When is it appropriate to cease posing queries? Exists a moment like that? What happens if we decide to give up and accept the way the world looks at us? When we opt to just nod our heads in agreement with what we are told, what do we become? Detective Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) of True Detective: Night Country has been reminding us to always ask the proper question for the past four episodes.

It accomplishes this by repeating a sentence that, while not always sounding as clever as the show thinks it is, nevertheless makes the point clear: asking questions just for the purpose of asking them is rarely sufficient. If we are to ever discover the answers, we have to figure out what questions are truly crucial to ask.

As the show reveals in Episode 5, the main character may have been dodging some of the most important inquiries concerning her case. It also places all of its characters—Navarro (Kali Reis) to Hank (John Hawkes)—in the awkward position of having to choose between continuing on with more questions or giving up.

Recap

All in all, it’s a reasonably decent episode in a show whose quality has been declining lately. Although it hasn’t quite reached the point where it may be seen negatively overall, it has definitely fallen short in many aspects when it comes to maintaining its eerie atmosphere and engaging us with its characters.

In Episode 5, everyone is caught in a web woven by Silver Sky, the mining business that controls and poisons the town of Ennis, and personal tragedies play a crucial role in the unraveling of the central mystery. Danvers is urged to terminate the Tsalal inquiry by Connelly (Christopher Eccleston) because of Silver Sky.

But Navarro won’t allow her to give up that simply. At the same time, Pete (Finn Bennett) finds himself in the terrible situation of having to question his father, while Hank Prior gives up all moral reservations in order to accept to perform shady favors for Silver Sky.

All of these factors combine to create a dramatic conclusion that, hopefully, will have repercussions the following week. True Detective: Night Country’s fifth episode is entirely focused on tangible, material dramas, in contrast to its fourth episode, which explored the spiritual world.

Disregard the spirits that stalk Ennis. The mine that makes living in the town all but impossible is this week’s big villain. Danvers finds the underground cave system’s entrance and learns it has been blown shut. He then gets a call from mine manager Kate McKitterick (Dervla Kirwan) telling him to abandon the Tsalal study.

McKitterick is upset over her and Navarro’s exploration of Silver Sky land, and Connelly arrives from Anchorage with some unsettling news: the forensics team has determined that the researchers’ deaths and their strange injuries were caused by a freak avalanche.

Here’s another page where author Issa López draws inspiration from the true Dyatlov Pass story: reports from the period and more recent data indicate that the terrible demise of the Soviet hikers was caused by an avalanche.

Incorporating this into the show gives True Detective fans a safe place to experiment with wild thoughts about what might have happened, away from the more harmful conspiracy theories. It’s a really entertaining nod to those who are familiar with the actual story.