Why True Detective: Night Country's Horror Easter Egg May Mean More Than We Think

Contains spoilers for "True Detective: Night Country" – Season 4, Episode 1

The first chilling episode of "True Detective: Night Country" has arrived, debuting a show that will be all some people will be talking about for the next six weeks. Like Season 1, though, there seems to be a supernatural streak running through this freshly cold case, only more potent than before. Is this a mass murder, or does an interesting Easter egg linking to a John Carpenter classic indicate something else waiting in the snow for our lead detectives, Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) and Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis)?

Let's look at the crime scene (or lack thereof) first, shall we? In Season 4, Episode 1, Danvers is called to the Tsalal research station to find it abandoned, and the only bit of life being "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" stuck on a loop on the television. In a frantic effort to cut the sound and focus on the bigger picture, she walks by a DVD collection with Carpenter's 1982 sci-fi horror classic, "The Thing," at the front of the queue. Deemed as one of his greatest works, the movie tells the story of a research station in Alaska (just like the one Danvers is visiting) invaded by a shape-shifting alien that sends its all-male inhabitants into confusion and paranoia after it begins picking them off one by one. Might this be a subtle homage to a frozen-over gem, or given the episode's closing moments, is "Night Country" hinting there might be something waiting out in the barren areas of Ennis, Alaska?

A blink-or-you'll-miss-it sighting of "The Thing" is one thing; it's another when our lead detectives finally discover the missing group of men they've been looking for, only for them to appear like they've been taken right out of the body horror classic itself. Buried together under the ice, it's a nightmarish display that echoes the visuals of the titular alien during its shape-shifting phase. With hands outstretched from every angle and contorted faces stuck in fear, it does beg the question of whether something otherworldly really did leave these men out to freeze and be found together.

Connections between the Kurt Russell-starring classic and "True Detective" don't stop there, either. Season 1, Episode 1 of "True Detective" was entitled "Who Goes There," which is coincidentally the name of the novella that inspired "The Thing." With these links lingering throughout the show, it would certainly make for an exciting change of direction for a series that has never outright confirmed unnatural forces at play to get thrown into the mix now. 

With whispers of "she's awake" and ghosts hinting at more horrors waiting for our heroes, is "Night Country" really venturing into areas that the show has never gone before? Who can say? For now, why don't we just wait a little longer for things to thaw out before we start firing up the flame thrower? You know, just to be safe?