Monster Slayer – As the opening episode of Dark Winds begins, a robbery takes place in Gallup, New Mexico in 1971. A helicopter flies in the middle of the road to stop an armored vehicle full of money. A man walks up behind the van and throws explosives underneath it. A police officer pretends to help the two guards before they’re shot dead by two armed men. The cop helps the men load the money into the helicopter which flies away seconds later. A man watches the helicopter fly overhead. Richard (Ryan de Quintal) is forced to dig a hole while he is ordered by Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon). Joe asks him to open the sack. When Richard does, we see a bunch of Indian items and he insists that is everything. Joe makes him put them back before warning him not to steal artifacts again. At a part of a Navajo reservation called Monument Valley, Anna gets a visit from an older man who confirms she is the one he spoke to on the telephone.

The older gentleman tells the woman in the corner that his problems started two weeks ago when he felt a serious pain in his back. Then, he had a bad fever all over his body. When she asks if he has seen any witches in his dreams, the man says no. She claims they play in the wind. The man tells her that he saw one of the white man’s mechanical birds in the sky, but it had no wings and no beauty. Ever since he saw it, he has had this sickness in his body. Anna asks whether he brought a token. He hands her a pair of glasses as the older woman puts on sunglasses. Joe is flagged down at the Big Rick Motel as the man tells him what is going on. Joe puts black powder next to his eyes and pulls out his gun before checking the hotel room in question. There is blood splatter around the room. The one man is found dead on the floor. Scratch marks are clearly visible on the bathroom door.

Joe discovers Anna dead in the bathtub. The next day, Joe takes the older woman with sunglasses back to the camp to her daughter. Joe tells Guy they should talk inside, but Guy isn’t going to let him set foot in his house. He tells them that Anna was killed at the Big Rock Motel last night. Guy begins sobbing and falls into the mud pile in front of him. He asks Joe if he is happy now that they’re both dead. Guy calls Joe a traitor. Joe explains to the mother that he is sending Anna’s body to Flagstaff for an autopsy. The scene suggests that there was foul play and that is all he can tell Helen right now. Joe admits they haven’t found who did it. Homicide is a federal crime meaning the FBI has to take the lead role in the investigation. Helen asks when the FBI cared about a dead Indian. Joe of all people should know that. Next, Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon) arrives in town. He speeds down the road and refuses to help a group that is broken down.

At the station, Lieutenant Joe is told that he has a visitor named Jim Chee. Once he meets with him, Jim apologizes for being late and says someone from Window Rock was supposed to call him. Jim is the new deputy. He has been with the tribal police for almost three months working in Window Rock for Captain Largo. Jim says he went to college so Joe suspects he used a “get out of ‘Nam for free card”. Joe tells him that Bernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten) is his number two. She will show him the ropes. Bernadette tells him he looks like Pat Boone with that suit. She asks him to go get his uniform from the car. A woman visits the doctor to learn why she hasn’t felt anything from her baby lately. The doctor ensures her that she has nothing to worry about. Sally is asked whether she was going to deliver at the clinic since he urges her not to have a home birth.

The nurse tells her that he wants her to give birth here, but he’ll operate on her afterwards to make sure she can’t get pregnant again. Sally asks why the government is complaining when they should make jobs available to them. When the doctor leaves, the nurse Emma looks at the bruises on her wrists and tries to find out more about the patient. The patient leaves in a hurry without answering any questions. Joe looks at evidence and Anna’s jacket at the police station. A priest named Benjamin enters looking for him because he is there about his grandfather Hosteen Tso. Joe tells him that a homicide is a federal crime so he won’t be handling it.

Joe admits he can’t tell him anything although he can put him in touch with the department in Flagstaff. Ben will be staying at his grandfather’s place by Many Ruins Canyon, but he doesn’t have a telephone. Once he leaves, Bernadette says you don’t see many Dine who take the Jesus road anymore. She gives Chee hollow-point bullets. Joe tells Chee to grab the boxes and come with him so they can talk. He tells Bern that they’re going to the morgue. On a good day, they have 50 tribal officers patrolling 27,000 square miles. If you break down on the road, it could be hours before anyone notices that you’re missing. Joe tells Jim to carry water in his vehicle and buy a carton of cigarettes because people around here will talk for a pack of smokes. Jim graduated from Berkeley and grew up in Shiprock. He was gone for nine years.

When asked whether he still has family in Shiprock, Jim says her mom died or they just lost touch. A detective stops at a shop where he talks to the clerk (Jonathan Adams) who tells him about an item that will protect him from dark energies. The clerk admits you start believing it when you spend a lot of time on the reservation. Whitover (Noah Emmerich) asks the clerk, Lester, about the paintings on the wall. He learns that his wife has taken up a new hobby. Although Lester thinks they’re ugly as sin, white people have no taste so he sold six last week. Jim and Joe enter as Whitover gets mad when Joe calls him high pockets. They’re introduced to Special Agent Springer. They go into the back where Springer complains they put the bodies in an ice box. Whitover wonders why they staged the crime scene to make it look like a bear attack.

Joe suspects they were messing with the FBI and that is why they took Hosteen’s liver and eyes. Joe doesn’t think it is witchcraft since the Dine believes speaking the name of the dead invites more death. He isn’t sure people will talk about it either. Whitover learns that the victim is 60-year-old Hosteen Tso. He lived out near Many Ruins Canyon. The other victim is 19-year-old Anna Atcitty. Joe hasn’t determined the cause of death since there is no bruise or broken fingernail. Joe recommends doing a toxicology test although there are no needle marks. Whitover says it is a long way from Canyon De Chelly to Monument Valley for a lay. Joe tells him to have some respect because Anna was not a prostitute. When Whitover asks what she was doing in a motel with the man, Joe claims it was for a sing. The victim was in poor health so he might’ve been there for a healing.

