Night Country: Part 1

A million miles away from the original inspiration of True Detective Magazine of 1924, another good show gets killed off by the wokitics of ticknology. Not even worth rating , as negative ratings don't get counted by the same company that broadcasts it. I won't even hate-watch or cringe-watch it. Don't have time for the same tired lectures from the same old misandrist industrial complex. Ooh, it's so spiritual, though. No, pseudo supernatural codswallop is not only not spiritual, it's insulting to those who truly have those sorts of connections. But as long as it can be millked for a few bucks and churn a bunch of suckers into slack-jawed sycophants, bravo. So brave! So bad my cat threw up and then ran away.

I was so looking forward to this series because when I heard Jody Foster's name I thought the legendary series was saved! And no. It's a pretty mediocre start, full of clichés, every move is predictable. And at times it gets boring, and Foster couldn't save it. I watched it again to see if I could find what I was missing, but there was nothing in it, just over-expectations. I don't think resurrecting such an iconic series is easy - what the predecessors have put down is hard to balance. But I'll give it a chance, if the director takes a different style for the second part... the chances are there, though I suppose not that much.

I loved season 1 and 3 with season 2 being okay. After righting the ship with season 3 I was so excited for season 4 as the idea of the characters and setting seemed very intriguing as I love isolated location murder mysteries like trapped and vigil. However I was shocked by what felt like a show not worthy of the hbo or true detective platform. It felt somehow devoid of atmosphere due to it feeling incredibly in authentic in its location. It's like this small town was built by Google. The show gave me the feeling of a lazy netflix show or something from the CW. Even season 2 which I did not like felt like it was near the same level but do you far this is shockingly bad.

As far as opening episodes go I think this was underwhelming. I am curious to see where the show will take it however. One thing I always liked about TD is the pace in which it slowly builds up the tension. The biggest complaint of season 2 of TD is that it's way to dark and grim because all the main characters are damaged goods. Guess what!? All the main characters are damaged goods in this show. Now i actually liked season 2, i just think it's a weird choice considering the reception season 2 recieved. The pacing in this episode was off. We are introduced to everything in the first episode which made it feel rushed and very messy. I am not feeling the tension yet despite us knowing the mystery and knowing that there's something brooding underneath. I am interested to see how it all unfolds. I just wished they would have taken their time to introduce us to all of it and given us the time to let it marinate. As I said before what sets TD apart from other detective shows is the pacing.

Now some positives and some negatives. I like the snowy settings of Alaska, it immediately gives it a dark and grim feel about it. It gave me a little bit of Der pass vibes. A german/austrian detective i really like. I quite enjoyed Jody Fosters in this episode. I think she nails her role as the grumpy old cop to a T. I am not that convinced about the other characters on the show yet. Which is one of the reasons of rating this episode a 5/10. I just don't really care about them and their problems yet. Some extra minor nitpicks, how many times do you need to mention spirit animals in one episode? How big is that police station? I thought it was some small town way up North in Alaska. Someone said: be careful driving because there is a lot of snow? Pretty sure Alaskans know how to drive in the snow. There are quite a few unsubtle racial and sexist undertones in this episode. I think some of these could and should have been done in a more subtle and tactful manner.

As an opening episode its my least favourite out of all the TD seasons. But there was enough there for me to give it a second chance. I hope they will turn it around in the next few episodes.

Look, nothing's ever going to come close to season 1, perfection is very hard to replicate. But season 4 is shaping up nicely (Only 1 episode is available so not a lot to go on to be fair) Foster is believable as a hardened detective, Reis is looking like she'll be a interesting character and the overall feel of the show is feeling more like season 1 than either of the other 2 follow ups.

Alaska seems like the perfect setting for a dark, creepy and compelling series and I'm loving the mysteries that are starting to unfold already. Really looking forward to seeing how the rest of the series progresses but have to say episode 1 is a great start. 8/10.