It wouldn’t be very human of Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn to be perpetually strong and upright. So, while it’s kind of concerning to see him so dazed in the face of the third season’s antagonist, this might be Dark Winds’ way of reassuring him that it’s okay to be vulnerable. But the way Leaphorn is completely preoccupied, I can’t help but worry that he might not be able to be there for Bern when he’s needed.
Spoiler Alert
Bernadette Is Onto Something At The Spenser Ranch
It didn’t take very long for Bernadette to figure out what that symbol the Mexican kid sketched actually meant. But part of the reason she was so quick to join the dots is the fact that the symbol belongs to a place that’s pretty unmissable in the area. Given the kid didn’t speak a word of English, it makes sense that she’d drawn the letters backwards. Turns out, Bern didn’t have to take the trouble and find a way to sneakily investigate the Spenser Ranch, the place with the logo charm that the kid had drawn. But the fact that she sees the same white van that was there at the crime scene involving the immigrant mother and daughter makes one thing undeniably clear. The Spenser Ranch is knee-deep in some seriously shady business, possibly even human trafficking. And as the heir and the current owner of the ranch, Tom Spenser can’t really be the good guy he’s pretending to be when he seemingly seizes control of the situation by catching Bern red handed. Nonetheless, he’s rather good at lying with the confidence of an honest man. So, there’s nothing in his words that can tip Bern off as he gives her a tour of the ranch voluntarily. But Bern’s not someone who can be swayed very easily with a few nice words and a calm assertion of dominance. So even though Spenser feigns innocence, Bern knows that he’s had the van’s plates changed. Tom Spenser is hiding something terrible, something that stinks worse than his oil drills perforating the earth.
Leaphorn’s Losing Control
It’s understandably triggering for Leaphorn to investigate the murder case of a Navajo, especially considering he’ll never get over his son’s death. But right now, his conscience is haunting him more than the thoughts of his son. So much so that he mistakes Ernesto’s corpse for that of BJ Vines for a fraction of a second. And that hits him hard enough to leave him so shaky that Gordo Sena has to take over for him. It’s only normal that Gordo’s trying to look at the situation from the perspective of a regular cop trying to solve a murder case. So when he wonders if a claw hammer could’ve made the wounds that killed Ernesto, you can’t really blame him for looking in the wrong direction. With the coroner saying the weapon might’ve been a claw hammer, Gordo’s got no reason to believe that Ye’iitsoh is real, let alone speculate that an actual monster might’ve been the culprit. Considering the placement of the arrowhead on the victim’s body, the obvious track of thought is wondering if it was meant to be an act of dishonoring the death of a Navajo boy and a sacred object. And Leaphorn is of the opinion that no Dine would ever do something like this. But either way, Gordo and Leaphorn have only got one man who can help them get closer to a breakthrough, both as a suspect and an archeologist.
As the man in charge of the dig site where Ernesto and George worked, Dr. Reynolds seems far more harmless than you’d expect. What does strike me as a little strange is just how upset his assistant Teddi gets when she finds out that Ernesto’s dead. Don’t get me wrong, it could just be chalked up to the fact that she’d grown to care about the kids who worked there. But if I’m being honest, it looks like Teddi is so disturbed because this death was expected and could’ve been prevented. Things get a lot more confusing for Leaphorn when Reynolds inspects the arrowhead they found in Ernesto’s mouth and claims that it’s a cheap replica. Now, I haven’t yet found a reason to think that he’s making it up. But I’m also going to steer clear of any conclusions when almost nothing about the case is set in stone yet. Coming to Leaphorn, he really needs to watch his back with Special Agent Sylvia looking into BJ Vines’ case. So far, she’s too opaque for us to know if she suspects Leaphorn, even when she throws unnerving questions at him. But she’s gotten off on the right foot with Emma and befriended her quickly enough to get a dinner invite to the Leaphorn house. Is it just going to be a social call? I don’t think Sylvia’s here to make friends. So even if things look cordial on the surface, Leaphorn should be careful about how close he’s going to allow Sylvia to get. If she’s not suspecting him yet, she might just see or hear something at the dinner that will push her in the right direction.
