Hello, Dark Winds season 3, and Hello David Bowie! Episode 1, "Ye’iitsoh," on AMC starts similar to last season in a flash forward where we see Joe Leaphorn in another life-and-death predicament. Joe is lying on the ground in a countdown as Space Odyssey plays in the background. He wakes up in a gasp with an arrow in his neck.
It’s unclear if this arrow is laced with something, or punctured Leaphorn in a weak spot. After he pulls the arrow out he calls back at the station to Natalie, but the reception is going in and out. “It’s not enough, send everyone. Now.” Joe exclaims over the radio. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Leaphorn crawls with little use of control in the dark desert. Whistling surrounds him as he tries to inch away to safety or freedom. Joe thinks it’s his monster after him because his life is out of balance. But it feels like something more sinister. As he sits in fear with his flashlight, he awaits help, but footsteps are coming. And when he peers over a rock he has the look of a man who sees something out of this world. It’s a man, but also a monster with branches coming out of its head.
How did we get to this point?
We track back to seven days prior where all the drama starts. Things are looking peaceful at home between Joe and Emma Leaphorn. Birds are chirping and Joe is happily cooking breakfast for him and his wife. For a brief moment, all seems right with the world.
Gordo Sena is back in action to work temporarily with Joe Leaphorn on the case of the missing boys. When Joe gets to the disappearance sight there is a small reunion followed by the investigation on the boys Ernesto Cata and George Bowlegs. Both are 14, both missing. George spent the night at Ernesto’s the night prior and neither have been seen since.
Jim Chee knows George’s father all too well. And the older Bowlegs doesn’t come across as a very good man. He came back from Vietnam as a headcase.
Chee and Bowlegs went to school together and butted heads a lot. When Chee and Leaphorn get to the school to question George, we also get to learn that Jim ran cross country in school. He once beat the renowned Billy Mills. Joe does not hesitate to tease him about it. Before they get much of a chance to talk to George he gets away from them and takes off on his bike. They aren’t able to catch him, so much for that cross-country threat.
Meanwhile, Bernadette is on the US/Mexico border in Hachita, New Mexico. 457 miles away from the Navajo Nation. She spots an abandoned white van with Mexico plates that looks out of the ordinary. But it’s empty. When she chases after a mother and daughter, the mother holds a gun up at her. She is frightened and on the edge. Bernie rises to level with her and speaks in Spanish, but she tries to flee. Eventually, Bernadette gets them to come with her but during that process, a man takes her gun and gets away with the van.
Special agent Sylvia Washington from Washington
There’s a new sheriff in town, so to speak. Jenna Elfman makes her debut as Sylvia Washington, a new FBI special agent. At first, she doesn’t look like the brightest law enforcement officer when she asks an elder where the Kayenta Police station is. She was standing right in front of it. All she had to do was look up.
It doesn’t take long for Bernadette to start making waves at her new post. She thinks the woman and her child were trying to get out of the country, not in. Perhaps they were being trafficked from Mexico. She informs her superior she’d like to follow up on it, but he’s not keen on it.
Bernie’s new boss Senior Chief Ed Henry comes across as a very chauvinistic misogynist. Telling her to not worry her pretty little head about such big accusations. Though she thinks there’s more to the story and he is certain there is, she did her job and that needs to be the end of it. Unfortunately for her, she’s not one to bury her head in the sand and do what she’s told. Bernadette has great instinct, something she learned from Joe Leaphorn, and that’s what makes her a good cop.
Old memories are not always fond ones
Jim Chee goes out to Shorty Bowlegs to question him. Chee admits to Leaphorn that Shorty used to bully Chee in school. It got so bad that his Shima(mother) went to his family about it. Before long Shorty’s dad and Jim’s mother started dating. He was a real piece of work, and one night Chee stood up to him after he knocked his mother's front teeth out. He would have killed Jim, but she stopped him.
Leaphorn tells Chee he needs to get a rundown on Shorty’s alibi. Somebody knows something. The fender on his truck was borne, at night somebody might have thought it was red. Executive producer Robert Redford makes an appearance at the jail playing chess. Always great to see another legend on screen even in such a minimal role.
Sylvia Washington and Joe Leaphorn meet face to face. She is there to button up a few cases on the reservation. The case of BJ Vines in particular. She should only be there a couple of days, and Joe tells her to let him know if he can be of any assistance. Washington already seems like a thorn in his side.
Sylvia Washington already knows this case isn’t adding up and she keeps her eyes on Leaphorn. I think she asks Leaphorn questions about Vines to feel him out. It was less about curiosity and case notes. It’s as if she knows Joe hiding something right off the bat. The case is now out of Leaphorn’s jurisdiction, so he doesn’t give much input. Washington knows there’s much more to the story. A wealthy man disappears without his wife and his money. There’s got to be much more.
