True Detective Still Has a Lot to Answer For
There’s only one episode left to answer a lot of questions.
True Detective: Night Country only has six episodes, while every other season have had eight. But what this season lacks in runtime, it more than makes up for in atmosphere and spooky moments. Season 4 is by far the most supernatural season yet, which makes the finale all the more difficult to pull off: will all the surreal happenings get explained, or will it be left to interpretation?
We compiled every remaining mystery left in the path of Detectives Liz Danvers and Evangeline Navarro, from the huge mysteries looming to the annoying loose ends.
7. What Happened to Annie K?
The mystery of Annie K is what turned this mystery from a curious case to a conundrum spanning years. Annie K, an activist and pillar in the local Inupiaq community, was killed years ago, but then her severed tongue was found on the floor of the Tsalal Station. It was one of the first unexplained mysteries we saw in the series, and hopefully it’s one of the first answered in the finale.
We’ve gotten to know Annie K very well over the past five episodes, but just how did she die?
6. What Happened to the Tsalal Scientists?
The “corpsicle” of Tsalal Station has been chilling (or rather, thawing) in the local ice rink for a few episodes now, and while we know the official explanation of a freak weather event, we’re still no closer to discovering what exactly happened to them. What caused their injuries? Why did they apparently die of fright? Why were their clothes neatly folded before? There are all sorts of lingering questions around this season’s central mystery, but it’s led to even more questions once you dive deeper.
5. What’s Causing All the Hallucinations?
Hallucinations have been the main motif of Night Country. Rose saw Travis Cohle, Evangeline Navarro keeps seeing a ghostly woman and Annie herself, and Liz Danvers hears the “she’s awake” statement over and over again. Rose made it very clear that we shouldn’t “confuse the spirit world with mental health issues,” but will we get a firm answer as to where these events fall on that spectrum?
Hallucinations are what led to Julia’s tragic death in Episode 4.
4. Why Does Otis Heiss Have Similar Injuries?
Otis Heiss, the German man Danvers and Navarro discovered in Episode 4, has multiple connections to the Tslalal mystery. He was discovered with injuries very similar to the ones the scientists sustained, he was wearing Annie K’s parka, and he had a connection to missing scientist Raymond Clark. Why did he sustain those injuries? Is whatever did that to him also responsible for the Tsalal tragedy?
3. Where is Raymond Clark?
Otis Heiss told the detectives Raymond Clark was “in the Night Country,” the name the locals use for the underground cave systems. But is he really living underneath the ice? What other answers lie in the “Night Country?” Clark has been teased as the one clue that would snap the whole case together: he’s the connection of Annie K and Tsalal, so if he doesn’t appear in the finale of this season it would be a vast oversight.
What does Otis Heiss know about Raymond Clark and the Night Country?
2. Why is Silver Sky Conspiring?
Some forensic accounting work by Peter Prior revealed Silver Sky Mining and Tsalal Research Station are in fact one and the same, with Tsalal working to alleviate accusations of pollution. But what does this conspiracy have to do with the water causing infertility among the local community? And is it connected to the multiple deaths?
1. What’s With All The Season 1 References?
Season 4 has included multiple references to the acclaimed first season of True Detective, from that infamous spiral, to Travis Cohle appearing to Rose, to everything tying back to Tuttle Industries. But is there substance to these references, or are they just vague Easter eggs? Theories about Season 1 mythical figure The Yellow King have run rampant for months now, and now there’s just one episode left to see if there’s any substance to them.
