{"id":317915,"date":"2026-03-02T13:25:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T13:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/317915\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T13:25:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T13:25:14","slug":"dark-winds-cast-on-the-joy-of-getting-weird-in-season-4-episode-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/317915\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Dark Winds’ Cast on the Joy of Getting Weird in Season 4 Episode 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t[This story contains spoilers from Dark Winds<\/a> through season four, episode three, \u201cAh\u00e1\u00e1ldl\u00e1\u00e1d\u00edg\u00ed\u00ed\u201d (That Which Has Been Torn Apart).]<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIs Zahn coming out to play?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFranka Potente<\/a> asks the question in the tone of a child ringing their best friend\u2019s doorbell, as she describes the joyful experimentation that characterized her time on the Dark Winds set. But add a dose of malevolence to that metaphor, and you have an inkling of the unpredictable chaos that her character Irene Vaggan has injected into the Navajo reservation in this season\u2019s third episode, which aired Sunday.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis week, the Navajo Tribal Police are trying to keep runaway teenager Billie (Isabel DeRoy-Olson) safe as Potente\u2019s deadly assassin continues to pursue her. But after they find Billie and put her into protective custody, the desperate teen makes their job even more difficult when she takes matters into her own hands and hops on a bus to Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, Bernadette (Jessica Matten<\/a>) and Chee\u2019s (Kiowa Gordon<\/a>) new relationship is tested as Bernadette admits that she and Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon<\/a>) have both been keeping Chee in the dark about Leaphorn\u2019s plan to retire.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the same time, Chee is enduring some unexpected \u2014 and disturbing \u2014 symptoms after episode two, when he entered the hogan where Billie\u2019s cousin Albert died. (Episode two, by the way, was McClarnon\u2019s directorial debut. The experience went so well, the star says he plans to direct another episode in season five<\/a>.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd finally, after a game of cat-and-mouse, in the closing scene, Leaphorn has a face-to-face encounter with Vaggan. Literally: She kisses him at gunpoint. We\u2019re still shuddering.<\/p>\n

\n\tTo sort through all these irksome developments, THR sat down with McClarnon, Gordon, Matten, Potente and showrunner John Wirth. Read on below for a breakdown of episode three\u2019s key moments.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tKiowa Gordon as Jim Chee in Dark Winds season four, episode three. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMichael Moriatis\/AMC<\/p>\n

\t\tWhat Is Going on With Chee?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tLast week, at the end of episode two, Chee, Bernadette and Leaphorn ended up at the home of Billie and Albert\u2019s grandfather, where they discover a hole in the north side of the building, indicating someone has died inside. (In Navajo culture, this is traditionally done so that the deceased person\u2019s spirit can leave. It\u2019s known as a \u201cdeath hogan,\u201d which is taboo to enter.)<\/p>\n

\n\tAlthough Bernadette urges caution, Chee takes it upon himself to go inside and investigate. There, he finds Albert\u2019s body, covered by a blanket. But something immediately seems to be wrong with him, as he has a flashback in which he sees another body, then he seems woozy and gets a nosebleed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cChee goes in full-bore, just very bull-headed about it,\u201d explains Gordon. \u201cHe said, \u2018It\u2019s just part of the job, you just gotta do it.\u2019 He didn\u2019t want to have the love of his life get her hands dirty, or for Leaphorn to have to go through that after all the stuff he\u2019s been dealing with as well, so he\u2019s like, \u2018Well, I\u2019ll take it on the chin for everybody, I\u2019ll take one for the team.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe adds of his character, \u201cI\u2019m still a little skeptical of the culture, superstitions. I feel like I can just write it off: If I don\u2019t believe in this, it won\u2019t happen. But nope, it\u2019s real.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn this week\u2019s episode, Chee continues to experience apparent side effects from going into the death hogan \u2014 including a gnarly looking scratch on his side and a bloody tooth that he pulls out after his argument with Bernadette \u2014 and it\u2019s not clear what exactly is happening to him, but he still tries to brush it off.<\/p>\n

