Are the supernatural elements of True Detective: Arctic Night really necessary?

Over four seasons anthology true detective HBO tried to balance the hint of the supernatural with a methodical criminal investigation. As a result, each installment told stories of complex crimes that in turn hinted at the possibility of something stranger. It was a precarious but brilliant balance that the production maintained throughout its seasons, even the second, often considered its worst.

But at this time, True Detective: Polar Night, decides to leave nothing to the viewer’s imagination and explores an unmistakably supernatural mystery. The disappearance of a group of explorers in the middle of the eternal night in Alaska sets off a series of inexplicable events. In fact, claims of a paranormal element to the whole situation began before anything happened.

Animals with eccentric behavior that end up committing suicide. Visions, ghostly images, the ice turned into a landscape full of secrets. On the surface, it’s an intriguing story with a lot to explore.

But it moves away from the procedural entirely and relies on intuition, rethinking what is dark, and the fear it can provoke. This raises a question regarding True Detective as a production: Was it necessary for season four to lean definitively into the horror genre?

Secrets of the isolated city

The answer is no. In particular, because true detective In all previous parts, this made it impossible to determine his tone at first glance. Director and screenwriter Issa Lopez takes the opposite route and explores the horrifying. What dilutes the tension, the search for answers and specifically the density of the story. By the fourth episode it becomes obvious that Danvers (Jodie Foster) and Navarrese (Kali Reis) are faced with a situation that is beyond them. In fact, it shows the latter’s sister, Julia (Aka Niviana) dies in the snow. He does this in a scene that suggests his death is a prelude to an event that will devastate the town of Ennis.

But the plot had to show what was happening around him as a supernatural event and close to a mystical mystery. Because of this, the neo-noir atmosphere of True Detective is diluted in a scene that belongs to a genre film. Was something like this necessary? As the story progresses, it becomes apparent that every element of the investigation will be connected – or crushed – by the supernatural plot. Therefore, little by little, what is connected with events that are even investigated seems completely unnecessary. What is the value of research if everything is related to facts outside the sphere of human knowledge?

In fact, in the third episode, Navarro herself demonstrated her psychic abilities. And in the character’s dark encounter with what he believed seemed to be a haunted space between the living and the dead. The truth is that while the series still maintains an elegant way of telling the story of a grotesque event, tries too hard to create fear.

The world of the paranormal is interesting, including ghosts, half-hinted horrors, and what appears to be presences moving through the ice. But it in no way engages the characters in an investigation in which their old traumas may find answers, as the first chapter hinted at. With two of them yet to be released, it’s clear the series is heading toward a terrifying but never conclusive answer to its mysteries.

Fear as a Storytelling Tool

In addition, the fourth episode of the series analyzes the entire setting of the incident with the scientists, something that has already happened, but for the first time it is analyzed as something police. This allows the story to more easily convey the characteristics of progress. A handy file reveals that the photograph of the corpses was previously taken by an Ennis resident. However, unlike what happened to the Tsalala people, this appears to be an isolated incident. Only this is not the case, and the series clumsily hints at it.

By the end, with Navarro chasing a ghost and Danvers trying to figure out what the missing Clark (Owen McDonnell) is hiding, the series reaches a dead end. Moreover, the supernatural element is used little or confusingly. The narrative balance in True Detective: Polar Night was ultimately thrown off, affecting the integrity of the series. A problem I probably can’t solve in two chapters.