‘The Night Of': 5 Signs Naz Didn’t Do It (Update)
(Warning: Don’t read this if you haven’t seen the premiere of HBO’s “The Night Of”)
HBO’s new crime drama “The Night Of” is about the criminal justice system, but also contains a frustrating mystery: Who killed Andrea?
It’s obvious why the cops blame Naz (Riz Ahmed). He admits he had sex with Andrea (Sofia Black-D’Elia), and he’s carrying a knife that looks like it’s probably the murder weapon.
The show suggests that during the murder, Naz may have been asleep or blacked out. (We say blacked out because of the pill, cocaine and tequila Andrea gave him. Remember he doesn’t usually even drink.) It’s possible he killed her while blacked out — but that seems totally out of character, given the nice kid he seems to be.
Why don’t we think we killed her? For one thing, he doesn’t think he killed her. Watch again the scene where he turns on the lamp to look at her dead body. He looks horrified and shocked.
So did someone else really enter her freaky apartment with Naz still there? It’s possible. Here’s how.
After Naz and Andrea have sex, we see him wake up in the kitchen with a glass of water. Our guess? He was dehydrated from the drugs, booze and sex, and went downstairs to get the water. He left the fridge door open and passed out. (Sorry Andrea’s apartment is so dark — we circled the water.)
Note also that when Naz is about to leave, the knife is still on the table next to the tequila and limes. Sorry Andrea’s apartment is so dark. We circled the knife so you can see it.
Neither Naz nor Andrea has the knife when they go to the bedroom. The camera clearly shows us their hands are on each other as they make their way to the bedroom, and that neither was holding the knife.
That means one of two things: Either one, The killer took the knife from the table and took it upstairs to kill Andrea, then put it back exactly where it was. Or two, the knife isn’t the murder weapon.
Harry, the forensics guy who examines Andrea’s body, says he’s “pretty sure it’s one knife, approximately one-and-a-half-inch wide, and I’m gonna say… five inches long — ’til I get her on the table and probe.” Serrated or no? “Not sure yet, possibly.” He’s pretty sure about all those details, but not, as he makes clear, entirely sure.
Did we mention Andrea’s house has a second entrance? We see it when she takes out the cat.
That means the real killer could have come in while Naz was passed out, stabbed Andrea to death, and left. Perhaps while avoiding the front door, and walking past Naz, passed out in the kitchen.
“The Night Of” premieres on HBO July 10, and is streaming now on HBO Now and HBO Go.
