[This story contains major spoilers from the season three finale of Dark Winds, “Béésh Łį́į́ (Iron Horse).”]

Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) has been through a lot in three seasons of Dark Winds: He’s rescued countless innocent victims from bad guys, struggled to find “Indian justice” for the murder of his son, and earned broken bones and severe lacerations in his dogged efforts to protect his Navajo community. But at the end of the third season, he receives a wound that cuts even deeper: His wife, Emma (Deanna Allison), leaves him because she can no longer bear to live with someone so blinded by his grief and driven by his work that her own needs are always an afterthought.

That’s not to say the entire season finale was bleak. There was plenty of satisfying action as well, with Joe and Chee (Kiowa Gordon) chasing down Dr. Reynolds on a train to stop him from killing George Bowlegs, and...