'Dark Winds' Season 4 Episode 7 Recap And Ending Explained: Is Leroy Gorman Dead?

The seventh episode of Dark Winds season 4 dropped some really shocking revelations, making it the best episode of this season, and I am quite excited to talk about it. The thing is, we all have been wondering since the very beginning: why did Dominic McNair send a ruthless assassin after a 16-year-old girl, Billie Tsosie? Well, episode 7 revealed that Billie was the most important piece of the puzzle, and if the FBI had gotten her, she could have jeopardized McNair’s upcoming trial. Yes, you heard correctly. It wasn’t Billie’s cousin, Leroy Gorman, who could have ruined McNair’s chances of getting out of prison. Instead, it was Billie who could have made his worst nightmare come true. How? Well, allow me to break down all the important events of episode 7 to explain McNair and Irene’s grand plan.

Spoiler Alert

The Real Leroy Gorman Is Dead

So it all began with FBI Agent Ken Upchurch, who had been obsessively looking into McNair’s case for a long time, and it’s likely that, during the course of his investigation, he came across the “real” Leroy Gorman. Leroy and his brother, Albert, worked for McNair’s crime syndicate, and it could further be theorized that Leroy had some incriminating information against McNair, making him a key witness in McNair’s case. Upchurch brought Leroy under the protected federal witness program to use his testimony in the upcoming trial. However, he was aware that McNair was a dangerous man and probably had a rat in the agency, through whom he found out that Leroy was going to snitch on him, which was the whole reason why he hired a ruthless assassin, Irene Vaggan. We still don’t know who this rat is (the person working for McNair), but hopefully, we will find out their identity in the season finale. Anyway, Upchurch feared that Leroy might not be safe in protective custody, which was why he brought Leroy to the rez and forged some documents so he could live under the identity of Phillip Grayson.

Remember in season 2, episode 5, while searching Upchurch’s house, Joe Leaphorn found a matchbook from Kayenta Trading Post. This further pointed out that Upchurch personally escorted Leroy to the rez and made the necessary arrangements for his safety. Joe and Bern had also discovered a pair of size 11 shoes, which he had purchased for Leroy for the upcoming trial. But unfortunately, the real Leroy Gorman didn’t live to see that day. It could be theorized that McNair found out about Upchurch’s intricate plan through a mole in the agency, after which he hired Irene to get rid of all the potential witnesses in his case. Both Irene and Leroy’s older brother, Albert, knew that Leroy was hiding in the rez, but unfortunately, Irene got to him first. She killed Leroy in cold blood, and in his place, she planted one of McNair’s men, who is probably named Beno.

When Albert arrived on the rez, he asked his cousin, Billie, to help him find Leroy. If you remember, Albert had a picture of Leroy standing in front of an Airstream trailer. It’s possible that Leroy (when he was still alive) sent this picture to Albert so he wouldn’t worry about him, but Albert likely knew that Leroy’s life was in danger, which was why he came to the rez to protect his younger brother. However, when Albert and Billie visited the location in Leroy’s photograph, they couldn’t find him, because Irene had already killed the real Leroy, and at that point, it was Beno who was living in Leroy’s Airstream trailer under the identity of Phillip Grayson. Albert likely thought he was some random camper and left the spot with Billie.

Irene’s Killing Spree

McNair and Irene’s end goal was to present Beno as Leroy at the upcoming McNair trial so he could help McNair walk out of prison. However, there was one small issue with this plan. There were a whole bunch of people out there (including Albert, Upchurch, Billie, Leroy’s girlfriend, and Val) who knew what Leroy looked like, and could have exposed Beno in the court of law. So in order to tie up the loose ends, McNair asked Irene to get rid of everyone close to the real Leroy Gorman. This was why Irene killed Albert and had been trying to hunt down Billie, so that a 16-year-old girl wouldn’t jeopardize their intricate plan. It’s possible that Irene might go after Leroy’s girlfriend, Val, and his aunt, Casey Begay, who knew the real Leroy. Also, I believe Billie, Val, and Casey were never on Irene’s hit list, mostly because the FBI wasn’t aware that these relatives existed. But when Irene shot Albert in front of Billie, she brought her into the fold, shortly after which the FBI started keeping an eye on Billie and Leroy’s girlfriend, Val. I guess this was what McNair meant when he told Irene that she had made a mess of the situation. If only she had gotten to Albert, the same way she got rid of Leroy, none of it ever would have happened. Joe wasn’t concerned about Albert as much as he was with protecting Billie, and by making Billie a prime witness to Albert’s murder, Irene sabotaged the perfect plan.

