Christmas stinks.

The episode begins with Liz rewatching Annie K’s footage while in bed. She repeats and slows down the footage until she zeroes in on something as she begins to think. After a brief visit to Leah’s room, Liz is unable to get Annie K’s screams out of her head.

On December 24^th, the seventh day of night, Liz calls Peter, who informs her that the bodies are being packaged to be sent to Anchorage. Also, Connelly is there and waiting for her. She then quickly informs Peter to tell Navarro to meet her at the police station. Why?

Because she’s found a crying Jules walking around in the middle of the snow, having tossed off her shirt and jacket. She elbows Liz in the face, but Liz manages to wrap Jules in her coat and embrace her.

Do these people ever get cold?

Evangeline arrives at the station and is ready to leave with Jules, who apologizes for hitting Liz. As Jules goes downstairs, Evangeline thanks Liz. Meanwhile, the frozen bodies are still headed to Anchorage, though Evangeline doesn’t want Connelly trying to take the case rom them. Both realize they need to talk about the video, but right now, Evangeline needs to be with her sister.

As Peter watches the bodies being moved from the ice rink, Evangeline drives Jules home. Connelly, who is also at the station, heads into Liz’s office and compliments Peter on how well he’s done. Connelly plans to stick around for awhile. He doesn’t want to take the case from Liz- but with everything that’s happened, Liz needs to get shit under control. Besides, Connelly knows that Liz likes having him in town.

Liz informs Ted that the men died before they froze. How does Liz know that before forensics? She did an independent pre-forensic evaluation and is treating this like a murder case. Ted watched the Annie K video, which he wants kept on a need-to-know basis.

Evangeline brings Jules to the Lighthouse treatment center, with Evangeline promising that this won’t be like the other places. Evangeline is nearby and she’ll visit every day and asks Jules if she knew Since Christmas is tomorrow, Evangeline promises to bring treats and they’ll have a great time then.

I’ve got a bad feeling about that.

Peter presents a profile of Otis Heiss, who had burns on both corneas, ruptured eardrums, and self-inflicted bites. He’s also a German national with no records of employment and his social security has been inactive since November 2006. Also, no registered address for eight years. Well, if you wanted to get off the grid, just follow this guy’s example.

Anyway, has a long history of disorderly conduct, like petty theft, and has been in and out of rehab. He was picked up by a trooper in Noatak two months ago. No sightings since then. He became a junkie after an accident of which there’s no reported cause. The hunt is on, but everyone’s already looking for Raymond Clark.

Hank, meanwhile, is picking up his fiancé, so now the men will look for Clark and Otis, even though that would require an APB and it being Christmas Eve.

Evangeline informs Liz that there are no ice caves in the area near where Annie K’s body was found, meaning she was probably killed in one place and her body dumped in town to send a message. At least, that’s Liz’s theory. The bones on the walls in the video could be fossils. Evangeline is parked outside the treatment center and hasn’t gone home yet, which is good because Liz has an idea.

At the airport, Hank awaits his precious bride-to-be, but Alina never shows. Damn. I actually do feel a bit bad for the guy.

On the road, Evangeline tells Liz that Jules prays a lot. Liz’s dad told her to pray a lot when her mother died. Liz prayed so hard that her knees turned black and she couldn’t even walk at the funeral. Liz still doesn’t believe there’s a God, though.

Liz and Evangeline pay Adam an unexpected visit to show him Annie K’s footage. He concludes that the bones are probably prehistoric whale bones. Adam says that there’s a whole ice cave system up bordering the Brooks Range, but he calls it a death trap due to a bunch of accidents that led to it being closed.

Even if the detectives had the maps, they’d need an expert to guide them. One wrong step and the bottom could drop out from under them. The other way to do this would be to track down whoever mapped the cave system. And who might that be? Otis Heiss- a name that Liz immediately recognizes. Adam promises to get the maps.

As Jules gets herself together, an orange rolls out from underneath the bed. She begins to panic as she looks under the bed and sees the body of her dead mother under her bed.

Hank arrives back at the office and pours himself a strong Christmas Eve drink of Jim Beam. Peter informs his dad that they’re putting out an APB, even though he knows Kayla will kick his ass for devoting even more time to work. Hank tells Peter that Alina wasn’t on the plane, and he dodges a question about sending Alina any money. Instead, he plans to come by Peter’s home for Christmas.

