Dir. various, US, 2023, 360 mins
Cast: Zahn McClarnon, Kiowa Gordon, Jessica Matten, Deanna Allison, Nicholas Logan
Review by Colin Dibben
Emma Leaphorn (Allison) is looking into the car park from the hospital where she works when a bomb goes off in a parked truck. The sole victim is Diné and dying of cancer. Emma’s husband, Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn (McClarnon) investigates. Who would want to kill a dying man?
Meanwhile, ex-Fed Jim Chee (Gordon) is now working as a private eye. A rich man’s wife hires him to find the contents of a box stolen from her husband’s house safe. So far, so noir – but the alleged thief is the son of the man killed by the bomb. What’s going on?
And Sergeant Bernadette Manuelito (Matten) feels stifled by life on the reservation. New Mexico’s Border Force is actively recruiting. Which way will she turn?
This second season of the 1970s Navajo cop show is based on the Tony Hillerman novel People of Darkness. The White hitman with mummy issues is in the book too, even though it might look like a more contemporary addition to the format, but there are several new moves in this six episode tv series.
These largely resolve issues from the first series, such as who was responsible for the oil well explosion that killed Emma and Jim’s son. To me, this feels a bit of a plod. Too much continuity can keep a show from breathing. It is also interesting, that back in the ‘real’ 70s of crime fiction they didn’t bother with all this back story nonsense; cops just got on with doing their job.
Anyway, even though there is less ‘material culture’ on display and more Heritage Americana music on the soundtrack, the leads still make the show: there’s a nice, strong contrast between the craggy Leaphorn and the fresh-faced, round-eyed Chee. Well worth watching.
