No TV show’s topping True Detective’s Christmas episode

True Detective Season 4 has offered up plenty of surprises so far, from connections to the very first iteration of the show to intense horror vibes. Still, one thing I never expected to see from the new season is a Christmas episode – and a really good one, at that.

Given the fact True Detective’s latest installment premiered in January and will run throughout February, you’d be forgiven for thinking the ship had sailed when it comes to festive celebrations. And, technically, you’d be half right.

Indeed, there is little cause for celebration when it comes to the events of Episode 4. Despite the story taking place on Christmas Eve, the central trio of Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster), Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis), and Peter Prior (Finn Bennett) find nothing but misery in their metaphorical stockings.

Warning: spoilers for True Detective Season 4 lie ahead!

True Detective delivers death and despair

HBO

As is customary with True Detective, this season has dealt with incredibly dark themes and gruesome, graphic deaths. The latest episode is no different, with viewers constantly reminded of Anne Kowtok’s grizzly demise as Danvers replays footage of the victim’s final moments over and over again in search of clues.

As though the backdrop of the central case wasn’t bleak enough, we have Navarro dealing with the deteriorating mental state of her sister, Julia. This week, Julia marches across the ice and into the Alaskan sea, leaving a grief-stricken Navarro with a Christmas to forget.

Meanwhile, Danvers contends with her troubled past and tries to find answers at the bottom of a bottle of vodka, while Prior once again puts work over his marriage, leading to some very awkward pillow talk.

Far from being the happiest time of year, the complexities of the overarching mystery combine with the very personal pain of the three protagonists to make this one of the most disturbing and depressing episodes of television in recent memory.

A Christmas ghost story

HBO

Still, just because something is relentlessly grim and, frankly, a little bit scary, that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It also doesn’t have to detract from the festive context of the story, either.

For far too long, film fans have argued over what constitutes a Christmas movie: is simply being set at Christmas enough, or does the time of year have to be central to the narrative for it to count? In the case of True Detective Season 4 Episode 4, both boxes are ticked.

Like the best Christmas horror movies out there, this episode of television perfectly juxtaposes the emotional context and general frivolity of this time of year with a far more sinister, foreboding atmosphere that feels so horribly out of sync.

For True Detective, and Navarro in particular, this comes in the form of a visit from the shrieking specter of her sister, who finds her, rather fittingly, next to a brightly lit Christmas tree in an abandoned dredge boat.

This is not simply a story that takes place at Christmas. The fact this is all happening on Christmas Eve—against a backdrop of crisp white snow, colorful lights, and peaceful silence—only serves to heighten the grief, torment, and friction felt by each of the characters.

Night Country has peaked

HBO

So far, this season of True Detective has been a difficult beast to dissect. While Issa López has raised the stakes for the franchise with her brand of supernatural horror, the fact the show has attempted to hark back to the glory days of Season 1’s Carcosa storyline has left a sour taste for some.

With Episode 4, it finally feels as though the new season has been given the freedom to stand on its own two feet and go to bolder and darker places than ever before. In previous seasons, we’ve seen a satanic cult, a violent drug lord, and child abductions—not exactly light entertainment by any means.

However, what makes Season 4 stand out, at least on the evidence of its strongest episode to date, is the sheer proximity of the case to the central investigators. In a small town like Ennis, it’s hard for characters to escape the trauma, and the impact of this is impossible for viewers to ignore.

I’m not about to proclaim that Season 4 is better than Season 1—far from it, in fact, as McConaughey and Harrelson’s double act gave us the best singular season of television ever. But if it can stick the landing in the final two episodes, we will look at Episode 4 as the catalyst for that success.

I’ve no doubt we will see far more cheery and uplifting Christmas episodes from TV shows throughout the year, but if a visceral, soul-shattering experience was on your wish list, then nothing is getting close to what Night Country has just given us.

For more from the show, check out our guide to the True Detective Season 4 soundtrack, or explore these 7 shows to watch if you like True Detective.