True Detective: Night Country‘s finale leaves viewers with several plotholes and narrative inconsistencies. After keeping the identity of the central killers in its storyline a mystery throughout the season, True Detective: Night Country‘s ending finally offers some answers. It reveals that while Annie was murdered by the Tsalal scientists, the cleaning women from the research facility killed the scientists to avenge Annie’s death.

Before its credits start rolling, True Detective: Night Country also gives a glimpse of how Peter has returned to live with his son and Kayla, and how Danvers’ relationship with Leah has improved. Although Navarro’s fate remains shrouded, the show confirms that she keeps visiting Danvers. However, not all underlying mysteries and subplots get similar explanations and well-rounded closures, leaving the season with many headscratchers.

Why Wasn’t Rose Interrogated For The Tsalal Murders?

Rose should have been the primary suspect

Travis Cohle pointed Rose toward the frozen researchers in True Detective: Night Country‘s episode 1. However, since no one else saw Travis’ ghost, how was it so easy for law enforcement to believe that Rose was innocent? Considering how people from the Alaskan Police Force were struggling to locate the Tsalal researchers because of how remote the location of their murder was, it would have made sense for the law enforcers to at least interrogate Rose.

How Did Danvers Survive In The Finale?

Danvers’ brush with doom could have easily gone south

Danvers fell into a freezing cold body of water in the finale, and yet, instead of putting on a fresh pair of dry clothes, she kept her wet clothes on. Navarro and Danvers also had a car with central heating, which they could have used to help Danvers increase her body temperature. Still, they chose to sit in an open garage with only a fire and a blanket to heat her. Despite all of this, Danvers somehow survived.

What Happened To Holden, And Was It Danvers’ Fault?

True Detective: Night Country maintains an air of mystery surrounding Holden’s death

When Danvers and Navarro kill Wheeler in the flashback, they hear a baby crying. This makes it hard not to wonder whether the baby was Holden, whom Danvers decided to adopt. Unfortunately, the show does not offer any clarity on this. How Holder died also remains shrouded. Danvers’ flashbacks imply he passed away in an accident, and she even mentions he was “stuck,” but True Detective: Night Country never discloses whether the accident was Danvers’ fault.

Why Was Annie’s Body Moved To The Town From The Ice Cave?

Did Silver Sky’s Kate McKitterick ask Hank to move the body

In True Detective: Night Country‘s episode 6, Rose deduces that the best way to get rid of Hank’s body would be to drown him in the sea below the ice. Since Hank, too, had to merely get rid of all evidence surrounding Annie’s murder, why did he not do something similar instead of taking her body to the town? Could he have done it to show that anyone who speaks against the Silver Sky mine would be punished and silenced like Annie?

Why Were The Events In Annie’s Video Different From What Actually Happened?

Events in Annie’s video are not in tandem with what actually happened

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Annie’s video shows that right after she discovered evidence to prove Tsalal’s involvement with Silver Sky, the lights went out before someone attacked her. The power outage in the video also leads Danvers and Navarro to Oliver. However, when Raymond recalls the actual events of the crime in the finale, the flashback shows no power outage in the ice cave when the researchers attack Annie. Does this make Raymond Clark an unreliable narrator? And if he was unreliable, why did Danvers and Navarro believe him?

Why Was “Twist & Shout” Playing In The Tsalal Facility In The Finale?

Danvers had turned it off the first time

Since how Raymond Clark was trying to hide from Annie and law enforcement, why would he put a target on his back by playing loud music in a facility that was believed to be abandoned?

Danvers rushes inside the Tsalal research lab in True Detective: Night Country‘s episode 1 when she hears The Beatles’ “Twist and Shout” playing on repeat. Once she finds the source of the music, she immediately shuts it off. Strangely, however, the song can be heard playing in the finale when Danvers and Navarro enter the lab through the ice cave. Since how Raymond Clark was trying to hide from Annie and law enforcement, why would he put a target on his back by playing loud music in a facility that was believed to be abandoned?

Why Was Peter So Unbothered By What He Did?

Peter seems to show no remorse for his actions

The finale fails to capture Peter’s emotional turmoil as he, almost stoically, gets rid of his father’s body.

True Detective: Night Country‘s episode 5 is perhaps among the better installments of the season because its poignant ending gives a glimpse of Danvers’ vulnerable side. In addition, it also shows how Peter will always carry the burden of killing his father, regardless of what his reasons were. Unfortunately, the finale fails to capture Peter’s emotional turmoil as he, almost stoically, gets rid of his father’s body.

