The Mysterious Case of True Detective Season 4's Frozen Researchers

The Frozen Researchers: A Chilling Enigma

True Detective season 4's biggest mystery remains what happened to the researchers in the Alaskan facility, but the show has already dropped a few clues, paving the way for theories. Like the previous installments of the True Detective series, season 4 also harps on the hardened cop trope by introducing Jodi Foster's Danvers and Kali Reis' Navarro as two commanding detectives. However, what allows it to etch its own identity in the franchise is its snow-clad Alaskan setting and the intriguing interplay of conservative fantasy and true crime realism in its overarching storyline.

Jodie Foster as Danvers and Kali Reis as Navarro stare into a snowy landscape in True Detective season 4

Unlike True Detective season 1, season 4 does not go back and forth between timelines and primarily follows a linear narrative. However, similar to season 1, it sets the stage for its crime drama by introducing a gripping mystery in its opening arc itself. The mystery revolves around the sudden disappearance of a group of researchers, strangely found frozen in snow towards the end of the episode.

Law enforcement excavating the frozen scientist in True Detective season 4

Unraveling the Mystery: What Killed the Researchers?

True Detective season 4, episode 1, does not reveal who or what killed the researchers, but it drops several clues surrounding what might have happened to them. In episode 1's closing moments, Travis' specter guides Rose to the frozen bodies of the researchers, suggesting that Travis' death might also have had something to do with them. The frozen researchers also have no clothes on, hinting that the killer either asked them to take them off before freezing them to death, or they took them off after experiencing extreme hypothermia. Considering how their bodies were found outside, the researchers were also likely horrified by whoever or whatever was trying to kill them, which made them rush out of the TSALAL facility.

Rose talking to Travis in True Detective season 4

In True Detective season 4's trailer, there is a scene where Danvers mentions that the researchers were killed before they were frozen. Given the meticulousness with which the murders were seemingly planned, it seems likely that a human was responsible for scarring them out of the facility and killing them. In another trailer scene, Danvers also finds the same spiral marks on the foreheads of scientists that Hart and Cohle find on the young woman's body in True Detective season 1's episode 1. This could mean the killer in season 4 is somehow connected to season 1's Yellow King cult.

Kali Reis and Jodie Foster in Night Country's poster in the background with Foster's Liz Danvers in the the center

The Real Reason Behind the Murders

The researchers' educational backgrounds reveal that they were all highly qualified in fields related to earth sciences. When Danvers asks Travers what they were doing in Alaska, Travis says they were trying to discover the origins of life. While these details do not necessarily reveal why they were killed, whatever they were working on was likely groundbreaking. However, their research work could also be a cover for something far more evil. Or, their research led them to discover something they were not meant to find, which eventually landed them in the crosshairs of some powerful people.

True Detective Night Country

When Danvers initially investigates the TSALAL facility in True Detective season 4's episode 1, she notices a whiteboard with 'We Are All Dead' written on it. This suggests that the researchers were well aware that they were going to die even before they left the facility. Before the researchers disappear, True Detective season 4's episode 1 also shows that one of them was acting strangely, saying, 'She's awake.' This seemingly hints that metaphysical and otherworldly elements are intertwined with their mysterious deaths.

The Intriguing Connections and Theories

True Detective season 4's episode 1 only gives a glimpse of the frozen researchers, but the glimpse alone makes it evident that they were terrified of something or someone before they died. While hypothermia might have left them in a state of confusion and evoked that response out of them, the fact that Danvers mentions they were killed before they were frozen makes it hard not to wonder what scared them so much. Extreme hypothermia can cause an individual to experience a burning sensation, which can often be mistaken as overheating. This leads to 'paradoxical undressing,' where the individual starts taking their clothes off instead of keeping themselves warm.

Jodie Foster In True Detective Night Country

The frozen researchers probably did not have their clothes on because of the same phenomenon. However, the ritualistic nature of the crime suggests that making them remove their clothes and then freezing them might have been a part of the killer's meticulous murder routine. In True Detective season 4, episode 1's opening arc, one of the researchers records himself on his phone while making a sandwich. Moments later, things go south when the researcher behind him starts shivering and utters, 'She's awake.' Given how the researcher's phone was recording a video, it would be safe to theorize that his phone has all the evidence that discloses what happened to him and his team in True Detective season 4.

Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) looks in horror at something unseen in True Detective