Penultimate episodes of thrillers are tougher than they look. The writers and producers need to strike a balance between answering just enough questions to satisfy viewers who have already committed so much time to the season that they don’t want to see a show spin its wheels right when it needs to pick up speed, but they also need to save the big stuff for the finale.
The team behind “Nániikai (We Came Back)” come close to threading that needle, pushing their many subplots closer to either conclusion or at least a satisfying break between seasons. There’s death, movement toward healing, and two key relationships that feel like they’re at turning points. While some of the individual scenes feel a bit hurried, especially the heartfelt one between Jim and Bern, the sum of this episode’s individual parts is another reminder of its overall quality, leaving us ready for the finale without promising we’ll get every question answered.
Let’s start with the big one: What will happen between Joe and Emma Leaphorn? The season opened with a solitary Joe feeling a bit unmoored by the departure of the love of his life. When the case of Billie Tsosie took Joe to Los Angeles and back into Emma’s life, it felt like a reunion that would result in her returning to their home. But this week’s best scene changed the odds of that happening significantly. She’s happy in L.A. and wants to make a go of it there. She’s not closing the door on ever returning to Joe, who she clearly still loves. It’s a tender scene between two great performers that also speaks to the displacement felt by a number of Indigenous people in this country, people who live off the reservation that holds their hearts.
If there’s a theme to “Nániikai (We Came Back),” it’s the way personal relationships can both define and complicate our goals. For example, the ruthless Irene murders her grandfather in cold blood, running him down with her car when the mean old man becomes too much work for her. At the same time, Billie’s reunion with the mother she thought was dead is fraught with emotion and danger. As it unfolds in the episode, it’s a little hollow simply because we don’t know the mother character at all and barely know Billie really (despite good work by Isabel DeRoy-Olson), but it ties into other arcs of the season, especially Jim’s. If you think about it, both Jim Chee and the girl he’s been trying to save are haunted by their absent mothers.
In this episode, Jim finally breaks down and tells Bern how much he’s been impacted by the death of his mother. It’s revealed that she died of cancer during his senior year of college and that Jim didn’t take her back to the reservation to pass. He’s haunted by the fact that she “died among strangers” because of him and that he didn’t take the time to give her the homecoming to make sure her soul rested in peace. Like a few of the emotional beats this episode that feel rushed to get to the action of the finale, this scene comes off as a bit manufactured as Matten and Gordon push the tears a little too hard. It’s excusable due to how exhausted these characters would logically be, and I love how vulnerable the writers of this show make their leads, but it still feels rushed.
What about the action? It starts when Irene catches up to Billie after her awkward reunion with her mother. Just as she’s about to kill Billie, Joe, Bern, and Mustache Man arrive, and a well-done sequence unfolds with a pulsing score and tight editing. Mustache gets stabbed in the shoulder, and Irene escapes with Billie. She needed the hostage to get out of the situation, but Bern knows that she’ll likely kill Billie now, which amplifies the urgency for the finale.
The real tension this week comes in two scenes: First, it’s the alpha-male showdown between Joe Leaphorn and Dominic McNair. Does it feel to anyone else like they’re setting up McNair to be a villain in a future season? Joe admits that McNair will likely get off in his upcoming trial and be walking free soon. Zahn McClarnon and Titus Welliver are excellent in this scene as two tough, no-nonsense men trying to one-up each other with words and threats. When McNair says, “The last thing you want is me worried about you,” it feels like a threat that could be difficult to wrap up with only one remaining episode.
Second, of course, there’s the ending, which is a twist on a twist. The first is that the slacker dude in the camper that Bern and Jim talked to days ago who said he was Phillip Grayson was actually the coveted Leroy Gorman, which sends Joe there to bring him home. When Leroy confuses his aunt with his grandmother, Joe realizes it’s all been a trap. That isn’t Leroy; it’s someone working with Irene, who emerges from the shadows to chloroform and kidnap our hero. Flashbacks reveal that this case was never about killing Leroy; it was about replacing him for the upcoming testimony. And the reason Irene had to eliminate Billie and Albert was because they would recognize the stand-in. Irene says, “You’re mine now, Joe.” Not for long.
Stray observations
- • Isabel DeRoy-Olson is good here, which reminded me to recommend Erica Tremblay’s Fancy Dance, an Apple TV film that stars her and the wonderful Lily Gladstone. It’s worth seeking out.
- • If the fake Leroy looks familiar, that’s Forrest Goodluck, who debuted in The Revenant and has appeared in The Miseducation Of Cameron Post, How To Blow Up A Pipeline, and the Paramount+ show Lawmen: Bass Reeves. He’s a solid, promising young performer.
- • The show’s final scene gives way to “In Memory Of Udo Kier,” a legendary screen presence who passed in November. There are too many memorable Kier turns to recommend as the German legend appeared in more than 200 films. He will be truly missed.
- • Did anyone else notice that Irene shifts gears right before the commercial break after running over Gunthar? It looks to me like she’s putting it in reverse to make sure the job gets done.
- • Predictions for the finale? Irene has to die. She’s committed too much murder not to meet a deserved fate. Will someone save Joe or will he escape on his own? It feels like maybe Jim needs a redemption arc in the finale, a reminder that he can overcome his demons and still be a hero even if Bern is his boss.
Brian Tallerico is a contributor to The A.V. Club.
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