Billie Is Likely Alive

After Irene tried to threaten Emma at the end of the previous episode, Joe decided to stay with her to keep her safe. However, Emma convinced Joe that Billie needed him more than she did, and he shouldn’t put a young girl’s life at risk because of his personal concerns. So, after a bit of convincing, Joe, Bern, and Shaw decided to visit Jacaranda Estates, where they believed Billie and Val were headed, and Irene would likely be going after them. As it turned out, Irene had planted a man to keep an eye on Leroy’s grandmother’s house, as she suspected that Billie or Val might show up there. When Joe found photographs of Jacaranda Estates inside Irene’s green van, he theorized that Irene had been surveilling the location to locate Leroy, but the truth was, she was keeping an eye on Leroy’s aunt, Casey Begay, as she knew what Leroy looked like. So as soon as Billie and Val showed up at the house, Irene’s man tipped her off, and she arrived at the location before Joe and his team. By the time Joe and his team showed up, Irene had already found Billie, and she used her to escape the cops. She knew that Joe wouldn’t fire at the car if Billie were inside. Irene also stabbed Shaw in the shoulder while he was looking for her in the basement, though he survived the attack. After Irene took Billie away, everyone suspected that she wouldn’t let her live. However, I am of the opinion that Irene might keep Billie alive because Joe had asked her not to harm the innocent girl, and likely in order to impress Joe or win his trust, she will honor his request.

Billie Will Go Back To The Rez

I guess in the finale, Joe will finally be able to bring Billie to safety, giving her the choice of either living with her estranged mother, Casey, or going back to the boarding school on the rez. I believe Billie will decide to go back to the rez, because it was what her late grandfather wanted from her. The thing is, Mr. Ashie Begay always knew that his daughter, Casey, was alive, but he hid the truth from his granddaughter because he didn’t want his daughter’s dark shadow to fall upon her children. After running away from the rez, Casey made some really bad choices in life. She became an addict and likely got pregnant with the child of a man she didn’t even know. So Ashie might have brought the child back to the rez and cut all ties with Casey, after which she started living with Leroy’s grandmother at Jacaranda Estates. When Billie finally met her mother, Casey told Billie that she’d always wanted to come back to the rez but things didn’t turn out as she had planned, which was why she stayed away from Billie’s life. But even though Casey had been clean for 3 years and she wanted Billie to stay with her, Billie wasn’t sure if she wanted to live with the person who abandoned her at a young age. Furthermore, Casey had met Billie after such a long time, but she was still concerned about getting to work (I guess she worked at a diner), which made Billie question if she cared about her at all. So I think if Billie’s alive, it will be best for her to go back to the boarding school, because that will be less traumatizing than staying with a person who only pretends to care about her.

Irene Kills Her Grandfather

I think the running theme of this episode, or maybe the entire season, was that family isn’t always blood, it’s the people who truly care about you. In Billie’s case, it wasn’t Casey, but Billie’s grandad, who loved her more and wanted to keep her safe from her mother’s influence. In Jim Chee’s case, he always believed that he was the only family his mother had, which was why he didn’t want to take her back to the rez even though it was her last wish. But after meeting Joe and Bern, Chee finally understood the reason why his mother wanted to die among her people: because they were the closest thing she had to “family.” And lastly, we have Irene, who supposedly believed that her grandfather, Gunthar, was her responsibility and her only family, but the old man soon became a burden for her. I think Irene convinced herself that she wouldn’t be able to make a fresh start as long as Gunthar was around. She tried to admit him to an old age home, but Gunthar ran away from there and returned to the bunker where they lived. When Irene saw Gunthar roaming the streets outside the bunker, she realized that her grandfather would keep dragging her down, which was why she decided to run her car over him and kill him. If you see things from Gunthar’s perspective, he likely escaped his homeland, Germany, so he could give Irene a second chance in life, and maybe she respected him and looked after him until she could no longer bear the burden. She wanted to start a new life with Joe. However, she knew it wouldn’t be possible for her to move on from her family’s horrific past as long as Gunthar was around, so for the sake of her own happiness, she murdered him in the end. And as I mentioned earlier, that’s not what “real family” does. They never abandon their people, no matter how difficult things get.

