Why Agent Washington Gave Joe The Tape Of Emma’s Interrogation In Dark Winds Season 3’s Finale
In the Dark Winds season 3 finale, Agent Washington has a surprising moment prior to her departure back to Washington, D.C., when she gives Joe the tape of Emma’s interrogation. Washington and Emma’s conversation in the previous Dark Winds episode was pivotal, as it killed any chance the FBI agent had of making charges against Joe regarding what he did to B.J. Vines stick. Washington’s face at that moment showed she knew it was over.
But the scene was also crucial in another way, as it finally gave us a chance to see how Emma Leaphorn has been faring in Dark Winds season 3, and the answer is: not well. Her tearful confession to Washington about how lonely she’s been showed just how much she still loves her husband, but also how deep Joe has allowed the rot in their marriage and in himself to go. That may be why Agent Washington made such an unexpected gesture in Dark Winds season 3’s ending.
Agent Washington Thought Emma’s Tape Would Help Joe Get Back On The Right Path
It Was Sylvia, The Human Being Acting, Not Agent Washington, The Federal Agent
Agent Washington giving Joe Emma’s tape says a lot about who she is as a person. It says equally as much that she only did so after telling Joe that she knows what he did to B.J. Vines, that she knows how he did it, and that she knows why he did it, but she doesn’t condone his actions. In her mind, Joe committed a crime when he took the law into his own hands – which, to be fair, he did – and he should have to face justice for it in the form of an arrest and a fair trial. It’s not that she personally dislikes Joe, but that, as a federal agent, she believes in following the rule of law first and foremost.
But her sense of duty to the law doesn’t make her unfeeling and heartless. On a human level, she understands that Joe and Emma have suffered a tremendous loss and have been torn apart by grief, possibly forever. Only a monster wouldn’t empathize on that level, and she clearly does. Agent Sylvia Washington isn’t a bad person. She’s just doing her job, but that doesn’t mean she can’t be a human being who recognizes a good man who deserves redemption while she’s doing it, even if she disagrees with what he’s done.
Since she can’t get a win on a professional level, she might as well get a win on a personal one, which is why she offers Joe the olive branch of the tape.
It’s also possible that Emma’s accusation that she, Agent Washington, has only come to their community for her own ambition and doesn’t care about them struck directly at the center of the agent’s conscience. Since she can’t get a win on a professional level, she might as well get a win on a personal one, which is why she offers Joe the olive branch of the tape. She’s not going to bring him to justice for what he did to B.J. Vines, but at least she can perhaps help him avoid doing anything like that again.
Why Joe Kept Replaying Emma’s Mention Of Forgiveness On The Tape At The End Of Dark Winds Season 3
Despite The Evidence To The Contrary, Joe Has Not Yet Given Up Hope
Joe playing Emma’s tape over and over again, specifically the section where she says that she hopes one day she can forgive him, is a really important moment for what it symbolizes. As Emma says in the tape itself, Joe has been so lost to his grief that he’s stopped living, stopped recognizing that he still has good in his life in the form of her and their marriage. He has stopped hoping. Joe repeating the words and the season ending on “I hope” suggests that perhaps the first crack of light has appeared in the dark tunnel in which Joe has found himself since their son’s death.
Related
Zahn McClarnon has been excellent for a very long time, but Dark Winds season 3, episode 6 makes it impossible for award voting bodies to ignore him.
In doing so, it subtly confirms a thread that ran through the entirety of the Dark Winds season 3 finale. Gordo told Joe not to give up hope that a reconciliation with Emma is possible in Dark Winds. Joe’s father, Henry, also said the same, that he can’t give up on her. Joe playing Emma’s line, “I hope one day I can forgive him” shows that, for the first time in a long time, maybe he also hasn’t given up hope on something, and that it is her.
