“It’s been here… it will come back again!”
Updated: Feb 29
Is Jodie on the trail of Howard Hawks’ 1951 Sci-fi classic, in the year 2024?
A speculative discussion by James P. McCabe
This article is based ONLY on HBO’s ‘True Detective/Night Country, Episode 1’… AND on the 1951 film ‘The Thing (from Another World)’, produced by Howard Hawks, with Ken Tobey, Margaret Sheridan and James Arness; not so much on the well-respected, more recent 1982 John Carpenter version.
Since beginning this article, I’ve found that there has already been considerable speculation along similar lines, as well as some significant input from showrunner Issa Lopez herself (1). I think my angle is a bit different, so I’m going to run it anyway, if only for the enjoyment of hunting for ‘Easter eggs’- of which there seem to be a few!
I took a course in Anthropology/Sociology when I was a freshman in college. It must have made an impression on me, because it comes to mind often, and it came to mind while I was watching ‘Night Country’, Episode 1...
The required text, which I will not name, stressed the importance of cultural patterns that repeat throughout history. I’ll go to Mark Twain for the quote: "[A] favorite theory of mine [is] that no occurrence is sole and solitary, but is merely a repetition of a thing which has happened before, and perhaps often."(2)
Having set up my thesis:
Here are the points of comparison, call them ‘Easter eggs’ if you wish, between the two films, True Detective/Night Country’ (Rating: MA) and ‘The Thing (from Another World’) (Not rated).
Both films take place in Alaska: ‘Night Country’ in Ennis, Alaska; ‘The Thing’ in Anchorage, Alaska.
Each film takes place under extreme weather conditions that create an isolating effect:
‘Night Country’ starts on Dec. 19, at the beginning of 65 days of continuous night. “The Thing’ begins as a major snow storm closes in around the military/medical research base.
The same type of research is being done at both locations, which is of a biological nature.
Each film features the discovery of a severed body part. In ‘Night Country’, a woman’s tongue is found under a table (nice work by the effects dep’t.!). In ‘The Thing’, the right forearm of The Visitor is severed during its violent encounter with the sled dogs.
Sacrificial overtones: The first time we see her, Fiona Shaw’s character. Rose Aguineau,, is gutting a carcass that she has hanging. In ‘The Thing’, the ‘sled dogs’ are found ‘bled white’ and hidden in a storage bin by The Visitor. Later, human victims are described as being found ‘hanging upside down’ in the greenhouse, ‘like in a slaughterhouse’.
A revelatory moment comes in ‘The Thing’ when the camera pulls back to show the crew spreading out in a circular pattern that defines the alien craft that has sunken under the ice. In ‘Night Country’ the camera pulls back to show Jodie’s character, Danvers, defining a spiral by sorting through crime scene photographs and arranging them in the correct order.
Finally, for now:
Both films feature a body, or bodies, found frozen and encased in the ice.
Where is it all pointing? Time has moved ahead. Now we’re seeing a very similar situation to that of the 1951 film… but minus the alien spacecraft.
Who or what are we looking for?
What’s going on?
I, for one, do not sense the presence of ‘Lovecraftian horrors’, as some have suggested. I think this year’s version of The Visitor will be much more human, and in fact may prove to be badder than the ‘bad boys’ it’s up against...
Let’s see what you’ve got, Issa, and…
Keep watching the skies!
February 28, 2024
I’ll just add this brief postscript concerning the last episode of HBO’s “True Detective-Night Country” …
Episode 6 aired on Sunday night, February 18, and drew an audience of 3.2 million viewers to HBO and its streaming service Max.
As the story came to its conclusion, we found that Danvers and Navarro keep their vow- possibly beyond death, for both of them- and find the answer as to who killed the indigenous Alaskan woman Annie K, and why. Along the way they also (possibly) discover who chased the “Thing”- in this case, six “Things”- out onto the ice until (most of them) died. The research station is shut down…
I did not think there was anything about the last scene that was mysterious or unresolved. You have to remember, the women are in charge in this one, and the rules of storytelling are appropriately different…
The only thing that did not get answered, as far as I could tell, is: who left the tongue under the kitchen table? The answer might come in some future season of “True Detective”, but I can’t guarantee I’ll be watching! (3) JPM.
Finally, here’s this update on the show’s status;
“The wildly successful fourth season of True Detective prompted HBO to renew the series within days of the finale…
The undisputed ruler of the television world in 2024 (so far) is HBO's True Detective: Night Country, which enlisted Jodie Foster and Kali Reis for an enthralling season from new showrunner Issa López years after most of us assumed the series had been put to rest. Night Country had the highest viewership for the entire series, and it didn't take long for the powers-that-be at HBO to renew True Detective for Season 5.”
I didn’t forget about the obvious clue that no one has noticed: the series began with the discovery of a tape of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off playing loudly in the abandoned research outpost… Danvers yanks the tape out of the machine and tosses it aside. But then, in the final episode, the same tape is found playing loudly again… in the same place! Who put it back in? What point is being made? Has anyone checked Matthew Broderick for a spiral tattoo? We’ll have to wait for such answers… for about 2 years, right? JPM.
(1) Showrunner Issa Lopez, interviewed by Esther Zuckerman for the Los Angeles Times. Jan. 15, 2024, 3AM PT. In the course of the interview, Issa mentions being influenced by the 1982 version of The Thing, but not the 1951 film.
(2) Mark Twain. 1903. The Jumping Frog. Harper & Bros. P. 64.
(3) The reason I might not be watching is because of the extreme violence, which I’m not necessarily a fan of. JPM.
JAMES P. MC CABE is an HBO alumnus, known for his paintings of magicians and baggy-pants comedians for HBO programs in the late 1970’s. He appreciates having been given his proper IMDb credits for his work on those shows.
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