Joe and His Team Return to the Rez

So after Irene escaped with Billie, Joe returned to Emma and told her that he’d failed her once again. However, Emma knew that it wasn’t his fault, because Joe had always put his life at risk to protect the weak and the innocent, because that’s who he was and who he’d always be. He might have lost his way for a bit after he killed B. J. Vines in cold blood, but Joe had been working hard to return to his former self so that Emma would one day return to his life. But the thing is, Emma didn’t leave the rez because Joe lied to her. I mean, that was the catalyst, but Emma had other reasons too. Before Joe Jr. was born, Emma wanted to do something of her own, to become a doctor, but the world wasn’t ready for an independent woman. She came to LA, likely to lead an independent life, or maybe to see what adventures life had to offer, and for the time being, she was happy with the decision she had made. She told Joe that she would return home, but for now, she just wanted to give her life in LA a go. Joe respected her decision and therefore didn’t ask Emma to come back again. In the midst of all this, Bern read Leroy’s BIA file and saw Beno’s photograph in it, therefore coming to the conclusion that Phillip Grayson, the guy she and Jim met on the rez, was in reality Leroy Gorman. Well, it was false information to mislead the authorities. It was likely McNair’s mole in the agency who might have switched Leroy’s pictures with Beno’s. But the question remains: who is this rat? If I have to take a shot here, then it is Shaw’s colleague, Frank Welles, the one who gave Joe Leroy’s BIA file. The reason I suspect him is because Frank has the access and the power to tamper with evidence, and it’s possible that he’s the one leaking information to McNair and Irene, because of which Irene had been able to trick the FBI. I don’t think that Irene knew that it was a trap when Sonny Bear Heart told her that he had captured Joe. However, it could be possible that Frank or someone else informed her about Joe’s plan to catch her.

Anyway, Joe, Bern, and Chee eventually returned home after getting convinced that Leroy was hiding on the rez. While Bern took Jim to the old woman so he could recover from his ghost sickness, Joe paid a visit to Beno, who initially tried to keep his cover, but when Joe confronted him with the evidence, he finally told him that he was Leroy Gorman. Well, that wasn’t true either. The thing is, Beno got a bit worried when Joe informed him that he was sending him to the FBI field office in Flagstaff, where they were going to hold him until McNair’s trial next week. The reason behind his concern was that Irene had asked him to stay off the radar and wait for her signal so that in the meantime, she could get rid of all the people who could recognize the real Leroy Gorman. But Beno hadn’t heard from Irene, and if he went into projective custody, Irene might not be able to contact him, which was why he started stalling and started asking Joe about the people who knew the real Leroy. And this was where he made a small error that blew up his cover. He asked Joe about his girlfriend, Val, who had left Bentwoman’s house before Irene arrived. During this brief conversation, Beno mistook Billie’s mother, Casey, for the Bentwoman. Beno didn’t know that they were two different people, and he wasn’t aware of the fact that Leroy’s grandmother, the Bentwoman, had died five months ago. This made Joe realize that the person standing in front of him wasn’t the real Leroy Gorman. However, before he could arrest him, Irene captured Joe and tied him up. Before leaving with Joe, she told Beno to go to the trading post and call the FBI office in Flagstaff, asking for Upchurch, because he was the one who hid him on the rez. It’s likely that Irene has taken care of both Val and Billie and covered up the tracks, which is why she asked Beno to go into protective custody and do as they say. But Billie’s mother is still around, and she can identify the real Leroy, so is Irene going to take her out too, or is she going to be too busy with her toy, that is, Joe Leaphorn? Well, we will find out in the finale.

Joe Will Kill Irene

A short teaser at the end of the episode reveals that Irene brings Joe to her bunker, where she tries hard to convince him to start a new life with her, but we all know Joe is never going to do that. So Irene will be left with no other option but to kill Joe. However, she won’t succeed in her plans, because Joe’s the hero of our story, which means he’s going to survive one way or the other. The only thing that remains to be seen is how many more people Irene has targeted. Has she already killed Billie and Val, or is she keeping them hostage in her bunker? Maybe she will threaten to kill Billie to force Joe to submit to her wishes, because she knows that Joe cares about her. Furthermore, before leaving the rez, Irene had asked Beno to cover up the tracks so that no one would know that Joe paid him a visit. However, Bern knows about the evidence that suggests Beno is Leroy Gorman, and Joe’s absence from the scene may raise suspicions. It’s possible she will find out Beno’s real identity before he escapes from the rez, and this will force the mole in the agency to come out of the shadows to help Beno out, because Irene will likely be busy with Joe. I guess this is where McNair’s plan will fall to pieces, and you can hold Irene’s obsession with Joe responsible for this mess-up. Well, these are a few theories I have for the finale, but I would love to know what your expectations are. So drop your comments below.

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