Dark Winds Season One (2022) Review
Dark Winds Season One (2022) Review
On a remote outpost of the Navajo Nation near Monument Valley in 1971, taciturn and respected Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn (McClarnon) of the Tribal Police is tasked with patrolling 27,000 miles of desert, caring for his Navajo community and protecting them from the harsh realities of the world.
He’s joined by slick new deputy Jim Chee (Gordon) – who has his own scores to settle and is harbouring secrets of his own – and Sergeant Bernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten – Frontier, Tribal), who like Joe were both born on the reservation and know their communities in a way no outsiders ever will.
Besieged with a series of seemingly unrelated crimes, including the brutal and unusual murder of a local indigenous family and the armed robbery of an armoured vehicle operation involving a helicopter, bombs and masked and uniformed thieves, the trio have their work cut out for them. With FBI Special Agent Whitover (Noah Emmerich – The Truman Show, Super 8) snooping around, Joe is under pressure to crack the cases and connect the dots, but the deeper he digs into the truth, the more he exposes his own wounds from the past. Battling the forces of evil – both human and supernatural – while fighting their personal demons, Joe and Jim must work together to save their community.
In reviews DARK WINDS has been mentioned in the same breath as the likes of TRUE DETECTIVE and THE WALKING DEAD in terms of being one of the best shows on TV. Premiering in June 2022 on AMC and AMC+ I understand that this first season has only just made it to UK TV screens and that Stateside they have already had the pleasure of having the second season of this acclaimed, smash-hit series with a third season already green-lit.
DARK WINDS has been brought to the screen courtesy of GAME OF THRONES creator George R.R. Martin, JACK RYAN creator Graham Roland and is executive produced by Hollywood legend Robert Redford who optioned the series of novels by the late Tony Hillerman – the Leaphorn and Chee series – back in the 1980’s and has previously adapted four of the novels into TV movies.
When I was approached to review DARK WINDS SEASON ONE, I was convinced by my good colleague in the release’s marketing department that this is well worth the time to watch and review, and that there would be supernatural elements that would appeal to me in the mix too. She wasn’t wrong. Whilst these elements don’t fully come into play till later in the day, they are there in a small way throughout and are integral to the plot. Aside from these elements DARK WINDS SEASON ONE makes for a solid drama/thriller that is worthy of the acclaim that it has received.
SPECIAL FEATURES include:
A half-hour feature in which host Jeremiah Bitsui (Hoski) is joined by cast and show creators in a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Dark Winds, featuring an exclusive sit-down interview with executive producers Robert Redford and Chris Eyre.
