It feels like three seasons of Reservation Dogs came out all at once in the span of a week instead of three years. It’s been so consistently good and satisfying that each episode was a treat that I never wanted to end. The show is done which is disappointing, but its ending is as strong as its beginning.
We meet the ‘Rez Dogs’, 4 teenage friends, shortly after they lost their friend Daniel to suicide. This–now–clique of 4 is depressed and feeling lost. These kids are Native Americans, living on a depressing reservation in Oklahoma.
I love coming-of-age stories and I think Reservation Dogs is one of the best ever made. The lives of Bear (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), Elora (Devery Jacobs), Cheese (Lane Factor), and Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis) are from a culture that is basically ignored in media. Almost the entire cast and crew are Native American and they dig into growing through bad and good times from a different, beautiful angle. I rarely predicted where the show was going to go correctly, which I really love. This show fits in alongside Atlanta and Dave for me.
There is little to do and little opportunity on the reservation. One of the first things we see the Rez Dogs do is steal a delivery truck that delivers the snacks to the only bodega in town. Idle hands are the devil’s playthings and such. People who are born on the reservation rarely leave. Daniel’s biggest goal was to move to California, where he saw endless opportunities. His friends agreed with him and it became their goal too. With his death, the Rez Dogs feel like they have no goals in life and nothing to look forward to.
The idea of not knowing what you want to do in your and the fear of changing the life you know are major themes of the show. So is the power of a community. What I thought would be a show only about the 4 kids expands into something much more.
Most of the episodes are ensemble stories of the Rez Dogs but the series doesn’t shy away from giving individual characters their own focus, especially in the third season. Even the adult characters, who are often on the sidelines, get their fair share to reflect on their past. They have a lot of regrets and some of them, like the kids, need a light shined on their future.
The Rez Dogs eventually go to California to complete Daniel’s wish. It doesn’t go too well. When they make it back to OK, while disappointed they have learned about themselves and start to think more about the future (this segment reminded me of Mad Max Fury Road, one of my favorite movies).
None of the Rez Dogs have both of their parents. Where mother or father or both are missing, immediate and extended family stepped in to raise them. Friends of the family are called Aunt and Uncle. On the reservation, everyone is family. They may be ignored by the outside world, but they do have each other. That’s something the Rez Dogs come to understand and appreciate.
Take Willie Jack, my favorite character, for example. She is a wise ass and ready to go on anything, scam or otherwise, that will move her friends along together. She sees many of the adults as weird but comes to respect and understand them as she learns about their past. It helps her connect the dots in her own life, and how her experiences are shaping her outlook on her life and others. She opens up to learning and we get to see the spark of a future leader.
As events unfold, their childhood starts fading away and adulthood starts to be a real thing. They reflect on their lives of who has and hasn’t been with them. They come to appreciate their elders and look up to them more. You watch them grow as people and look forward to being adults.
These kinds of stories live or die on the cast, and every actor on Reservation Dogs is a knockout performer. Each kid is very different and they’re defined from the very beginning. It’s like the actors immediately knew who the person was on the page and didn’t have to figure anything out, they just became. And then they walked in these character’s shoes for 3 years.
There’s an amazing amount of love and respect woven into the fabric of Reservation Dogs. It’s funny, heartbreaking, touching, really funny, dark, and spiritual. It’s one of those rare pieces of media that you need to watch to understand. I hope this launches a lot of careers forward in the years to come.