Dark Winds Season 3 Episode 5 Recap: Tseko Hasani (Coal Mine Canyon)

The third season of AMC’s ‘Dark Winds’ focuses on the crime of Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and the guilt that eats away at him. In the last season, he gets revenge on BJ Vines when he leaves the man in the middle of the desert to let nature decide his fate. In his mind, he didn’t kill Vines with his own hands, but he cannot refuse the fact that he did throw the man into the mouth of death, and for that, some repercussions are meant to follow. In this episode, the guilt and the law finally catches up to him. SPOILERS AHEAD

Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee Come Close to Finding George Bowlegs

The last episode ended with Halsey getting killed inside the police station. At the beginning of this episode, Leaphorn is still shaken up from the murder and tries to make sense of what is happening around him. Gordo advises him to take a break and go home, but he refuses to leave Ernesto Cata’s murder investigation midway. The medicine woman shows up to cleanse the police station following the violent death of Halsey, but she later meets with Leaphorn in private to tell him about the monsters that have been following him. She tells him to cleanse his soul in order to get the monsters out and get his life back or risk losing everything. And she is right. He has already lost a lot.

At home, Emma refuses to accept his apology, but things take a different turn in the middle of their conversation. Later that night, Leaphorn drives to a secluded area where he takes the alone time to process the case again. He discovers that Shorty Bowlegs made a complaint about his toolbox. He also finds out about his ex and George’s mother living in Reno, which leads him to believe that perhaps the boy is traveling there. Meanwhile, his and Chee’s investigation leads them to trace Halsey’s last days, where they get the description of a suspicious-looking man, who turns out to be Robert De Baca. The confirmation of the suspect’s identity comes from Bernadette who gets a call from Chee, leading the latter to the realisation that she has moved on and is currently with Ivan Munos.

The same night, Chee gets drunk and is helped by Shorty Bowlegs. The next morning, Chee tells Leaphorn about De Baca, who listens to everything with interest but doesn’t say a thing, which means that he may know who Baca is. The question of the toolbox leads Leaphorn to believe that George may have tried to pawn it to get money and visit his mother in Reno. He turns out to be right when he asks around at pawn shops. From the statement made by the pawnshop owner about the dirt in George’s hands and under his fingernails, Leaphorn finds the exact place where the boy may be hiding. Sure enough, George is on his way to Reno and has been using all sorts of precautions to make sure he is safe. By the time Leaphorn catches up with him, evil has found the boy, and the cop must face the entity as well.

Bernadette Discovers a Snake in the Midst

In the previous episode, Bernadette Manuelito knocked at the door of her colleague, Ivan Munos. At the beginning of this episode, we see her in bed with him, but when the morning comes, she still has the investigation in her mind. Following Jim Chee’s visit in the last episode, she becomes even more adamant about solving the case and proving that Tom Spenser and his men are up to something very bad. While Chee is gone, she still has Ivan, and she proposes a trip to Mexico to him. Through Chee’s insights, she believes that the oil tankers are being used to transport drugs, and this can only be proven if they go to the site and find evidence to prove the same. But that means going to Mexico.

Bernadette convinces Ivan to join her in recon of Spenser’s place, but they cannot do that as an official business. She believes that their boss is in on it, which means they cannot continue the investigation through proper channels. At first, Ivan tries to dissuade her, but when it is clear that she will not change her mind, he agrees to help her. They arrive in Mexico under the guise of spending a romantic weekend together, and it begins as such. They have sex when they arrive in their honeymoon suite. But at night, Bernadette puts forward a plan for them to follow the next day. Again, Ivan seems hesitant to go through it, but the next day, he joins Bernadette.

At the site, they find Robert De Baca there, and the money exchanges hands. But before they can find out anything about the drugs, they are seen and have to run for their lives. They barely escape by hiding in plain sight, but the true extent of danger to them becomes apparent when De Baca shoots a man right in front of them. Back at the motel, Ivan offers Bernadette two options. They can go directly to the DEA and report everything, including their boss. Or, they let things be and save their lives. Bernadette thinks that he is simply shaken up by the events of the day and is scared for his life. But then, she notices something familiar amongst his things. It is the same rubber band that she knows is used by Spenser’s men. This means that Ivan is one of them.

Agent Washington’s Next Witness Confirms Her Suspicions

When Agent Sylvia Washington started investigating the death of BJ Vines, she knew that something was off about his sudden disappearance. While nothing seemed to make sense in the beginning, small things started to create a clearer picture of the puzzle that she now seems to have solved. In the previous episode, a witness told her about the car model that was last seen going in and out of Vines’ house. In this episode, another critical witness steps in to deliver a statement that all but confirms the agent’s suspicions about Leaphorn.

To get to the bottom of the truth, Washington interviews every single person who may have crossed paths with Vines. With that in mind, his wife remains an important witness, which makes the return of Rosemary Vines. She confesses that she is glad her husband is dead and that she has inherited his wealth, which he stole from her by killing her sister, who was also his first wife. Then she mentions that her neighbor told her that she had seen Vines in the back of a police car on the last night he was seen alive. This tells Washington that it was indeed Leaphorn because he is the only person who checks off all the criteria that fit Vines’ killer.
Washington doesn’t waste time and is at Leaphorn’s house with a search warrant. Moments before this, Leaphorn and Emma have a chat where she tells him that she cannot live with him anymore and he must move out of the house. Watching the cops go through her house, especially her son’s things, wounds her heart even further, but she cannot abandon her husband, and that makes things worse for her. Washington gives her a chance to talk to her, but Emma doesn’t take it, which means that now, she risks getting blamed as a co-conspirator for her husband’s deeds.