Fans of the West must consult the Thriller series by George RR Martin and Robert Redford on Netflix

Although the dads of the world can disagree, Taylor Sheridan is not the only party that keeps the West alive in 2025. Beyond the constantly evolving empire of the architect “Yellowstone”, there are many other entries in the genre that has something significant to say. Some of these offers continue the revisionist tendency to find the dark truths of American history (as is the case with the brutal of the Western television drama of Netflix “American Primeval”), while others take the form of neo-westerns exploring the eternal struggle between justice and power in a more modern context. But what about the one who examines this conflict in a less traditional way (a polished way of saying the perspective “John-Wayne-Type-Riding-in to Save-Day”)?

Enter “Dark Winds”, the adaptation acclaimed with a small AMC screen of “Leaphorn & Chee” novels the best -selling of the late Tony Hillerman. The show has completely the notable caliber of talent behind the scenes, the most advanced management producers George RR Martin and Robert Redford (who even shared a funny scene on the series before the death of Redford this year). But it is the colleague EP of the duo and the star of the series, Zahn McClarnon, who really deserves to receive his flowers for the sterling reputation of the thriller / drama. This is doubly true if you mainly know the actor for his turn as an easy -to -live Big Office on the wonderful series of Sterlin Harjo dramatics “Dogs Reservation”.

A big cry of Big (who would not feel in his place in a comedy of Stoner, as evidenced by his involvement in some of the more Zanian episodes of the Harjo show), the tribal policeman of McClarnon, Joe Leaphorn, carries the weight of an average age man who spent his whole life trying to make the right to his marginalized community. He also suffered his share of personal sorrow along the way, because those who have caught up with the previous seasons of the series on Netflix could tell you.

Taking place in the 1970s, “Dark Winds” follows Leaphorn while it confirms the law in the four corners, an area in the southwest of the United States which mainly belongs to assorted Aboriginal American nations. (Okay, really the whole country “belongs” to indigenous Americans, but you follow my meaning.) At the base, the series is a story of a friend on Leaphorn and Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon), the younger and more naughty FBI agent who ultimately becomes the partner of the old. Narratively, however, “Dark Winds” is generally played as a criminal thriller with slow combustion that cares less about Leaphorn and the shot of the chops of the other – although they also do it – and more concentrated on the fate of its characters, that they are fighting with moral dilemmas or more specific questions to current native Americans.

At this point: “Dark Winds” is at its best when it uses neo-Western / crimes as a springboard to treat subjects that are close and dear to the heart of its tracks. Whether it concerns the death of someone’s child or the sterilization of indigenous women without their consent, the creatives of the show (including the creator Graham Roland) never hesitate to be very careless when some scenarios call him. In fact, most of the strongest sub -intrigues in the series concern the women of Leaphorn and the life of Chee, in particular Emma (Deanna Allison), a nurse and the wife of Leaphorn, and Bernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten), a competent officer who shares more than one spark of romantic chemistry with Chee.

Despite a creaky narration sometimes (some of which, certainly, result from the source material of the show), “Dark Winds” is a thoughtful, well-played and otherwise engaging in the current neo-Western landscape. Sheridan planes can get the lion’s attention, but don’t let it escape.

“Dark Winds” is streaming on AMC + and Netflix.