Detective stories have fascinated audiences for decades. There is something about imagining the perfect crime, the perfect criminal, and the perfect way to catch them that gets one’s imagination running wild. Now, a show may decide to run all seasons on the same timeline, sometimes trying to solve the same crime for the whole time (a good example is The Mentalist and Patrick Jane’s constant search for “Red John”). And sometimes, they do it all over again every season in an anthology series.
A famous modern anthology series is American Horror Story. However, a slightly lesser-known one, albeit no less loved, is True Detective. With the last season taking place in Alaska, it leads to a series of snow and ice-related crimes that are quite unique for crime stories.
True Detective Is a Great Modern Anthology Crime Series
True Detective is a four-season anthology series with no returning actors, whose title is rather self-explanatory. Each season focuses on a series of crimes being investigated, and after many twists and turns, the criminal is found. If the premise seems basic, though, the setup of each season is far from that. In the first season, starring Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Michelle Monaghan, Michael Potts, and Tory Kittles, the police force must chase an occult serial killer in Louisiana with crimes going back 17 years.
The second season, featuring Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, Taylor Kitsch, Kelly Reilly, and Vince Vaughn, dives into a more political story where three detectives from three different jurisdictions must join forces to solve the murder of a politician with a suspicious ex-conman on their radar. Changing the setup completely, the third season, with Mahershala Ali, Carmen Ejogo, Stephen Dorff, Scoot McNairy, and Ray Fisher, has a more complex plot, which takes place in the Ozarks over three time periods and involves the search for two missing children.
The Grizzly Premise of the Fourth Season of True Detective
The fourth season of True Detective, sporting the subtitle Night Country, marks a total renewal for the series. First, the production team changes: unlike the first three seasons, where Nic Pizzolatto was either writing or directing, the season is entirely run by Issa López. This does bring a feminine wind to the series, as it also stars two female actresses: Jodie Foster and Kali Reis. These changes pleased critics, as Season 4 received the best ratings of the whole series, with a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes.
This story takes place in Alaska, where detectives Liz Danvers (Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Reis) investigate the disappearance of eight men from a research station. Other crimes pop up as possibly related, such as a Native American woman who was killed and whose tongue was cut off in protest of a coal mine. The style is dark and cold, quite literally, through the use of grey-blue lighting and colorizing and dire real-life shooting conditions. López herself described the season as a “mirror” of Season 1: “Where True Detective is male and it’s sweaty, Night Country is cold and it’s dark and it’s female.”
The Thaw Is an Excellent Thriller Series
Two years before True Detective: Night Country, there was The Thaw. A two-season Polish show, it follows a female detective, Katarzyna Zawieja (Katarzyna Wajda), as she investigates the death of a young mother in the dead of the Eastern European winter. Her body was found in an icy river, and the child she had just given birth to had gone missing. Katarzyna will have to fight a difficult investigation, the elements, and herself to bring justice to the pair. The second season focuses on the investigation of a human trafficking ring.
If the setting and premise are obviously similar, The Thaw also explores the strength of female characters against a plethora of external and internal struggles, not unlike Night Country. Although the show received critiques for being a bit predictable and cliché, others liked its unique mood, strong acting, and compelling story. In any case, if you liked True Detective: Night Country, there is no doubt that you will also enjoy The Thaw.
Foreign films and series should never be slept on. In an age where it is common even for native speakers to use subtitles, there is really no excuse not to watch them. And The Thaw is an excellent example. This Polish show did what True Detective: Night Country did, but two years ago, over two seasons, and arguably even better. The gnarliness of the cold winter in an Eastern European country is the perfect setup for murder and makes for an entertaining plot, no matter the language. True Detective: Night Country is streaming on Max, and The Thaw is also available to stream now on Max.