Nearly a week has passed since Evangeline Navarro's (Kali Reis) sister died, and tensions still run high. Chief Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) continues to investigate the link between the Tsalal researchers and Annie K's (Nivi Pedersen) deaths, facing strong opposition from influential figures in the community. The links between the Silver Sky Mine and the two cases grow by the day as Peter Prior (Finn Bennett) digs deeper into the financials.
Meanwhile, a protest at the mine turns violent and Danvers has an enlightening meeting with Silver Sky boss Kate McKitterick (Dervla Kirwan) and Captain Connelly (Christopher Eccleston). As a storm approaches, Danvers must decide whether to pursue a potentially damning lead, but Hank (John Hawkes) poses a threat.
Read on to get a full recap of True Detective season 4 episode 5.
Finding the ice cave
Engineer Otis Heiss (Klaus Tange) is detoxing in the Lighthouse facility as Danvers questions him. Otis reveals he only recently met missing researcher Clark (Owen McDonnell), who kept saying, "She's awake."
Danvers also wants to know about the injuries he got 30 years earlier during the cave-in. Otis recalls the survivors ran into a blizzard and hearing a scream. The rest of the men followed the sound and the next thing he remembers is waking up in the hospital. Danvers asks wants Otis to take her to the cave, but he has one condition: that Danvers gets him some heroin. She immediately refuses.
Instead, Danvers gets Navarro to go to the cave entrance. It is on Silver Sky land, but the entrance is blown shut, so they must find another way in.
Elsewhere, Peter's wife Kayla (Anna Lambe) wants him out of the house for the foreseeable future. He asks his father, Hank, if he can stay with him.
Protesting the mine
Later in the day, Leah (Isabella Star LaBlanc) paints her mouth black as part of a protest against the mine. Navarro is called in t be one of the troopers set to control the crowd, but when Navarro sees another trooper strike Leah, she pulls Leah away and beats her colleague.
Danvers wants Leah brought to the station, but ignores her she arrives and has her put her in a cell for participating in the protest, which Danvers claims is to show her step-daughter how vulnerable she is.
Peter has discovered some vital information that he shows to Danvers. Following the money, Peter discovers the mine has been bankrolling the Tsalal research station. The "independent" findings about how much pollution the mine generates could be bogus.
A call from Connelly summons Danvers to a meeting at Silver Sky, where Kate confronts Danvers about trespassing by the cave, as there is security footage of her with Navarro at the mine entrance. But the bigger bombshell is Connelly claiming the Tsalal men died after a freak "slab avalanche." Danvers thinks this is pretty convenient, taking this moment to reveal she knows Silver Sky likely fixed their pollution numbers and says she's close to solving Annie K's murder. Connelly doesn't care and tells her to stop investigating. He brings up the Wheeler case, saying he knows it wasn't a murder-suicide.
Adding to the suspicion around Silver Sky is Kate's clandestine meeting with Hank, in which she asks him to take care of Otis. Hank says he isn't a killer. Kate emphasizes she never asked him to kill anyone, but it's easy to read between the lines. Hank reminds her the last time he did her a big favor, he didn't get the police chief role as promised. Kate says she will get him this job if he follows through.
Breaking the ice
Last week, Otis mentioned the Night Country, which Navarro is is able to connect between the swirl symbol and the caves. Hunters use this as a warning that the ice might "swallow you whole" as it's where it is thinnest. Navarro realizes this is how they can get into the caves.
Unfortunately, now that Connelly knows about Wheeler, Danvers toes the line and tells Navarro the case is over. "You carry her now," Navarro angrily tells Danvers about Annie K's memory.
As Danvers tries to make amends with Leah, Leah details what the pollution is doing: there have been nine stillbirths in a matter of months, which is horrifying. Everything Annie was fighting against is still happening.
Making a choice
Hank follows Danvers to find out where Otis is staying. First, she goes to where the dead are being kept until the ground is soft enough to bury them, and the tiny coffins of the still born babies are a wake-up call for her.
She returns to the station to confront Peter about who he told about the Wheeler case, then realizes Hank has accessed his son's laptop. Danvers doesn't want Peter to stay with his dad and gives him the key to the shack at her place.
Getting to the ice caves is paramount, so Danvers grabs heroin from the evidence room and brings Otis to her house. Otis tells her the best place to crack the ice and then goes to her bathroom with the drugs. Hank arrives, claiming Connelly has asked him to bring Otis in, but Danvers knows something is up.
When Otis tries to leave, Hank shoots him twice. Peter, already in the shack, enters with his gun raised. Danvers pleads for them to "think about it," but when Hank sees Peter has picked Danvers over him, he forces his son's hand by raising his gun at her. Peter has no choice but to shoot his father. Before he dies, Hank confesses to moving Annie's body but insists he didn't kill her.
By the time Navarro arrives, both Otis and Hank are dead. Danvers wants to call Connelly, but Navarro knows Peter will go down if she does. "This didn't happen. Hank was never here," Navarro says. The plan is to say Hank grabbed Otis and had an accident when disposing of the body. Peter can clean while they use the storm as cover in their final bid to discover the truth. Who killed Annie K and what happened to the Tsalal men?
True Detective season 4 episode 5 is now streaming on Max, it airs on HBO Sunday, February 11, at 9 pm ET/PT. In the UK, it airs on Sky Atlantic Monday, February 12.
