Dir. Various, US, 2025, 480 mins, in English and Diné
Cast: Zahn McClarnon, Kiowa Gordon, Jessica Matten, Deanna Allison, Jenna Elfman
Review by Colin Dibben
Navajo Tribal Police officers Joe Leaphorn (McClarnon) and Jim Chee (Gordon) investigate the disappearance of two 14-year-old boys, while FBI agent Sylvia Washington (Elfman) commandeers Leaphorn’s office and begins digging into Leaphorn’s complicated past. Her investigation and Leaphorn’s own guilty feelings are soon affecting his relationship with his wife, Emma (Allison).
Meanwhile, after putting 500 miles between herself, the reservation and a budding romance with Chee, Bernadette Manuelito (Matten) is working for the US Border Patrol. Her curiosity and tenacity lead her to investigate a local ranch which may be a front for human trafficking and drug smuggling.
The Tony Hillerman books that are sources for this series (in this case, Dance Hall of the Dead and Sinister Pig) create drama from the play off between western logic and Diné and other Native American belief systems. In the books, Chee is the more traditional, spiritual man and Leaphorn is the more analytic, rational type. The TV show relegates this, as well as other Diné cultural aspects, to the background. Instead, we have more generic ‘monsters’ – although a monster called Ye’iitsoh gets mentioned here – which are related to Leaphorn’s guilt feelings; and the ongoing drama of the source of those feelings, Leaphorn’s revenge murder of the man who killed his son.
This focus may make sense for a streaming show that can’t afford to spend time exploring profound cultural differences. But, by leaving the culturally specific stuff out, the series risks losing sight of what makes the books interesting. That happens here in spades.
Some of the flat direction and camera work also makes the series plod. Plus, when an attempt is made to represent Leaphorn’s ketamine effected hallucinations, the effect falls a bit flat, with the extended dream sequence featuring some ‘usual suspect’ wrong-uns from his childhood. I also think that appropriate location shooting was scaled back for this season: there seem to be fewer shots of the epic landscapes that litter the books than in the first two seasons.
McClarnon is definitely the lead actor here and is very watchable. I reckon the creators could beef up Gordon’s role without losing the essence of Leaphorn’s drama. Matten’s role develops nicely: Bern’s scenes with her new beau, as those with Jim Chee, have a good tension.
On the plus-plus side, every car and truck on screen is a wonder to behold, for those of us who like products of the late 60s, early 70s American automotive industries. And the contemporary soundtrack sometimes steps beyond the obvious – I recognised a Big Star track playing on the jukebox in a bar scene.
Apart from that, I am sad to say, the Navajo cops are starting to feel a bit like PC Plods.
Dark Winds Season 3 is out on Blu-ray and DVD and digital on 2 February 2026. You can also buy a box set of seasons 1 to 3 from the same date.
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