Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal: Final season of comedy "Reservation Dogs"

Thursday, August 3, 2023

Final season of comedy "Reservation Dogs"

Xochitl, Dhr. Seven, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Reservation Dogs is the funning Native American comedy that has ever existed (FX/Hulu).

Reservation Dogs | Season 3 official trailer | FX

(FX Networks) July 6, 2023. This is the official trailer for FX’s Reservation Dogs, the final season. Streaming August 2, 2023, only on Hulu.

Visit official site: fx.tv/ResDogs

From Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi, Reservation Dogs is a half-hour comedy that follows the exploits of four Indigenous teenagers from rural Oklahoma.

This season, the Rez Dogs find themselves stranded in Cali and have to figure out their way back home. Season 3 is full of road trips, bathroom wisdom, unexpected fathers, boarding schools, Bigfoot, rumors, revenge, and healing.

Haven't caught on to Reservation Dogs? Now's the chance (NPR)

Eric Deggans, All Things Considered, NPR, Aug. 3, 2023

Rez Dogs: Paulina Alexis as Willie Jack, Devery Jacobs as Elora Danan, D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai as Bear, and Lane Factor as Cheese (Shane Brown/FX)

As a critic who didn't catch on to coming-of-age comedy Reservation Dogs until recently, I was a little confused at the start of the new season — which plunges right into a moment where Bear Smallhill, backed by his three friends, tries connecting with his deadbeat father in a dumpy apartment in California.

Fortunately, we have a little help processing it all from a bizarrely charismatic source: William Knifeman, the spirit of a Native American warrior who died at Little Big Horn and occasionally breaks the fourth wall, apologizing for the hectic pace of the first episode's start.

"I know I threw a lot at you in the first few minutes," says Knifeman, played with a slacker's ease by Dallas Goldtooth, a Native American activist who co-wrote the episode with series showrunner Sterlin Harjo.

"You have to trust me. I'm an Indigenous storyteller to the bone. I'm like a Greek chorus with a loincloth." D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai and Dallas Goldtooth (Shane Brown/FX).

At this point, Knifeman lifts up his loincloth to reveal an area blurred out by producers. Thank goodness.

An unassuming comedy with a powerful message, Reservation Dogs is a deft comedy hiding inside a scrappy, in-your-face character study, focused on a group of Native American teenagers searching for their place in the world.

At times as informal as an indie film, the performances here are so nuanced and authentic, it can feel like watching a ridiculously entertaining documentary.

Viewers of the second season know [potheads] Bear and his friends -- known as the Rez Dogs -- left their home in Oklahoma for California to fulfill a dream of their friend Daniel who died by suicide.