'True Detective: Night Country' and the 'Zombie Virus' Theory

By Dustin Rowles | TV | January 29, 2024 |

By Dustin Rowles | TV | January 29, 2024 |

Episode three of True Detective: Night Country provided a few more clues to the ongoing Annie K. cold case and the mysterious deaths of what now appears to be seven scientists (assuming that Lund has died), but it also trafficked heavily in the themes of this season. There’s a lot of layers to the mystery. Let’s break it down:

Day 5 and 6

— In a flashback, we see Evangeline Navarro forge a connection with Annie Kowtok before her death. Navarro went to her place to arrest her for trespassing at the mine but found herself witnessing the birth of a baby that had to be resuscitated. This is why this case is so personal to Navarro.

— We also learn that Navarro’s mother — who had been beaten by Navarro’s father in Boston before they moved back to Alaska — is the victim of an unsolved murder, as well. Becoming a police officer who is vigilant about protecting women is likely rooted in her mother’s murder. But there’s another part of her identity that she feels disconnected from. Her mother never told Navarro her Iñupiat name, and from what Oliver Tagaq suggests, Navarro has lost touch with her roots. Navarro feels that void.

— Navarro’s protective instincts may be why she was demoted and why her partnership with Danvers ended. Danvers told Pete a story about William Wheeler, an abusive husband who murdered his wife. Danvers told Pete it was a murder-suicide, but it looks more likely that Wheeler killed his wife, and then Navarro (or possibly Danvers) shot and killed Wheeler and staged it as a suicide. My guess is that Danvers agreed to cover it up but refused to continue working with Navarro afterward.

— Speaking of Oliver Tagaq, he was the equipment engineer at Tsalal station before Annie died. He was dating Annie’s best friend, Susan, a hairdresser who introduced Annie to Raymond Clark. Oliver moved to a remote part of Alaska where he did not want to be found. He did not take kindly to being questioned by Danvers and Navarro, but was also troubled to learn about the fate of the scientists.

— After Annie’s death, Hank received a tip about Clark and Annie’s relationship from Susan but did not report it or follow up. He also recruited a bunch of hillbilly citizens to help search for Clark. Hank is not interested in bringing Clark back alive.

— The Iñupiat continue to protest the mine, which has not only contaminated the water but appears to be causing stillborn babies. Leah is involved in the protests, but Danvers worries that Leah is on a similar path to that of Annie.

— Navarro threw an orange into the tundra, and someone threw the orange back at her. It’s unclear if this was a dream, but the presence of an orange always foreshadows death (See: The Godfather, Mad Men, Breaking Bad). We can also chalk up much of the bizarre or the supernatural to grief, to darkness, and to the trauma of those experiencing dreams and visions.

Theory of the Case

That brings me to an early theory I’m noodling on. A research lab studying the origin of life initially conjured up COVID lab leak conspiracy theories, but that led to research on Alaska-specific viruses, which led to a lot of articles about a “zombie virus” and a Pandoravirus.

In real life, scientists have been studying microorganisms, viruses, and bacteria trapped in the permafrost. What’s happening is that permafrost is melting because temperatures are rising at a faster rate in the tundra than in other parts of the world. That has led to the discovery of ancient viruses that had been stored, as is, in the permafrost. That Pandoravirus that scientists discovered, for instance, is 48,500 years old.

These zombie viruses, which modern humans have not been exposed to, present a low-level threat, according to scientists, but that is not necessarily true for a fictional series that might want to highlight one of the dangers of global warming. Real-life scientists are also concerned about viruses and bacteria unleashed by the frozen corpses of people who died thousands of years ago.

We don’t know what the effect of those viruses might be, but let’s suppose that the TSALAL scientists had been attempting to extract and thaw one of those “zombies viruses,” and let’s suppose they gave it a female name, hence “She’s awake.” As in, the virus is live. Let’s suppose, too, that the virus causes unimaginable pain and delusions — the kind of pain that can only be relieved by the cold. In an effort to relieve them of the extreme symptoms, they bit themselves and scratched their eyeballs out before they eventually died of cardiac arrest and were buried together in the snow, except for Clark, who managed to avoid a full-blown contagion.

“We woke her. And now she’s out there in the ice,” Lund told Liz before he presumably died. “She came for us in the dark.”

Maybe “she” is a frozen corpse that thawed and released a virus. Maybe the frozen body was found six years ago in an ice cave discovered by Annie K., and maybe the other scientists killed her to keep a corpse that was tens of thousands of years old a secret, specifically from the Iñupiat, who would want to claim the body.

The scientists cut out Annie’s tongue to send a message about talking. However, Raymond Clark — who was in love with Annie — felt guilty about his colleagues killing Annie. It’s part of the reason why Annie and Raymond’s relationship was a secret — they were working together to uncover the body in the ice cave. The miners knew about these bodies, too, but kept it quiet because they knew it would result in the mines shutting down.

Raymond didn’t want to kill Annie, but his colleagues threatened to kill him if he said anything. On the day the virus was unleashed and infected the scientists, however, Raymond ran. He left Annie’s tongue behind in the hopes that the police would connect her death to the scientists.

It’s a working theory, and there are some holes — namely, where is the frozen corpse or evidence of this virus — but the broad outlines make sense, specifically a “zombie virus” unleashed by melting permafrost that infected the scientists, who — along with the police and the mining company (the Tuttles!) — were trying to keep the frozen bodies in an ice cave a secret from the Iñupiat.