\n\tShowrunner Wirth says he was excited to bring some focus on Chee this season. \u201cThere is no Dark Winds without the Jim Chee character,\u201d he says. \u201c[Gordon] brings this thing to that character which is so embraceable, and he\u2019s just the perfect flavor to offset some of the things that are going on in the series.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWirth notes that season three largely centered on Leaphorn battling his inner demons and Bernadette\u2019s move to the Border Patrol. \u201cChee was sort of left to run between those two stories, and he was good connective tissue between those stories and those two characters, but we didn\u2019t really delve into his life. I wanted to do a story where we got to delve deeper into: Who is Jim Chee? How did he get back [to the reservation] and what is the story of his life? He had grown up off the reservation from his early teen years, so more than half his life he\u2019s been off the reservation, and now he comes back.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHe was perfectly positioned to be susceptible to something like ghost sickness, which he doesn\u2019t even believe is real, and Navajo people are very serious about those kinds of things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tGordon teases, \u201cIt\u2019s a wild, wild ride this season \u2026 we can just get into Chee\u2019s psyche a bit and the things that brought him to where he is now, what he\u2019s got to get back to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tBernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten) offers Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon) traditional medicine in Dark Winds season four, episode three. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMichael Moriatis\/AMC<\/p>\n

\t\tBernadette\u2019s White Lie\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the season premiere, Leaphorn told Bernadette that he is planning to retire, and that he wants her to succeed him as lieutenant. Then in episode two, she asked Leaphorn to share his plans with Chee, who suspects something\u2019s up. But Leaphorn told her he wanted to wait, because he\u2019s not ready for everyone to know. This made Bernadette uneasy, but she couldn\u2019t convince him change his mind.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis week, Chee and Bernadette have a relationship milestone as they both say, \u201cI love you,\u201d and Chee reiterates his invitation to move in together. Then, when he brings up his own theory that Leaphorn is planning to retire, Bernadette lies and says she doesn\u2019t think he is.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cEverybody in the world of the show knew that Leaphorn was contemplating retiring. What nobody knew was what was going to happen when he left,\u201d says Wirth. \u201cHe had to make a decision: Who do I choose to succeed me? Both Chee and Bern felt like, \u2018It would be me.\u2019 And then we find they\u2019re in a relationship, so when somebody says, \u2018I have a secret I\u2019m going to tell you. Don\u2019t tell anybody,\u2019 then you go home to your spouse, and the spouse says, \u2018Hey, do you have a secret I should know about?\u2019 [You reply] \u2018No, I don\u2019t.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn addition to abiding by Leaphorn\u2019s request, Matten explains, \u201cShe\u2019s doing this to protect him, in her mind, to be considerate of his feelings, knowing that could demasculize him in a time period where masculinity was a big thing. On the flip side, internally she\u2019s dealing with so much PTSD that she\u2019s trying to bottle up [after she had to kill in self-defense last season]. You know when you\u2019re on the brink emotionally, and you just know this will potentially create another argument or fight \u2014 she\u2019s protecting herself and the relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe adds, \u201cBernadette would never intentionally lie. She\u2019s doing it to protect. She is a cop at the end of the day, and that is built within her DNA. In her view, this is all about protection of the home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLater in the episode, when they\u2019re keeping watch over Billie, Bernadette comes clean and tells Chee about Leaphorn\u2019s plan. Chee doesn\u2019t take it well, and storms off before having the surreal experience where he pulls out a tooth. The next morning, he confronts Leaphorn about being dishonest despite everything Chee has done for him. (In the process, he reveals that he knew all along Leaphorn was behind B.J. Vines\u2019 murder<\/a>. Is there anyone on the reservation who doesn\u2019t know?)<\/p>\n

\n\tGordon jokes of Chee\u2019s reaction, \u201cHe just got really butt-hurt that nobody consulted him on any of this,\u201d then adds more seriously: \u201cAfter the season one with me being undercover FBI and how [Bernadette and Leaphorn] took it, I\u2019m like, \u2018We never want that to happen again. We should all be transparent with each other.\u2019 And for them to kind of go behind my back with all of this, it just crushes Chee\u2019s heart. It\u2019s like, \u2018I thought I found my people and they would never do this to me,\u2019 but they do, and I think that\u2019s what really sets him off to go confront Leaphorn after Bernadette comes clean.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAdds Wirth, \u201cIt created some really good drama, and the trick was to keep everybody faithful, even if they weren\u2019t telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth all the time. It was a challenge, but I\u2019m happy with the way it worked out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tFrank Potente as Irene Vaggan in Dark Winds season four, episode three. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMichael Moriatis\/AMC<\/p>\n

