S03.E04: Chahałheeł (Darkness Falls)

[AnimeMania]

Chee pays Manuelito a visit after discovering a link between their cases; Leaphorn pursues a fugitive suspect; Special Agent Washington interviews an eyewitness to the crime she's investigating.

Premiere Date: March 30, 2025    AMC/AMC+    9pm   

[possibilities]

Agent Washington doesn't have to be smart, because Leaphorn is acting SUPER SUSPICIOUS in every scene she's in. His entire affect screams GUILTY. I wish they weren't playing it like that. 

[mjc570]

I really hate what they're doing to Bernie now.  Does anyone want to take a bet on the odds that she's confiding in the wrong person? She shouldn't be talking to ANYONE at her new station, especially her roomie (if that is what the older border agent is).  

[buckboard]

I'm finding this season unnecessarily bloody and gruesome.  Are the books this gory?

[Jodithgrace]

No…the books aren’t gory like this at all, and the characters are completely different. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

I’m not enjoying this season at all. I miss the history and rich story telling of the first season of the Diné culture.

[Zaffy]

There is something not going right with this season.

On 3/31/2025 at 5:41 AM, possibilities said:

Agent Washington doesn't have to be smart, because Leaphorn is acting SUPER SUSPICIOUS in every scene she's in. His entire affect screams GUILTY. I wish they weren't playing it like that. 

I know, right?
And Leaphorn is shown super competent, like when he found the drugs-farmer, but at the same time very stupid. The bad guys have Bernie's official photo, which means they are very well connected and powerful, but  neither Joe  or anyone else, think that the same people would want the prisoner dead and the police station needs more protection. And he goes to replace a fuse leaving him alone... I mean really??? Dumb writing.

I dunno if Joe killing Vines was in the books, but this plot is not good and it is repetitive and doesn't seem to go anywhere till now. It is like a waste of time.

[SharonH58]

I'm pretty sure BJ Vines isn't in the books.  He had no kids either.  This season is disappointing.  And Chee is very flat.  Wanna take bets that Leaphorn's wife tells the FBI lady he did it?   I can't see to remember anyone's name.

[nachomama]

That was pretty gruesome and I did think that was a rookie move on Leaphorn's part.

The interrogation with the navajo man was funny to me because the big answers were in english. Which is how most conversations go, switching in and out of navajo pretty regularly. He couldn't have been evasive about GMC. I do not speak navajo but yes and no were correct. ha!

I'm glad Bernie didn't go for Chee's antics. I think she needs to take the threats more seriously but didn't get all sweaty with him. but previews lead me to believe smarmy co-worker gets some action which I'm not on board with. YOU IN DANGER GIRL!

[Gobi]

As to the mole in Border Patrol, I have my suspicions. I think the boss is a red herring and not involved with Spenser. I think the horny co-worker is another red herring and will probably die saving Bernie.

My candidate is the roommate who told Bernie “Don’t tell anyone else”, a phrase almost always spoken by a villain. The writing this season hasn’t been good enough to convince me they will avoid that trope.

I haven’t read any of the books, so this is pure speculation.

[GHScorpiosRule]

34 minutes ago, nachomama said:

but previews lead me to believe smarmy co-worker gets some action which I'm not on board with. YOU IN DANGER GIRL!

Sorry! I couldn't resist!😂

[Jodithgrace]

I actually googled BJ Vines because his name is familiar. There is a minor character by that name in one of the books, as it turns out, but this plot does not exist. 
I also suspect roommate with the smiley cup. That alone puts her in my crosshairs. 

[nachomama]

21 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Sorry! I couldn't resist!😂

high five! Thats exactly what I was thinking.

[nachomama]

Didn't Manualito suggest maybe the cargo shipments were cocaine? I googled cocaine. Obviously it existed prior to 1971 but Pablo Escobar popularized it in the US in 1975 this would be some early action trafficking if so.

[Jodithgrace]

I had to laugh out loud when  Manuelito suggests that the tankers (or some of them) could be full of cocaine instead of oil. Damn! We’re talking $billions here! Totally ridiculous. I’m thinking a small compartment built into a tanker otherwise filled with oil. 
I’m not sure how tankers could be used for human trafficking, which was her original idea. I suppose if it were completely cleaned out, people could fit in there, but it just doesn’t seem practical. And it would only take one peek by an inspector to see that the tanker wasn’t full of oil. 

[possibilities]

I'm pretty sure a tanker full of cocaine would weigh a lot less than one full of oil. But, like you said, maybe a compartment somewhere. Or just being carried on the bodies of the drivers. It's not like she searched their physical selves.

If they were worried about trafficking marijuana, the 2025 audience would laugh. So it has to be something other than that.

