Spoiler alert: We discuss the late, harrowing moments of HBO's "True Detective: Night Country" Episode 5. Don't read if you don't want to know what happens.
You always knew that the simmering conflict between flawed father and shady cop Hank Prior (John Hawkes) and his earnest son, rookie Officer Peter (Finn Bennett), was going to blow up at some point in HBO's "True Detective: Night Country."
But it was hard to imagine the explosive ending of Greek tragedy proportions between father and son in Episode 5 (now streaming on Max; airing Sunday on HBO at 9 EST/PST).
Peter has the bad fortune of walking into the house of Ennis, Alaska, police chief Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) to see his father aiming his gun at his department rival. Forced to choose between protecting Danvers, his acerbic mentor, or siding with his crooked pop, Peter fatally shoots his father in the head.
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The look of horror and shock on Danvers' face sums up the likely reaction of the viewers. But the familial break, however terrible, was inevitable.
"When you come from horror, sometimes you have to obliterate it to be able to move free," says "Night Country" writer, director and executive producer Issa López. "Therapy would've been a lot better, but Peter has terrible luck. Yet he truly becomes an adult in that moment and he will forever have to carry that weight."
Was the death necessary? Hank had already hunted down the heroin-addicted drifter Otto Heiss (Klaus Tange) at the behest of the local mines to stop him from revealing damaging information. Hank killed Otto in Danvers' house. With Danvers as a witness to the crime, and Hank pointing the gun at her, the situation looks dire when Peter walks in with his gun drawn. He ignores his father's urgent attempts to help cover up the crime.
"Blood is blood, remember that," Hank says, almost in resignation, before raising his gun at Danvers.
López says Hank is essentially ending his life after realizing that he will face consequences for killing Otto and the central death of Inupiaq activist Annie K.
Peter drops his dad with a single shot, but misses a key detail in the heat of the moment.
"If you look carefully, Hank's finger is not in the gun trigger, (but) Peter doesn't have the state of mind to register that," says López. "Hank knows it's over for him. He raises his gun not with the intention of killing Danvers, but with the intention to die."
Hank is dead, and Peter's life instantly changes forever. But the death sparks a revolution of sorts as the whip-smart Danvers can't come up with a decent plan. It's left to investigating partner, trooper Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis), who arrives to find two dead bodies in Danvers' house, to plan the cover-up and way forward. Sure, this involves Peter having to clean up the crime scene and dispose of his father's body. But the focused Peter convinces Danvers it's the best option.
"Danvers, the bossiest of bosses, gets to the point that the other two are telling her what to do," says López. "It's a major role reversal. Danvers' two pupils graduate in Episode 5."
Filming the harrowing, fast-moving events was "the hardest performance scene I've ever done," says López.
Foster agrees that filming the pivotal scene "that changes everything" was "the bane of our existence. We couldn't quite nail it down until it came together the day we shot it."
The episode is a showcase for Bennett, 24, who turns in a stellar performance as the sensitive, former high school hockey star who becomes a police officer with a heart. Bennett is a British breakout actor maintaining a spot-on accent.
"Not only is he British, but he stayed in character with the American accent the whole time filming," says Foster. "Occasionally on weekends, Finn would slip up and become British. After that fourth beer at the pub, it was like, now there's the British accent."
