Season 4 - 6 episodes
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Created by: Issa Lopez, Nic Pizzolatto (based on True Detective series by)
Starring: Jodie Foster, Kali Reis, Fiona Shaw, Isabella Star LaBlanc, John Hawkes
Rated: TV-MA
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Plot
In the fourth season of the anthology, eight scientists at Tsalal Arctic Research Station vanish without a trace after the last sunrise for two months in Ennis, Alaska. A detective and trooper uncover evidence that links both their cases years apart.
Verdict
This starts out so well and it maintains a great mood until the final episode. This seems supernatural and the endless night of Alaska adds to the creepiness. The final episode undercuts the rest of this show. It makes the the season worse as I was completely underwhelmed. I couldn't help but think, 'That's it?' We were teased with supernatural elements throughout the season only for that to be undone in the final episode. It was all misdirection. I enjoyed this right up until the end, but the final episode makes the rest of the season worse retroactively.
It depends.
Review
The first episode throws question after question at the viewer. We know a bunch of scientists disappeared from a research station and they are later found frozen to death. Danvers (Jodie Foster) and Navarro (Kali Reis) are on the case, though they don't get along and have a past. There are so many unanswered questions that you want to see the next episode by default just for the hope of some answers. After one episode we don't know which way is up. The setting is great and it's well written, but I wanted answers.
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| Kali Reis, Jodie Foster play Evangeline Navarro, Liz Danvers |
The victims' state is bewildering. They're frozen in place, naked, tangled, and distressed. Throughout this show, we get indications that something supernatural might be occurring, and then it pulls back to make me think maybe I'm reading too much into it or it's the characters seeing things. This back and forth continues throughout the season. The characters have depth, but the pacing is a little quick. This show feels like it's trying hard to be cool and weird. One character that sees ghosts states that Ennis, Alaska is the center of reality tearing apart. I thought there would be more to that.
The backstory with Danvers and Navarro is an unsolved case that ended in death. The subtext to the entire season is the contention between a mining company and what wrongs they might be committing and the victims that are the locals as local culture erodes.
In episode three, there is a character I was certain was possessed. I believed that until the final episode that seems to tie everything up with a logical explanation that avoids attributing anything to a supernatural force or presence, but this show hints at this evil force below the ice so many times, that I wanted that. The show led me to believe I'd see that and didn't live up to it.
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| Kali Reis plays Evangeline Navarro |
This is a short season, and with so few episodes I kept wondering when this would start wrapping the story. Through four episodes it didn't feel like we were close to a conclusion or explanation. This moves too quickly. We could use an episode or two to better develop the characters. With the conclusion we get, there are many story aspects I thought were supernatural that I now want to pick apart. I was intentionally misled. I made a lot of connections that weren't related, but the show pushes you to think that. Is the explanation that everything these characters saw that seemed impossible was just them hallucinating? The long night just gets to you? That's a cop out. If you take out everything that seems impossible, you rob this show of a lot of lore. The problem is that the lore ends up being largely inconsequential.
This show keeps pushing this supernatural element and I kept waiting for answers. By the end, I'm underwhelmed. This is the type of show where the final episode can make or break the show. It didn't do enough. All of these clues for which I searched each episode end up feeling pointless, just a misdirection. If the final episode had brought everything together, it would give me a reason to go back and see what connections I missed. With the final episode, there's no reason to go back.
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