Season Four of True Detective called Night Country is red hot with so many questions about what is going on in the remote town of Ennis in Alaska, and the true nature of the antagonist this season, so if after the episodes you still have question about what is going on, do not worry, here we are going to answer some of them. Of course, since the season is not over yet, there are some questions without answer, but still we are more than ready to offer some theories. You ready?
1 ^ What does the quote at the beginning of the first episode mean?
For we do not know what beasts the night dreams when its hours grow too long for even God to be awake
Hildred Castaigne
If this phrase means anything, it is that the long arctic night brings things that are not entirely pretty, things that can be scary, monstrous and terrifying. What are those terrible things that the long night dreams about? We’re about to see.
2 ^ Why did the reindeers jump off the cliff at the beginning of the first episode ?
In general, reindeers, caribous or Christmas deers – whatever the hell you prefer to call them – are animals extremely sensitive to stress. When they are close to an intense sensory source, such as a change in the intensity of light, sound, vibrations and even smells, the instinct of animals is to flee as quickly as possible from that source of stress, regardless of what they encounter along the way. That is why there are so many reports of these animals jumping at cars, generally because they are hearing the noise caused by other cars, and likewise when faced with a predator, they can also end up jumping off cliffs, or bridges.
In the series, it seems that the thing stressing the reindeers beyond their really low tolerance level was the sunset itself, the last sunset in months. Were they terrified about the terrifying thing the long night is bringing?
3 ^ Is there a town called Ennis in Alaska?
No, Ennis (Alaska) is a fictional town created for the fourth season of True Detective, although we have some data that could be considered to see what its counterpart is in the real world. The data we have about Ennis is that it is 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle and that it has coordinates of 68°65N 165°35W, a strange point since if 65 is the minutes, it should be 66’05″ instead, because there cannot be more than 60 minutes in a point of coordinates . But if we adjust it to real coordinates, it would be a place very close to Point Hope. Keeping this in mind, Ennis seems to be a mix of many of the towns in the area, such as Point Hope and Selawik.
4 ^ What does TSALAL mean?
TSALAL is a research station in the Arctic, which at the start of the series has been operating for 18 years, conducting research in Arctic geology, chemistry and biology, including effects of climate change. Until now, the exact meaning of the acronym has not been revealed. But we will be attentive.
Thing we know for sure: it was created by Swedish scientist Anders Lund and it was mainly funded by several NGO across the globe, most of them interested in what they could find there. Not sure if they were more for the oil and gas, or more for the origin of life. We’ll see that soon.
5 ^ Who are the dead scientists at the TSALAL Arctic Research Station?
Ralph Emerson (United States): He is a geologist (or well, he was), an expert in molecular phylogenetics and microbial evolution, specialized in Horizontal Genetic Transfer. Well, this more or less translated means that Ralph was an expert in the study of the genetic particles of microbial organisms, and how on some occasions, genes are not transferred through reproduction processes, but rather through inter-species contact, that is say that a bacteria can take genetic material from a fungus, simply by contact with it. Are you still with me? Ok, moving on…
Anton Kotov (Russia): Geophysics expert, who according to what is mentioned in his file was the one who investigated how climate change affects ice layers, but not only within the current climate change era, but also within the multiple climate change eras that have occurred in the history of Planet Earth.
Li Jie (China): Expert in geobiology and statography, specializing in how a mass extinction event can influence an organism, and what makes it particularly susceptible, or resistant to such events. Was Li Jie investigating the new villain of the Serie? Some supernatural being resistant to anything?
Raymond Clark (United Kingdom): Paleomicrobiology. There is something very interesting about this scientist and that is that he was an expert in a very specific organism: Staphylococcus aureus . Curious facts about Staphylococcus aureus is that it is a bacteria that has evolved alongside the human species, to the point that almost all of us carry it on our skin or in our respiratory tract without it making us sick. The bacteria has evolved to live inside us, generally with a positive impact, ensuring its survival by being easily transmitted between human populations. But, be careful, this bacteria, under certain circumstances, can become a problem, and that was what our friend Clark was investigating. Or was he?
Lucas Merens (United States): Environmental Chemist. This one seems a little strange to me. He was an expert in the impact of metal ions on biology, having developed a laser that he applied to metalloproteins to study their processes. Well, here as a general information, many molecules in the body require metallic proteins to carry out their functions, such as hemoglobin for example.
