[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Dark Winds Season 3, Episode 6, “Abidoo’niidee (What He Had Been Told).”]
Darkish Winds delivered certainly one of its greatest episodes so far with Season 3’s entry, “Abidoo’niidee,” which noticed Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) lastly face his previous in a dream-like state after he’s hit within the neck with a poisoned dart whereas he’d tried serving to George (Bodhi Okuma Linton) escape the “Ye’iitsoh.”
As Leaphorn got here out and in of his dreamlike state, a stageplay story served as a framing gadget because it paralleled the person’s personal journey to uncover and reckon with previous demons. Leaphorn discovered himself transported to his outdated home, alongside George, who mirrored a youthful model of himself (a enjoyable little nod as Linton performed the youthful model of McClarnon’s Massive in Reservation Canine).
Whereas the dream world continued to confound Leaphorn, viewers discovered {that a} priest from his childhood had abused him, and though Joe believed he was the one to kill the person, his dad, Henry (Joseph Runningfox), who was additionally current on this dream world, knowledgeable Joe that he killed the priest. Apparently, the neighborhood determine went lacking after Henry did not convey the pedophile to justice, and so he took issues into his personal arms.
Michael Moriatis / AMC
Not dissimilar to Joe’s expertise with businessman B.J. Vines (John Diehl), who was answerable for his son’s loss of life, this breakthrough allowed Joe to grasp he isn’t the primary Navajo to behave in the perfect curiosity of his neighborhood. As his father places it, typically good individuals must do dangerous issues to cease dangerous individuals.
As Joe tried to grasp the dream world he discovered himself in, Agent Sylvia Washington’s (Jenna Elfman) presence put into perspective the similarities between the priest’s case and Vines’ as she instructed Joe that the FBI doesn’t examine good males like monks and businessmen. Most of their dialog unfolded amid a dance, which added to the dreamlike high quality of the state of affairs.
“I believe his development this season is certainly extra about self-understanding, some therapeutic, reconciling a few of his traumatic previous,” McClarnon tells TV Insider about Leaphorn’s realization that he was a sufferer of kid abuse by the hands of this priest, and had his father not interfered, his life could have been totally different. He provides that this season “[is about] the alternatives he’s made and the way they’ve affected his family members round him.”
Michael Moriatis / AMC
“I believe as people, all of us undergo painful experiences, loss, tragedy, pleasure, et cetera. And as an actor, I simply attempt to lean into and draw from these lived experiences. I discover it cathartic.”
As for the dance sequence, McClarnon jokes, “I made [Jenna] put on flats [Laughs].” Whereas he clarifies that wasn’t the case, McClarnon commends his scene accomplice, saying, “Jenna’s simply wonderful. She studied dance. All she needed to do was lead me. And Joe was imagined to be clumsy anyway within the sequence as a result of he doesn’t know tips on how to dance.”
“I used to be knowledgeable dancer earlier than I began performing,” Elfman confirms, including, “We had dance rehearsal and Zahn was like, ‘Properly, my character doesn’t know tips on how to dance and he’s spaced out, he doesn’t even know what’s occurring.’ So Zahn actually leaned into not studying the choreography,” Elfman reveals, exposing her costar. “He was like, ‘You lead, you’re the one driving the scene.’ So I needed to keep in mind either side of our choreography. And so I used to be all the time teasing him about how he was getting off [easy], not having to study any of it.”
“We had a lot enjoyable capturing that scene, and once more, she’s simply such a fantastic actress that she simply nails it each time,” McClarnon notes. “It was intimidating for certain, as a result of I simply have no idea tips on how to dance in any respect. However she carried me,” he says earlier than including, “Actually, she carried me.”
One enjoyable little piece of behind-the-scenes trivia Elfman shares is that her pink gown and hair have been impressed by her personal grandmother, who “was a dancer in Vadeville and a mannequin within the Nineteen Thirties.” Elfman reveals that she requested the hair and make-up group to recreate certainly one of her grandmother’s seems to be as an homage. “We had the picture of her on the mirror within the hair trailer,” she says.
What did you consider the dream sequence and Leaphorn’s traumatic revelation about his personal childhood? Pontificate within the feedback part under, and keep tuned to see what’s subsequent after Leaphorn uncovered the reality in regards to the “Ye’iitsoh” who’s “only a man,” as Season 3 continues.
Darkish Winds, Season 3, Sundays, 9/8c, AMC and AMC+