“True Detective: Polar Night” review: the series returns to its best moments

Anthology series, True Detective, has a rare problem. And it has become a classic thanks to its brilliant first season, which was a milestone for HBO. There’s something already challenging about a brand dedicated to creating quality products. But in the case of screenwriter Nic Pizzolatto’s 2014 story, the stakes were all-in.

Starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, the story, with its gothic overtones of a crime-turned-supernatural event, captivated more than just critics. At the same time, it became a cultural event that made it clear that Conventional police dramas can also be works that deal with the human condition.

The quality of the plot reached such heights that the next two turned into a simple imitation of this success. The second, released in 2015, and the third in 2109 never reached the level of complexity and visual cut of the original. What ultimately doesn’t happen to True Detective: Polar Nightthe most recent and the only one similar in tone and narrative to the first. The story goes back to the origins of a mysterious case that may also be a supernatural fact discovered at the same time.like an elaborate crime. During the intermission, the script examines its characters, this time two female agents who must solve brutal murders while trying to survive.

Directed and written by Issa Lopez, based on Pizzolato’s idea, the series finally suggests that it belongs largely in the horror genre. What pushes her to leave behind insinuations and half-truths, to think about a sinister idea. A group of scientists died in the frozen Alaskan wilderness, and the conditions in which the bodies were found suggest it was more than murder. In fact, the main question the show asks is when they actually died and what happened in the minutes before. The answer is a cruel riddle leading into the eternal night of frozen territory. But also to question the humanity of the possible killer.

Luxurious cast for a bloody series

Danvers (Jodie Foster) is the police chief of the small isolated town where the events take place. He’d seen worse things, but he’d never seen anything stranger: corpses lying in a giant block of ice. So much of the first and second chapters of the story are spent wondering how they got there and how they can get out. The solution is to melt the ice with direct spotlights. All episodes, filmed in the dark tones of a horror film, are accompanied by long silences and a feeling of urgent need to find out what happened. Meanwhile, something is lurking in the dark this will last several months. Between the polar bears and orange flashes in the night sky lies a killer.

Navarro (Kali Reis) tries to help with his technical knowledge; However, her past with Danvers—an unfortunate professional event that jeopardized both of their careers—complicates things. Gradually, the script explores the women’s ethnic differences, how both are perceived only as female agents, and the fear of humans. In particular, the story – so well written that not one bit of the mystery is given away – leads to strange places involving crimes. The victims were tortured before they died, although it is unclear and not shown what kind of torture. Agents deal with uncertainty, people’s fear and at the same time with each other’s demands.

In this case, True Detective makes the smart decision to turn his central mystery into more than just a crime to solve. At the same time, this circumstance could endanger miners, indigenous people and even visitors in the middle of a three-month night in the area. One thing is clear: the causes of death are brutal, they will not stop immediately, and both Danvers and Navarro will have to expect the worst. Especially when the temperature becomes more brutal and the criminal – or what he kills – becomes part of the harsh nature.

Terror in the police environment

True Detective: Night Polar bases its visual effectiveness on turning snowy Icelandic landscapes disguised as Alaska into terrifying locales. The characters become smaller in the white vastness, and the snow turns into whirlwinds that attack like living creatures. While the technical side will never match what was surprising in the first season (comparisons are inevitable), it has its own personality. Moreover, he is smart enough to talk about the environment as an enemy.which turns several chapters of the series into a war on the environment.

Overall the show is sober, smart and well-acted. His great contribution to the anthology is to present terror as a real, rather than assumed, part of history. Sometimes he fails to use very complex techniques to avoid details – towards the third chapter the feeling of a secret being kept becomes tiresome – but he quickly regains his rhythm. Compared, True Detective: Polar Night It beats out the rest of its predecessors by having more visual and narrative personality. In particular, be more specific and avoid platitudes.

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While not perfect or achieving the masterful surprise of the first season, True Detective fourth is effective and much better constructed than seasons two and three. This makes it the starting point for perhaps a new journey through a world built almost by chance. The Nic Pizzolato series is back and in great shape. This will always be good news.