[Gobi]

49 minutes ago, Jodithgrace said:

I had to laugh out loud when  Manuelito suggests that the tankers (or some of them) could be full of cocaine instead of oil. Damn! We’re talking $billions here! Totally ridiculous. I’m thinking a small compartment built into a tanker otherwise filled with oil. 
I’m not sure how tankers could be used for human trafficking, which was her original idea. I suppose if it were completely cleaned out, people could fit in there, but it just doesn’t seem practical. And it would only take one peek by an inspector to see that the tanker wasn’t full of oil. 

It wouldn’t be difficult to install metal cylinders running from the top hatches to the bottom of the tanker and fill those with oil so that anyone looking would think the tanker was full. That could also be combined with a divider wall inside the tanker, using one half for oil and one for contraband.

The trick is getting the weight to match a full tanker, although I didn’t see a weighing platform at the check point.

[Dowel Jones]

Maybe, just like the old joke about the man smuggling red wagons, they're actually smuggling tanker trucks across the border.

[KittyQ]

The idea that the tankers are full of cocaine is not reasonable, for the reasons listed above, but as others have said, it seems possible that there are containers within the containers carrying drugs. Breaking Bad had something similar, although they were transporting meth in containers of fried chicken batter. 

It doesn't seem likely that trucks leaving the U.S. would be carrying people, and the tankers of oil are clearly sourced in the U.S. Maybe on the return trip, they get refitted to smuggle humans, but I haven't figured out what the "cover" product would be. 

[nachomama]

I'm confused as to smuggling the people or the drugs. I got my coke the old fashioned way, a dude crossed the border and pooped it out. So why smuggle coke to then smuggle people or the people to the coke? are the people to pack the coke? like Heisenbergs norwegians way down deep in the ground? I don't think so. I feel like the hippies take care of that. the chile farmers. that seems fairly voluntary, I don't know why you'd need to traffic  the people if the hippies are happy to do it? Clearly I'm too lazy to do the big time criming.

[Raja]

On 4/2/2025 at 7:52 AM, nachomama said:

Didn't Manualito suggest maybe the cargo shipments were cocaine? I googled cocaine. Obviously it existed prior to 1971 but Pablo Escobar popularized it in the US in 1975 this would be some early action trafficking if so.

Going back to the Blaxploitation era. Super Fly with Ron O'Neal playing Youngblood Preist the Super Fly,  as a cocaine dealer was a 1972 release. It had to start somewhere to ultimately get to New York.  before any widespread popularity.

 

[possibilities]

People get trafficked for a variety of reasons. Sometimes women are taken for prostitution. There is also "smuggling across the border" for undocumented immigrants-- but sometimes they are not actually being brought across the border and released, but instead taken for enslaved labor or other nefarious purposes. It's really upsetting, but there are definitely problems with human trafficking for exploitation and sadistic purposes.

Drug trafficking is not necessarily done by the same people as human trafficking, though I suppose there probably are people who'd do both. Business is business if you're a conscienceless person.

Both people and drugs are brought into the USA. 

[nachomama]

11 hours ago, possibilities said:

Drug trafficking is not necessarily done by the same people as human trafficking, though I suppose there probably are people who'd do both. Business is business if you're a conscienceless person.

Both people and drugs are brought into the USA. 

Thats what I was thinking, you've already got a tanker smuggling whatever ( I don't think the people come in tankers, why smuggle em if they can't breath) so if they're the "packers" what are the chile farmers for? I will state again for the record I've never smuggled a darn thing in my whole life but it would seem dumb if you got the drugs over the border and THEN you need the humans to swallow the balloons and go poop them out all over the country. That just seems inefficient from my criming mind (which my criming mind is indeed incredibly naive what with the not practicing the criming)

Edited 23 hours ago by nachomama

[proserpina65]

This episode was so ridiculously bad in so many ways, but especially in the lack of consistency in the characters' behavior.  I'm really struggling with this season and probably won't be back for another season if things don't improve.  It's just so not Joe Leaphorn or Jim Chee.

On 3/31/2025 at 5:39 PM, buckboard said:

I'm finding this season unnecessarily bloody and gruesome.  Are the books this gory?

No, generally the gore is implied in the books, not described in any detail.

On 4/1/2025 at 9:33 AM, Zaffy said:

I dunno if Joe killing Vines was in the books,

Spoiler

It wasn't.  Joe Leaphorn wasn't even in the book which contained the plot with Vines. 

Edited to note that the first three Joe Leaphorn books do not have Jim Chee in them and the first three Jim Chee books do not have Joe Leaphorn in them.  It's not until book number seven in the Leaphorn/Chee series (Skinwalkers) that the two characters meet.

 

Edited 19 hours ago by proserpina65