Episode 6 of Dark Winds is a monumental feat in the series, as art imitates life with a powerful performance by Zahn McClarnon. Weaving in Navajo mythology, “Ábidoo’niidęę” explores Joe Leaphorn’s journey of reconciliation from the darkness plaguing his heart. The search for a monster stalking the reservation leads him to confront a monster of his past.

The episode opens with the tale of the Hero Twins, a sacred narrative of the Navajo people. This narrative is played out on stage throughout the episode. The twins, Monster Slayer and Born for Water, ask their mother to go hunting. But she refuses, afraid they will lead monsters back to their home. Instead, they ask Father Sun, who gives them weapons to defeat the Ye’iitosh, but they do not work. Eventually, they realize they must use Ye’iitosh’s weapons – sharp blades – against him. Once they return from their expedition, their mother does not recognize them. They have been forever changed by what they endured.

We resume with Joe, who has found George Bowleg’s encampment. The reunion is cut short when something in the darkness shoots a dart into Joe’s neck. He falls unconscious and awakens in a bright, abandoned desert; a dream plane. He’s without a weapon and follows a blood trail to a priest lying on the ground. Suddenly, two boys appear, and he follows them through a door.

Joe enters a replica of his childhood home. The two boys are his younger self and his cousin, William. They live with Joe’s parents and are getting ready for dinner. His father asks Joe why he doesn’t like church like his cousin Will, but Joe thinks nothing of it. Suddenly, a knocking at the window reveals George trying to wake Joe from his forced slumber. “He’s coming,” George says, but Joe can’t move. Just then, a moment of consciousness allows Joe to give George his gun and tells him to hide in the truck.

Next, Joe awakens in the police station. A church service is being conducted, and the priest tells Joe he must solve his murder. Suddenly, Joe is handcuffed to a table in the interrogation room. Emma enters with case files, demanding Joe build the fence he’s promised her. She screams how his cases and work never end, leaving their house and marriage a mess. He promises Emma he’ll build the fence in exchange for a key to be set free. Emma finds the key and swallows it. Instantly free, Joe races from the interrogation room to a bed in the jail cell.

While trapped inside, Joe sees the priest walk his cousin, Will, to a locked room and closes the blinds. Joe cries out for the priest to leave Will alone, alluding to a pattern of abuse within the church. Just then, Joe wakes up from the dream. We’re at the scene that opened the series, with Joe struggling to stand. Suddenly, he’s attacked by the dark figure. Joe finds himself in a chokehold and eventually breaks free.

In the dream, Joe chases the priest in the desert, arresting him for his crimes. He takes him to jail when there’s a knock on the station door. Agent Washington walks in, asking Joe to dance. They’re transported to an empty ballroom where Sylvia tells Joe this good man — the priest — must be brought to trial just as BJ Vines deserved a trial. “You’re supposed to be a cop. Solve the murder,” she tells him. Joe says he delivered real justice, but Sylvia challenges him on what makes it real.

Joe wakes up and sees George hasn’t abandoned him. George wraps a wound on Joe’s leg and returns him his gun, which is out of bullets. Soon, Joe is back in his dream, at home with his younger self. Young Joe has their father’s gun in his hand, making Joe believe he killed the priest. But Joe soon discovers that isn’t what happened. The priest wasn’t shot but went missing, presumed dead. Soon, Joe realizes the truth.

Outside again, he views his father in the distance, burying a body near a tree. His father admits to killing the priest as the only way for their people to get justice. He details how “impossible it was to be a lawman when our people get the punishment without the protection, and men like that take what they want – and walk free.” His father explained monsters didn’t exist; just men who did bad things. And he and Joe are men who do bad things to stop them. A price to pay for the role they play.

Suddenly, Joe is back in the desolate night. He gets to his feet and chases the monster until he collapses to his knees. He finds a bloody handprint on a rock, signaling that this hideous monster is merely a man. He calls Jim Chee for backup before collapsing to the ground.

This episode, directed by Erica Tremblay, is a tour de force in prestige television. McClarnon is magnificent with the material, depicting the delicate dance of emotions. Rage. Despair. Regret. Sadness. Forgiveness. All in a story so impressively linked to a touchstone in Navajo mythological culture. Tremblay handles this moment with care, including the scenes of abuse by the Catholic Church, a reality for many children from all walks of life. Beautifully written and acted, episode 6 is one of the year’s best TV episodes.

Rating: 10/10