True Detective season four brings spooky back

For fans of True Detective season one, the fourth season of the American anthology crime drama is a return to form. 

This latest season, which premiered Sunday on HBO, stars Jodie Foster and Kali Reis, with Issa Lopez as director and co-writer. 

TV critics Kathryn VanArendonk and Jackson Weaver join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to talk about their first impressions of True Detective: Night Country.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow the Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud podcast, on your favourite podcast player.

LISTEN | Today's episode on YouTube:

Elamin: There's a brand new season of True Detective, and critics cannot stop raving about it. It's set in Alaska. It stars Jodie Foster as a chief of police in a remote town.

True Detective: Night Country has a new showrunner. Her name is Issa López. She's at the helm and is already being hailed as the second coming of that first season of True Detective. There's a couple of people who are here who are really excited to talk about it. Jackson Weaver, Kathryn VanArendonk, welcome to the show, y'all. How's it going? 

Jackson: Thanks for having me. I'm excited to talk about this. Oh my goodness.

Elamin: OK so, the premise of True Detective: Night Country is that there's a group of scientists who have gone missing from an Arctic research lab. Jodie Foster's character is teaming up with a detective played by Kali Reis. The case seems to have some connection, maybe to the last case that they worked together. Kathryn, let's talk about the season. How does this season tap into the DNA of what makes True Detective something that stands out from the rest of TV? 

Kathryn: This season really feels like it is connected to that first season more intensely than, I think, seasons two and three because it is so close to that same sense of "does this crime have entirely plausible realist explanations? Are there elements of what's going on here that are sort of beyond human understanding?"

Elamin: Jackson, you were in the camp of people who thought True Detective should just call it a day after season one and pack it in. We're never going to get that good again. Do you still agree with that take?

Jackson: I was a little bit negative, I will admit. The first season — we had this supernatural element to it, which makes this show different from what's already out there. It's different from Fargo. It's different from Under the Banner of Heaven. It has this kind of Lovecraftian, spooky, scary horror supernatural element to it, which totally went away after the following seasons. 

Oh my goodness, season four. We get the spooky scary back. It's inspired by two of the most spooky, scary, true stories that have ever been told in the annals of true crime and mystery. And it really is infused with that emotion that we got from the second season. 

Elamin: As we're talking about it, I really do have to physically get the feelings that entered my body out of my body through shakes and stuff. Kathryn, does that feeling ever leave your body at all watching the rest of the episodes? 

Kathryn: I have been saying that I have seen all of this season, but that is not accurate because I really only had a good chunk of the last episode described to me by my husband, who watched it while I hid under a blanket. So I really do think that you're in for a ride. 

Elamin: Does the rest of the season build well?

Kathryn: I do think there are some elements that I wish had just a little bit more space. But by the time you get to those last two [episodes], it's really rip roaring and if you're afraid and if you have claustrophobia issues, I'm really gonna recommend you consider this one carefully.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview produced by Amelia Eqbal