True Detective Night Country

True Detective Season 1 remains my epitome of perfect television. There's nothing wrong with it. I love it so much I make sure never to rewatch it more than once a year so it doesn't lose its beauty. It was always going to be impossible to live up to, because at first you didn't know what the hell the show was; it subverted the police procedural formula, it brought two behemoths of charisma head to head, the writing, the music, the cinematography, all of it magnificent, plus we caught glimmers of Carcosa.

But glimmers are all there can ever be. I loved Season 2's hints of LA as a doorway to otherworld, to many otherworlds perhaps. There was so much there, it just never quite coalesced. Mahershala Ali's astonishing face is all I remember of Season 3. Beyond Season 1 the anthology has been a collection of not quites and almosts.

Re True Detective Season 4 the audience is prepped to expect something other, something major,and to be annoyed at lack of delivery. NC's already hitting the ominous hard, ghosts and spirit beasts etc; but Fortitude already did a lot of that. So what then? Off the top of my head, I am expecting a Dyatlov Pass type scenario, without avalanche, but with lots of Angry Land foreboding. If they are going to go Wendigo - Eilish's theme 'Bury a friend' talks about a 'cannibal class' - I hope they do it well. I'm hanging on in there for a while.

Alexandria II Xerjoff Again.

I had this last year, like it more this year. Not for hot weather, but nice treatment of different wood notes, amber and apple are coming out too. Quite impressed with the Lavender/Cinnamon combo, would have expected these to clash horribly. Not as much longevity as I would like, but still very elegant. One to note.