The first episode of True Detective: Night Country matches the mood of the first season

True detective is the rare series that was much more exciting and complicated after seven episodes than after three seasons. What started as a brooding series about detectives peering into the dark depths of senseless, seemingly occult murders eventually morphed into a detective series mostly about sad men. The remarkable thing about the latest season of the series is, True Detective: Night Countryis that in just one episode, new showrunner Issa López managed to bring back the spooky, supernatural horror vibe that promised so much in the first season.

The new season is set in the small town of Ennis, Alaska, and this first episode is mostly about unraveling the ins and outs of the town and the core of this season’s mystery, and of course it’s also about getting to know our newest true detectives. The show’s opening and its central mystery are classic cold-weather horror: a group of researchers at a remote winter base suddenly disappear and are found frozen deep in the ice far from their base.

While the first season of the series hinted at the supernatural and the way it can sometimes (or not) invade our world, Nightland leaves no room for doubt. By the end of this episode, more than one character has had visions, and the state the scientists find themselves in seems inconceivable to happen naturally. But the real thing that makes the story’s supernatural elements undeniable is that local weirdo Rose (Fiona Shaw) is the one who finds the frozen scientists for the police, and the only reason she knew where to look , is that it is a long-deceased friend who showed her the way.

López doesn’t allow the supernatural to overwhelm the rest of the world Nightlandis the first episode, but she is unsure of her existence. This feels like a targeted response to that True detective Stories that have been there before. Not combative per se, but direct. While previous seasons, particularly the first, took their characters from the natural and explainable world of crime into something more supernatural, NightlandThe mystery begins in the inexplicable and works its way back.

Photo: Michele K. Short/HBO

But in all the ways López seems to respond True detectiveAfter missing her past in the first episode of her season, she also makes it clear that she loves the series. When it comes to the police investigating this case, López likes to characterize them as the very same broken bastards that Nic Pizzolatto, the creator of the original series, made the focus of his three seasons writing the series. Leading the investigation Nightland is Liz Danvers (played superbly by Jodie Foster), a brilliant cop with a track record of pushing people away by acting like a total asshole. Then there’s Liz’s old partner Evangeline Navarro (boxer-turned-actress Kali Reis), a self-destructive hothead who allowed one case to stay in her mind and consume her entire career.

The two cops don’t share exactly the same dynamic as Matthew McConaughey’s Rust Cohle and Woody Harrelson’s Marty Hart, but it’s clear that López was after the same tension the two had between them, and in just one episode it shone to have already done it. The two only share brief scenes in Episode 1, but the chemistry between them is instant and the argument is absolutely perfect, giving us a hint that they’ll definitely work together again at some point.

Through just one episode, True Detective: Night Country feels like something True detective should always be like this. It’s impossible that it captures the mood of the series’ best episodes better than anything the second or third seasons ever achieved. López is conflicted with the show’s story not because she hates it, but because she loves it so much that she wants the best version. What Issa López wants is the twisty, supernatural, pitch-black mystery show that had the internet in a stranglehold for eight weeks in 2014. And so far she’s off to a great start.