One of the many positives in having regular income once again is being able to restart some paused streaming subscriptions.
AMC+ was sacrificed a while back because it isn’t a heavyweight competitor to the likes of N*tfl*x, Appl3 or D1sney and wasn’t providing enough material for me to talk about on the radio.
But back in September 2023, when it launched in Aotearoa, I was very enthusiastic and the show I was most enthusiastic about was Dark Winds:
Based on a series of novels by Tony Hillerman (and continued after his death by daughter Anne), Dark Winds is a detective series with a twist, that being the crimes are committed on the Navajo reservation which is policed by their own department.
In series one, set in 1970, experienced Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) is paired up with rookie Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon) to investigate the brutal murder of three Navajo in a motel room while the FBI are focused on the daring helicopter getaway from a bank robbery in Gallup, New Mexico, headed in the direction of the reservation.
Are the two cases connected? If they are, here we have the kind of jurisdictional tension that shows like this thrive on.
Add some old school racism on the part of the big city federales and you have a recipe for some great drama.
The writing staff on the show are all Native American and the show takes the beliefs of the Navajo (or Diné as they call themselves) seriously, including the shame of those Diné who were not brought up with access to their own traditions – a situation we are not unfamiliar with here in Aotearoa.
Dark Winds is built for weekly television so there are spaces for ad breaks as well as “Previously on…” and “Next week on…” features which might get a bit annoying if you are bingeing online. But, if you are pining for some New Mexico desert landscapes after the end of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, this will have a familiar look to it and there are so many books in the franchise that I can see Dark Winds going on for at least as long as those shows.
As predicted, Dark Winds has gone on for another two seasons and there’s a fourth on the way.
Also covered in that RNZ Widescreen introduction to AMC+: the superb parody series Documentary Now! and the drama Rectify which is no longer available.
A subscription to AMC+ in New Zealand also gives you access to the local versions of Shudder and Acorn, and so presents excellent value even in these straitened times.
Where to watch Dark Winds
Aotearoa: Streaming on AMC+
Australia: Streaming on Prime Video, SBS On Demand or AMC+
Canada: Streaming on AMC+
Ireland & UK: Streaming on Now TV (2 seasons)
India: Streaming on Prime Video (2 seasons)
USA: Streaming on AMC+ or Philo or Netflix (2 seasons)