True Detective – Night Country Episode 1: What Does the Phrase “She’s Awake” Mean?
After five long years, the long-awaited fourth season of the acclaimed anthology series True Detective – Night Country finally premiered this Sunday on HBO Max. In this installment, titled Night Land and set in the chilling landscapes of Ennie, the fictional Alaskan city described in the series, we follow the adventures of chief detective Liz Danvers, played masterfully by Jodie Foster, who leads the investigation of the mysterious disappearance of eight scientists, who are later discovered as grotesque human lollipops. The disappearance of these scientists is closely related to the unsolved case of climate activist Annie, a native of the area. In the first chapter of the fourth season, the cryptic phrase “she is awake” becomes a kind of foreshadowing of what is about to happen in the story. Several characters, including Inspector Danvers, hear a creepy voice saying “She’s awake”. Although the episode does not reveal the meaning of this expression, it leaves enough room for viewers to theorize its interpretation.
Issa López talks About the phrase “she’s Awake” in True Detective
Before exploring further, it is interesting to know the perspective of Issa López, the creator of the program, a 52-year-old Mexican. “We have three instances of her ‘she’s awake’ in episode one, ”Ella López explained. “One is Clark saying “she’s awake,” just before the lights go out at the station and the men disappear. And then we have Danvers sleeping, [and] maybe in a dream, a little boy saying, “Mom, she’s awake. ” She continues: “And then we have Navarro driving his car and he’s making a call asking for information about Annie. And then the signal is interrupted, and in the noise she hears it again, “she’s awake,” just before she sees a polar bear. So this all connects”.
“And who is ‘she’?” López asks, “Well, we know what happened to Annie, which is terrible, but we don’t know if it’s the ‘she’s awake’ we’re talking about“. Naturally, the director did not reveal details of the upcoming plot: “We don’t have any clues at this time. What we do know is that the events in Tsalal are, in some strange way, speaking to Danvers and speaking to Navarro and calling attention to the fact that something has changed.”
Who is “She” in True Detective – Night Country?
A pattern that remained constant during the three occasions in which we heard the phrase in the first chapter is the occurrence of supernatural or inexplicable events, thus hinting at a metaphysical meaning in the series. This trend is reinforced towards the end of the episode when Rose (Fiona Shaw) is guided by Travis (Erling Eliasson) to the place where the scientists’ frozen corpses lie. The crucial detail is that, moments later, it is revealed to us that Travis is dead, suggesting that in Ennis, Alaska, the line between the living and the dead is blurred.
Despite the statements of López, who seeks to mislead and keep everything related to the series a secret, after what was observed in the first chapter, the main theory maintains that “she” is the deceased Annie. At the facility where the missing scientists lived, they found a language that belonged to an Alaska Native woman; Annie, when she was brutally murdered, and had her tongue cut out. Furthermore, Detective Danvers discovered a connection between one of the scientists, Clark (the same one who utters the phrase at the beginning of the chapter), and the woman, which although not confirmed, everything indicates that it is.
