Peter Prior: The Overlooked MVP of True Detective: Night Country - SlashFilm

Detectives Liz Danvers and Evangeline Navarro are the focus of "True Detective: Night Country," showcasing their strong personalities and teamwork.

In the compelling series "True Detective: Night Country," the dynamic duo of Detectives Liz Danvers and Evangeline Navarro take center stage for good reason. The clash of their equally strong personalities is nothing short of riveting, especially as they come together as a solid team despite their inherent differences. Each woman has been grappling with their inner demons in markedly different ways - Danvers suppresses her trauma with impulsive, headstrong actions, while Navarro suffers in silence and channels her rage into solving the Tsalal/Annie K. case.

However, there is a third individual in Ennis who is integral to the investigation and has seldom gotten the credit: Peter Prior, and his single-minded dedication to the case needs to be talked about if we are to discuss the complicated web of conspiracies gripping the town. Peter's case is a tad complicated, as he is not solely fueled by a need to be an upstanding cop. His father, Hank Prior, is the definition of a corrupt officer, who is eventually revealed to have handled the corpse of Annie K. before it was found by the police and hidden key evidence to shield the real perpetrators.

Apart from being inefficient and corrupt, Hank is also not a model father and this semi-absentee parent role is inadvertently filled by Danvers, who pushes Peter around to do her bidding as she pleases. A combination of extreme people-pleasing and the genuine urge to do good propels Peter to become a competent detective, where he emerges as a stark antithesis to his father's problematic legacy, which he shoots down quite literally in the penultimate episode of the show. The complex interplay of characters and their personal struggles adds depth to the narrative, making "True Detective: Night Country" a must-watch for fans of gripping crime dramas.