reis take a Warner Bros. TV/movie themed inkblot test.
Setting (2:17)
The cast and filmmakers discuss the fictional setting of Ennis, Alaska, how it serves as a character in the series, filming in Iceland, and more. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with executive producer/director/writer Issa López, executive producer Mari Jo Winkler-Ioffreda, and stars Jodie Foster, John Hawkes (“Hank Prior”) & Kali Reis.

Final Thoughts:

My Rating

Episodes:

Video:

Audio:

Extras:

Recommended

Each season, True Detective gives us a new case, new detectives, and a new genre/tone, and the series really hits it out of the park in this fourth season, subtitled Night Country. Each season is self-contained, but those who wavered on the show after the second and third seasons should come back for the fourth as I think this may be the best season yet. The creepy tone of the season is quite unique, bringing in horror/thriller and spiritual elements. The cast is excellent—I always enjoy seeing Jodie Foster on my TV, and the story and characters are quite interesting this season, with some surprising twists and turns. Warner Bros.’ Blu-ray release looks and sounds great, and includes a small but entertaining assortment of bonus material. This season is definitely worth checking out, and since it’s an anthology, there’s no need to have seen the first three seasons to fully appreciate it.