Does The Night Of have Enough time for a Satisfying Conclusion?
The Night Of is almost finished, but can it pull it off?
Week after week The Night Of has sucked us in with its slow rhythm that at any moment threatens to take over Naz completely. Of the miniseries’ eight episodes, four are left. While the previous four introduced us to John Stone, Freddy, and taught Naz some tough lessons, the biggest question feels no closer to being answered. Did Naz kill Andrea?
Naz has maintained his innocence this whole time. In fact, it’s one of the few things that gets him heated. Otherwise he is passive, if not a little skittish. Outside of Naz and his family, nobody else really believes that he didn’t do it. John Stone has a gut feeling that something is off but can’t prove it. Even though there are only four episodes left, The Night Of is in no hurry to unravel that mystery.
More from HBO
- HBO expects House of the Dragon season 2 release in summer 2024
- HBO delays three hit shows to 2025 but one big show is still coming in 2024
- Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty will end its run on HBO
- Winning Time season 2, episode 7 recap: “What Is and What Should Never Be”
- Winning Time season 2, episode 6 recap: “Beat L.A.”
That leaves the question as to whether or not there is actually enough time left for The Night Of to figure it all out. True Detective ran into a similar issue and rushed its big reveal, but The Night Of is nowhere near as pressing, and it exerts a different sort of stress on the viewer. Over the past four episodes, it never felt like figuring out Naz’s guilt was one of its major goals. The pacing is so dead perfect and the topics so varied — race being the most popular — that it has been easy to forget what brought us here in the first place.
That is to the shows credit, but it could end up hurting it when all is said and done. The Night Of can’t afford to have a sloppy ending, and even though there hasn’t been reason to worry so far, that doesn’t mean there won’t be later. Since there has been no real investigation into the actual case — there is so much evidence against Naz — it’s possible we might not find out what actually happened, and will instead just have to rely on Naz’s performance in court.
Next: Natalie Portman is coming to HBO.
Whether such a turn will actually end up being satisfying is another matter. Let’s hope that The Night Of has a clearer path than True Detective.