WASHINGTON — Sunday brings the finale of HBO’s captivating new crime series聽“The Night Of,” blending thriller suspense聽with high courtroom drama.
If聽you haven’t seen it yet,聽you still have time to catch up on the first seven episodes with a weekend of binge watching on to get聽primed for聽Sunday’s聽live finale. Trust me, you won’t regret it.
Based on Peter Moffat’s BCC series “Criminal Justice” (2008), the American version聽was conceived as a vehicle for聽“Sopranos” star聽James Gandolfini,聽now a聽posthumous executive producer alongside creators聽Steven Zaillian, Oscar-winning writer of “Schindler’s List” (1993). and聽Richard Price, Oscar-nominated writer of “The Color of Money” (1986) and writer on HBO’s “The Wire” (2002-2008).
What makes this gritty TV crime drama the best self-contained single season since HBO’s “True Detective” (2014)? Here are our best reasons with as little spoilers as possible.听We may discuss images, themes and characters, but we will do our best not to reveal any major plot information. In other words, as the main character describes the show’s detective, we’ll have to be “a subtle beast.”
The Premise:聽“The Night Of” moves聽the “Criminal Justice” mystery to聽modern-day New York, where a Pakistani American, Nasir “Naz” Khan (Riz Ahmed), borrows his father’s taxi to attend a party.听But when聽a troubled young woman, Andrea Cornish (Sofia Black D’Elia), hitches a ride uptown,聽a night of聽sex, drugs and booze聽leaves him waking up to murder charges.听This basic聽premise is聽revealed in the logline and trailer, so no spoilers here. What follows聽is as聽much a “whodunit” as it is a “did he do it?”
The Cast: Lead actor Riz Ahmed was Jake Gyllenhaal’s doomed cameraman in “Nightcrawler” and now聽grows from shy to nervous to tough as Naz.听John Turturro follows his “Do the Right Thing,” “Quiz Show” and “Big Lebowski” brilliance with a聽lovable loser with character flaws, both聽physically (itchy feet) and morally (opportunistic lawyer i.e. Paul Newman in “The Verdict”). Paul Sparks goes from the Underwoods’ biographer in “House of Cards” to a suspicious stepfather here. Bill Camp (“Lincoln”) has a heart as the unconvinced Det. Box. Amara Karan (“The Darjeeling Limited”) is a聽likable pro-bono lawyer.听We even get聽Omar (Michael K. Williams) and Bodie (J.D. Williams) from聽“The Wire!”
The Themes:聽Not only is this an examination of America’s justice system, it’s an urgent commentary on the post-9/11 Muslim American experience. The filmmakers had no聽way of knowing of Donald Trump’s spat with the Khan family when they named their fictional family the Khans. But great shows make their own luck. Watching the show, we聽feel awful聽for Naz’s聽parents, especially his “quiet” mom.
The Script: Great writing is all about setups and payoffs.听Right from the pilot, there’s foreshadowing at a gas station where a hearse聽driver warns a smoking聽Andrea of cancer: “Do you want to be my next ride?” A聽risky game of knife-stabbing between spread fingers (i.e. Hitchcock’s “Man From The South”) cleverly聽sets up a possible聽murder weapon, while removing an聽allergy-causing cat forces Andrea’s gate to not fully close behind her.听Episode 3 (“A Dark Crate”) weaves parallels between a prison cell, a caged cat at the pound and a slab of聽veal (i.e. crated animal).听All the while, the聽prison angle shows Naz gradually standing up for himself聽like a聽Shawshank inmate: “I had to go to jail to become a criminal.”
The Directing: While we aren’t聽surprised by the quality of the聽writing, Zaillian really impresses us in his growth as a director. From scene to scene, wipes between walls provide slick聽transitions, as do compositions (i.e. a bench-press bar cuts to a horizontal jail bar). Overhead聽shots of characters on staircases echo聽the stairs聽that led to murder. A mounted deer provides watchful eyes. A stray cat crosses聽the street, while a toy cat makes a stabbing motion in a store window.听Knuckle tattoos (i.e. “Night of the Hunter”) read聽“Sin” and “Bad” during a forbidden kiss. Naz’s mother stands small in the background as she feels small (i.e. “The Graduate”), asking “Did I raise an animal?” Every detail counts such that you’ll want to re-watch to see if Duane Reade stores appear聽in background mise-en-scene.
The Finale:聽Thus far, the series has been so damn effective at giving us countless聽possible outcomes and many possible suspects (i.e. “Mystic River”) that we can’t wait for Sunday’s series finale. What’s the verdict? Who’s the culprit? And what will become of this deep cast of characters as they return to the concrete jungle? Time is running out. If聽you watched BCC’s “Criminal Justice,”聽you may already know the answers, but don’t tell聽the rest of us! We’ll be tuning it with excitement on Sunday night.
Until then, here’s a preview teaser for the final episode:
