- - “Dark Winds ”season 4 premiere recap: Leaphorn, Chee, and Manuelito begin the search for a missing girl

Jordan HoffmanFebruary 16, 2026 at 4:05 AM

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Zahn McClarnon as Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Kiowa Gordon as Jim Chee on 'Dark Winds'

Michael Moriatis/AMC

Key Points -

Lt. Joe Leaphorn is considering retirement.

Manuelito and Chee are finally engaged in an intimate relationship!

The latest mystery involves a teen runaway from a Catholic school — and Franka Potente dressed like a ninja.

Gas up the GMC, Dark Winds is back!

AMC's ongoing detective series based on the Tony Hillerman novels just kicked off its fourth season. And thankfully so, because season 3 ended with way too many loose strings.

While our hero Lt. Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) was safe from the FBI investigation into the death of B.J. Vines (John Diehl), Emma Leaphorn (Deanna Allison) seemed unwilling to forgive her husband for the role he played in it — which was basically killing the man responsible for his son's death without actually killing him. It's complicated. Not surprisingly, Emma packed up her backs and split.

Of equal importance, it looked like Bernadette "Bern" Manuelito (Jessica Matten, for whom I would eat glass) and Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon) were finally going to hook up, something everyone knew was bound to happen since the five-minute mark of the first episode in season 1. "Just kiss already!" is something most Dark Winds fans have been shouting from their couches for some time now.

Though it remains unclear if she will rejoin the Navajo Tribal Police now that she's quit her border patrol job — what with her uncovering a grotesque smuggling ring that nearly cost her her life.

This being Dark Winds, however, means that these personal issues are bound to take a backseat to foul murders and some kind of grand conspiracy that will cause great tumult on the Diné rez over the course of eight episodes, likely leading to both Leaphorn and Chee getting their bones broken while a slew of classic rock hits play over the credits.

Episode 1, "Kǫ’Tsiitáá’ Álnééh" (Baptism by Fire)," opens with a view of someone (the ghost of B.J. Vines? Nahhhh!) loading up a van with some weapons. We then cut to a diner in which a young Diné couple is clearly undergoing some stress.

Avery Hale as Albert Gorman and Isabel DeRoy-Olson as Billie Tsosie on 'Dark Winds'

Michael Moriatis/AMC

Is whatever these two youngsters going through really that bad? Why, yes it is, because that van pulls up, someone enters the diner and starts shooting. (The poor cook gets killed.) Our couple escapes by the skin of their teeth and then we see who is after them: a blonde woman clad in black holding a pistol with a rifle holstered to her back like she's Deadpool. She poses for the camera long enough for us to mutter "Wait, is that Franka Potente, star of the German hit Run Lola Run, several of the Bourne films, and series like American Horror Story: Asylum and Dark Matter? Indeed it is! Why, what is she doing on the rez??!?!"

Franka Potente in the season 4 premiere of 'Dark Winds'

Well, after the opening credits (which still includes Robert Redford’s name as a producer, may he rest in peace), we cut to "15 hours earlier," and the mighty Joe Leaphorn is alone on a horse, traipsing around Monument Valley. As "Seagull" by Bad Company (deep cut!) plays, we watch him build a fire, track a deer by following its scat, then shooting it after offering some kind of prayer. In other words, he's out there doing his thing.

Meanwhile, we come upon Chee, who is in uniform, cooking up breakfast while Manuelito emerges from the next room… very much not in uniform. They may have said a few lines of dialogue, but I didn't hear them because I was screaming. Then, finally, we get what we've been waiting for: hot and heavy morning-after smooches on Dark Winds. It is accomplished, our long national nightmare is over, the Eagle has landed, etc. All evidence shows that Chee and Manuelito have engaged in carnal intimacy as the prophets foretold.

She even smacks his rump as he heads out to headquarters.

On the road, Leaphorn bumps into Sheriff Gordo Sena (A Martinez) and his wife, who we learn is suffering from Alzheimer's. The bond between Leaphorn (the lawman on the reservation) and Sena (the lawman outside the reservation) grows even stronger.

Then our couple from the prologue, Billie (Isabel DeRoy-Olson) and Albert (William Hope) pull up to the trading post, looking for a map. And also some chewing gum. (Anton Chekhov would surmise that someone will blow a bubble by episode 7.)

