‘True Detective’ Season 4, ‘Death and Other Details,’ ‘Fool Me Once’ ask whodunit

You’ve heard of superhero fatigue, but superhero shows have nothing on the ubiquity of murder mystery miniseries. The genre has been going strong for at least a decade now, with 2014’s “True Detective” Season 1 still the standard-bearer. Back for its first outing since 2019, “True Detective” Season 4 (Sundays, HBO Max), subtitled “Night Country,” is the best of a trio of murder mysteries kicking off 2024.

It’s set on the North Slope of Alaska in winter, which means the sun won’t rise for three months. A viewer might think a lot of action happens at night, but these are actually daytime scenes in the dark. The frozen tundra becomes even more foreboding and even the most utilitarian of buildings becomes a sanctuary.

More murders at the end of the world

Jodie Foster plays a seen-it-all police detective who talks about a severed tongue and her fantasy football team in the same tone of voice – although she does have a fiery bias against drunken drivers (a common sight in fictional Ennis), as it seems her husband was killed by one.

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Through one episode, “Night Country” looks to be the English-language breakthrough for Mexican writer-director Issa Lopez. She takes full advantage of the actual barren coldness of Alaska, in this rare series that doesn’t use Vancouver as a stand-in for the Last Frontier State.

With “Alaska Daily” having been canceled, “Night Country” steps in as a voice for Native Alaska murder victims, whose cases go unsolved to an inordinate degree. As Foster’s Chief Liz Danvers says about the cold-case murder victim, an environmental protestor: “We’re not going to find the murderer. Ennis killed her.” It also fills the “isolated mystery” gap left by the Iceland-set “A Murder at the End of the World,” which started strong but tailed off in quality.

The theme of mental health in a place with no natural Vitamin D comes in via the depressed sister of state trooper Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis). Navarro takes everything on her shoulders in contrast to how Danvers brushes it all off. She can’t let the cold case go, even though it somehow broke her to the point that she was busted down to the trooper job.

There’s also a batch of bizarre disappearances of scientists at a nearby research outpost; “Night Country” starts like an X-File. Like the Louisiana-set Season 1, spiritualism will play a part in “True Detective” Season 4. But above all, Lopez captures the stark reality of what it’s like to live in an isolated place; a viewer can never be quite sure if the living or the dead have it worse.

4.5 stars

“Death and Other Details”

“True Detective” isn’t without some dark humor, but it’s mostly a serious show. “Death and Other Details” (Tuesdays, Hulu), on the other hand, is in the vein of cynically comedic murder mysteries such as the “Knives Out” films. Or at least it wants to be. The tone comes entirely from the characters and direction, though; the plot is straightforward.

The main reasons to tune in are for Mandy Patinkin (“Dead Like Me”) as gruff, bearded and down-on-his-luck super-sleuth Rufus Coteworth, who aims to solve the murder of his assistant on a cruise ship. Rahul Kohli (“The Fall of the House of Usher”), as the ship owner, is likewise welcome in any cast.

“Death and Other Details” might’ve been better if 20-something lead character Imogene (Violett Beane) was a sweeter person. She’s not horrible, but she does possess similar snark and selfishness to the boat full of suspects – financial movers and shakers who had gathered for a merger between American and Chinese companies.

Imogene hates Rufus’ guts for not solving her mother’s murder when she was 11 years old, which is a ridiculous grudge for an adult to hold. But their team-up is enjoyable inasmuch as they are the only ones – other than the staffers – who are close to being outsiders (Imogene was invited by her bestie, one of the bigwigs).

And I’m intrigued by Rufus’ voiceover that instructs us to watch details closely. Unfortunately, I’m afraid the payoff to that instruction will only come at the story’s end. For now, it’s a parade of nasty and cliched suspects, and I don’t care which of them did it.

3 stars

“Fool Me Once”

“Fool Me Once” (Netflix) did a full eight-episode dump on Jan. 1, but I’ll record my early impressions here. This British production is the latest of a string of Harlan Coben adaptations Netflix has had success with. It brings us back to a sober tone, although it might have the wildest plot of these three series.

It starts with a classic conceit, as former military helicopter pilot Maya Stern (Michelle Keegan) sees her recently murdered husband on her nanny cam. Her infant daughter and her nanny say that of course her husband was not there. And of course the footage disappears. Therefore Maya is either crazy, or there’s a conspiracy and her husband isn’t really dead.

Since it’d likely be boring if she was simply crazy, it’s probably a conspiracy. The problem is it’s an extremely unbelievable conspiracy. That said, “Fool Me Once” stands out from the genre pack by making almost every character into a detective.

We have the official police detective (Adeel Akhtar), who is also dealing with fainting spells and irked by his gung-ho green partner. But also, Maya – after learning the past murder of her sister was committed with the same gun as the one that killed her husband – is digging up clues, such as her sister’s secret second cellphone. Even the tween children of the sister find clues, like an old roll of film.

Although the series is piling up sleuths faster than it is piling up suspects (the opposite of “Death and Other Details”), I suspect “Fool Me Once” might have an engaging plot up its sleeve. Here’s hoping it’s not faking me out and kicking the illogically complex explanations down the road.

3.5 stars