The long dark had just begun.
The most immediate character in "Part 1" is the setting itself: Ennis, Alaska, during the "Long Night"—a period where the sun does not rise for weeks. The episode opens with a quote from H.P. Lovecraft: "We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far." This sets the tone immediately. We are not meant to be here. We are not meant to know what lies in the dark. True Detective Night Country - Episode 1