One Big True Detective: Night Country Theory And 3 Questions I Have Going Into The Season Finale

Major spoilers below for the first five episodes of True Detective: Night Country, so be warned if you haven't yet gone down the spiral.

With its penultimate fifth episode — which HBO made available to stream early for those with Max subscriptions — True Detective: Night Country delivered a pair of unexpected murders, an “official” solution to the Tsalal scientists’ deaths, and ever-so-slightly widened the scope of the conspiracy surrounding Annie K.’s unsolved death. Not to mention the utter destruction of whatever sanity Peter Prior may have had left. 

Ahead of the season finale, I’ve got one big back-burner theory that “Part 5” seemed to supply some evidence for, as well as a handful of questions about other this storyline’s endgame, and what it means for Jodie Foster’s Danvers, Kali Reis’ Navarro and others. (I’ve given up on this story’s connections to Matthew McConaughey’s Rust Cohle actually meaning anything major.) So join me in ignoring past gripes about the show and falling below the ice to figure out what’s actually going on in the Night Country.

THEORY: Tsalal Isn’t A “Real” Lab, And Only Exists To Keep The Mine Open

Clearly, something isn’t 100% kosher when it comes to what’s happened at Tsalal, and I don’t just mean all the mysterious deaths. Viewers have heard all kinds of facts and claims about the scientists and engineers that worked within the research facility’s walls, but without ever seeing any actual science or research taking place. Let’s not forget that before things went haywire in the premiere, the Tsalal crew was fixing up sandwiches, popcorn, and beer while watching Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

We now know exactly how Season 1’s cult family is involved, as Pryor discovered Tuttle United’s deal with the shell company Norbank Securities, which is a founding partner of Ennis’ Silver Sky Mining. And we now know that the Tsalal team was responsible for crafting and releasing pollution reports whose falsified data went in favor of the mining company, data that went in the face of the tragic stillbirths of nine babies in the area. 

But while we’ve seen proof of these deaths, with Liz herself stepping foot in the room where the mini-coffins were kept, we’ve seen zero proof of the Tsalal team’s previously stated mission to find an organism with the potential to affect the aging process. As such, I think that goal has just been used as a heightened justification for keeping the facility running for so many years, and that Tuttle United is more interested in money made from mining than anything overtly scientific. (Religious pederasts and murderers aren’t usually science buffs.)

This would offer a clearer explanation for why some of the men who worked at Tsalal were less than savory characters who weren’t esteemed geniuses in their fields, such as Otis Heiss and Raymond Clark. It’s quite likely Tuttle and/or Silver Sky Mining gave those jobs to whoever was desperate and willing enough to sequester themselves to that gig for years on end.

QUESTION: Did An Avalanche Actually Kill The Scientists?

For all the Tsalal research facility’s shady practices and non-objective studies, none of that info seems to point directly to the cause for the horrors that left nearly the entire crew dead and frozen. And so whenever Christopher Eccleston’s Ted and Dervla Kirwan’s Kate relay to Liz that the forensics report pointed to a snowslide being responsible for all the nude corpses, it didn’t sound THAT wild or over the top. As Scooby-Doo has taught us time and again, anything that seems impossibly unnatural is probably just a dude in a mask. 

But because audiences were able to witness some of the moments prior to their deaths, we know that something weird was happening with the electronics and the men themselves that didn’t necessarily speak to disastrous natural events such as avalanches. So we know they weren’t anticipating such an event, and thus weren’t all outside watching for it, as Ted suggested.

That said, there’s obviously a chance for the forensics report to be true while still not telling the whole story. It’s possible that whatever event that made the electronics go wonky could have caused some kind of earthly tremor that in turn sparked an avalanche. It doesn’t explain why Clark wasn’t there, as well as some of the other details, but would at least make it seem like not everyone above Liz’s pay grade is part of the cover-up.

QUESTION: What Are Kate’s Story And Evil Motivations?

One of True Detective: Night Country’s biggest non-secrets is that many of the women in Ennis don’t like Liz because of her sexual proclivities, with Silver Star Mining boss Kate McKitterick at or near the top of that list. So it’s no surprise that she isn’t offering any pure-hearted assistance by way of Liz’s investigation, but how far up the duplicitous ladder is she, and what are her actual goals here?

On the one hand, she could be mostly “innocent,” as it were, when it comes to whatever Tuttle United’s overarching goals are. Which would still make her an ogre just for working so hard to keep the mine open in the face of tainting the land and local population, but that’s at least the kind of authority figure that people are used to. Plus, the mine employs so many people in the area that it would take several acts of God to shut it down entirely. 

Then on the other hand, Kate could be in full knowledge of whatever Tuttle United is doing with the mine, the Tsalal station, and whatever is in the caves. She doesn’t wholly seem like a ruthless, hands-rubbing-together monster, but she also doesn’t come across as someone who would stand up against a more powerful cause to fight for what is virtuous. She’s a cog, but where do her intentions lie?

Who Is The “She” That Everyone Is Saying Is Awake Now?

True Detective: Night Country has hinted at actual supernatural moments going down in this world, largely tied to ghostly visions experienced by Navarro, her late sister Julia, and Fiona Shaw’s Rose. Both those and the dream messages haven’t always seemed like concrete proof, though, since we haven’t seen two characters witnessing the same ghoulish events. (Although something tells me a slightly unexplainable incident went down at the Wheeler household surrounding his falsified suicide.)

One elusive detail that we have seen multiple characters referring to is the idea that something happened in the caves that got “her” attention, and “she” is now awake. I cannot imagine anyone is talking about a corporeal human being, since that wouldn’t make any sense. Which would mean Otis and other engineers were presumably talking about a spiritual being of some kind, but that doesn’t line up with all the science on display. 

Is this all part of a group hallucination caused by gasses and other underground elements being released into the air through mining? Or is there genuinely a female entity involved who was lying dormant before being roused from slumber? And what does she have to do with the spiral stones that were apparently used as ominous warnings?

What Happened To Liz Danver’s Husband And Son?

Liz Danvers’ personal life is the subject of much scrutiny and judgment among the residents in Ennis, with her stepdaughter Leah as antagonistic as anyone else. Viewers have been made privy to many of the skeletons in her closet, but we’re all still largely in the dark when it comes to exactly what happened to Liz’s late husband and their son, whose name was Holden. 

Most of the moments relating to the kiddo tie into the one-eyed polar bear doll that ghostly Holden is seen carrying, which Liz held on to (before angrily throwing it out).  But because Navarro’s visions out on the ice appear to show a vehicular accident involving a large truck, it’s possible those are her memories of the day Liz lost most of her family. It’s maybe safe to assume a drunk driver was at fault, too, given the chief’s reaction to an intoxicated local behind the wheel in the premiere. (Although that was potentially squashed when boozed-up Liz had zero issues with getting behind the wheel herself.)

I can’t fully grasp why showrunner Issa López has held back on sharing more details about Liz’s tragedies before the finale, unless her husband and son’s deaths end up being directly related to other mysterious events in Ennis. Could that be part of why Jodie Foster’s character is so vocally against Navarro’s spiritual nature, because she can’t explain what killed her loved ones? Here’s hoping answers are coming in the final episode of Season 4.

True Detective: Night Country's finale will air on Sunday, February 18, at 9:00 p.m. ET, and will be available to stream on Max. Head to our 2024 TV premiere schedule to see what other new and returning shows are on the way.