Lt. Joe Leaphorn is no closer to discovering the answers he seeks.
That was despite finally being able to interrogate the man he believes killed his son J.J. on Dark Winds Season 2 Episode 5.
That really wasn’t Joe’s fault. He was just dealing with a man who is a nutjob.
At least we finally got a peak into what made Wolf into the murderer he’s become.
It appears that when Wolf was a boy, his mother shot and killed his father and his sister. Wolf discovered this grisly fact upon returning home one day.
However, despite Leaphorn’s best efforts, how Wolf went from there to blowing up the Drumco oil drilling site remained a mystery.
It didn’t help that Joe was suddenly under the gun to gain whatever information he could from Wolf.
That was because Gordo rolled in with an outstanding warrant for Wolf covering previous murders in another county.
The sheriff bottom-lined the situation for Leaphorn. Wolf would get the death penalty based on his existing body of work.
That wasn’t good enough for Joe. He needed answers about J.J.’s death that only Wolf could provide. He had to know why J.J. died and who was ultimately responsible.
Gordo was rightfully skeptical of Joe’s putting too much faith into the memories of 6-year-old Benny in Dark Winds Season 2 Episode 2. But he could also understand Leaphorn’s need for closure. So Gordo gave him a day to interrogate Wolf and chase down any leads that he had.
Joe put on a full-court press, roping in Bern and even those officers who have never seemed to have left this office this season. Not that they got that far.
At least Bern managed to find someone connected to lone-wolf Wolf: DeLoyd Webster, the private eye currently searching for the murderer’s missing mother.
Under pressure from Leaphorn, the cocky Webster folded like a cheap suit, explaining to Joe and Bern that Wolf had hired him to track down his missing mother. It was a good thing DeLoyd didn’t know that Wolf had killed his previous P.I.
Something strange about this: Wolf’s mother hands him her gun in the flashback. Then, over an exterior shot of their home, a gunshot rings out, seemingly indicating that Wolf killed her. If so, why’s he looking for her now?
In any event, Wolf’s search for his mother gave Leaphorn the opening he needed. He sent in Webster, who fed Wolf a likely false lead and urged him to provide Joe with something so Joe might work for clemency for him.
Wolf told Webster that he had hired him to blow up the Drumco site by Carl Lebeck. But after chasing that lead, Leaphorn determined that Wolf had killed Lebeck and taken his identity to gain access to the Drumco site.
Joe had one last session with Wolf, offering to push for him to get life so that he might at least see his mother while he was imprisoned. All Wolf gave him was that J.J. was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The most crucial development happened earlier when Emma and Joe discussed how they were processing J.J.’s death.
Well, Emma talked about how they were each working through their grief in their own ways. In her case, that meant taking in Sally and her boy to fill the void. It was the right thing to do, even if it was for the wrong reasons.
Joe, well, grunted about how he had to see his investigation through — a man of few words, that one.
One storyline that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere is the reporter worming her way into Emma’s clinic. She also seems to mean well, but the Indians don’t like outsiders with agendas. Some in Emma’s group are accepting her. But what’s the point of her presence?
Bern and Chee had their own storylines going on as well.
Bern counseled a Indian young man who had been drafted into the military and was worried about leaving behind his grandmother and sister, for whom he was caretaker.
Bern explained there was a long history of Navajos, such as Leaphorn and herself, serving in the military of a country that rarely treated Indians well.
Also, she and Jim’s relationship returned to a better state, as she invited him into her trailer to wait out the eclipse. There was also the shocking revelation that Bern once dated Elvis while serving in Germany.
Thanks to Chee, the series finally returned to the People of Darkness. Granted, it happened accidentally, as Jim was tailing Rosemary at B.J.’s request and followed her to the cult’s gathering spot.
Chee managed to find trouble, helping a woman smuggle out a backpack and escape B.J.’s thugs. However, she later disappeared, leaving the pack behind. I think a human sacrifice is coming. So Jim has put himself in the cult’s crosshairs.
There’s much to cover in next week’s season finale, both in terms of the cult and Wolf, who naturally escaped from Gordo’s police transport, leaving Gordo in lousy shape. So there’s another showdown coming between Joe and Wolf.
Will Joe get the answers he seeks?
Who is behind the Drumco bombing?
What’s the story with the People of Darkness?
Comment below.
Dale McGarrigle is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.
