Warning: Spoilers ahead for Dark Winds season 3 episode 7 from this point forward.
Following Leaphorn’s traumatic events with the “monster,” Jim Chee races on horseback and finds an injured Joe lying on the ground half a mile west of the mouth of the Canyon. Chee’s top priority is getting Leaphorn to a hospital for his injured leg. Since the night he’s had massive blood loss but even so, Leaphorn urges him to go after his attacker. Whatever man it may be has their own blood loss. It’s the perfect time to strike while he’s weak and on the run.
Jim marches down to the fire road that Leaphorn suggested and catches up to the criminal by using his highly-talented cross country skills. Once again, he was no match for the villain. When a gunfight ensues, the man behind the monster persona slips away, leaving Chee in the dust.
Meanwhile, after some recuperation in the hospital, Leaphorn is convinced that Roberto De Baca is responsible for Hasley’s death, but he wasn’t the one in the canyon with him looking for George. Chee and Leaphorn's investigative skills have been slightly off this season. There was a time when Chee was convinced Cato’s murderer was Shorty, and later Leaphorn was convinced the mastermind was Halsey. He even told Emma so, but now however it’s looking like an entirely different being.
“There were things that I lost in life that were taken from me. And there are things that I’ve lost because of the choices I’ve made.”
Leaphorn refuses to live in the past, even if he’s devastated that Emma kicked him out. However, he knows it’s what he deserves. He made his choices and those choices had consequences.
George got away from the enemy, and it seems clear he looted Joe’s wallet before escaping and possibly fleeing to get to his mother in Vegas after all these traumatic events. It’s still unclear if he is on the run and fell victim to the man behind the hood. That is answered when Chee and Leaphorn come across George’s campsite, revealing evidence of him buying a train ticket to Reno and unidentifiable rocks that he was trying to hide. That begs the question why? If neither Budge nor Halsey was behind the murders and the boy is trying to hide rocks, fingers start pointing toward the geology team of Dr. Reynolds.
Mysteries unveiled at the Border Patrol
The list of people Bernadette can trust is getting shorter by the day. After Ivan tries to hide some proof of his involvement, she figures out her new boyfriend is a man on Spenser’s payroll. Perhaps cozying up to her to keep her in line.
The biggest revelation for Manuelito this week is PIG stands for pipeline inspection gadgets. They are designed to clean oil pipelines, and she learns they are perfect for drug smuggling. She takes this information to her roommate who offers to get a warrant for the ranch and take down Spenser’s operation. The drugs should now be there for distribution. Garza is now the only person Bernadette can trust. This cannot be the promotion she envisioned an year ago.
Emma Leaphorn may be enraged at her husband's actions, but even when Sylvia Washington comes to return her things, she’s not willing to divulge her family’s secret. The FBI agent questions her about her husband's alibi. It doesn’t take a genius much less a seasoned FBI agent to know it’s a lie. Emma doesn’t strike her as a liar. She’s a pillar of the community and a strong voice for women. In the end, she could go down to protect her husband, but for now, that’s a risk Mrs. Leaphorn is willing to take. She’s a protector, and even if her marriage doesn’t work out, she’s not going to let it end by turning her back on him. Willingly or not, she’s in this, too.
Finally, Joe is putting two and two together when he pieces the rocks found at George’s site. It’s similar to the clay mold he used when he melted Joe Jr.’s belt buckle down to make a feather for Bernie. Something hits Leaphorn like lightning.
At lunch with Ivan, Bernadette, who now knows she can’t trust him, lets him know she’s going to back off the investigation and not go full throttle on the ranch. He’s understandably taken aback because it doesn’t sound like something she’d do. It’s all an effort to keep Ivan off her and Garza’s trail. The once hot and heavy romance has now come to a close as Bernie is pulling back from him, in the most subtle way she can.
Leaphorn digs even deeper in his investigation following a trip out to Dr. Reynolds's site. There, they catch up with his assistant Teddi Issacs and show her the protective mold. He can’t understand why Reynolds would want to protect the so-called useless souvenir he and Gordo found in Ernesto Cata’s mouth.
Teddi was just on her way out of town after Reynolds informed her they lost the grant. Issacs discovers that the fake arrowhead is actually a real Folsom arrowhead. The doctor is seeding the site and chipping off a piece of the arrow for Issacs to find. Even when the grant was lost and he was leaving, he knew she wouldn’t stop digging. This was all done by Dr. Reynolds in a futile effort to create fame for himself.
One step closer to the real murderer
Only a handful of people could flake a Folsom arrow for seeds. It took Leaphorn a while to embark on this revelation, but he’s now convinced the good doctor is one of them. He’s a fraud and the real missing piece behind the death of Ernesto Cata.
George and Ernesto had no idea they were knee-deep into unraveling Reynold's plan. His legacy was more important than those boys' lives. The two tried to get away on their bikes but against the red truck, it was no match for Cata, even in the dark of night.
The reason part of the arrowhead was found in Cata’s mouth was because he bit down on it to hide the evidence when Dr. Reynolds went after him. I don’t think either boy had any idea of the monster they were dealing with. They were simply inquisitive boys that got in way over their heads. And when George saw his friend being sliced open for stumbling upon his objective, he ran off with his bike. With George being the only witness left to the crime, the story perfectly explains why Shorty’s son is in a panic to get out of dodge. All that’s left for them to do now is snag George from the train station tomorrow before the murderer catches up to him to finish the job he started.
When Washington left Emma at the house she advised her to come down to the station when she’s ready to talk. At the end of the episode, Emma appeared for a chat, but not the kind of talk that Sylvia was expecting. When Joe sees her walk in he looks like a lost puppy and then a heartbroken one when his wife will barely look at him. She admitted the rage against BJ Vines once owned her soul until traditional ceremonies helped heal her. The matriarch confesses that justice against Vines has consumed her husband so much that she no longer has a place in his heart. It looked as if she was going to reveal the alibi was a lie and travel off to walk the world alone, but that’s not what happened. Therefore, she told the agent he was with her all night, unwilling to give evidence that could take the man she loves down for life.
Joe chases Emma down while she tries to leave the NTP without a word. The situation has become too unbearable for her. And though she still cares enough to ask about his leg, she lets him know she’s going to her sisters for a while. Leaphorn begs his wife to stop and listen to reason, but she has to force herself to drive away in tears and let him go. The emotion Deanna Allison releases in this scene feels so organic and natural, even I was choked up a little. I thoroughly hope they fix this couple in season 4 because it’s unquestionably the heartbeat of the show.
In the closing moments, Bernadette and Garza go into the ranch wheels blazing to take down the drug operation. They find the drugs but there’s no sign of life. It’s too quiet. The one person Manuelito thought she could trust turns out to be a rat too after Bernie inspects the small building that the van is in. She once again finds the little girl and her mother she once saved locked up and bound just before Budge puts a bag over her head and Garza holds her at gunpoint from escaping. All of her intrepid questioning has led to this. Who will be there to save her now?
The season finale of Dark Winds will air on Sunday, April 27 on AMC and AMC Plus at 9 p.m. ET.