All 6 episodes of True Detective: Night Country, ranked worst to best

3. Episode 1, the premiere

A couple slides back I said that Night Country has the most likable cast of any season of True Detective. The premiere has the responsibility of establishing their dynamics, which is does very well. My favorite dynamic is between the senior cop Liz Danvers and her young lieutenant Peter Prior, who respects his mentor perhaps a little too much, to the point where he's willing to steal a file from his own father on her command. Professional boxer Kali Reis pops off the screen as Navarro, who is tough and vulnerable is equal measure. Secondary characters like Navarro's nighttime boyfriend Eddie Qavvik also make good impressions. The characters are the most importart part of the show and they get a good introduction.

The setting is also cool. I maintain that the always-night gimmick wasn't as important a part of the show as it first seemed like it was going to be — most of the story could have taken place during the day without losing anything — but it does make for some splendid visuals. I love the images of roads at night, of curtains of snow falling outside the floor-to-ceiling windows at the Tsalal research station, of holiday lights twinkling against the dark. Night Country is nice to look at.

The plot also gets on a nice roll right out the gate. We start with a creepy prologue at Tsalal, where we glancingly meet some of the scientists before disaster strikes. And the cliffhanger where all of them are found dead in the snow is a great way to end the episode. "Part 1" is a very solid premiere back to front.

But what did happen to those scientists? Let's skip to the end and find out: