Warning! Contains major spoilers for True Detective season 4's episode 1.

Summary

• True Detective season 4's episode 1 introduces mysteries and questions that parallel season 1, setting the stage for an exciting overarching mystery.
• The reaction of the deer in the opening scene foreshadows the terrified reaction of the researchers, implying they saw something horrifying.
• The Beatles' song "Twist and Shout" triggers a traumatic memory for Danvers, potentially related to a drunk-driving accident, adding depth to her character.

True Detective season 4's episode 1 kicks off on an exciting note, introducing mysteries and questions that are both novel and familiar because of their hinted parallels with season 1. Set in Ennis, Alaska, the fourth installment of the acclaimed HBO TV series introduces Jodi Foster's character, Liz Danvers, as its central detective. Continuing the series' trend of introducing two primary detective characters in each season, the show also brings in Kali Reis as Evangeline Navarro, whose complex dynamic with Danvers is almost reminiscent of Hart's relationship with Cohle in season 1.

Without wasting much time, True Detective season 4's opening episode delves into the action by setting the stage for its overarching mystery. Its opening arc reveals that a group of researchers working in a facility in Ennis have suddenly disappeared. As Navarro and Danvers set out to unravel the tapestry around what happened to them, they find more questions than answers that connect the mystery to a tragic event from their past.

10 What Made The Animals Do That?

What were the deer in True Detective season 4's episode 1 running from?

True Detective season 4's episode 1 begins with a quote by Hildred Castaigne: "For we do not know what beasts the night dreams when its hours grow too long for even God to be awake." With what follows, the episode reveals it is unfolding in the backdrop of the last sunset of the year before an extended period of darkness engulfs the region. As a hunter prepares for the "polar night" and attempts to hunt down a deer, a herd of deer at a distance smells something in the air and suddenly, out of panic, leaps towards a cliff. While the show does not explicitly reveal what happened to them, the herd's reaction seems like a visual depiction of Castaigne's quote.

As the sun sets in Alaska before the long period of darkness, the deer sense the arrival of the metaphorical beasts who prevail when the "hours grow too long for even God to be awake." In many ways, the deer's reaction also foreshadows what might have happened to the researchers at TSALAL. All the researchers found frozen in the episode's ending moments seem gravely terrified of something, suggesting that they left their research facility after seeing something straight out of their nightmares. Like the deer in the opening scene, they probably could not help but panic and rush to their own deathbeds after seeing "what beasts the night dreams."

9 Why Was Danvers Really So Bothered By "Twist And Shout"?

Why the Beatles song made Danvers anxious?

When Danvers (played by Jodi Foster of the Silence of the Lambs fame) shows up at the TSALAL facility to investigate the disappearance of the researchers, she grows increasingly anxious after hearing The Beatles' "Twist and Shout" and rushes inside to shut it off. While she tries to justify her intolerance towards the song by saying she is not a Beatles fan, her reaction suggests there is more to it than meets the eye. Much later in the episode, when Danvers nearly rams into Stacy's car, she briefly gets flashes of a traumatic incident from her past. In another scene from True Detective season 4's episode 1, Danvers' daughter says that they never talk about a certain drunk-driving accident.

Although the show's future episodes will likely offer more insight into how these events connect, Danvers' reaction to the Beatles' song might have something to do with the accident her daughter refers to. Maybe "Twist and Shout" was playing in the car during the traumatic drunk-driving accident that Danvers and her daughter were involved in. Listening to "Twist and Shout" might have reminded Danvers of the scarring incident, which probably made her react that way.

8 What Were The Researchers At TSALAL Looking For?

There is more to the researchers' work than meets the eye.

When Danvers asks Peter what the researchers were trying to find in Alaska, he says they were looking for the "origins of life." However, given the nature of their deaths and their possible connections to Annie Masu Kowtok's murder, their research could be a cover for something far more sinister. Annie's case file reveals that she had the same crooked spiral markings that Marty Hart and Rust Cohle found on victims of the Yellow King Cult in True Detective season 1. Therefore, if the researchers were somehow responsible for Annie's murder, they might have had connections with the Tuttle family's cult.

7 Who Did The Tongue Belong To?

The dismembered tongue connects Annie to the TSALAL researchers.

The delivery man who first notices the researchers have suspiciously disappeared also finds a disembodied tongue on the floor. Danvers later finds dents on the tongue and theorizes that it might have belonged to a local Inupiaq woman who used her tongue for licking threads for fixing fishing nets. Since Annie Masu Kowtok was an Alaskan native and her tongue was detached when she was murdered, Danvers might have found her tongue in the TSALAL facility. However, considering how Annie was killed two years before the disappearance of the researchers, it is strange how its discoloration suggests that it had been out in the open for only two days.

6 What Does "She's Awake" Mean

True Detective season 4, episode 1's "she's awake" motif hints at the show's supernatural undertones.

Although True Detective season 1 had some metaphysical undertones, where the show even made references to Lovecraftian literature, it never delved too deep into the supernatural side of things. Season 4, in contrast, makes its metaphysical story elements quite evident in the first episode itself, especially in Navarro's military flashback and the scene where Travis' specter guides Rose towards the frozen bodies of the researchers. The "she's awake" motifs in True Detective season 4's episode 1 also seem to highlight the show's supernatural underpinnings, seemingly hinting at how Annie might have "awakened" to seek revenge on the ones who murdered her. Annie's "awakening" could also be a metaphor for how her case file will open again and force Danvers and Navarro to unfold the bigger conspiracy that connects to her death.

5 What Happened To Annie?

Annie's murder mystery connects to the researchers' deaths.

Danvers tells Peter that Navarro was the first to find Annie's body at the edge of the village. She had been stabbed 32 times with an unidentified object and had star-shaped wounds. The weapon was never found, and Annie's murder case remained unsolved. Danvers also adds that Annie was an activist who had enraged many people involved in the mining industry by voicing her opinions against their activities. Although her killers were never found, Danvers seems to suspect that her haters from the mining industry might have plotted her murder.

Given how Annie's tongue was detached during the murder and never found by the investigators working on her case, the tongue Danvers finds in the TSALAL facility could have been hers. Annie's photos in the case files also reveal that the crooked spiral mark had been imprinted on her body. This could mean that her death was somehow connected to the Yellow King cult from True Detective season 1.

4 What's Up With The Polar Bear?

The polar bear grounds True Detective season 4 in Inuit mythology.

Since Nanook also represents the harmony between humans and nature in Inuit folklore, the polar bear could be a call to restore the balance the researchers disrupted with their hidden malicious activities.

In Inuit culture, polar bears are considered mighty, spiritual beings. Some tales from Inuit mythology also revolve around a polar bear god, Nanook, who offered blessings to hunters before their hunts and punished those who violated taboos. In True Detective season 4's episode 1, Danvers finds a polar bear stuffed toy on the floor right after she awakens upon hearing, "She's awake," in her dreams. Moments later, Navarro finds a polar bear in the middle of the road. In an early scene, Danvers also pokes fun at Navarro by sarcastically saying that her "spirit animal" told her about the woman's tongue.

All these moments from True Detective season 4's episode 1 suggest that the polar bear could be a sacred spiritual totem, pushing both Navarro and Danvers to find the truth behind Annie's murder. Since Nanook also represents the harmony between humans and nature in Inuit folklore, the polar bear could be a call to restore the balance the researchers disrupted with their hidden malicious activities. Future episodes will likely reveal more about the connections between Annie's murder, the researchers' disappearance, and the polar bear.

3 What Do The Matching Coats Tell Us About The Murders?

The matching coat connects Annie to the researchers.

As Danvers skims through all the evidence she has gathered surrounding the researchers and Annie's murder, she notices that one of the researchers wore the same jacket as Annie in one picture. This proves that the researchers, their work at the TSALAL facility, and their deaths had something to do with Annie's murder. While the matching court details do not reveal much about how the two seemingly distinct cases could be connected, Annie was probably murdered after she learned about the truth behind what the researchers were doing at the facility.

2 How Did Travis Appear To Rose?

Travis' appearance might have hinted at the cause of his death.

Rose does not seem shocked by Travis' appearance despite knowing that he is dead, suggesting that she has either seen him before or often sees the spirits of the dead. In True Detective's season 4 episode 1, Travis' spirit points Rose in the direction of the frozen bodies of researchers, which comes off as another hint that the metaphysical world is coming in tandem with the material world to guide the characters toward the answers surrounding the murders. Travis' appearance could also mean that even his death had something to do with Annie and the researchers' murders.

1 Who Killed The Researchers & How?

How and why did the researchers leave the TSALAL facility?

The closing shot of True Detective season 4's episode 1 shows the researchers frozen in ice. While the identity of their killer remains shrouded, it is strange how the researchers have no clothes on. This could mean that extreme hypothermia made them shed their clothes. Or, making them shed their clothes was a part of the killer's ritual. Regardless of what the reason may be, it is hard not to wonder how the researchers ended up outside the facility despite knowing about the extreme temperatures in Alaska. Were they being chased by something, or did they sacrifice themselves as a part of a ritual, just like the young woman Hart and Cohle find in True Detective season 1's episode 1?

True Detective season 4's trailer also reveals that the scientists had the spiral marks on their foreheads. In one scene from the trailer, Jodi Foster's character also mentions that one researcher was missing. This could mean that the missing researcher in True Detective murdered the others and was also probably responsible for Annie's death.

True Detective season 4 drops new episodes every Sunday on HBO Max.