How Did The Researchers Die Before Freezing?

The actual cause of the researchers’ deaths is unknown

In an early True Detective: Night Country episode, Peter invites one of his veterinary friends to look at the researchers’ bodies. The vet deduces that they died before freezing, and Danvers also later mentions this to Ted. In the finale, however, the cleaning women only reveal that they released the men in the cold with their clothes off, which seemingly suggests that they froze to death. True Detective: Night Country‘s supernatural elements might have something to do with the researchers dying before freezing, but the allusions to Sedna seem too unfleshed to provide concrete answers.

How Did Otis Have The Same Injuries As The Researchers?

True Detective: Night Country does not reveal the truth about Otis Heiss’ past

Raymond casually mentions that Annie has been lurking in the ice caves since before she was born, seemingly implying that she was Goddess Sedna, who punished those who dared to disrupt nature. He also repeats Rust Cohle’s best True Detective season 1 quote: “Time is a flat circle.” While Raymond’s claims and deductions make room for several theories, they do not clearly explain the links between Otis’ past and the Tsalal researchers. The fact that Otis sustained the same injuries as the researchers three decades before them and still somehow survived to talk about it makes no sense.

Why Did Danvers Suddenly Change Her Mind About Killing Raymond?

Danvers’ indecisiveness makes no sense

When Navarro points her gun at Raymond Clark in True Detective: Night Country‘s finale, Danvers encourages her to kill him by assuring her that she will not stop her. However, when she suddenly finds Raymond dead much later in the episode, she somehow seems bothered by the fact that Clark was their only witness. There is an air of mystery surrounding Clark’s death as well because Navarro and Danvers find him mysteriously frozen outside like the rest of the researchers. Whether Sedna/Annie punished him or he took his own life remains unclear.

What Happened To Oliver?

Oliver’s arc never reaches a well-rounded closure

When Danvers and Navarro first meet Oliver, he points his gun at them and refuses to answer their questions. Much later in the series, when Navarro and Peter visit his cabin, they find nothing but a rock with spirals. The show does not explain whether he was involved in the Annie K murder. His whereabouts also remain unknown, and there are no clear answers to why he asked solely about Anders Lund when Danvers and Navarro told him about the researchers’ deaths.

How Did Annie’s Tongue End Up In The Tsalal Lab?

True Detective: Night Country only hints at supernatural connotations

True Detective: Night Country hints that Hank might have cut off Annie’s tongue to send out a warning to all those who were protesting against the mine. However, the season never explains how her tongue ended up in the lab six years after death. Hank couldn’t have had anything to do with it because it would not make sense for him to help Danvers and Navarro solve a crime he was trying to bury. The cleaning women also deny knowing anything about it, suggesting that it might have something to do with the season’s confusing and underdeveloped supernatural underpinnings.

What Was The Point Of The Season 1 Connections?

True Detective: Night Country shoehorns season 1 references

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The opening episodes of True Detective: Night Country are jampacked with connections to season 1. Danvers’ signature dialogue, “Ask the right questions,” seems like a reimagining of what Rust Cohle says to Maynard Gilbough and Thomas Papania at the end of True Detective season 1, episode 1. Season 4 also namedrops the Tuttles and features several spiral motifs throughout its runtime. Rust Cohle’s father, Travis, also becomes a connective thread between the two seasons. Disappointingly, none of these connections go anywhere.

How Was Anders Lund Still Alive?

Lund’s survival seemed impossible

Danvers and her APF team found the researchers’ bodies 48 hours after they disappeared from the Tsalal facility. The finale confirms that the researchers froze to death on the same night they disappeared. This suggests that Anders Lund, like the other researchers, was frozen for over 48 hours. Yet, somehow, he survived while the others did not.

How Did The Cleaning Women Find The Truth About Annie’s Murder?

The cleaning women lacked concrete evidence

The flashback that explains how the cleaning women figured out the truth behind Annie’s murder shows they first discovered the hatch that connected Tsalal to the underground ice cave. They became suspicious of the researchers after finding a star-shaped tool in the ice cave lab. Since True Detective season 4 does not reveal what they did next to confirm the researchers’ role in Annie’s murder, one can assume they got access to all the interactions between the researchers and the mine’s authorities through the computers in Tsalal.

However, the assumptions do not explain how they deduced all the researchers were involved in the crime. The women also loaded the researchers in trucks before leaving them in the snow. Tire marks from a massive truck could alone have been a crucial piece of evidence. However, somehow, Danvers and Navarro seem to find no evidence against the women until True Detective: Night Country‘s finale.