True Detective: Night time Nation’s first episode matches season 1’s vibes

True Detective is the uncommon present that was way more thrilling and complex after seven episodes than it’s after three seasons. What began out as a brooding collection about detectives wanting into the darkish coronary heart of mindless, seemingly occult killings finally remodeled right into a detective present largely about males being unhappy. What’s exceptional in regards to the present’s latest season, True Detective: Night time Nation, is that in only one episode, new showrunner Issa López has managed to carry again the creeping, supernatural horror vibe that gave the primary season a lot promise.

The brand new season is ready within the small city of Ennis, Alaska, and this primary episode is usually involved with establishing the peculiarities of the city and the bones of this season’s thriller, together with attending to know our newest true detectives, in fact. The present’s opening, and its central thriller, is traditional cold-weather horror: A gaggle of researchers in a secluded winter base abruptly disappear, solely to be discovered removed from their base, frozen deep within the ice.

The place the primary season of the present hinted on the supernatural and the methods it generally might (or might not) peek by into our world, Night time Nation leaves no room for doubt. By the top of this episode, multiple character has had visions, and the situation the scientists are present in appears not possible to think about taking place naturally. However the true underline that makes the supernatural parts of the story plain is that native weirdo Rose (Fiona Shaw) is the one who finds the frozen scientists for the police, and the one cause she knew the place to look is as a result of some long-dead pal confirmed her the way in which.

López doesn’t let the supernatural overwhelm the remainder of the world in Night time Nation’s first episode, however she’s unambiguous about its existence. This seems like a pointed response to the True Detective tales which have come earlier than. Not combative, per se, however direct. Whereas the earlier seasons, notably the primary, led its characters from the pure and explainable world of crime towards one thing extra supernatural, Night time Nation’s thriller is beginning at unexplainable and dealing its approach again.

Photograph: Michele Ok. Quick/HBO

However for all of the ways in which López appears to be responding to True Detective’s previous within the first episode of her season, she makes her love for the collection clear, too. With regards to the cops wanting into this case, López revels in characterizing them as each bit the identical sort of damaged bastards that unique collection creator Nic Pizzolatto positioned on the heart of his three seasons writing the present. Main the investigation in Night time Nation is Liz Danvers (performed marvelously by Jodie Foster), an excellent cop with a mile-long document of pushing folks away by being an absolute asshole. Then there’s Liz’s previous companion Evangeline Navarro (boxer turned actor Kali Reis), a self-destructive hothead who let one case get caught in her craw and devour her complete profession.

The 2 cops don’t share the identical dynamic as Matthew McConaughey’s Rust Cohle and Woody Harrelson’s Marty Hart, precisely, but it surely’s clear that López was after the identical crackle the 2 had between them, and thru only one episode she’s already appeared to nail it. The 2 solely share temporary scenes in episode 1, however the chemistry they’ve is immediate and the bickering is pitch-perfect for cluing us in to the truth that they’re positive to work collectively once more finally.

By means of only one episode, True Detective: Night time Nation seems like what True Detective was at all times speculated to be. Impossibly, it captures the vibes of the collection’ finest episodes higher than something within the second or third seasons ever achieved. López feels at struggle with the collection’ historical past, not as a result of she hates it, however as a result of she loves it sufficient to need its finest model. What Issa López desires is the twisty, supernatural, pitch-black thriller present that had the web in an eight-week chokehold in 2014. And up to now, she’s off to a fantastic begin.