Night Country's Ratings Prove It Was Right To Change (Despite The Criticism)

Although True Detective: Night Country's style changes received a lot of criticism since its debut, its ratings prove it was wise to switch things up.

Summary

Despite mixed reception and criticism, True Detective: Night Country has the highest ratings in the show's history, averaging 12.7 million viewers across streaming platforms.
The show introduces new concepts and improves female characters, challenging the expectations set by the first season and providing a fresh perspective to the crime series.
True Detective: Night Country's success can be attributed to its handling of supernatural elements, compelling female leads, and the unique setting of Ennis, Alaska, which enhances the show's drama and adds another layer to the franchise.

Although True Detective: Night Country has faced a lot of harsh criticism since its debut, the show's strong ratings demonstrate why the season is just as good as the first. Despite the overall positive reception of the fourth season, True Detective: Night Country's reception is still mixed, which would suggest that the show is struggling to live up to the high expectations set by the very first. However, The Hollywood Reporter, True Detective: Night Country is averaging 12.7 million viewers across all streaming platforms, and has done so since its January 14 debut, making it the highest-rated season in True Detective's history.

With the True Detective season 4 finale on the way, the fourth season of the anthology crime series looks to solidify its spot as the most viewed season, which further complicates the issues regarding the amount of criticism it's received. While no show is perfect, True Detective: Night Country does a lot of things that are objectively great, such as introducing new concepts to the True Detective formula and improving the female characters, whether major or minor. While True Detective's first season will likely remain the most popular among viewers, True Detective: Night Country's ratings highlight the season's success.

One Controversial Part Of True Detective: Night Country Is Actually Better Than Season 1

True Detective: Night Country has taken many overt influences from the critically acclaimed season 1, one of which might actually be an improvement.

True Detective: Night Country Has Faced Unjustified Criticism

Some of the criticism has been levied against the primarily female cast & crew rather than the quality of the season.

Many of the unjust criticisms levied against True Detective: Night Country revolve around the season's decision to feature two female leads as opposed to the typically male leads who carry the season. While criticizing the quality of an actor's performance is perfectly fine, highlighting a singular performance - or in this case, two performances, to write off an entire show's quality is lazy. Season 1's Rust and Hart undoubtedly set a high bar for subsequent seasons to achieve, but the performances of Jodie Foster and Kali Reis provide a much-needed perspective to the crime series.

In the case of Foster's Liz Danvers, audiences witness the prejudice that many women often face when trying to advance their careers in predominantly male-dominated spaces. Meanwhile, the blatant racism regarding the handling of the missing Native American women strikes a chord with Reis' Evangeline Navarro, which gives the otherwise standard missing person's case additional depth. As is the case with many projects in today's entertainment climate, if the creative forces behind and in front of the camera aren't predominantly white men, the project usually experiences unfounded claims of being "woke" in backlash.

Why True Detective: Night Country Is Doing So Well

True Detective: Night Country's handling of supernatural elements and female characters makes it distinct.

However, despite many of the bad-faith takes criticizing True Detective: Night Country unjustly, the show's continued success speaks to its quality and ability to carry the momentum from previous seasons. In addition to the compelling female leads and the emphasis on Native American culture, True Detective: Night Country is also doing well because of its supernatural elements. True Detective's first season flirted with the idea of mysticism near its climax and the subsequent seasons were both more grounded, but True Detective: Night Country fully embraces it, which gives the otherwise standard crime series another layer.

True Detective: Night Country is also doing well because the show as a whole is very well-received among general audiences for its tense and engaging drama. Whereas previous seasons existed primarily in rustic swamps and bayous, True Detective: Night Country takes the drama to the fictional, compelling environment of Ennis, Alaska. The change in location enhances its supernatural elements while also exposing audiences to scenery seldom seen in the genre. True Detective: Night Country remains a strong addition to the franchise despite its unjust criticism.

True Detective: Night Country 's series finale premieres on Max February 16 at 9pm EST.

True Detective

Release Date January 12, 2014 Cast Matthew McConaughey , Woody Harrelson , Colin Farrell , Rachel McAdams , Taylor Kitsch , Mahershala Ali , Carmen Ejogo , Michelle Monaghan , Michael Potts , Ray Fisher , Jodie Foster Related Topics About The Author

A CSULB film graduate and amateur filmmaker, Micah is drawn to stories with compelling characters and interesting stories. He values integrity and honesty, and ensures his work is well-researched and fact-checked.

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