Bernadette’s Current ‘Dark Winds’ Arc Is Season 3’s One Big Weakness
Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Dark Winds Season 3 Episode 7.Dark Winds Season 3 features arguably the strongest story arc for Zahn McClarnon’s Joe Leaphorn yet, as he faces the personal and legal/professional repercussions of his choice to take vengeance on the man responsible for the death of his son. And while this has ensured that the series continues to receive well-deserved critical praise, some of the current supporting storylines are not as strong, with the series’ most recent episode in particular highlighting that the season has let down one of the show’s best supporting characters. Bernadette “Bern” Manuelito (Jessica Matten) has been mostly isolated from the rest of the regular cast in her own story arc this season and while this highlights how she is a compelling character in her own right, even when removed from the show’s core group dynamic, the actual plotting of the arc has left a lot to be desired.
Bernadette Is on Her Own in ‘Dark Winds’
At the end of Season 2, the series made the bold choice to have Bern leave the Navajo Tribal Police behind, accepting a new job with the U.S. Border Patrol. She’s had a few brief, uncomfortable reunions with former co-worker and love interest Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon), but the series deserves credit for not quickly reversing her decision. However, the case she’s currently investigating has been fairly predictable and unspectacular, featuring many common crime genre tropes and clichés without approaching them in the unconventional, creative manner that the series has successfully employed in the past.
Early in the season, Bern encountered a mother and child pair of undocumented immigrants, and initially began to suspect that they were victims of human trafficking. This led her to uncover what is actually a drug trafficking operation headed by Tom Spenser (Bruce Greenwood) and his family, who also own a successful oil company that has made them hugely influential in the local area.
The extent of their power was recently driven home in an upsetting way for Bern when she realized that her current co-worker and new love interest, Ivan Muños (Alex Meraz), who had been reluctantly helping her with her unofficial investigation, is also corrupt and on the Spensers’ payroll. Ivan’s corruption itself was also predictable, but Bern deducing it before he had the chance to sabotage her in a major way was a decent subversion of expectations that highlighted her intelligence. Unfortunately, the season’s seventh and penultimate episode followed this up by revealing that her other trusted co-worker and roommate, Eleanda Garza (Tonantzin Carmelo), is also corrupt, doing so in an especially sloppy and unsurprising way.
After trying to make it through a previously arranged date with Ivan without arousing his suspicions, Bern goes to the Spenser ranch with Garza in the hopes of finding evidence that will condemn the whole operation. When Garza remarks that they should wait for backup, Bern refuses, noting that in the wake of what she’s learned about Ivan, Garza is the only person in the area she trusts. However, after Bern finds the immigrants and another person being held prisoner in a shed, Garza suddenly holds her at gunpoint while another assailant comes up from behind, blinding Bern with a bag over her head and taking her captive.
‘Dark Winds’ Latest Twist Undermines Bernadette
This reveal is frustrating not just because it’s repetitive but also because Bern not seeing it coming makes her appear less sharp and formidable than she’s usually presented as. While her rapport with Garza has been somewhat charming, the latter hasn’t received enough screen time for the viewer to be significantly invested in or trust her. And, more importantly, there’s no real significant reason why Bern would trust her after learning about Ivan, especially given that both he and Garza herself have repeatedly emphasized how omnipresent the Spensers’ influence is. The most significant imaginable explanation for why Bern continued to confide in her is that Garza is another woman in the male-dominated law enforcement field and if the series had emphasized this part of their dynamic more it could have gotten some meaning out of the betrayal by showing that Bern wanted to be able to believe in her peer despite all the evidence that she shouldn’t. It would also have helped if Garza, rather than Ivan, were shown as being the dirty agent who is reluctant to actually hurt or kill Bern. As is, the Garza reveal completely undoes any subversion of expectations accomplished by the Ivan one and makes Bern out to be uncharacteristically naïve.
In other portions of the episode, Joe seemingly solves the murder of local boy Ernesto Cata (Alonso Rappa), but while doing so, he comes to doubt his earlier assumption that Ernesto’s killer also murdered Michael Halsey (Phil Burke), a previous suspect in the case. This leaves some mysteries open heading into the season finale, so there’s a chance that a portion of Joe’s arc will ultimately connect more significantly to Bern’s case with the Spensers. However, even if that does prove to be true, it’s hard to imagine the finale’s revelations will be strong enough to improve Bern’s storyline and make it feel like anything but a way to stall until she presumably either returns to her reservation hometown and/or resumes working more closely with Joe and Chee.
New episodes for Dark Winds premiere every Sunday on AMC+ in the U.S.
