The Night Of Recap: A Darker Shade

The Night Of is not to be missed

The Night Of is a serious show right from the beginning, and it has had a following since before its TV debut. The intro, reminiscent of True Detective, shows no actors or faces. It’s all greys and blacks — bleak. You may have caught James Gandolfini’s name as executive producer, and it’s a shame that the actor didn’t live to see this project become reality. We open with a normal enough school life which serves as the sort of intro that could be seen in a standard episode of Law and Order. But this isn’t Law and Order, it only shares a similar bloodline.

This is, however, a crime show, and compairrosns to other shows in the overstuffed genre are inevitable. Most of the comparisons will come up short.

The Night Of is a subtle work, and it takes time to build. Naz, deftly played by Riz Ahmed, is an all-around good kid that wants a better taste of the party life. This leads him to make the mistake of sneaking out in his father’s taxi, which, after a series of events, ends up with a fare that he should have turned down. That’s really where the story begins.

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There is a lot that goes unsaid here. Most of the dialogue between Naz and his passenger is surface, but more can be gained from their facial expressions and what they don’t say. When she offers Naz a pill with a happy face on it, he doesn’t want to take it. He’s already in over his head, and part of him knows it. He decides, however, that she is too pretty and mysterious to pass up. So he takes it.

Race plays a part in this show, and the beginning scenes don’t shy away from showing Naz’s family life. There is also a tense moment between him and a couple of guys on the street, and a lingering look from one of them that exudes danger.

The Night Of does not reward impatient viewers or those that aren’t willing to give it their full attention.

After a drunken, drug-fueled night together, Naz wakes up downstairs to find the girl murdered in her bed upstairs. His first instinct is to run, which never really works out. After locking his cab keys in the house, he then has to break in to get them. He is seen doing this by a man across the street. These are the building blocks of The Night Of, and how a criminal court case can spiral. The show is not really about Naz — it’s about the criminal justice system.

Naz is pulled over for something unrelated; he made an illegal left turn. But his hands still have literal blood on them, and in a poetic turn of events he is forced to accompany the cops to a reported break in, bringing him right back to the scene of the crime. The Night Of does not reward impatient viewers or those that aren’t willing to give it their full attention, and that’s part of what makes it so unique.

At any point it feels like The Night Of could easily make a sharp turn that would put it more in line with shows like Law and Order, but it never does that.

Focus shifts to the actual investigation, though at the 45 minute mark the only ones that know Naz’s involvement with the victim are himself and us. He’s treated to some time at the police station, a place at which violent confrontation is not out of the ordinary. The two men from earlier, the ones that gave Naz a hard time, return to pester the cops at the crime scene for details. Pieces return to form a more complete puzzle.

These pieces eventually come in fully after the witness lets it slip that the suspect left in “his cab” and not “a cab.” That’s when they find a bloody knife on Naz. Once again he chooses to try to run. The detective in charge of the investigation at this point, Box, treats Naz with a calm respect. After years doing this job, he knows this is the best way to get information from a frightened suspect.

It’s worth remembering at this point that Naz’s parents don’t know where he is. At any point it feels like The Night Of could easily make a sharp turn that would put it more in line with shows like Law and Order, but it never does that. It treads carefully, sometimes painfully so, weaving an impossibly intricate web that only leaves room for Naz as the murderer. Even then it’s not that simple.