Dark Winds is a great TV show. And therein lies its problem. Were the show less of a critical success, then enjoying it might not feel so problematic. I’m still, in truth, untying a lot of my understanding of the social controversy and the feelings that Indians have over the show. Their reception of it over the first season was just as mixed as mine is, and obviously, with much greater emotion entangled in it. So let me deal with the conversation of the kickoff of the new season as two separate discussions; because I just have not finished emotionally processing or entirely understanding how Native Americans feel about the show.
There’s a lot of procedural crime on television today. And a lot of streaming services. AMC is a network that I have previously only associated with The Walking Dead. One of my favorite shows of all time, that I also got completely overwhelmed with trying to keep up with. My tastes in television are much smaller these days, and a bit less shared-universe. Dark Winds fits that mold, even though I am getting close to being crime-d and murder-d out, especially with the rise of shows oriented around true crime podcasts. In that vein, Dark Winds is almost a breath of fresh air. It intermixes my love for historical period-pieces, hits my Stranger Things vibe by focusing on a time-period that I closely identify with, and loops in matters of racial plight and marginalization in America; yet another topic that I readily identify with.
In some ways, one of the problems with the Season 2 premiere of the show is that the characters all feel a bit samey. There is enough of a layer of quirk around each that an empathetic viewer can see how each faces the dual anguish of not quite fitting within either Indian or White American society easily. Perhaps the most interesting shakeup to the cast chemistry is the presence of Jeri Ryan, who seems to intuit the racial separation that Private Investigator Jim Chee feels, both appealing to it in an undertone of sexual tension, while also potentially scraping against it in murmurs of racial superiority.
Perhaps probing him, trying to detect if there is some resentment within him of his own people’s worship of what seems to White America like mysticism and supernatural belief. And so in Chee we see this, his own discomfort; he is comfortable within his own people who share his skepticism of spirituality of his own culture, but feels uncomfortable when confronted with it by someone outside of his culture.
In this opening episode we do not get any onscreen time between Chee and Manuelito; just obscure references to their emotional ties. But there is an in-vehicle scene between Leaphorn and Chee that is an excellent mix of both a brotherly and a fatherly dynamic in a way that is uniquely appealing. They are both mentor and student, but also there is a firm space of equality and independence in Chee. The series premiere is a great start, without the “slow burn” mess that has become the hallmark of sooooooo many streaming shows; the pretentious stringing along of the audience, hinting at the exciting for episodes on end. While I wait to see if that is the turn the show takes, with only seven episodes to get to done, it doesn’t seem like it will go that way. There are plenty of shocking and exciting moments in Season 2 Episode 1, including the introduction of a villain that is dangerous enough to cause questions as to whether or not we’ll see any of the primary cast meet a grisly end before it’s all done.
All of these elements blend to such perfection (Dark Winds has a 100% Tomatometer rating), that the cultural and social swirl that surrounds it is unfortunate but necessary. Let me first deal with my own conflicts over the series. I opened with a reference to the original inhabitants of America as both Indians and Native Americans. Part of the reason for that is, that while having my own experience of the minority plight here in America, I am empathetic to those of other peoples’, but I cannot claim that I know them. While I am a student of history and political science, I would not go so far as to say that I can accurately articulate what the Indian experience is here in the US; or the Hispanic one; or that of Asian-Americans. So much so that I am unsure what is acceptable to says these days, Indian or Native American.
Additionally, as I have become more interested in the series, I’ve gone back and come across some writing by Navajo people who have issues with the show. Again, I will not go into them here as I am not sure I could do them justice or get them right. I have only read one article in a series of several backslashes to the show. And I am unsure if all of their issues were resolved, although I have seen headlines with the studio and showrunner trying to be better.
I will admittedly say, that I am a person who has always fallen on the side of believing that initial representation is acceptable at the price of perfectly authentic treatments and accuracy. Sometimes, it is good that a story gets told and marginalized people are raised up out of obscurity versus never being raised up at all. I know that it is painful to see the mistakes. But I believe that some people will always have to try and get it wrong before the way is paved for someone to get it right. As a black person, I get hurt from both other races and my own for not meeting their ideal of a stereotype, so I get it. And I cannot claim whether Dark Winds falls within those bounds of acceptability for the Navajo people. I do hope that they and the show come to terms and an acceptable peace.
For me, for the time being, at the risk that I am part of the problem, it is good TV. And I intend to keep watching it. My caveat is that I’ll also try to keep learning about the controversy, and looking into the history of the culture that the show portrays. And whenever I encounter a Navajo person, my stance will be one of curiosity. I’ll have questions to ask. And I won’t act as if I’ve got it all on lock because I watched a TV show that told me this is how the Navajo people are. At least there, there is a starting point for a wider conversation that I can hopefully learn from.
Looking forward to Episode 2.
[Drafted on my 11” Apple iPad Pro 3rd Generation 256GB]
Rounding Off Infinity 