In the wake of HBO’s recent drama woes – the flop thatVinylproved to be, losing several high-profile dramas from their slate, and the problems withTrue DetectiveSeason 2 and beyond – the premium channel must be hanging its hat on the hope ofThe Night Of. The limited series, based on a British series calledCriminal Justice, has been in development hell for years, with its most major setback coming after the death of then-starJames Gandolfini(who still holds a posthumous executive producer credit). The intricate limited series is the kind of serious drama HBO used to churn out without effort, and yet now feels like something of a rare bird. But is it really agreatseries, or are we just desperate to see HBO return to form?
It feels necessary to say that my initial impressions of HBO’sThe Night Ofmay be colored by the fact that I binged the 7 episodes provided (of an eventual 8) in two days. While some short crime series (like Netflix’s engrossingMarcella, also 8 episodes) beg for binge watching,The Night Offalls into the same category as FX’sThe People v OJ Simpson: American Crime Story— i.e.the anti-binge.
LikeAmerican Crime Story,The Night Ofstarts with a murder, and investigates every aspect of what happens afterwards. Some parts are more compelling than others, but the series — written bySteven ZaillianandRichard Price, and directed by Zaillian andJames Marsh— is dogged in its desire to show the most grim and dour aspects of the institutions that a suspect is subjected to on a nightmarish journey.
Knowing that this is a crime story givesThe Night Of’s first episode an incredible degree of tension, as Nasir Khan (Riz Ahmed), a smart, doe-eyed college student, makes a series of increasingly terrible decisions. Nasir takes his father’s taxi from Queens without permission to go to a party in Manhattan, and every stop, everyone he talks to, and everything he touches becomes, for watchful viewers, part of some future evidence against him. When a girl (Andrea, played bySofia Black D’Elia) gets into his cab thinking he’s a real cabbie, he decides to take her around town, embarking on a night that starts out innocently, but starts to spin out of control once drugs and alcohol are introduced. Once Naz wakes up in Andrea’s kitchen later and goes upstairs to find her brutally stabbed to death, the real story begins.
That story introducesJohn Tuturroas Naz’s unexpected attorney John Stone,Bill Campas Detective Box (who isn’t sure Naz killed Andrea but can’t ignore the overwhelming evidence), as well asPeyman MoaadiandPoorna Jagannathanas Naz’s suffering parents. Once things move from the police precinct to the jail, HBO regularMichael K. Williamsappears as a powerful inmate who offers Naz protection, andAmara Karan’s Chandra takes over Naz’s trial, as viewers get a glimpse into the strategies of both the prosecution and the defense.
Again, likeAmerican Crime Story,The Night Ofis only partially about the potential perpetrator of the crime (Naz fell asleep and can’t remember what happened — viewers don’t know, either), and instead focuses a great deal on a surly but sympathetic attorney. Turturro absolutely steals the show as a down-on-his luck lawyer of a kind of Saul Goodman variety (though with much more muted colors and a less bombastic personality), whose problems with his rampant eczema are somehow the series’ most compelling mystery.
While there is a fair amount of gallows humor (which a show as dark as this desperately needs and smartly uses),The Night Ofcan be a slog when taken as a whole. The series is crafted very deliberately to focus in on minutia. It’s frustrating, and it’s meant to be. The score is minimalistic, and Naz’s journey through a variety of institutions is fraught with bureaucratic procedure. There’s nothing off-the-rails about this murder story (like many current crime dramas), and it’s not sensationalized. Even the character names are monosyllabic: Khan, Box, Stone, Crowe. There are lingering shots of building facades, of fixtures and of ordinary objects, all of which serve to really hone in (thanks too to the overwhelming grayness of the color palette) on a sense of gritty, New York-flavored malaise.
Like the prosecution’s case against Naz, there are issues with the narrative in a number of major places, including Andrea’s shallow characterization as a druggy femme fatale, and Naz’s incredibly fast and ill-conceived (and never addressed) transition into prison life full of visible tattoos and murderous hits. (At times, the series feels like a very long episodeof Law & Order). But the whodunnit aspect of it isn’t the kind of compelling crime mystery that propels so many other, similar series, largely becauseThe Night Ofisn’t really a crime drama at all — it’s a legal procedural. Fans of crime drama (of which I am one) will be looking to be fascinated by the detective work, but inThe Night Ofit oddly falls to Stone in his diligence over the case rather than any of the actual detectives.
That, and Stone’s uncertainty (but desperate desire) in trying a murder case at all givesThe Night Ofthe boost it needs to make it interesting, since the show itself isn’t as interested in the events of that night so much as how they are perceived by others (the police, the community, the jury). As Naz is told early on, “we’re way past the truth.” The idea that it doesn’t matter is the show’s most damning judgement of the judicial system. So while Naz owns the premiere, after that, it becomes Stone’s story. Whether or not Naz committed the crime is less important than whether or not Stone (and Chandra) can convince the jury of his innocence. That process, laboriously slow and detailed as it is, isn’t something to rush. But it is worth investigating.
Rating: ★★★★ Very good — Well-crafted TV
The Night Ofpremieres Sunday, July 10th on HBO.
