Dark Winds Season 2 Review

4 star engrossing and authentic crime thriller.

Dark Winds Season 2 is the 2024 sequel to the 2023 TV series Dark Winds. Created for television by Graham Roland (Mile 22, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan), it is based on the 1980 novel People of Darkness, part of the Leaphorn and Chee series written by Tony Hillerman.

It is executive produced by George R.R. Martin (Game of Thrones) and Oscar® winning actor Robert Redford. This season consists of six episodes and is available to own on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital from 25th November 2024, courtesy of Acorn Media International.

“Last few years… life’s gotten cheap. The monsters ain’t just in the shadows. They’re in broad damn daylight. Country’s got the devil in it, Joe, and no one is calling him to account”.

As the series opens, we see Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon – Doctor Sleep, The Crow Daddy) of the Kayenta Tribal Police department and the very capable Sergeant Bernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten – Rez Ball, The Empty Man). They are out in the desert at a trailer in the dark when suddenly, they find themselves in the middle of a shoot out.

Time rolls back a few days, as we begin to unravel the events that led to this predicament. Leaphorn is sent to investigate a car bomb attack at the hospital, linked to a member of a strange local cult. At the same time, Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon – Two Eyes, Quantum Cowboys), former undercover F.B.I. agent and deputy to Leaphorn, is now working as a private investigator. He is called in by wealthy client Rosemary Vines (Jeri Ryan – Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek Voyager) to investigate the theft of a box from her billionaire husband B.J. Vines (John Diehl – Armageddon Time, Out of the Wild).

Things are never that simple and Leaphorn and Chee are soon reunited as their cases collide. There is a new player in town, the blonde man (Nicholas Logan – I Care A Lot, The Unbreakable Bunch), a brutal and seemingly unstoppable killer. All the evidence also seems to suggest that this is related to a deeply personal tragedy for Leaphorn and his wife Emma (Deanna Allison – Edge of America). Can he and local sheriff Gordo Sena (A. Martinez – Far Haven, Ambulance) put aside their differences to solve this crime?

“You can steal our ceremonies, but you’ll never get off the black road”.

Season 2 of Dark Winds is, if anything, better than the first series. The characters are all well established and it feels like everyone, writers, directors and actors included, are really getting into their stride.

This is a clever mystery, complex and well written and taking quite a bit of concentration to follow in places, but never leaving you behind. The star of the show is most definitely Zahn McClarnon, who puts in an astonishing performance, quietly desperate, deeply determined, tormented but (almost) always professional.

As with the first series, this is a very indigenous led project, both cast and crew, meaning that the insights into their culture and practices feel much more meaningful. It doesn’t shy away from having a good hard look at difficult subjects either as it examines the issues which faced Native Americans in the 1970’s, including mass sterilisation of women, conscription to the Vietnam War and the white appropriation of sacred rituals.

The filming style is also interesting, with a few segments filmed in black and white with just the odd highlight of one particular colour for emphasis, very effective. An excellent series, and a must own for fans of a well written mystery. Well worth adding to your collection.

“Tell you what, High Pockets. I will pretend that your bank robbers were Navajo if you pretend my two murder victims were white. Let’s see which one of us does their job quicker, huh?”.

Dark Winds is available to own on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital from 25th November 2024.