“Just a small piece” is chock full of revelations. And that’s a good thing, considering this is the penultimate episode of season 3 of Dark Winds. But even then, there’s something about the way these major revelations come at us that feels a tad too hasty. Sure, you can argue that it’s got everything to do with the pace and the process through which Leaphorn’s figured out the case. But the problem lies in the shock factor. For the last few episodes, we’ve not seen much of the characters that are now suddenly big players in the game. It would’ve felt more seamless had they at least been mentioned in the meantime.
Spoiler Alert
Leaphorn’s wins and losses
Given how often Leaphorn’s job gets him grievously injured, almost facing death, there’s no point wondering if he’ll ever stop getting into these situations. He’ll stop when he stops. But until then, it’s reassuring to know that Leaphorn doesn’t bite off more than he can chew. He faced the Ye’iitsoh figure for as long as he thought that he could handle the fight. But his leg was in terrible shape. So he did the right thing by not pursuing the man when he fled. The thing about the desert is that, while it takes a long time for help to come, it also takes a long time for a person to flee. And since Leaphorn knows the rez like the back of his hand, he’s already figured out which road this man must’ve taken. It’s a good thing that Chee was hauling his horse with him when Leaphorn radioed him. Leaphorn would’ve probably bled out from the wound on his leg if it wasn’t for George patching him up the best he could. But he doesn’t have much time before his body gives up. So it’s lucky that he has the strength to lead Chee to himself when they’re close. Chee doesn’t want to leave Leaphorn’s side. But since help is coming, and Leaphorn’s hard to say no to, Chee has to go after the man who’s injured Leaphorn. It’s not that Chee doesn’t put up a solid fight when he runs into the man. Chee quickly switches to his rifle to get a handle on the situation when his magazine runs dry. But the man in the hood has got a car. And he’s got a pretty strong survival instinct considering he somehow manages to drive off despite being in a close range gun fight. You see, what’s interesting about this is the fact that when Chee confronts him, the man doesn’t look like the monster we’ve been seeing so far. He doesn’t have twigs covering his threadbare hood. And he doesn’t have the face of death itself. He is just a man in a hood. So why have we been seeing a monster?
The answer lies in Leaphorn’s spiritual journey. He didn’t want to believe Emma when she said that by killing BJ Vines, Leaphorn had made him a permanent part of their lives. Even when Gordo told him that he can’t stop seeing the face of the man he’d killed, Leaphorn thought that wouldn’t happen with him. But Leaphorn’s come to accept that BJ Vines will always haunt him. That’s his cross to bear. And he’s also come to realize that the ghost of BJ Vines’ memory has been making him see the man in the hood as a monster. No matter how bad Leaphorn must be hurting now, he understands why Emma needs to distance herself from him now. Trouble is, Special Agent Sylvia Washington has gotten a whiff of the rift between Emma and Leaphorn. She even pays Emma a visit to convince her to do the “right” thing. She’s awfully tone-deaf and condescending when she implores Emma to align with her image as a respected matriarch in the community and tell the truth. Since it’s the truth that Special Agent Washington wants, it’s the truth that Emma tells her when she stops by at the station to give her statement. She bares her heart about Leaphorn’s failures as a husband and a person. But when it comes to her husband’s alibi on the night of BJ Vines’ death, Emma does the right thing and confirms that he was with her. Emma’s not naive enough to buy into the black and white of the law that doesn’t care about them. She knows that BJ Vines needed to be punished for exploiting and killing her people, her own son. Her qualms with her husband don’t have much to do with BJ Vines. Their marriage had started decaying the moment Joe Jr. died and Leaphorn retreated into his own little world of pain. How Leaphorn handled BJ Vines was only the final push. And while it’s not impossible that she’ll forgive Leaphorn someday, she’s not ready to do it now. She’s going away to stay with her sister for a while. Leaphorn is about to really beat himself up over not having talked to Emma as much as he should have. Now that he’s finally ready to talk, Emma’s run out of patience.
Who killed Ernesto Cata?
