In the fifth episode of Dark Winds, we saw Leaphorn capture Colton, trying to force him to reveal the truth about his employer. But Colton cunningly evaded justice and managed to escape while he was being transferred to the Feds. Gordo Sena was severely injured in the process, and in this final episode, we saw him end up at the hospital. The truth about the person responsible for the Drumco Oil explosion is finally revealed in the endgame of Dark Winds season 2, which was quite predictable because the series made it very evident from the beginning. However, the season’s conclusion was not all about the satisfying ending of a murder mystery; it was rather about how white justice looked for the people of the Navajo. Their form of justice differed from “white justice”, since white people never truly cared about the Native Americans.
Spoilers Ahead
How did Colton Wolf die?
Dark Winds Episode 6 unfolded in the deserted place of Malpais, where Colton Wolf was seen approaching B. J. Vines’ house. It became evident that his employer was none other than Mr. Vines. As he came to Vines’ doorstep, he revealed that Leaphorn suspected Vines to be the one who recruited him for the drill site explosion. Vines initially appeared to be safe, as he handed him some cash and asked him to leave for Mexico. Colton got a glimmer of hope in his life as he began to plan for a new start, but his hopes were dashed. When Colton left for his journey to Mexico, Vines pulled his rifle out and shot him from behind. Colton died on the spot, uttering his last word, “Linda,” which was his mother’s name.
What was found in B. J. Vines’ lockbox?
BJ Vines’ lockbox contained important information, prompting Rosemary and Emerson Charley to search for it. While discussing this with his father, Joe revealed his conclusion about the murder case, which finally made sense. When Henry asked his son what the reason was for B. J. to commit the murders of Emerson and his son Tomas, Joe replied that it was Dillon Charley’s association with Vines that got Emerson and Tomas killed. Dillon Charley was an associate of BJ Vines, who later took control of his church, the People of Darkness, after Dillon’s death. It was Dillon who did the dealings at the Drumco drilling site near Malpais, so his involvement was documented in the report contained in B. J. Vines’ lock box. When Emerson discovered his terminal illness, he did not want to die with the burden of his brother’s tarnished reputation, so he wanted to get the box back and hand it over to the authorities. When Vines found this out, he hired Colton to kill Emerson.
Now, Joe wanted his father to investigate the drill site to find out what kind of explosive was used there. When Joe and Henry arrived, Henry revealed that it was the same bomb that killed Emerson. Colton made this bomb that worked on the platform, so he stuck with it.
Meanwhile, Jim Chee began to examine the contents of the lockbox. He began to wonder what could be the crucial piece of information that made everyone chase after this box. He found some burned papers and a film cassette. Inside the film tape, he found some evidence that established the fact that Tomas Charley and Rosemary were indeed having an affair. Jim showed these pictures to Leaphorn and Bernie, who concluded that Rosemary only wanted to look for the box to destroy the evidence that showed her romantic relationship with Tomas. The Burned papers in that box also revealed that the Drumco Oil Plant document in Leaphorn’s possession was not genuine. Instead, those burned papers contained original information about the presence of uranium at that Drumco Oil property, while the document Leaphorn had was a false report of having no uranium at the site. Finally, the evidence showed that it was B.J. Vines who directed the explosion at the drilling site, killing six innocent men, including Leaphorn’s son.
Leaphorn wasted no time and went straight to Vines to arrest him. He was finally satisfied that the culprit would be put behind bars and that justice would be served. But that was not the “Indian Justice” that Henry was referring to. Henry specified that in order for Vines to be truly punished, he would have to receive “Indian justice” instead of “white justice,” which would soon grant him bail, saving him from long-term imprisonment. Leaphorn didn’t think much of it at first because he believed in law and order and didn’t want to take the matter into his own hands. But his worst fear came true.
What happened to B. J. Vines?
In the evening, as Leaphorn spent quality time with the family with Sally’s baby in his arms, the baby laughed for the first time. This brought great joy to the Leaphorn family and Sally’s heart, and Emma wanted to celebrate with a ceremony. But in the meantime, Joe’s attention was drawn to the news on the TV. It was said that B.J. Vines was an alleged perpetrator behind the drill site explosion and was released from prison due to the lack of any direct evidence of his involvement. This bothered Leaphorn because all he could remember were the flaws of the justice system and how unfair it could be sometimes. Finally taking matters into his own hands, Leaphorn left his house and showed up at Vines’ residence.
Since Vines was unarmed and unguarded, Leaphorn took him to Malpais’ freezing, deserted land near the drill site to make him face the destruction of his orchestration. Leaphorn revealed how Vines’ lust for power and money destroyed his son’s life, which was an irreparable loss for him and his wife. This is how he wanted to make Vines feel the pain he caused them by taking his son away from them. He left Vines in an icy, isolated land and returned home. He did not kill Vines, even though he wanted to. Because if he chose the path of violence, there would be no difference between him and Vines; he left him at the mercy of nature. The episode didn’t clearly reveal if Vines lost his life, but we did see him freezing in the cold, while sitting in the middle of nowhere.
Meanwhile, we saw that Emma finally gave Mary Landon permission to publish her article about the inappropriate sterilization of Native American women. She despised the idea of this inhumane procedure to cut down the entire population of a certain race. She was no longer afraid to contribute to this protest because, according to her, there’s more risk in staying quiet than in raising her voice.
Did Bernadette join the Border Patrol? What happened to Sally?
When the first laugh of Sally’s child was celebrated, it was during this ceremony that Gordo Sena arrived. When Leaphorn went to talk to Gordo, he intimidated him, revealing that Gordo was very aware of Leaphorn’s involvement in the disappearance of B. J. Vines. Gordo suggested that Leaphorn might be in trouble for taking action against Vines. However, there was no proper evidence against Leaphorn that proved he had done anything to Vines. During the ceremony, he met Bern, who told him she had finally made the decision to join the Border Patrol. Leaphorn couldn’t stop her from following her aspirations, and he took pleasure in her happiness.
Jim Chee was also there. He was actively involved in the entire investigation and had already met with Rosemary to say that he had managed to find out why she had hired him to retrieve the lock box in the first place. Rosemary pretended to be cured of her breathing problem, but it was still there. She suggested that she wanted to date Chee, but Jim avoided her suggestion. At the end of Dark Winds Episode 6, we saw a perplexing event take place. Sally, whose child was valued in the family, left the Leaphorn house with the child and left a note for Joe and Emma. We don’t really know what made her do that or make that decision, but it was assumed that she didn’t want to burden the Leaphorn couple with her child and wanted to live in her own freedom with her baby. And it’s possible that Emma and Joe accepted her decision and respected it because they saw nothing wrong with a woman choosing her own destiny.
Dark Winds Episode 6 ended with Bern and Chee seeing each other for the last time before Bern could go ahead with her Border Patrol job. They shared a kiss, revealing their mutual romantic feelings for each other, and finally parted ways.
