Dark Winds Season 2 Premiere Recap: "Na'ni?"Kaadii"

 

Zahn McClarnon reprises his role as Lt. Joe Leaphorn in the AMC series based on Tony Hillerman's novels.

Warning: This is a summary of the Season 2 premiere episode of Dark Winds, thus there will be plenty of spoilers. We highly advise you not to read this if you have not yet seen the episode on AMC or AMC+.

Joe Leaphorn examines the death of a guy who was involved in a secret cult, while Jim Chee, a private investigator, pursues his own investigation. Meanwhile, Sgt. Bernadette Manuelito is dealing with a "hemp head" who claims to have been abducted by aliens. What should we make of this? Here are our top five takeaways from Dark Winds' "Na'ni?kaadii," Episode 201, Episode 101.

Takeaway No. 1

Season 2 begins with a bang — well, many bangs — when Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Sgt. Bernadette Manuelito arrive at an isolated caravan home with the intent of arresting a suspect, only to become the focus of their target. The culprit — Colton Wolf (Nicholas Logan), who makes a really terrifying debut – showers the trailer with his assault rifle, holding down the Navajo Police officers until we cut to a title card: "Six Days Ago." The scene isn't as spectacular as the armored-car robbery that kicked off Season One's first episode, but it's incredibly effective with its neo-noir visuals, setting us up for another drama set in the 1971 Navajo Nation that involves both earthly and (possibly) supernatural evil forces.

Takeaway No. 2

And the drama kicks out with an even larger explosion, when an elderly cancer patient is slain just outside of a hospital when his truck explodes. Sheriff Gordo Sena — hello, A Alavarez! — believes the disaster was caused by a gas leak. But it doesn't take Leaphorn long to figure out that the victim's ignition key was rigged to detonate a bomb.Naturally, we must ask: Did that Colton Wolf man have anything to do with this? In any case, collateral damage heightens Leaphorn's interest in the crime: The bomb injured his nursing wife Emma (Deanna Allsion), who was standing inside the hospital checking on a patient. Nothing too serious, of you, but Emma insists on performing some type of ritual at their house to fend off ill luck. "It's not normal for us to be around so much death and violence," she explains to her spouse. Is she already forgetting what occurred in Season 1?
 

Takeaway No. 3

Meanwhile, Manuelito is dealing with rogue Steve Begaye (Jarrett Hogner), a mild-mannered "hemp head" who claims to have been attacked by an alien mutant in the form of a big sheep with twisted horns. Much to her amazement, Manuelito discovers that, yes, there is such a beast wandering the countryside. But she sees no evidence of an extraterrestrial entity. Not yet, at any rate. To be on the safe side, she confines the animal in a police station cell.

Takeaway No. 4

Jim Chee has returned to town, and he's still a dapper dresser. (Note the size of his '70s-style shirt collar.) He's no longer an FBI agent or a Navajo Police officer; instead, he's a private investigator hired by Rosemary Vines (Jeri Ryan), the wife of B.J. Vines (John Diehl), who was introduced last season as the investor who acquired the drill site where Leaphorn's kid was murdered in another explosion.Mrs. Vines, a slinky femme fatale who relies on a portable oxygen tank to help her breathe, claims a box was stolen from their well-appointed home's safe by a burglar she identifies as Thomas Charlie (Robert I. Mesa) — who also happens to be the son of the man killed in the truck explosion. Members of the Charlie family, she claims, were engaged with People of Darkness, a religious cult that her husband used to sponsor until he stopped. Perhaps the package was stolen in retaliation? That is Mrs. Vines' narrative, and she intends to stick to it. She refuses to reveal the contents of the package to Chee. She does, however, give him a large bundle of cash to retrieve it, with no questions asked.

Takeaway No. 5

Naturally, Chee and Leaphorn discover that their two cases — the truck bombing and the stolen box — are linked, and they pursue a trail that leads them to a distant place where the box and its contents appear to have been thrown into a ceremonial fire. Leaphorn searches among the ashes and discovers a rodeo champ belt buckle that his son was wearing the day he was murdered in the drill site explosion. But before he and Chee can explore the implications of this revelation in depth, they are ambushed by — you got it! — Colton Wolf, not long after Wolf tragically murdered a private investigator who was maybe too excellent at his job. Chee is wounded, Wolf drives off — but not before blowing up the police car Leaphorn and Chee drove to the scene — and we’re left to wonder how Leaphorn will be able to transport Chee to where he can get medical attention.