At the end of B.J. Vines decision has come back to bite Joe in Dark Winds season 3 in multiple ways. Of course, there's the most obvious issue of Agent Sylvia Washington investigating Vines' disappearance, but it's also the issue of how Joe's actions have caught others up in the web.

The theme of innocents being entangled in the crimes of others carries over into Dark Winds season 3's criminal farmers, but she's obviously a victim and abused by Halsey. Perhaps it's that innocence that triggers something in Joe that we haven't seen yet in the show, leading him to make a choice that may put him on the path back to redemption.

Joe Leaphorn Faced Suzanne's Potential Death In Dark Winds Season 3, Unlike With B.J. Vines

Suzanne Is An Innocent, Unlike B.J. Vines

Joe made a selfless decision at the end of Dark Winds season 3, episode 3, when he chose to stay with Suzanne in what appeared to be her final moments. It's unclear whether she survived, but it certainly didn't look good as the scene closed out, with her slowing breathing and Joe begging her to hang on and stay with him. The decision to remain with her flips the one Joe made with B.J. Vines in the season 2 finale, when he drove off and left Vines to die of exposure in the desert alone.

In both cases, Joe is arguably responsible for their deaths. With B.J. Vines, it's more direct. Yes, Vines might have survived his ordeal in the desert had he found shelter or someone stumbled across him, but he didn't. Joe left him in the desert knowing full well Vines would certainly die, and so he did. While Joe is not directly responsible for Suzanne's death, it was he who asked Suzanne to tell him what she knew, knowing it would put her in danger. The choice to talk to Joe was entirely her own, but to Joe, she's still someone who is his responsibility to safeguard, and as he didn't, her potential death is on him.

He took ability in a way he didn't with Vines, facing the consequences of his actions head-on.

Joe walked away from B.J. Vines, avoiding facing his decision head-on. He knew Vines would die, and he couldn't bring himself to be the one to do it, but neither could he stay around for the aftermath. With his decision to stay with Suzanne, however, in a way, he owned up to the part he had played in her potential death. He took ability in a way he didn't with Vines, facing the consequences of his actions head-on. This time, he didn't turn away from it.

The Dark Winds Episode Saw Joe Choose Bringing Peace Over Delivering Vengeance

It Was A Different Path For Him

The decision to stay with Suzanne is also important and an inverse of his choice with B.J. Vines in another way: at that moment, Joe chose bringing peace over dealing out vengeance. Shortly after Joe discovers Suzanne dying on the floor, he hears gunshots and realizes his deputies and the county police are in a shootout with hostile adversaries, though he doesn't know how many or if his men are in real danger. Joe's first instinct is to run toward the fight, but he stops himself and goes back to Suzanne. It's a brief moment but a deliberate one, as it's very different from the Joe we've seen to this point in Dark Winds.

For so long, Joe was grief-stricken about his son's death. Then, when he found out it was not an accident, he was driven by vengeance and rage as much as he was driven by grief. At no point in the first two seasons have we seen Joe driven by a sense of love or even protection. While he certainly feels duty-bound to protect his people, as he tells Emma in Dark Winds season 3, episode 3, any protectiveness he's exhibited has come in the aftermath of a horrific crime. For the first time, we watch Joe make a conscious decision not to take the path of vengeance or violent action, but to take one of being a comfort and refuge for someone.

Joe Leaphorn's Decision To Stay With Suzanne Reveals A Lot About His Mental State In Dark Winds Season 3

He Wants Redemption But Isn't Sure How To Find it

Joe's split-second decision quietly reveals a lot about where he's at in Dark Winds season 3, how far he's fallen, and whether he can be saved. While his decision to punish B.J. Vines and leave him to die in the desert was understandable, that still doesn't make it right, and deep down, Joe knows it. He can tell Emma that he did what he had to do countless times, and it still won't convince him or us that he made the right call. He claims that he'd do it all over if he had the same choice to make again, but it's not clear he actually believes it.

Choosing to stay with Suzanne in an act of mercy rather than pursue the target outside in an act of violence shows that Joe isn't so far gone to his dark side that he can't be redeemed.

What is clear, though, is that Joe is suffering under a tremendous burden of guilt in Dark Winds season 3 and believes he's been tainted, that he himself has become a monster. Choosing to stay with Suzanne in an act of mercy rather than pursue the target outside in an act of violence shows that Joe isn't so far gone to his dark side that he can't be redeemed. He's still a better man than he believes, even if he doesn't see it right now. At the very least, he wants to be a better man – otherwise, he would have left Suzanne to die, seeing that she likely couldn't be saved. Making a different choice is the first step Joe has taken to climb his way out of the dark night of the soul in which he finds himself.