I’ve been watching Dark Winds since the beginning and I’ve had my issues with the show but this season has a missing plot. It’s not that the plot is missing the mark, that the plot is not as good as it could be, it’s that halfway through the season and I’m clueless as to the main plot.
I haven’t brought up Dark Winds since the end of season 1 and I do have some issues with season 2 and season 3 but I didn’t feel the urge to talk about it. Season 4 and the missing plot has awakened my inner writer.
The Missing Plot
It’s hard to describe the missing plot because it’s missing.
Reader: Ok, Tom, tell me about Dark Winds season 4, what is the plot?
Tom: No idea.
Reader: You’re four episodes into the season, surely you can explain this problem, why is the plot missing?
Tom: Because it isn’t there.
Reader: You’re not giving me much help here, Tom. Can you elaborate?
Tom: Sighs, looks up, scratches his head, wonders if he should open the last box of fancy chocolates, ok, I’ll give it a go.
The Plot that Isn’t Missing
Season 4 starts out with a bang. A young woman is in a diner with a guy, a blue and white van pulls up, a gun toting villain emerges, shots are fired. Then we go back in time to figure out what we just saw.
Here’s the skinny. The girl is an escapee from a Catholic School on the reservations and has gone off with her cousin because she can help him find something on the reservation, he’s an L.A. boy and doesn’t know the region well. He’s actually looking for his brother who has something or did something or knows something or something.
Much running around. Cousin dies from gunshot wound days later. Assassin kills cousin’s grandfather. Assassin falls in love with Joe for reasons that are unclear. Assassin paints van green with spray paint. Chee is having hallucinations for some unexplained reason.
Law enforcement is looking for green van, although the only van they have accounts of is blue and white but whatever. Who even cares because of the missing plot? What is going. No idea. What is anyone trying to find? No clue. What’s the objective of the assassin? Don’t ask me.
So, off they go to L.A. where the assassin’s father is a crazy Nazi. Some other guy knows the brother. Law enforcement is watching this other guy. I don’t know what’s going on so I can’t explain it lucidly. The assassin works for a menacing guy I don’t know.
Why the Missing Plot is a Problem
The acting is pretty good in Dark Winds and there is a ton of time spent on character development. The problem is I don’t understand the driving motivations. I know the girl and the assassin are trying to find the other cousin, but why? Why? Why?!
There is no MacGuffin. Or, more literally, we don’t know what the MacGuffin is. It’s there. It’s something. It’s the driving force in the show, as it should be, but what is it and why do people want it, or him, or whatever?
Without this crucial piece of information, everyone’s actions seem pointless. There are no stakes for the audience.
Conclusion
The worst part is the problem is easily fixed. Just have the cousin explain to the schoolgirl why he needs to find his brother. Let us in. I suspect that keeping this crucial information secret is to allow them to spring the twist on us at a later time but it’s so damaging. If we know why characters are doing what they’re doing, we are invested. As it is, I’m bored and confused.
Tom Liberman