By the end of the surreal third season of AMC’s “Dark Winds,” it felt as if the foundation of the series had seen an irreversible shift. After battling personal demons, Lt. Joe Leaphorn’s (Zahn McClarnon) past decisions forced his wife, Emma (Deanna Allison), to walk away from their marriage, leaving Joe alone for the first time in decades. With Emma now residing in Los Angeles, Joe’s life has taken on a surprisingly languid pace, until his peace is fractured by an ominous figure who appears in season four’s thrilling opening sequence.
Dressed in black tactical gear and harnessing various weapons, we watch as Irene Vaggan (Franka Potente) slinks into a diner, before murdering its owners and chasing down the two sole customers. One of these patrons is Billie Tsosie (Isabel DeRoy-Olsen), whose disappearance garners the attention of the Navajo Tribal Police. It quickly becomes clear that she is not a typical runaway, and her disappearance is tied to this new villain and a criminal plot that shapes up to be Joe’s biggest and most complicated case yet.
While this season’s central mystery is one of the show’s most engaging, the character work is what really shines. With Emma gone, Joe finds himself at a standstill that forces him to reckon with the man he is outside his work. He tends to his garden, eats meals alone, and surprisingly, thinks about retirement. He ponders making Bernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten) his successor, which slowly strains her developing romantic relationship with Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon). The personal strife of these characters slowly begins to chip away at their bond, forcing them and the performers who inhabit them to take on some of the series’ most stirring material.
Last season, Joe was forced on an odyssey of recollection, and now, it’s Chee’s turn. Here is where “Dark Winds” ups the ante once again, with some of the most captivating horror visuals in the show’s history manifesting through his eyes. Like the Lynchian “Ábidoo’niidę́ę́ (What We Had Been Told)” from last season, season four delves deep into the recesses of Chee’s brain, where cataclysmic visions from his childhood fester like the mysterious cut on his side that pulsates with every uncovered memory. These flashes of his past get more intense as the season progresses, colliding with his present reality and forcing his mind to unfold in a way that he was never prepared for.
Gordon plays this with a staggering levity, giving himself fully to the performance. Another standout turn comes from Potente, who is the most interesting villain the series has crafted. Each time she’s on screen, Irene barely speaks, slinking around with the diligence of someone who is military trained, while also holding a fascinating curiosity for the community she has infiltrated. Early on in the season, when she kills a respected elder in the community, she leaves his body in a fashion that elders are often honored by. For a moment, it appears that she harbors a respect for the Navajo nation, but that quickly disassembles into a sick obsession not only with Joe, but with the Navajo’s way of life.
Both her presence and Billie’s disappearance are connected to a bigger scheme with roots in LA that has spread and come back to haunt our crew in Arizona. For the first time in the series, this forces the show’s trio to venture beyond the limits they’re usually confined to, widening the scope of this already expansive story. While the mysteries at the center of “Dark Winds” have always been engaging, there’s a thrilling sense of urgency here that permeates throughout each episode and forces the show to unravel at a dizzying pace.
The detective work Joe, Chee, and Bernadette do narratively blends with their intimate journeys, allowing their desires and regrets to take center stage. The score, crafted by Kevin, Sean, and Deana Kiner, accompanies their turmoil with instruments that whine and shake, similar to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ work in David Fincher’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” Paired with this sweeping soundscape, the red gleam of police lights and neon signs illuminates dark and desolate exteriors, cloaking each nighttime sequence in a haunting glow that threatens to overtake the camera’s lens.
“Dark Winds” has always been a series about memory and reconciliation. The shootouts may have intensified, but so have the stakes for the characters and the community they reside in, forcing each of them to examine how their work threatens not only their psyches but their relationships. Season four allows each of its performers to deliver affecting and career-best work, proving that as long as the show’s writers continue to find meaningful cases that push its characters close to the brink, this series will continue to be a defining touchstone that withstands the test of time.
All episodes were screened for review. The fourth season premieres on Sunday, February 15th.