Budge Is A Killer
I guess when he was trying to make a good impression on Bern by letting her get close to that van, Tom really underestimated her ability to sniff out a blatant lie. Seeing all the supplies stored in the back of the van does nothing to dissuade Bern from pursuing the lead. But as is obvious from Tom’s brazen show of confidence, he’s got the border patrol in his pocket. Agent Garza’s practically begging Bern to quit this tendency of putting herself in harm’s way. Spenser Oil has control over about one-third of the intelligence border patrol pursues for their cases. And that buys them a lot more than just the power to shut down any investigation into their gloomy depths. What they didn’t expect is someone like Bern snooping around. Bern doesn’t scare easy. Ed Henry can crack that whip all he wants, but he can’t scare Bern into giving up on the case when it’s a matter of innocent people’s safety. Even though Bern doesn’t think too much of it, I think Spenser is behind her flat tire. I actually have an even wilder theory to back this one. You see, Ivan appears out of nowhere to help out Bern. And after that, they’re off for a game of pool and some drinks. Now, it’s possible that Ivan’s totally into Bern, and that’s why he’s trying to get close to her. But I think it’s more likely that Ivan swooping in to help her out wasn’t a coincidence at all. I think there’s a big chance that Ivan’s on Spenser’s payroll. Maybe giving her the flat and making Ivan get on her good side was their way of getting him closer to her. Don’t believe me? Think about how quickly Ivan tries to keep Spenser Oil out of trouble when Bern asks him about their tanks. Bern’s been on weight station duty. So it’s a pretty easy thing for her to pretend that she’s just trying to learn the ropes when she attempts to squeeze some info out of Ivan. Is she onto him? I’m certain that Ivan doesn’t think so. Why else would he tell her straight up that she’s not supposed to check out the Spenser oil tanks? Tom Spenser has basically bought off border patrol so his tanks can move across the border without inspection. If that doesn’t reek of something illegal, I don’t know what does.
If the opening sequence of the second episode of Dark Winds is any indication, Bern’s dealing with some terrifying people here. In that scene, the White guy with long curly hair brings doom upon himself as he brags about this gun he swiped to this Mexican guy he calls Budge. There’s no beating around the bush here. I think the gun belongs to Bern. And this White guy was the man who stole the gun and drove away in the white van. Seeing as he seems to trust this Budge guy, I think they both work for Tom Spenser. And since his goofy act of stealing the gun is what got Bern so suspicious of the van, it makes sense that Budge was sent to kill him. This man’s got a big mouth and a rather empty noggin, and that gets him in the kind of trouble that people don’t get out of. Budge goes for a pretty gruesome kill when he basically buries this guy and his car. And because this Budge guy is then riding shotgun with the driver in the tanker that stops at Bern’s station, you know how scared she should be as well as I do. She’s not quite taken Ivan’s warning all that seriously. As she takes a big risk and asks Budge to show his license, it looks like his official name is Roberto. Seeing as he takes it upon himself to scare the bejesus out of Bern with just the look on his face, I think he’s Tom’s henchman. Bern doesn’t find anything sketchy in the tanker this time. But that doesn’t mean that she’s going to stop looking.
Ye’iitsoh Attack Shorty And Leaphorn
I don’t know about the people of the rez, but the cops aren’t treating George Bowlegs as a suspect. They really are more desperate to save him from whoever killed Ernesto than anything else. And the only place they can look for a crumb of anything worth following up on is Shorty Bowlegs’ house. It looks like the ants aren’t done, leading Leaphorn to the crucial pieces of the puzzle. It initially doesn’t look like much when Leaphorn follows the trail of ants in Shorty’s barn and finds a bloody knife. But when you see the bigger picture, you realize that that was the first step to getting Shorty under some form of control, even though the blood on the knife turns out to be horse blood. Even if he’s not the bad guy, Shorty is hiding something that could be crucial to the case.
It’s sketchy enough that Shorty made his cousin lie to the cops and give him a false alibi. But when the cops let him go due to a lack of evidence, and Chee follows him home anyway, he sees Shorty prepping a horse for a journey, and that sort of changes Chee’s perspective on the case. He actually has been holding on to a lot of justified hatred against Shorty. But now that he’s thinking clearly, he can see that Shorty’s just trying to save his son from the cops and the murderer. It’s a huge leap of faith for Shorty to trust Chee with the trail. They don’t really have the most amicable history. And it’s not like Shorty’s been apologetic to him anyway. But because it’s his son’s life on the line, Shorty doesn’t really have a better option. So he confides in Chee that he’s been keeping George safe in their cabin, and when Leaphorn joins them, and they set out to save George, it looks like Shorty’s not a bad guy after all. But that’s about as lucky as Leaphorn gets in the ending of this week’s episode of “Dark Winds.” But then again, he’s not exactly the most unlucky one in the group. Things seem to be working according to plan when Shorty goes in alone, trying not to startle the scared boy. But someone was already waiting inside.
A scream is all Leaphorn hears before he bolts in and finds Shorty on the ground. They may not have made it explicitly clear, but I’d say that there’s a possibility that Shorty’s dead. There’s no sign of George. So, if he’s lucky, he might’ve gotten away before the big bad got there. It’s time for Leaphorn to be yanked out of his denial about what he’s dealing with. It looks like Ye’iitsoh came here looking for George. And now, as he attacks Leaphorn and gives him a physical confirmation of his very real existence, he basically pushes him to accept that he is real. But hold on. We still don’t have a reason to conclude that Ye’iitsoh was here to kill George. What if–and let’s keep our minds open for this one–he was actually there to protect George? He might’ve mistaken Leaphorn and Shorty for people who came to hurt George, prompting him to attack them. But we’re still all theories over here. And it’ll be nice to be treated to some clarity for a change.
