TV Miniseries Review: ‘Dark Winds’: Chee and Leaphorn Team Up Once Again

PG-13 | 6 episodes | Drama, Mystery, Thriller | June 12 2022 (USA)

Originally, Tony Hillerman’s “Joe Leaphorn” and “Jim Chee” books were separate series, but when he brought the two cops together, his sales really started to take off. Not surprisingly, every dramatic adaptation of his books has featured Leaphorn and Chee as a team.

These films have also all been produced by Robert Redford, starting with the one in 1991 directed by Errol Morris. Famous New Mexico resident George R.R. Martin also signed on as a producer of the newest Leaphorn and Chee series, set back in the 1970s, when Hillerman first started writing his award-winning mysteries.

Zahn McClarnon as Joe Leaphorn in "Dark Winds." (AMC Studios)

Leaphorn has two major cases on his plate that inevitably turn out to be related, in creator Graham Roland’s six-part “Dark Winds,” which premieres on AMC/AMC+.

Leaphorn must navigate the rugged landscape of the Navajo Nation and its thorny legal jurisdictional terrain. As a lieutenant with the tribal police, Leaphorn keeps the peace on Navajo land, but any major crime technically becomes the province of the FBI.

Special Agent Whitover is keen for leads on a gang of armored car robbers, suspected to be radical activists, whose getaway helicopter was last seen flying into Navajo territorial airspace.

Radical Society

The so-called Buffalo Society is brimming with revolutionary rhetoric and criminal know-how, but they seem to be short on actual followers. Regardless, a recent double murder is more personal for Leaphorn, because one of the victims was the former girlfriend of his late son.

In addition to the faultlessly professional sergeant Bernadette Manuelito, Leaphorn will also have a new deputy to assist his investigation. Of course, that would be Jim Chee, but his loyalties will be divided.

As Leaphorn quickly sleuthes out, Chee is actually an undercover FBI agent, whom Whitover placed with the Navajo police. However, Leaphorn agrees not to expose Chee, as long as he agrees to use Bureau resources to help solve the double homicide.

Hard-Nosed Lawmen

As a result, the chemistry between Leaphorn and Chee is a little different from the previous Wes Studi-Adam Beach PBS series, but their personas are much the same.

Zahn McClarnon as Joe Leaphorn (L) and Kiowa Gordon as Jim Chee in "Dark Winds." (AMC Studios)

Most importantly, Zahn McClarnon brings the same steely gravitas to Leaphorn that fans will expect. McClarnon also nicely explores Leaphorn’s tragic grief as a parent, but first and foremost, he plays him as a hardnosed, no-nonsense lawman.

Kiowa Gordon is sufficiently credible as the conflicted Chee, but he is often overshadowed by Jessica Matten, who is terrific as the forceful Manuelito.

It sort of makes sense that she would have a more prominent role in the latest series, because she becomes one of the primary characters in Anne Hillerman’s new mysteries following her father’s popular series of books.

Taut Procedural

Noah Emmerich generally portrays Agent Whitover as a sleazy caricature, but he develops some unexpected dimensions during the third act. Unfortunately, the Buffalo Society bandits are largely dull stereotypes.

Yet, the worst caricature has to be Devoted Dan, a hypocritical Evangelical used car dealer, blackmailed into aiding and abetting the armed robbers (played with maximum cheesiness by Rainn Wilson).

Even though the prior PBS series was moodier, Roland’s take on Hillerman more fully explores the dark mystical implications of spirit medicine. The procedural stuff still drives the narrative and it all tight and taut. Chris Eyre, who helmed several of the PBS installments, returns as another executive and the director of episodes one, two, five, and six.

Technically, Roland and the battery of writers mostly adapted from the solo Leaphorn novel “Listening Woman” rather than the solo Chee novel “Dark Wind,” but you can find a few elements of the latter novel repurposed in the new TV adaptation.

Regardless, the 1970s setting adds a lot of grit and texture, while also explaining away the absence of cell phones and other modern devices that might have altered the storyline.

Southwest Roots

It is encouraging to see Hillerman has not yet been canceled by the extremist “Own Voices” campaign for racially segregated literature. The truth is Hillerman grew up among a Potawatomi community in Oklahoma and was always sympathetic to the native peoples of the Southwest. He was also a decorated member of the Greatest Generation, who was awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and a Purple Heart for his service during World War II.

Obviously, Hillerman also has a talent for writing, having received Edgar and Spur Awards for his Leaphorn and Chee mysteries. Roland and company do a good job recreating most of the elements that led to Hillerman’s success with readers. The setting is evocative and characters like Joe Leaphorn are just as compelling as ever.

Recommended for fans of Hillerman and the subgenre of Southwestern mysteries he largely popularized, “Dark Winds” premieres June 12 on AMC/AMC+.

Promotional ad for "Dark Winds." (AMC Studios)

‘Dark Winds’ Directors: Chris Eyre, Sanford Bookstaver Stars: Zahn McClarnon, Kiowa Gordon, Jessica Matten, Rainn Wilson, Noah Emmerich Running Time: 6 episodes MPAA Rating: PG-13 Release Date: June 12, 2022 Rating: 4 out of 5