Evangeline pays Rose a visit, but Rose is decked out in a fancy dress and has prepared quite the Christmas Eve feast. Evangeline asks what Rose did before Alaska, and Rose explains that she was a serious professor in a serious school, writing very serious ideas. Sounds serious.

One Tuesday morning after coffee, though, she had enough. Every word she wrote was meaningless. Plus, Alaska is much quieter, except for all the fucking dead. That much is true.

Liz gets a call from Kate McKittrick, who tells her to haul it to the Silver Sky Mining Company. Liz finds the words “Murderers” spray-painted on the doors, courtesy of Leah.

Liz tells Kate that yes, this is unacceptable. As for what Liz will do, she’ll call some people to get the spray paint down before workers arrive. Kate wants to press charges, Liz tells Kate that she doesn’t get to fuck up Leah’s life because she’s pissed at her. Also it won’t make things even. Leah wants to know why Liz doesn’t take her side, but Liz orders her in the car.

Evangeline calls Jules, who tells her that her room is nice and quiet. Evangeline tells Jules to get some rest and she’ll see her tomorrow morning. Jules is, however, not in her room, but still sitting by the capsized boat. She disrobes and walks into the cold darkness.

Leah packs up her stuff and is heading out to spend Christmas at Peter’s, much to Liz’s disappointment. With Leah gone, Liz dumps the Christmas turkey and spends her night drinking and watching Annie K’s footage.

Evangeline, meanwhile, arrives home and finds a present waiting by her door: Spongebob-themed toothpaste. How thoughtful.

Liz replays Annie K’s footage and then goes back to the footage from the night of the incident at the research center. She calls Evangeline and informs her that someone must’ve cut the power at the research center. She thought it was a glitch, but the power goes out. The same thing happens in Annie K’s video, even though there’s no reason for there to be power in an ice cave.

Someone like Oliver Tagaq must have put a generator there, since he has access to the emergency generator. Evangeline doesn’t want a drunk Liz picking her up, so instead, Liz will force poor Peter to do it.

Seriously, Peter needs a new line of work.

Speaking of, Hank and Peter prepare to leave for home when Peter gets a call from Liz, who tells him to pick up Evangeline because she needs backup. Liz wouldn’t ask unless she really needed help, which I say is a big fucking lie. Peter then calls Kayla, who is in the middle of cooking with her grandmother and Leah.

Peter picks up Evangeline, and the both at least have a laugh at Liz being hammered. The two head to Oliver Tagaq’s home, but find it abandoned and frozen. On the ground? The same symbol as on Annie K, and Raymond Clark, and the one in the cabin.

The two hear a dog barking, and some of the natives inform the two that Oliver left the day after Evangeline and Liz came. He went to go seal hunting. Evangeline asks the natives if they recognize the symbol on a stone in Oliver’s home, but they don’t respond.

Liz pops by Ted’s place and interrupts his Elf screening. The two get hot and heavy, while Liz confirms that, yes, she drove while drunk. Well, at least she made it. Liz says that Ted sent her to Ennis because he was afraid she’d take his job. Ted says she was a better cop than him, yes, but she’s terrible with people.

Not to mention it got worse with Jake and Holden. Liz didn’t get too emotional- she just got shittier to the point where no one wanted to work with her. Hell, no one wants to work with her now. After all, it’s Christmas Eve and she came to bust Ted’s balls. Liz storms off.

While Hank, who is also watching Elf for some reason, stews in his loneliness, Evangeline gets a call from the Alaska Coast Guard with some bad news. She tells Peter to go be with his family, and she exits his vehicle as she takes in the horrible news.

Peter arrives home and gets into bed. He apologizes to Kayla, but she knows that he doesn’t mean it. Right now, Kayla just wants Peter to let her sleep. Peter wants Kayla to admit that he made her life worse and that she didn’t want to have a baby.

Evangeline speeds towards the treatment center and chews out a hapless employee about why Julia Navarro just waltzed out. The employee explains that this isn’t a detention center, but a voluntary facility. I don’t think that’s how it works, but this isn’t enough to stop Evangeline from causing a ruckus before storming out.

To vent, Evangeline stops to get in a fight with three guys- one of whom is the man she arrested in the premiere. Though Evangeline is briefly able to put up a fight, she’s outnumbered three to one and gets her ass handed to her.

