You know, you and I are really very lucky to be living in the golden age of television. It’s commonly accepted to have begun around 1999 with The Sopranos, and a quarter-century later shows no sign of letting up.
I feel a little bad for having badmouthed AMC somewhat the last time I reviewed a show from them, and after all they did give us Breaking Bad. Dark Winds seems to be AMC’s attempt to give us their own version of True Detective, combining dark crime drama, groovy 70s fashions, and undertones of supernatural horror. The stroke of originality in Dark Winds is that it takes place entirely on the Navajo reservations, with an all-Navajo writers’ room and an almost-all Native cast (Rainn Wilson of The Office and Super hams it up wonderfully as a used-car salesman and Christian evangelist). The marketing plays up the involvement of Game of Thrones writer George R. R. Martin and Hollywood royalty Robert Redford, but their actual involvement seems to be minimal; I assume they just happen to be fans of the books on which Dark Winds is based and used their pull to make the show happen.
Now, I’ve never read the books, but going by the show, I can see where that love comes from. Across the seven episodes of the first season we’re given a convoluted and intriguing plot about American Indian Movement terrorists, but the truth is that any old plot would be compelling, because the heart of Dark Winds is the relationship between old, traditional Navajo Police sheriff Joe Leaphorn, and the young, liberal, college-educated FBI man Jim Chee. Kiowa Gordon, as Chee, slots easily into a long line of beloved FBI agents: Dale Cooper, Clarice Starling, Will Graham, Mulder and Scully. But, as fantastic as Gordon is, Zahn McClarnon steals every scene. He’s the very definition of gravitas, earning Leaphorn an instant place as one of the all-time great TV characters. And, while the books are known as the “Leaphorn and Chee” series, there’s a Holy Ghost to their Son and Father, Jessica Matten as Sgt. Manuelito, tough, uncompromising, and effortlessly sexy. All of these characters are a joy to be around, the more so because they’re allowed to have rich and complex personalities, after over a century of Native Americans only appearing on screen as casino owners and war-whooping braves.
And it’s a powerful thing to have a show so authentically Native on our screens. Now, I’m white and British, I’ve never even met a Native and can’t claim any closeness or real understanding of that culture. But Dark Winds has the aura of authenticity; it immerses you entirely in its world to the point that you feel you do know Navajo culture, from the inside. It’s absurd, frustrating, that Native Americans have been so shut out from Hollywood, from television, and from the literary world. In a just world, this show is the first step in rectifying that situation, but it’s, at the very least, a phenomenal show in its own right.
★★★★★