\t\tWhere Did That Creepy Kiss Come From?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThroughout the season, Vaggan has been keeping tabs on Joe Leaphorn just as much as she has on Albert and Billie. In this episode, though, it becomes clear that her interest in Joe goes way beyond just wanting to find her marks. She breaks into Joe\u2019s house, where she longingly inhales his clothing, finds mail from Emma (Deanna Allison) at her L.A. address<\/a>, and steals a photo of Joe and Emma together. This is a woman with no boundaries.<\/p>\n

\n\tPotente says playing Vaggan was a fun opportunity to tap into a mindset that people don\u2019t normally indulge in their regular lives. \u201cA villain lives a lot in the \u2018what if?\u2019 areas, all the thoughts that we don\u2019t think through. As a mother, all the dark thoughts, the catastrophizing thoughts that we have daily. Or at least I do, maybe not everyone does,\u201d she concedes with a laugh. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe don\u2019t get comfortable in all the gory, horrific circumstances \u2014 in times like this, I should say we\u2019re forced to \u2014 but the villain\u2019s brain is not anything a normal person is comfortable living in on the daily. And to make that the center of your day and not think about, \u2018What do other people think?\u2019 you just try to push it further and further,\u201d she adds. \u201cYou don\u2019t try to think, \u2018How can I be scarier?\u2019 You think, \u2018How can I get under his skin even more?\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou want to do it in a way that is coming from a place of love. You know? So you glaze it, in a way, like if you gift someone a heart that you just ripped out, but you glaze it in chocolate.\u201d Here, she slips into character \u2014 pretending to hold just such a chocolate-covered heart and taking a ravenous bite \u2014 then laughs. \u201cIt\u2019s all the weird stuff. It\u2019s like if someone said, \u2018It\u2019s OK to be weird. Go. Whatever that means to you.\u2019 It\u2019s very, very playful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMcClarnon adds that Potente\u2019s inventiveness made her a pleasure to work with, despite their characters\u2019 antagonistic relationship. \u201cFranka brings ideas to the set,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd it was a joy to watch her implement some of these ideas, because they catch you by surprise. You don\u2019t know what she\u2019s going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe references the episode\u2019s pivotal final scene, when Vaggan corners Leaphorn at gunpoint and reveals her belief that they\u2019re spiritually connected before planting a kiss on his lips. McClarnon notes that the kiss wasn\u2019t in the script. \u201cI didn\u2019t know she was going to do that,\u201d he says with a laugh. \u201cShe brings ideas, and to work with actors like that is very much an enjoyable experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBut I will say, it says something about the partner that you\u2019re in the scene with,\u201d Potente adds. \u201cI have to feel that there is that space, that I can go there. I can go that extra bit. Some people don\u2019t leave that space, quite the opposite. They will take it from you, even. It\u2019s just like playing. It\u2019s like when you were a kid and you ring the doorbell and ask, \u2018Is Zahn coming out to play?\u2019 It\u2019s like that. And then you go play in the mud!\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJim Chee (Kiowa Gordon) confronts Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) in Dark Winds season four, episode three. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMichael Moriatis\/AMC<\/p>\n

\t\tWhat\u2019s Next?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tAMC and the Dark Winds team have been teasing since before the premiere that part of this season will unfold in Los Angeles. Now that Billie has gone there in search of Albert\u2019s brother, Leroy, that time may have finally arrived. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd we certainly haven\u2019t seen the last of Vaggan. As she says after she kisses Joe: \u201cI will not say goodbye. I will say, until we see each other again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\n\tDark Winds airs on AMC and streams on AMC+, with new episodes airing weekly on Sundays. In case you missed it, you can find THR\u2019s recap from episode one here<\/a>. Check back for more insights from the show\u2019s team as the season progresses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[This story contains spoilers from Dark Winds through season four, episode three, \u201cAh\u00e1\u00e1ldl\u00e1\u00e1d\u00edg\u00ed\u00ed\u201d (That Which Has Been Torn…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[158502,128574,146,158503,85,46,149067,149068,411,149069],"class_list":["post-317915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-amc-network","tag-dark-winds","tag-entertainment","tag-franka-potente","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-jessica-matten","tag-kiowa-gordon","tag-tv","tag-zahn-mcclarnon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}