‘True Detective: Night Country’ Episode 1 takeaway: Who killed Annie? Chilling discovery raises questions
ENNIS, ALASKA: ‘True Detective’ makes its return with the anticipated elements we've grown accustomed to — a compelling mystery, a duo of intriguing detectives in conflict, and plot twists that leave us eagerly wanting more.
Season 4 titled ‘True Detective: Night Country’ breaks from tradition as it's the initial installment not crafted by Nic Pizzolatto.
Renowned for 'Tigers Are Not Afraid', Issa Lopez assumes the roles of writer and director, steering the narrative through the remote landscapes of rural Alaska during the polar night – a time enveloped in weeks of darkness.
In Episode 1, we meet Ennis Police Chief Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) and her former partner, disgraced trooper Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis). The duo is thrust together when the local Tsalal Arctic Research Station is discovered abandoned, with the workers seemingly vanishing into the endless night.
This abandonment is just the tip of the iceberg in this season's mystery, as Navarro believes it connects to a cold case from her past – the unsolved murder of Inupiaq activist Annie Masu Kowtok.
Who did the tongue belong to in ‘True Detective: Night Country’?
The delivery person, who initially observes the mysterious absence of researchers, stumbles upon a severed tongue on the floor. Chief Danvers later examines the tongue and speculates that it might have belonged to a local Inupiaq woman known for using her tongue to mend fishing nets.
Connecting the dots, she considers the possibility that this tongue could be linked to Annie Masu Kowtok, an Alaskan native whose tongue was cut off during her murder.
The perplexing aspect arises from the timeline discrepancy – Annie was killed two years before the researchers' disappearance.
Despite this, the tongue's relatively recent discoloration hints that it had only been exposed for a brief two days, adding an intriguing layer of mystery to the unfolding investigation.
What happened to Annie in ‘True Detective: Night Country’?
Danvers confides in Peter, revealing that Navarro was the first to discover Annie's lifeless body on the outskirts of the village. The gruesome details unfold – Annie endured 32 stab wounds from an unidentified weapon, leaving star-shaped wounds.
Despite an exhaustive search, the murder weapon was never recovered, and Annie's case remained an unresolved mystery. Danvers hints at a possible motive behind Annie's murder, suggesting that her activism against the mining industry had earned her enemies, making them potential orchestrators of her demise.
The unsettling details of Annie's murder take a more cryptic turn as Danvers connects the dots. Annie's missing tongue, a haunting detail from the crime scene, may have resurfaced in the TSALAL facility, keeping us hooked throughout
Examining photos from the case files, Danvers uncovers a peculiar crooked spiral mark imprinted on Annie's body.
This revelation raises an intriguing hypothesis – a potential connection to the mysterious Yellow King cult from ‘True Detective: Night Country’ Season 1, adding a layer of complexity and uncertainty to the unfolding investigation.