Chee finds it odd that there is no token that is supposed to sit in the center of the sing cloth. Whitover asks Springer to load the bodies because he wants to get back to Flagstaff before dark. Joe follows Whitover outside to make sure he’ll get back to him with Anna’s cause of death. Whitover doesn’t know why he cares about her so much, but Joe thinks two people being murdered would be enough. He tells Whitover about the girl’s grandmother Margaret Cigaret who is a witness. While she was in the room at the time of the murders, she was left unharmed. Joe suspects it is because she is blind and can’t see them. She was in shock and didn’t say whether she heard anything. Joe offers to go with him when he questions her again. Whitover asks if he has heard about the armored car robbery in Gallup. He reveals he has five eyewitnesses who place the hijacked chopper traveling north into Navajo country.

Joe says his people have a saying about white folks who steal from white banks. He explains it is white people’s problems. Whitover wonders who said they were white. Joe agrees to pretend the two robbers are Navajo if Whitover pretends the two murder victims are white. Chee goes back to a spot that is likely his old home. Emma (Deanna Allison) finds Joe sitting with Anna’s jacket. She convinces him to get rid of it. Joe doesn’t understand why it had to be Anna of all the girls on the reservation. He complains that the Feds are going to mess this up and there is nothing he can do about it. Emma gives him Dick Cavett’s address because he wants to have him on tomorrow night to charm America with his pleasant disposition.

He learns about the young pregnant girl that visited the clinic and that Emma wants to make sure she isn’t in any trouble. Later, Joe rides with Jim and tells him it was a good catch to notice that the token was missing. Jim’s grandfather was a medicine man and let him help out with the ceremonies. Joe admits the killer might’ve taken the token. He doesn’t think it was something valuable since the money and jewelry weren’t stolen. They speculate it could’ve been something personal or something that would reveal the killer’s identity. Chee asks about the knife he has hanging in his vehicle. Joe says it was found on Navajo land and has copper deposits on the blade. Jim learns that he went to college at Arizona State. They arrive at the camp and help Helen with the buckets. They learn that Guy hasn’t come down and Joe doesn’t think talking to him would help.

They try to talk to Margaret instead. Joe asks if she heard anything or knows who killed Anna. Helen doesn’t think Anna was seeing anyone who could’ve done this. Joe tells Helen to send for him if she notices anything, but he’ll be back in a day or two to check on Margaret. Helen stops him to give him a picture she found in Anna’s things that she thought he and Emma might want. As Joe leaves, he tells Chee that he’ll have Sergeant Manuelito pick him up because he needs to check on something. Joe drives away. When he stops, he looks at the picture and cries. Bernadette arrives to get Jim as an old man says the dang witch is killing her, but Jim says he can’t understand him. Jim and Bern go on a welfare check. While Bern bangs on the front door, Jim finds a dead animal around back.

When the woman finally answers, she denies that Sally lives here. Sally comes out as the woman admits Sally is her daughter. Bern wants to speak to her daughter here or at the station. Jim finds a truck with busted windows while Bern tells Sally that she didn’t do anything wrong. Sally says the father doesn’t live with them although he comes by sometimes. She won’t give Bern the man’s name. While Bern suspects otherwise, Sally insists she is okay here. Bern hears something inside and tries to come in. Sally’s mother turns around and looks at her. It causes Bernadette to go into a trance of sorts and not go inside. The mother tells her to walk in beauty. A man inside the barn holds a shotgun toward Jim who looks through from outside. Bern yells at him to come so he doesn’t get shot. Bern stops on the road to perform some type of ritual.

She encourages Jim to get a pouch of juniper ash and corn pollen. Out here, your best protection isn’t always your .38. It looks like rain is coming so Bern believes they should go before the roads get muddy. Later, Jim meets with Whitover at a restaurant. Whitover claims this is where the big stars used to stay when they were making the westerns in the 40s and 50s. They begin talking about the armored car robbery as Whitover says the helicopter was last seen headed into Canyon De Chelly. He suspects the robbers might be radicals from the Buffalo Society. Whitover explains it is the biggest Indian reservation in the world and this wouldn’t be a bad place to hide out if you’re a bad Indian doing bad stuff. The FBI would need a tangible lead to go to the tribe and negotiate a joint task force. He admits he had to get creative. Now, he wants Jim to report to him and only him.

Whitover put him here to help him with the helicopter so they can write their tickets out of here. He doesn’t care about the two homicides. Whitover reminds him not to forget which tribe he belongs to. Joe tries to visit Ben, but his shack is empty. Joe notices something with the water so he looks around a bit more. He smells of the water from the nearby reservoir too. The helicopter is shown under the water. It has the letters CW on it and what looks like a bullet hole.

 

Dark Winds Review

After finishing the first episode of Dark Winds, the episode proves the series has potential although it is far from perfect. Since this is based on a book series, it is clear that the story should be compelling and competent. Zahn McClarnon and Kiowa Gordon are good in their respective roles and their relationship could easily develop into a linchpin for the show.

The scenery is beautiful if not breathtaking at times. Viewers who have never visited canyons in person will find themselves mesmerized by these gorgeous scenes. On the other hand, many scenes had cheesy dialogue that doesn’t fit the show’s setting. At times, the dialogue was so bad that it degraded many of the characters and some of the acting isn’t much better.

It was easy to forget that this is taking place in the 70s. The props and vehicles did a good job of setting the scene, but more should’ve been done to stress this. The first episode was filled with cliches and it almost feels like this is something we’ve seen before. Dark Winds will likely take some time to develop and for viewers to connect with the characters.

If the show manages to focus on what truly matters and less on 2022 talking points, it could be a worthwhile adventure. The first episode scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of Dark Winds can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our work at this link.