Now what did you think was going to happen, Navarro?

Liz, meanwhile, probably still drunk, goes for a drive and crashes into a snow bank when she spots a polar bear in the middle of the road. I assume the bear didn’t have the right of way.

Wait, didn’t Liz chew out Stacy Chalmers for driving drunk?

Whatever. A bloody Evangeline heads to the bar, where Eddie finds her- she’s even lost a tooth. He tries to patch her up since she’s a bloody mess. Eddie is alone because his brother went to Disneyland with the kids. But Evangeline asks why Eddie is alone in life. Hell, they’re all alone, but Eddie assures her that she isn’t alone. Eddie tries to propose, but Evangeline is still in too much pain.

December 25th, the eighth day of night, has arrived. Liz, after another flashback with her and Navarro, awakens as Evangeline pays her a visit She tells Liz that Oliver Tagaq is gone, but he at least left the stone with the spiral…which Evangeline lost. But hey, Evangeline had a rough night.

Liz drops one of her evidence boxes. Evangeline finds a polar bear and asks Liz if it belongs to Holden. Liz takes the bear and tells Evangeline that dead people are dead- there’s no Heaven, Hell, or ghosts. There’s no one out there, Liz says. So why does Liz keep the polar bear?

Now that’s the right question to ask. Well, not anymore. She tosses the bear out into the snow. The dead are fucking gone, Liz says. Evangeline then reveals that Jules killed herself last night by walking out into the sea until she fell into the freezing ocean and drowned. Her body is coming. Despite Jules’ many illnesses, Evangeline believes she failed her sister.

There’s a curse that affected her mother, affected Jules, and it may calling her now, too. Liz recognizes this behavior in Evangeline- it’s similar to what she did when they were with Wheeler, when Evangeline apparently saw a kind of spirit. Evangeline denies seeing anything, and Liz calls her a liar. Liz then gets a call from Peter, who tells her that some fishermen found something near the dredge.

He sends Liz a photo, and she shows the photo to Evangeline- it’s someone walking on the ice. Clark wasn’t at the trenches, turns out, but it’s possible that he was moving around, and the dredges are a good place to hide. Evangeline saw the dredges when she was younger, but then they were just abandoned and left to rot on the ice.

The two arrive at and explore the seemingly empty dredge. Liz pursues who she thinks is Raymond Clark, but it turns out to be, but a frightened Otis Heiss, played by Klaus Tange. Liz asks if Raymond Clark gave Odis the coat that he’s wearing. Odis tells Liz that Raymond Clark went back down to hide where everyone’s hiding: in the Night Country. Roll credits.

Not yet. Evangeline spots what she believes is Jules’s body in the water. Indeed, Evangeline follows a trail of wet footprints and arrives at a Christmas tree. She turns around and comes face to face with a ghost or spirit of Jules screaming in her face.

Liz finds Evangeline, now with a bleeding ear and sitting by a Christmas tree as the episode comes to a close…

Even with a very creepy ending, you can’t help but note how unhappy everyone is during the holiday season when everyone should be celebrating. Should be, I said. I get that work is a priority, and it’s admirable that the officers put the job first. They’re not required to do it with smiles, given their line of work, but damn, everyone is just miserable.

It’s such a down episode, and I’m not saying that as a negative because you need a bit of pessimism to balance out the optimism. But then, this season has hardly been cheerful, more so given the constant days of night and darkness, and besides Rose, that darkness seeps into just about everyone.

Let’s get Jules out of the way. First off, very easy to predict that something would happen to her. She’s had these mental problems since the show first introduced her, and when Evangeline talks about how they’ll celebrate Christmas together, you knew this would be the last moment they’d have together. Sure, it wasn’t the final moment since the two had a phone call after, but it was the last time they’d see one another.

But we need to stop and question the series of events that led up to Jules’s death. She’s checked into a treatment center. Chances are there’s someone at the front desk or monitor who keeps track of people going in and out. Let’s assume the front desk was empty when Jules left. Alright. Wouldn’t there be someone who keeps track of the clients, especially those like Jules who would be a danger to themselves?

The last thing Jules did before winding up at Lighthouse was strike a police officer. It wasn’t on purpose, but that alone should show she needs to be watched. The hapless employee tells Evangeline that Lighthouse is a voluntary facility and not a detention center, but that shit won’t fly anywhere. Evangeline’s anger is justified in that regard, as Jules shouldn’t be free to just walk out without anyone noticing.

