Dark Winds season 3, episode 3 revealed a new group of people who have suddenly become relevant to the plot – and both storylines, it would seem. Leaphorn and Chee run into the group when they’re out searching for George Bowlegs. The people claim they’re but humble chili farmers living off the land, but seem far more like a cult. Every member is filthy, wearing old-fashioned clothes, and seemingly all living together on the farm in a sort of communal lifestyle. From the jump, there is something deeply suspicious about their operation, and the episode reveals they might be connected to Tom Spenser’s operation in Dark Winds season 3.
Worse, though, they’re cagey with their answers, and at least one, Suzanne, is openly afraid of the leader, Halsey. Halsey adds to the feeling that it’s a cult; he moves and speaks for his group like a cult leader, and no one on the farm dares to speak up for themselves or to contradict him. He may present himself as a simple farmer, but he’s a dangerous man who appears set to become an important character in Dark Winds season 3 and a lot more important moving forward.
The Chilli Farmers Are Linked To Ernesto Cata & George Bowlegs
They Are Sketchy Characters From The Jump
It’s obvious from the sketchy, too-innocent reaction of Halsey, coupled with Suzanne’s clear discomfort, that the “chili farmers” know far more than they claim about Ernesto Cata’s murder and the potential whereabouts of George Bowlegs. While the group as a whole may not have been directly involved in Ernesto’s killing, they are clearly familiar with the boys and have interacted with them before. Their clamming up and Suzanne’s reaction reveal, without them meaning to, that their interactions with the boys were regular enough and suspicious enough that it links them to the larger case.
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Why Teddi The Archaeologist Gets So Upset About Ernesto Cata’s Murder In Dark Winds Season 3
Teddi Issacs, the archaeologist in Dark Winds season 3, was devastated by the news of Ernesto Cata’s death, and her reaction seemed quite suspicious.
Suzanne later confirms this to Joe Leaphorn when she meets him in secret. She reveals that George and Ernesto, or “Ernie,” as she calls them, used to come around and simply hang out on the farm. But Halsey chased them away a week before after getting really angry with them, after which George informed her that he “couldn’t come around no more.” Suzanne then reveals that Halsey also lied about using her truck and that he took it and was gone the night that Ernie and George disappeared. At the very least, it hints that Halsey may have helped move and then hide Ernesto’s body.
Why Do The Farmers Have Pictures Of Bernadette & Other Border Patrol Officers?
They Could Be Part Of Tom Spenser’s Human Trafficking Operation
It’s not clear why the farmers have pictures of Bernadette Manuelito and other Border Patrol officers in the barn on their farm, which now appears abandoned. But it’s enough to make a few educated guesses. It could be that the farm serves as a sort of way station for people being trafficked in or out of the United States. Just outside of Navajo reservation land, it’s close enough to the border to make movement through the desert easy, but not so close that it would risk the Border Patrol lurking around their operation.
It could be that the farm serves as a sort of way station for people being trafficked in or out of the United States.
Perhaps Halsey and a few others help transport the trafficked women and children. While some in the farm/cult, like Suzanne, are clear victims, Halsey is a bad man and there are likely others in on it. The doomed Wade, whom Budge de Baca murdered in Dark Winds season 3’s previous episode, certainly seems like he might have been one of the chili farmers.
If they’re helping to transport the victims, then it would make sense that they’d be armed with information about any potential pitfalls there – such as, say, a determined young Border Patrol agent who has been sticking her nose into their business and getting a little too close. If Tom Spenser has turned to trafficking people, it could be that his oil wells are drying up, and if they are, he’d need a pretty sizable illegal operation to make up the difference in income. That requires lots of co-conspirators and informants spread out in a wide net, and it’s likely that’s where the farmers fit into the plot in Dark Winds season 3.
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