True Detective: Night Country has been praised for coming back to its roots in its storytelling. In addition to that, its choice of soundtrack for each episode has been very interesting. One of the songs added to the series is No Use by John Hawkes, which was specifically made for the series. Here's what we know about the song.
Spoiler Warning: This article includes spoilers for True Detective: Night Country episode 5, so proceed with caution.
Who is John Hawkes?
John Hawkes is an actor who often plays shifty characters, particularly in Winter's Bone and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Because of this, he fits the character description for Issa López' True Detective: Night Country.
In the series, Hawkes plays the role of Captain Hank Prior, who has a strained relationship with his son, Peter (played by Finn Bennett). He also has an online girlfriend from Eastern Europe, who ends up catfishing him.
He has a shady character, which often leads him to break some laws, despite his job.
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What Happened to John Hawkes' Character in True Detective Season 4?
In True Detective season 4 episode 5, Captain Prior ultimately meets his demise after gunning down a key witness in the investigation they were looking into. But because of his hunger for a promotion and greed for money, Prior finds himself on the wrong side of the fence.
In this episode, Prior heads over to Chief Liz Danvers' (played by Jodie Foster) house to kill Otis Heiss (played by Klaus Tange). Right at that moment, Prior's son, Pete arrives and assesses the situation.
As Prior turns to kill Danvers, Pete shoots him in the head. This left him no choice but to uphold the law, even if that meant killing his own father.
Earlier in the episode, it was also revealed that Prior had betrayed his son in the past. His corrupt actions are also revealed in the episode, which explains Pete's decision to put an end to his father's schemes.
In a decision like that, no one really comes out victorious--especially Pete. Despite his strained relationship with his father, it pained him to be the one to shoot him dead.
Which Episode Does No Use by John Hawkes Play in True Detective?
The 64-year-old actor exhibits his musical and songwriting talent in the series with the nudge of the showrunner. Of course, this is all thanks to López' direction who suggested that Hawkes' character plays the guitar as "a creative outlet".
When Hawkes agreed with the idea that Hank Prior played music, he started playing with his guitar and wrote an instrumental. Before arriving in Reykjavik to start shooting the series, Hawkes sent his instrumental to López.
While in Iceland, Hawkes played a show and López decided "Hank has to sing" and that the instrumental piece needed lyrics.
True enough, Hawkes revealed in an interview with GQ that he debated the idea of including lyrics in the song.
But because he trusted López' direction, he wrote the words for the song at the last minute before singing it for the episode. This is how No Use by John Hawkes became an original song for the series.
After hearing the song, avid fans thought they were hearing a Johnny Cash track. Some even commented it was a better opening song for the season instead of Billie Eilish's Bury A Friend song.
You can listen to the song in this unofficial video:
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