Facundo Molina (Chile): Biophysics. We don’t know much about what he was researching, except that he made food tiktoks. Curious that he had a Buenos Aires accent, but his resume says that he was Chilean. Anyway. Suppose he was an assistant to the following scientist.
Veer Mehta (India): Biophysics. Here we return to a recurring theme in these scientists, and that is that Dr. Mehta studied how the genetic makeup of individuals made them more or less resistant to some drugs, not medical drugs, but drugs distributed by cartels. Are we seeing a pattern here? Why would they have these types of scientists on that station?
Anders Lund (Sweden) : Expert in Structural Biology and Biochemistry. He was the founder of the Research Station. It is noted that the pinnacle of his research was the high-resolution structural analysis of mitochondrial protein import mechanisms. He returns and plays the initial question: Why does it seem that scientists were researching rather microbiology and its biochemical processes related to survival events?
Mind Note: at the end of the episode, only three corpses were shown, so it is possible that some of these guys are not dead. And if some of them are not really dead, are they the real killers?
6 ^ What is the song that appears in the credits of True Detective: Night Country?
The song is Bury a Friend by Billie Eilish, not exactly one of my favorites, if you ask me. I would have preferred Sweat by Bob Marley which is the one playing when the delivery man arrives at the research station to find that creepy tongue.
7 ^ Who is Evangeline Navarro?
She is one of our protagonists this season played by ex-boxer Kali Reis. She was one of Ennis’ investigators, at the time of the murder of Anne Masu Kowtok, widely known as Annie K. This was six years before the events of Night Country.
There is also this strange scene where Navarro receives a message from a colleague in the army, possibly on a mission in Afghanistan, with the disadvantage that the colleague in questions had half of her head blown off.
8 ^ Who is Elizabeth Danvers?
Played by the legendary Jodie Foster, she is the current investigative detective in Ennis, Alaska, recently relocated (less than six years), although it seems she worked elsewhere in Alaska before, where she married a native who already had a daughter: Leah.
Something we suspect from what we see in this chapter, and from Leah’s terror when the car slid, is that they were both involved in some accident, somewhere else in Alaska, and that was the reason for their transfer.
9 ^ Who is «She» of whom some in Ennis speak with such fear?
Entering the realm of speculation, but «She» seems to be the antagonist of this season, and it would seem to indicate that it is some kind of supernatural being, but I have my doubts about it. Maybe there’s something they’re mining near Ennis, some kind of chemical agent that creates some kind of hallucination, which is magnified by the beliefs of the locals, but again, that’s just me speculating, and maybe it is a beast that the scientists woke up from the ice and now she’s murdering people and ripping out their tongues. Maybe.
10 ^ Who are the Iñupiat and why do their tongues have marks?
Well, the Iñupiat are a Native American group that lives exactly in that area where Ennis is supposedly located, they are a group that speaks Inuit and English, and they are very well organized within the social and administrative structure of Alaska, dedicated to fishing, hunting and gathering. Iñupiat people have been incorporated into the American lifestyle in Alaska for quite some time, so it is not unusual to see people of the Iñupiat ethnic group in different professions such as lawyers, scientists, athletes and singers.
Those who still have fishing and gathering customs usually work on fishing nets by themselves, which are usually made and repaired using their tongues, which is why these people usually have marks on their tongue, although not as exaggerated as seen in the series, although it is justified to exacerbate the dramatic tone. Good for you, HBO.
11 ^ What did Danvers find by comparing Annie K’s photos with those of the Tsalal scientists?
One of the scientists, apparently the British one, was wearing the same Annie K jacket, which had a tear, which the scientist covered with a smiley face. Could they be the murderers? Is that why the t tongue appeared there? Is that Annie K’s tongue?
12 ^ Who is Holden?
It’s still not clear who Holden is, but my theories here. Holden was the son of Elizabeth Danvers, and he died in the accident in which either she or her husband were drunk, and in which Leah was also present. Now Holden is a spiritual presence, or the mental illness that scares our protagonist.
Questions that we will continue to answer: Who is the lady who sees her dead son? Who is Travis? How did you find the dead scientists? How did this lady find the bodies?
El Sabanero X 