On Screen: “Dark Winds: Season 3”
Dark Winds: Season 3
It’s significant that Robert Redford’s last screen appearance was a quick cameo on “Dark Winds: Season 3.” He’s seen incarcerated in a Navajo Tribal Police jail cell, playing a game of chess with his co-executive producer, “Game of Thrones” author George R.R. Martin.
They appear as prisoners in the premiere episode with Lt. Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon). When Leaphorn suggests a strategic chess move to Martin, that gives him a checkmate and Redford mutters, “Thanks a lot.”
Based on a series of Tony Hillerman books and adapted by Graham Roland, “Dark Winds” is a pulpy, neo-noir Western crime drama set in New Mexico’s Navajo Nation during the 1970s. About 95 percent of the cast and crew are Indigenous, and they’re depicted in a way that’s respectful to their culture.
The explosive finale of the second season saw Joe Leaphorn exact justice on B.J. Vance (John Diehl), the wealthy businessman who was responsible for Leaphorn’s son’s death. What’s unique about this series is how the police officers handle moral dilemmas, balancing justice with their own spiritual beliefs.
Set six months after the second season, the third picks up as Leaphorn and his deputy Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon) investigate the disappearance of two young boys — finding only an abandoned bicycle on a blood-stained patch of ground.
And — to Leaphorn’s consternation — F.B.I. agent Sylvia Washington (Jenna Elfman) arrives to further ‘investigate’ the death of B.J. Vance.
Meanwhile, former deputy Bernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten) is just settling into her new job — 500 miles away from home — with the Border Patrol, when she inadvertently stumbles into what turns out to be a conspiracy involving human trafficking and drug smuggling with far-reaching implications.
Making its debut on AMC in 2022, the compelling mystery of “Dark Winds” has drawn a devoted following — and the first two seasons are also available on Netflix.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Dark Winds: Season 3” is a sinister 7 with eight episodes streaming on exclusively on AMC — and season 4 already in preparation.
Susan Granger is a product of Hollywood. Her natural father, S. Sylvan Simon, was a director and producer at M.G.M. and Columbia Pictures. Her adoptive father, Armand Deutsch, produced movies at M.G.M.
As a child, Susan appeared in movies with Abbott & Costello, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Margaret O’Brien, and Lassie. She attended Mills College in California, studying journalism with Pierre Salinger, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism.