Major spoilers below for the season finale of True Detective: Night Country, so be warned if you haven’t yet watched or streamed with a Max subscription.
It’s hard to say the dust officially settled on True Detective’s fourth season, since Night Country’s snowy setting made dust particles harder to pick out. But the HBO murder mystery did indeed wrap up its six-episode run with a rather revealing (and extended) finale that provided more or less official explanations for the variety of unexplained deaths that were established in the first five eps.
Though there were definitely some plot points that didn’t get spelled out entirely, such as whether supernatural events occurred or not, True Detective: Night Country’s “Part Six” offered up enough conclusions to keep viewers sated and still curious. So let’s get bundled up and head down into the ice caves for some answers to all these deaths.
Who Killed Annie?
Answer: Raymond Clark and the other scientists
To be expected, the answers for Ennis’ biggest cold case murder (at least in Navarro’s eyes) were anything but simple, though nothing overtly otherworldly had anything to do with it. Rather, Annie discovered both the ice cave research station and the truth behind Tsalal’s connection with the Silver Star Mine, and she ragefully destroyed years worth of samples and research. In the midst of their own fits of rage, the other men brutally attacked Annie, with one stabbing her over and over again with a star-tipped tool.
At least that was how Raymond Clark said it all went down in his confession to Liz and Navarro, though the visuals told a slightly different story. Because Annie didn’t actually die from the wounds or blood loss; her last-ditch gasp of consciousness was quickly subdued by Clark suffocating her with his T-shirt. Because even though he might have been perfectly honest when declaring his love for Annie, those emotions weren’t enough to risk compromising the facility’s mission.
Who Killed The Tsalal Scientists?
Answer: Bee, Blair and other native women were indirectly responsible
Per the report that Christopher Eccleston’s Ted Connelly apparently ran with as official record, it was a slab avalanche that did the six scientists in, but that’s obviously not the real story. It was definitely a force of nature that was responsible, but not so much snow as a deadly blend of deep-seated vengeance.
Though it took years, L’xeis Diane Benson’s Bee eventually discovered the ice cave lab while doing some routine cleaning, and was able to then piece together how and why Annie was attacked. In response to the men’s monstrous actions, Bee led a large group of gun-toting women to the Tsalal facility, rounding up all the engineers (save for Clark) and marching them outside. The six murderers were driven out to the middle of the icy depths, were forced to strip down (with their clothes folded and organized), and were seemingly held at gunpoint until they succumbed to the cold.
Like many other “confessions” made during True Detective: Night Country’s run, the story Bee tells doesn’t entirely line up with what we’re shown. She explains things as if the women offered the men’s fates up to the gods, instead of forcing them to choose between death by the elements or death by gunshot.
Granted, that reveal also didn’t totally explain why the men had bite marks, nor how one of them managed to survive throughout that terrifying ordeal. But there’s definitely some poetic justice in the answers that were revealed.
Who Killed William Wheeler?
Answer: Navarro
Arguably the only real example of Liz and Navarro working together prior to the Tsalal deaths, the William Wheeler case is one that has haunted both of them professionally and personally. It was already clear that their official report didn’t jive with real events, with Pete pulling off some impressive detective work to reach his assumption, but it wasn’t clear until the finale what actually went down.
After Wheeler creepily started to whistle “Twist and Shout” — without any clear reasoning for why he picked that song — Liz called out to Navarro, who instinctively put a bullet into the murdering abuser’s head. Not much more was revealed there, though Liz did say later that she was only a moment away from ending Wheeler’s life herself, and likely would have if Navarro hadn’t pulled the trigger.
Assuming everything remains kosher as far as the avalanche story goes, and assuming Pete doesn’t have any lapses in ethics, Navarro’s actions that day will likely remain undiscovered and unpublicized.
What Happened To Raymond Clark?
Answer: Intentionally froze to death
The finale finally showed viewers where Raymond Clark went on that fateful night after having his seizure and saying “She’s awake!” I’m not entirely certain what bolstered his specific reactions, but Clark immediately took off to hide in the tunnel hatch, which allowed him to survive the night’s events. And since then, he was apparently sticking it out inside the ice cave, which is where Liz and Navarro found him.
Once he was in their grasp, Clark opened up almost entirely about his part in Annie’s murder and Tsalal’s involvement with the mine. Rather than killing him outright, echoing her actions with Wheeler, Navarro instead presumably got Clark to agree to record his confessions on her phone, so that he would be allowed to end his life on his own terms: frozen to death in turmoil just like the others with ideals of changing the world, no matter what the cost. But at least he apparently also got to put on a clean shirt and wipe up his messy face before going through with it.
Interestingly enough, Clark also offered up another undeniable connection to Season 1’s Rust Cohle in uttering Matthew McConaughey’s meme-quote of legend “Time is a flat circle.” And he seemed to experience that concept first-hand when that quasi-portal opened up between Clark and Navarro, but that’s a wholly different conversation.
What Was Causing All The Stillbirths?
Answer: Mining pollution, made worse by Tsalal
True Detective: Night Country’s finale rather firmly disproved my theory about the lab and its purpose, revealing the facility and its staff were going above and beyond in terms of creating a more poisoned water supply for the local area. Though it was already clear that the water was responsible, what with all the protests, what wasn’t previously known was the extent of the cover-up.
Not only was Tsalal falsifying documents and data regarding pollutants and health risks, but they were actually pushing for the mine to go harder on that front, since the pollution affected the permafrost in a way that made it easier for the engineers to collect their samples. Illness and death to others were mere side effects for the greater good in the eyes of the men and those funding the research (i.e. the Tuttle family).
It’s easy to understand why creator Issa López already wanted to bring this story to life as a murder-mystery before HBO execs suggested it as an entry into the True Detective anthology. Similar to virgin sacrifices and other such concepts, the scientists had something of a technically sound argument for their actions, in that they had the potential to alter the course of the human race with their work. And omelets can’t happen without eggs being cracked.
But considering this largely indigenous community amounts to far more than a bunch of eggs — not to mention the lack of guarantees that their research would have gone anywhere outside of Tuttle United — that shit can’t fly. Had the Tuttles’ shell companies paid every single person living in the area to change locations, there still would have been ethical concerns for animal and plant life, but it would have been more defensible than “nothing at all.”
How Did Liz’s Husband And Son Die?
Answer: Via car wreck
Similar to previous episodes, True Detective’s Season 4 finale didn’t really deliver any concrete details concerning the deaths of Liz’s late husband and son, but did at least make it look very much like the largest theory behind their fates was confirmed. With earlier callbacks such as glass getting stuck in Liz’s shoe and a rolling hubcap, the finale later offered up a wide, if brief, shot of the vehicular wreckage that almost definitely took the father and son’s lives.
As far as I could tell, the particular cause for the wreck wasn’t laid out, with fans theorizing that a drunk driver was to blame. In the scheme of things, it probably doesn’t matter exactly what happened, since their deaths overall were what caused Liz’s trauma. Although I guess I wouldn’t have minded if it was revealed that a one-eyed polar bear drove a moving van into the Danvers’ vehicle.
At this point, it’s hard to know whether or not a fifth season of True Detective will follow Night Country, but it likely won’t be part of the 2024 TV premiere schedule if it does. Until finding out more, check out all the upcoming horror shows to scratch that occultish itch.