Okay, let’s say by some miracle, Jules walked out of the facility for a very long smoke break or something. Why wasn’t Evangeline notified when Jules didn’t return? She’s the next of kin and the one who brought Jules in the first place? It’s not like Peter couldn’t look for Oliver Tagaq on his own while Evangeline tended to her sister. There’s no reason that she should find out about Jules only after she’s dead.

More than that…look, I’ve never been in the Alaska Coast Guard, or the Coast Guard at all, but it’s pitch black in Ennis and Jules wasn’t wearing any clothes. How would the Coast Guard be able to identify her so quickly? It’s not like she had a business card on her. I can understand them not notifying the treatment center because they’d have no idea that Jules was there.

But you’re telling me that Jules went into the water, but not deep enough that the Coast Guard could find and identify her…identity?

If there’s one thing I did enjoy, it was seeing Evangeline just completely unhinged and losing her shit at everyone, some of whom didn’t deserve it, like Eddie. But again, she just lost her sister, who had been struggling for years. She’s spiraling when she already is dealing with the cases of Annie K and the scientists.

She needs to vent, and sure, going after the guy from the premiere was an easy target, but there’s no way she’d walk out of that brawl a winner. One-on-one, maybe. Perhaps two, but with three to one, she had no chance. Then she flips out at Eddie, whose only crime was caring for Evangeline. Much like Peter, the man deserves better, but I’ll get to Peter in a moment. At least Eddie cared enough to give Evangeline toothpaste.

I am curious about Evangeline’s ultimate fate in the end. She says the same sickness that killed her mother and sister could affect her. Could she be headed down the same road? One would hope not, more so not before she at least solves the case. But she does come face to face with what she believes is Jules, and her emotionless expression at the end signals that something is off.

Liz is committed to the job, yes, but she also unravels with the drinking and lashing out. Credit to her on sticking up for Leah on Christmas Eve, even though she doesn’t have a leg to stand on. It was still defacing public property, and as law enforcement, Liz knows such behavior deserves a punishment. The silent treatment from Leah alone won’t do it.

But Liz gets it in her own way when she drinks heavily, is told to her face by Ted why people don’t like her, and she lashes out at Evangeline, who is already in the middle of her own tragedy. Interesting how Liz, who doesn’t believe in God or the supernatural, is adamant that Evangeline saw something when they dealt with Wheeler. If Evangeline truly didn’t see anything, Liz would have no reason to even bring it up.

Perhaps there’s part of Liz that does believe in the supernatural. She does keep a polar boar that she has no reason to hold onto anymore. Could be for sentimental reasons, but sooner or later, but she also, seemingly, sees a polar bear out in the middle of the snow. If it was there at all. Liz buries a lot of her true feelings, and she has a very short fuse when prodded, as seen when Evangeline asked her about the bear.

How she hasn’t shot someone on the job is beyond me.

Let’s talk about the Priors for a second. Putting aside the ridiculous, forced drama between Peter and Kayla, Pete seriously needs a new profession. I hope by season’s end, he quits the force and goes to a job where he’s appreciated. He signed up for a busy life when he chose this profession, yes, but he’s in such a thankless position that he just accepts any job from Liz, no questions asked.

It interferes with his family life to the point that his relationship with Kayla is on thin ice, but I have to call into question why Liz can’t just ask someone else. You’re telling me that Peter is the only one up to speed on the case besides Liz and Evangeline? Hank would probably shoot it down, but Liz could at least offer. Why should Peter always have his time inconvenienced?

In addition to poor Peter, how about poor Hank? The guy might be a dick and we all saw this coming, but no one deserves to have their heart broken and be left alone on Christmas. Like or hate Hank, it’s still sad to see him left on the tarmac waiting for a woman who might not have existed. Especially after that glimmer of hope he has. Now, instead of spending time with Alina, he’s alone watching Elf.

I don’t know why both Ted and Hank are watching Elf, though. I guess the people of Ennis love that movie. That or nothing else was on TV that night.

The reveal of Otis Heiss did make for a creepy ending, though. Just what is this Night Country where Raymond Clark and others are hiding? And if people are this miserable during the Christmas season, I’m terrified of how they’d behave during Valentine’s Day.

See you all for episode 5.