Back by the border, Bernadette is talking with her new friend and current border patrol agent Eleanda Garza. They now live together as roommates. She tells Eleanda she’s going to go find that van and figure out what’s going on. Personally, Bernadette is trying to do too much too fast.
Ivan Munoz is another border patrol agent that Bernadette hits it off with quickly. He found it pretty ballsy what she did that day and felt like a girl like that could have his back any day of the week. He’s impressed and there is heavy banter and even heavier flirting. Ivan thinks she should take the win. She did save the mother and daughter, and they get to go home tomorrow. But she can’t let go. If women truly are being trafficked this isn’t the end of the line.
There’s a monster, and it’s not in the shadows
When Emma and Joe Leaphorn are having dinner, he tells her he saw a coyote going north. She looks unamused like it’s a bad omen. Emma tells him he’s been out of sorts and he admits he hasn’t been sleeping well, but assures his wife he’s okay. However, when his dinner plate cracks all signs point that he’s not. He hears the wind whistling in his sleep. When Joe steps outside to see what the horses are so rattled by and that’s when he sees the monster. It disappears the moment Emma yells for him.
Back at the border patrol, Bernie goes to talk to the mother again. She hands them blankets and cleans the mother's face, letting them know they are going back to Mexico. The mom tries to explain things but it’s not in a dialect Bernie understands. The little girl draws a pig on a piece of paper. Bernie stares at it puzzled.
The search is not over
Joe Leaphorn talks to Shorty Bowleg’s youngest son Cecil. He needs to find out where George is. Cecil thinks they could be at the dig site where George and Enersto worked sometimes. Jim and Joe check out the camper and Teddi Issacs the site manager comes upon them. She reveals the boys have done some work for them, nothing technical, but they go up there quite a bit.
Teddi Issacs and Dr. Reynolds are working on a missing link that connects the Folsom people to the Navajo Nation. Leaphorn admitted he studied anthropology at Arizona State, and he knows the stories. The boys haven’t been there in a while. The last time they were they compromised a dig site and Reynolds told them to never come back. Dr. Reynolds is apparently at a conference in Flagstaff, but Teddi did seem concerned about the boys.
The mother and daughter Bernadette saved are back on their way to Mexico. Could pig mean there are dirty cops? Ed Henry doesn’t come off as a man of strict values. And it could be why the chief didn’t want Manuelito investigating it.
Sylvia Washington is still keeping a close eye on Joe when Gordo calls for some help. A mailman spotted a red pickup the day prior. The tracks ran up and then vanished back on the highway. When Joe starts telling Gordo about the FBI agent there’s nothing to find of BJ Vines and for good reason. Together they find the tracks again and Joe spots blood. The two break off into their search party and Joe smells something foul. They thought it was a dead animal until a body collapsed in front of them. Joe sees something on the body and Gordo takes out an arrowhead from his mouth. This very well may be Ernesto Cata.
Dark Winds season 3 episode 1 review
The 70s has some of the best music in any generation, and Dark Winds reminds you of that right off the bat. The opening sequence in Dark Winds season 3 episode 1 is so magnificent and so thrilling. I love how you can’t automatically guess what’s going to happen in this show. Zahn McClarnon expels so much emotion and fear in these types of scenes.
I love how no season is ever the same. It’s a new breed of monster and conveys a new fear but in the same story. Bernadette Manuelito continues to be such a strong female character, and an even stronger voice for women. She wastes no time being a hero and role model for women and young girls.
Sylvia Washington is a very capable woman who they made come off as an airhead in her opening scene. I think she would be smart enough to look up and see letters. Fast forwarding to meeting Joe Leaphorn where she’s wise enough to know he’s hiding something major. Side note - Sylvia Washington is the only person I’ve ever known to call a fly marvelous.
Jim Chee starts the season off very emotionally reckless. It’s hard to pinpoint if it’s his personal life woes or if being back home affects him too deeply. It’s sad to see Bernadette moving on to a new life and a new place so quickly but her instincts are as hot as ever, and her morals have not missed a beat.
The pig drawing gives a lot away. Though with Ed Henry’s persistence to forget about the van, he also gives himself away. There’s something majorly corrupt going on at the border control.
It was great to get a deeper insight into Jim Chee’s past and see him being more accepting of his roots. The comedic banter between Chee and Leaphorn this season is refreshing to watch in the face of something so serious.
Season 3 starts as mysteriously intriguing as ever, with a touch of heartbreak. I love how the series portrays these characters, especially Joe Leaphorn at his lowest point. The audience has to wait to see these characters grow, and connect the dots to the next murder mystery. Episode grade level: B.
Dark Winds releases new episodes Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC and AMC Plus.