True Detective: Night Country Blu-ray Review | Atmospheric Crime Drama Set in Alaska

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

True Detective: Night Country, the fourth season in this anthology detective crime drama from HBO, arrives on Blu-ray from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. This fourth season, the first entry since 2019, written and directed by producer Issa López, shifts the setting to the fictional town of Ennis, Alaska (with Reykjavík, Iceland filling for the American state). As the town moves into cloak of sixty-days of night, a strange murder mystery unfolds, the mysterious and sudden disappearance of eight scientists from a research facility finds two law enforcement agents, former partners Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis) having to team up to investigate. The similarities in the case to an old case involving the killing of a local indigenous woman is not only cause for concern, but a cause for further tension between the two detectives still dealing with their failure to solve the old case.

Season four of this series brings it screaming back to the level of quality that launched it in the brilliant first season with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. After a convoluted and disappointing second season with Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn, the ship was righted once again with season three with the brilliant Mahershala Ali-led third season.

Now, in this season where the supernatural bleeds into the real world and the native culture is brought into the world of the dark, cold, and mysterious arctic, we get a true psychological thriller where danger lurks around every snowbank and fishery. Foster and Reis are excellent as troubled detectives, both with their own unique personal demons. The cinematography from Florian Hoffmeister (Tár) also lends a beauty and authenticity to the stark, moody world with stunning visual, neo-noir palette that makes you feel the cold in your bones. If there is one criticism about this season, it is the somewhat vague ending that leaves the story feeling a little too open ended.

Purchase True Detective: Night Country Blu-ray on Amazon.com

The Video

I researched and could find no confirmation on how True Detective: Night Country was shot, outside of Season 3 of the series being shot in 8K in Redcode Raw, but that was five years ago, so this does not necessarily hold for this season. What I do know is the digital stream of the series on Max was in 4K Ultra HD in Dolby Vision/HDR. Sadly, Warner Bros. has chosen to release this gorgeously shot show and season only on Blu-ray in a 2.00:1 AVC 1080p encodement. There is nothing at all wrong with this Blu-ray to speak of. It looks very filmic with lots of detail, the often cool exteriors and warm interiors, the glowing lights against the inky arctic night still stand out and look stunning on my G3 OLED, but they just a lack a little bit of that added pop from the Dolby Vision in the highlights. The image is clean and free from banding, noise, and aliasing.

The Audio

Like the video transfer, this Blu-ray release of True Detective: Night Country comes “crippled” if you will, compared to the stream on Max, which had an Atmos mix. Here we are given a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix. There is nothing wrong with this mix at all. It is just as atmospheric and even a bit clearer that the stream, but the height awareness is missed. The surround channels are lush with atmospherics and ambience, low end is nicely extended, but one should not expected any kind of floorboard rattling workout from this mix either. This is more of a balance dialogue-driven mix with a balance of atmospherics and score.

The Supplements

The extras on here are rather lightweight. There are a couple of “conversations” between Foster and Reis, including one where the two take an inkblot test. There is a brief interview with Issa López discussing the new setting and the Inoue culture highlighted in the season. Nothing is mandatory viewing.

Bonus Features:

• Meet the True Detectives (1080p; 00:02:56)
• New Chapter (1080p; 00:02:59)
• Exploring Indigenous Themes (1080p; 00:04:43)
• Max Inkblots (1080p; 00:03:13)
• Setting (1080p; 00:02:17)
• Episode Recaps 1-6

The Final Assessment

An excellent entry in this anthology series, making it the best season since season one. It looks and sounds great, but it is very disappointing to not see this beautiful season get a 4K disc release when it streams on Max in 4K Dolby Vision/HDR with Dolby Atmos.

True Detective: Night Country is out on Blu-ray July 9, 2024, from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

Purchase True Detective: Night Country Blu-ray on Amazon.com

• Rating Certificate: TV-MA
• Studios & Distributors: Anonymous Content | HBO Entertainment | Passenger | Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
• Director: Issa López
• Written By: Issa López
• Run Time: 379 Mins.
• Street Date: 9 July 2024
• Aspect Ratio: 2.00:1
• Video Format: AVC 1080p
• Primary Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1
• Secondary Audio: French DD 5.1 | German DD 5.1 | Czech DD 2.0 Stereo
• Subtitles: English SDH | French | German SDH | Dutch | Czech | Danish | Finnish | Norwegian | Swedish