What made the first season perfect, amongst many things, were:
1- the cult element of the crimes 2- the atmosphere of the location 3- the philosophy inderpining the detective's relationship
Season 4 has absolutely none of this.
1- The murder case was initially interesting, but it became generic once it was tied with the mining company. The detectives themselves have no reason to care it, or for the case pf the lady with the missing tongue. We get little exposure to the frozen scientists beyong the initial episode. Its worth noting that the "supernatural" aspects of S1 are not hinted, but rather linked to the cult's beliefs. Us, as the audience, are never lead to believe they are the devil, but rather very evil people. S4 is showing us ghosts and frozen men talking, it just takes you out of the mystery and into another genre entirely.
2- there is no atmosphere whatsoever. A small city in the Alaskan winter should feel frozen and lonely, and we do not feel either. Matter of fact, I feel rather warm seeing how much company they all have. They should have taken inspiration from "Certain Women" on how to make the audience feel alone in a small town. We should feel cold just watching it, like "Society of the Snow".
3- the relationship between the detectives in nonexistant. Its hard to believe Jodie and the Boxer were ever partners - there's no depth to it. Jodie and the young detective would have been a much better pairing, with her having struggles with her daughter, and him with his dad, wife and kid. The phylosophycal underpining of the season should have been loneliness, isolation, and ultimately camaradery through obsession with a case. Most of the scenes between the detectives should have evolved around the defrosting bodies in the rink, and we should sense the unhinging of the detective's sanity through the investigation, aided by the endless night. What a waste of the only chemistry seen on screen, between Jodie and the Kid.
Unfortunately, the only way I am enjoying this season is watching it with "what would I have done instead?" in mind. Lets be honest, we all want another Season 1 and there would have been no shame in producing a somewhat copied, but at least high quality, Season 4.
1- the cult element of the crimes 2- the atmosphere of the location 3- the philosophy inderpining the detective's relationship
Season 4 has absolutely none of this.
1- The murder case was initially interesting, but it became generic once it was tied with the mining company. The detectives themselves have no reason to care it, or for the case pf the lady with the missing tongue. We get little exposure to the frozen scientists beyong the initial episode. Its worth noting that the "supernatural" aspects of S1 are not hinted, but rather linked to the cult's beliefs. Us, as the audience, are never lead to believe they are the devil, but rather very evil people. S4 is showing us ghosts and frozen men talking, it just takes you out of the mystery and into another genre entirely.
2- there is no atmosphere whatsoever. A small city in the Alaskan winter should feel frozen and lonely, and we do not feel either. Matter of fact, I feel rather warm seeing how much company they all have. They should have taken inspiration from "Certain Women" on how to make the audience feel alone in a small town. We should feel cold just watching it, like "Society of the Snow".
3- the relationship between the detectives in nonexistant. Its hard to believe Jodie and the Boxer were ever partners - there's no depth to it. Jodie and the young detective would have been a much better pairing, with her having struggles with her daughter, and him with his dad, wife and kid. The phylosophycal underpining of the season should have been loneliness, isolation, and ultimately camaradery through obsession with a case. Most of the scenes between the detectives should have evolved around the defrosting bodies in the rink, and we should sense the unhinging of the detective's sanity through the investigation, aided by the endless night. What a waste of the only chemistry seen on screen, between Jodie and the Kid.
Unfortunately, the only way I am enjoying this season is watching it with "what would I have done instead?" in mind. Lets be honest, we all want another Season 1 and there would have been no shame in producing a somewhat copied, but at least high quality, Season 4.