Someone took everything worth taking from Leaphorn’s truck and wallet, a crime that has George written all over it. If he’s been trying to go to Reno to meet his mom, he’s going to need money. That’s not all that Leaphorn figures out when he and Chee take a look around the mines. If there’s a pattern to things, there’s almost no way that Leaphorn will miss it. It doesn’t take him more than a look at the shoe prints in the area to remember that he saw the same prints where Ernesto’s bike had been found. The prints obviously belong to the man in the hood. And since he’s a tall guy and Budge isn’t, it seems like Leaphorn has the right hunch about the case. When he was talking with Gordo, Leaphorn claimed that even though Budge might’ve killed Halsey, he might not have killed Ernesto. That murder was committed by the man who Leaphorn has been seeing as Ye’iitsoh. It would’ve taken Leaphorn a while to find the killer based on this amount of information. But lucky for Leaphorn, George left some clues behind. Looking around the mines, Leaphorn and Chee get their hands on these strange rock-like objects covered in coal dust. And because one rinse with water washes the dust away and reveals the white color underneath, Leaphorn believes that George was trying to hide this. If hiding these was worth so much effort, figuring out what these are must be worth something as well. That’s the reason Leaphorn examines the objects. And thanks to his degree in Anthropology, he soon figures out what they are. The rock-like objects are the broken pieces of a certain kind of mold that are made to protect fragile objects of some significance. And this specific mold had been made to fit the tiny arrowhead that was found in Ernesto’s mouth. Dr. Reynolds, the person in charge of the dig site where Ernesto and George worked, claimed that the arrowhead was a fake, a cheap replica they sell at the store. But why would there be a protective mold for a replica? That doesn’t add up. That’s what drives Leaphorn to pay Reynolds a visit. And guess what? He’s already left. Even his assistant Teddi is just packing up to leave because they’ve lost their grant. The mold doesn’t make much sense to Teddi. But when she sees the arrowhead, she remembers that she’s recently dug up a fragment of it. But the existence of the mold proves that this arrowhead doesn’t belong to the area they’ve been digging. It had been brought here by someone who then carefully chipped it and planted the broken piece in the ground for Teddi to find. Only Dr. Reynolds would have benefitted from pulling a stunt like that. He wanted to be remembered for his discoveries, even if they were forged. Hell, he’s one of the few people who even has the skills to chip such a small object with such precision. And that’s not all the good doctor did. When he was trying to rewrite history by planting the little fragment of that authentic Folsom arrowhead in the Navajo ground, Ernesto and George saw him. They took the rest of the arrowhead along with the mold. And when Dr. Reynolds chased them, Ernesto hid the arrowhead in his mouth. Reynolds ruthlessly butchered Ernesto with his claw hammer, and he’s been looking for George ever since. Since he’s just had a brush with Leaphorn and George, he knows that George will try to take the train to Reno the next morning. The Navajo police and Gordo’s crew will be ready to tackle yet another White man who’s been hurting the Navajo and creating lies about their history. It will be tricky for Leaphorn and co to keep George safe in the chaos of the station. But knowing Leaphorn, he’ll go prepared.
Who is working for Tom Spenser?
The last time we saw Bern, something about Ivan spooked her. And now that they’re back from Mexico, Bern’s not doing a great job at masking her suspicion. She’s still playing the game Ivan wants her to play. But she’s watching her back around him. The only person Bern’s come to trust at Border Patrol is Agent Garza. Although Garza’s never been super sketchy on the surface, the fact that she immediately jumped on board when Bern let her in on the secret investigation seemed kinda performative to me. It’s really too bad that she’s the one Bern goes to with her theory about Ivan being on Spenser’s payroll. I mean, she’s not wrong to suspect him. Ivan messed with the pictures she took in Mexico. And in this week’s episode, we see undeniable evidence that Bern’s suspicion is true when Ivan storms into Ed Henry’s office. As the man who decides what passes through the border, Ed Henry had to be recruited by Spenser. That’s the only way Spenser could ensure that his trucks would pass the border no matter what they contained, no there was never a doubt about Ed Henry’s part in the game. Ivan’s conversation with Ed Henry doesn’t just prove that he’s been taking money to turn a blind eye to all this. It also shows that he’s actually fallen for Bern. So much so that he’s now trying to back out of it to make sure that Bern gets the support that she needs. He was definitely trying to save his own back when he was pushing Bern to drop the case. But the danger is unfathomable when Budge is in the mix. So Ivan wasn’t really faking his fear of watching Bern get hurt or worse.
With mere crumbs in her hands, Bern goes through the process of solving the case in a matter of seconds. It really goes to show how much Leaphorn’s case solving gifts have rubbed off on her. Going through the pictures, Bern figures out what that Mexican kid meant when she said “pigs.” It’s an acronym for Pipeline Inspection Gadgets, those round yellow things Bern saw at the Spencer Ranch. These things are designed to go through oil pipelines. So if someone with access to oil lines stuffed drugs in the PIGs, they could easily smuggle drugs without anyone noticing. That’s what Spenser’s been up to at his ranch. And while this deduction is astute, Bern makes a big mistake by taking it to Garza. Garza plans to get a warrant to search the ranch.
And in the ending of Dark Winds episode 7, the warrant gives Bern and Garza the power to drive straight onto the Spencer Ranch for a bust. The drugs are just lying there to be found. And that looks a bit too sloppy for such a professional group. They’ve all left, something that very understandably freaks Bern out. She still goes ahead and combs through the place by herself when Garza pretends to call the cops. Right when Bern finds a creepy room with 3 very scared looking Mexican people, Garza drops the mask and shows which side she’s playing for. While pretending to call the cops, Garza must’ve alerted Budge. They must’ve planned this whole thing to lure Bern into the maw of the monster. Now that she’s been kidnapped by Budge, Bern’s gotten herself in the worst kind of trouble. If Leaphorn and Chee are to rescue her, they’re gonna need Ivan’s help to get the lay of the land. Ivan better step up when he’s needed.