With Chee out for the day, Leaphorn stops by Manuelito's place to try and convince her to come back to the Navajo Tribal Police because… he's planning to retire. What's more, he wants her to take over his gig as lieutenant.

Manuelito notes that Chee has been on the force longer than she has, but Leaphorn thinks she's the right choice for the job.

"I am not saying he is incapable. He's a good cop, well-trained. He's serious," Leaphorn says. "But I"ve come to realize you cannot separate spirituality from upholding the law here. You understand the land, the people who live on it. He's still working on that part, Bern."

because she is wise enough not to separate spirituality from the law, which he sees as essential for maintaining order on "the land."

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At NTP HQ, Chee holds a staff meeting, with everyone chuckling at the complaints and hijinks of some of the zanier locals. Then we get to a mention of a runaway from the local Catholic school. Though all seem to approve of a young person escaping the clutches of bilagáana culture, we soon realize he's talking about Billie, who narrowly escaped death in the episode prologue.

Leaphorn and Chee head to the school to get some info, but her classmates aren't talking. Then they head to the trading post where Roger (the guy that replaced Lester from season 1, who I thought was more fun) says he saw the gal, who left in a car with California plates, and was traveling with a fella.

As the detectives leave, Franka Potente's character walks in and glowers in close-up. That's twice that she's done that now!

Three schoolgirls (Sophia Tso-Pal, Sunshine Eaton, and Angelina LookingGlass) are questioned by Joe Leaphorn ((Zahn McClarnon) on 'Dark Winds'

Michael Moriatis/AMC

During a scene where Leaphorn tells his mother he's considering retiring (as she's preparing meat from the deer he killed earlier in the episode), we see that he's really hurting with Emma currently out of the picture. (Since Leaphorn's dad isn't present, there are no bottles of RC Cola.) Later that night, Chee tells Manuelito about the missing girl. He can tell that part of her wishes she was still a detective for the NTP, but she's concerned that if she goes back to the force it could cause a rift in their relationship. (She's not wrong!)

The next morning, Manuelito takes a sobering walk and we hear "Sacred Wind" by the Navajo recording artist Sharon Burch, a rare anachronistic needle-drop for this show. (The song was recorded in the mid-1990s.)

Leaphorn and Chee find an old rancher (Billie's grandfather), who thinks the man in the car with California plates might be Albert, a "criminal" (and also Billie's cousin). He then says he'll find the girl himself. As they talk, the camera roves up to a ridge to discover: Franka Potente scowling again! She's still in her ninja outfit, and taking photographs with a long lens.

After Manuelito dramatically burns her border patrol uniform, she returns to NTP HQ to much hootin' and hollerin'. She then heads to the Catholic school, which (aha!) turns out to be the one she attended as a kid. (Indeed, one of the stern nuns, Sister Regina, remembers her.) The tight-lipped kids are more ready to trust her, and one clearly scared girl references the diner from the prologue.

After a commercial break, we see Billie and Albert at the diner. Now, remember, most of this episode has been a flashback. (Confession: I kinda forgot, so don't feel bad if you did, too.) As Buck Owens' "Hello Trouble" plays on the jukebox, Billie and Arnold study the map and don't touch their delicious-looking chocolate milkshakes overflowing with whipped cream.

Manuelito (Jessica Matten) and Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) arrive at the diner on 'Dark Winds'

Michael Moriatis/AMC

Manuelito calls Chee with the tip, and our three heroes head there… arriving after the shootout. The lighting is all messed up, as is the jukebox playing "Who's Sorry Now" at a slow speed, making Connie Francis sound like dying HAL 9000 at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

They find two bodies (the cook and the waitress) and, while surveying the carnage, Leaphorn turns to Manuelito and says "welcome home."

And that will do it for Dark Winds episode 1, season 4, which was "In Memory of Robert Redford."

Tracks:

Why is Billie on the run with her outlaw cousin?

Why is German actress Franka Potente of all people chasing them?

And why is Potente dressed like she walked off the set of X-Men?

Will working together once again spoil Manuelito and Chee's romance?

Will we see Jessica Matten and Kiowa Gordon in more passionate scenes?

Did RC Cola not pay for product placement in season 4?

Will we get better classic rock bangers than an obscure Bad Company tune? Hopefully, all these questions and more will be answered next week.

Dark Winds airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on AMC and AMC+.

on Entertainment Weekly

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