True Detective: Night Country ends its primary narrative with a well-rounded conclusion, but its finale reveal seems weirdly similar to the storyline of an episode from an acclaimed 22-year-old comedy drama. Created by Issa López, True Detective: Night Country initially takes a slow-burn approach, where it gradually delves into the details of its central crime and loosely connects it to another six-year-old murder. However, as it progresses, it catches pace and unravels the truth behind its central murder mysteries.

Its finale has a fair share of open-ended revelations, but it closes its main mystery, which revolves around the chilling deaths of a group of scientists, on a satisfying note. However, even though True Detective: Night Country‘s ending is gripping, it reminds one of the story presented in another comedy drama. The narrative resemblance between True Detective: Night Country and the 22-year-old comedy show is both fascinating and intriguing, highlighting how similar narrative tropes can be handled in myriad ways.

True Detective: Night Country’s Killer Reveal Is Reminiscent Of A Mr. Monk Episode’s Story

In True Detective: Night Country‘s finale, Danvers and Navarro use a spectroscope on the hatch that connects the Tsalal research lab to the underground ice cave. This is when they notice a handprint with no fingers, realizing that the women who used to clean the lab were responsible for killing the researchers. As fascinating as this finale reveal in True Detective: Night Country may seem, it is quite strangely similar to a plot twist in a Monk episode.

In “Mr. Monk Takes A Vacation” (Monk season 1, episode 9), Monk investigates a hotel room where Benjy had previously witnessed a woman getting stabbed. When he arrives in the room, he gets suspicious when he finds it incredibly clean. Like Danvers and Navarro, he even uses a spectroscope to find evidence, only to discover several body fluid marks on many surfaces. Similar to True Detective: Night Country’s finale, the Monk episode ultimately reveals that the hotel’s cleaning women had committed the crime, which made it hard for Monk to find any solid evidence.

True Detective: Night Country & Mr. Monk Are Captivating For Different Reasons

Although True Detective: Night Country‘s episode 6 shares many narrative parallels with the Monk episode, it differs significantly in tone. While True Detective: Night Country‘s storyline delves into darker and existential themes, focusing on the investigation process of two hardened law enforcers, Monk is relatively more light-hearted, punctuated by the hilarious eccentricities of its titular character. Since Monk only adopts the “cleaning women are murderers” story trope in one episode, its depiction of the mystery is not as convoluted as the one shown in True Detective: Night Country, which is not necessarily a downside.