What I’m Watching: The Night Of

The Night Of: Season 1, Episode 5 “The Season of the Witch” (B)

If nothing else, it’s reassuring to see that there are some positive developments in the pursuit of proving Naz’s innocence. The unfortunate thing about that is that, as Stone rightly pointed out, Naz is implicating himself in another crime as he gets closer to Freddy and involves himself in the miserable business of drug trafficking. Naz is doing his best to play a hardened man on the inside, shaving his head and intimidating other inmates into watching what he wants on television. Having Alison step aside from his defense is actually the best thing to happen to him since she was never interested in finding out whether or not Naz committed the crime and instead positioning him as a wronged man for the media to see. While he’s not going to see other foot doctors, Stone is doing a solid job of being an intrepid reporter, going to the laundromat with gloves on to corner the man who he knows can at least poke a hole in the story that the cops are trying to tell about what happened the night of. Five episodes in, I think that I’ve become decently invested in the story if only enough to want to know how it’s all going to play out, with just three episodes to go in this limited series. The performances are certainly good all around, what you expect from an HBO production of this caliber with a solid cast, and here’s hoping to a resounding, satisfying resolution to the whole thing too.