I Am the Night (1.2) - Moving Parts and Many Questions

“Phenomenon of Interference” gave us much of what I Am the Night’s pilot did. A multitude of moving parts, a deliberately slow pace, some more great Patty Jenkins’ direction, Chris Pine embracing the broken detective archetype, and India Eisley giving another quiet, measured performance.

There are little tweaks in Jenkins’ approach this episode that still so wonderfully capture the essence of the many moving parts of the show in single scenes. Two scenes come to mind from the episode. A short scene with Fauna walking on a bridge and the other when Jay meets an old cop friend. As Fauna walks along the bridge, she is in the foreground moving toward the camera. Her face takes up most of the frame. However, to the right of the frame, there is a car in the moving in the same direction. Patty shoots the car in soft focus with just enough detail to let us know that it is once again the man who is stalking her. In another scene with Jay meeting his police officer friend, Ohls (Jay Paulson), at the diner, there is consistent movement. The two sit down at a booth and in the background we see people moving throughout their conversation. Suddenly we hear a small crash from the kitchen and Ohls’ immediately flinches. After his moment of panic subsides, he returns to his conversation with Jay, clueing the viewers in to some of the effects of Jay’s experiences in the Marines (where he met Ohls). This characterization is just one of the moving parts in the scene. It is not at the center of their discussion – that is about the murder case Jay is investigating, another moving part. Granted, Sam Sheridan did not necessarily need to use exposition to explain Ohls’ reaction to the sounds from the kitchen, but the moment still breaks up the larger meaningful context with smaller meaningful bits. Between those two scenes, Patty’s direction prioritizes juggling numerous parts in a single scene in a way that often spurs the curiosity and wandering eye necessary for good noir.

The pace of this show is sometimes achingly slow. It gives my mind time to meander. Perhaps that’s an intentional decision to try and let the audience continue to take guesses at the answers to their questions. Perhaps it is a directorial decision to let everything bubble just below the surface until those last few minutes of the episode when everything starts to come together. Nonetheless, the operation is a push and pull. Some scenes will last multiple minutes with little to gain, whereas the audience may get a minute-long scene with George Hodel that clues into the mystery more than the previous 10 minutes. It is a difficult line to walk, and one that I Am the Night occasionally struggles in straddling.

Chris Pine has been nothing short of magical in his role as Jay Singletary. It’s not a particularly unique role. He’s a broken detective archetype masquerading as a journalist. The way Sam Sheridan writes the role and the way Pine embraces it is immensely pulpy and often over the top. Somehow in the midst of India Eisley giving an immensely quiet performance, Pine’s zaniness works. The scene with him visiting the madam to get answers about the numerous dead prostitutes might be the best scene in this whole episode. When he is trying to get information from them and an angry man comes pounding at the door, both women refuse to answer. Instead, Jay walks over to the door saying “what if I answer?” The moment feels much less like one of bravado but one of foolishness (there is also a fair argument that those two go hand and hand). He lingers near the door, about to open it. The moment happens slowly, allowing the viewer build up tension as to what will happen next. Suddenly he backs off the door, the man walks away, and we move on. It’s a subtle, wondrous, tense moment completely unrelated to any of the primary plot points. The scene functions both as an example to how well Chris Pine plays Jay Singletary as well as how in the midst of all the moving parts of I Am the Night, there are still things to be gained from stepping away from the story momentarily.

As is the trademark of any good detective show: we still have many unanswered questions. Despite watching our resident coked-out journalist start to connect the dots, the unknown is still familiar territory. Was Hodel’s ex-wife on the phone with Fauna the night she called getting into LA? If not, who was warning her about Hodel and why? Why in the world is Hodel so odd? (I have a feeling we may never get an answer to this, just embrace the surreal at this point). Who is the henchman that was with Hodel and always follows Fauna around? What happened to Fauna’s mother? Is she really dead? I could ask questions for another few paragraphs. The questions feed the curiosity and just like the cat, I have to imagine some of those answers are going to end in death. “Phenomenon of Interference” was our last Patty Jenkins’ directed episode, so I am looking forward to see how things change or stay the same when Victoria Mahoney (You, Power, Claws, Queen Sugar) takes the mantel next week. Let’s hope we dive into the surreal even deeper. Let’s get weird.