It’s been said that the greatest television shows in history often end best when they leave their audiences wanting more. Considering that Reservation Dogs has always been a show with innate foresight, it's no surprise then that the series delivers an emotional, yet bittersweet goodbye with its final “Ahooooooooooo!”
Coming out of nowhere in August 2021, Reservation Dogs first grabbed us with its wit and rarely told truths about contemporary Native American reservation life. But by the end of season 1, series co-creator Sterlin Harjo and a talented young cast of mostly unknown Indigenous actors KO’d our tear ducts with their outsized abilities, conveying their stories of grief, untapped potential, and friendship. Since then, Reservation Dogs only got funnier, wiser, and weirder. After a strong start to season 3, the expanded, generational ensemble of characters end up landing a deeply affecting, full circle story about what it means to grow up “rez.”
When consumed as a whole, it’s more clear that the first five episodes of Season 3 are stealthily providing the necessary building blocks for Harjo to pay off his thesis of community and found purpose that is the heart of the series. Having spent two seasons weaving together how this quirky tapestry of Muscogee Nation characters connect and interact with one another in their rural town of Okern, Oklahoma, he uses this last batch of episodes to tie together the experiences of the community Elders to what’s happening to the Rez Dogs of today.
Episode 5, “House Made of Bongs," is an unexpected flashback to 1976 that unfolds like an Indigenous version of Dazed and Confused. It pulls back the curtain on the complicated relationship dynamics amongst the teen versions of Maximus, Brownie, Bucky, Irene, and Mabel. Aside from their bell bottoms and avid dedication to weed and LSD, the episode makes the charmingly convincing case that the now Elder generation of Okern have always had a lot more in common with those that came after them than they’d like to admit. Turns out, they too struggled with loss, disappointments, and unfulfilled promise just like Bear (D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), Cheese (Lane Factor), Elora (Devery Jacobs), and Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis).
With those past dynamics exposed, Harjo and the writers primarily use the rest of season 3 to find quality scenarios in which to mix the Elders and the core Rez Dog kids. With the exception of two female-centric one-offs – "Wahoo!" and "Elora's Dad" (the latter exquisitely written and acted by Jacobs) – the back half of the season gently builds up its serialized story towards a full integration of the expanded ensemble. "Frankfurter Sandwich '' uses Cheese as a particularly potent agent of change for Uncle Brownie (Gary Farmer), Bucky (Wes Studi), and Big (Zahn McClarnon). As the most emotionally available person in the whole community, Cheese becomes the conduit for these stunted geezers to tearfully admit their own teen regrets. With the hope of being effective cautionary tales, they share how their past behaviors led to the estrangement of Maximus (Graham Greene) from their lives, which has haunted them all for decades.
That revelation pays off in "Send It," where the Rez Dogs seek the travel assistance of Kenny Boy (Kirk Fox) to break Maximus out of what they think is a locked-down mental health facility, so he can reconnect with Old Man Fixico (Richard Ray Whitman) on his deathbed. It’s a half-assed heist all the way, but it hilariously gives everyone in the extended Rez Dogs, including Jackie (Elva Guerra), White Steve (Jack Maricle), and Bone Thug Dog (Jude Barnett), a moment to shine. It even ties up loose ends from the pilot providing some welcome closure for those who appreciate attention to details.
Maximus’ reentry into the community lays the emotional groundwork for the series finale, "Dig,” where Fixico’s funeral provides a sacred ceremony backdrop for all the generations to come together one last time. As a finale, it encompasses everything that makes Reservation Dogs so special. The audience is welcomed into a little-seen Indigenous celebration – in this case, how the Creek say goodbye to their own – which in the span of sunset to sunrise, swings from solemn to silly. There are tearjerker moments like Elora and Bear embracing their excitement and fears about separating for their next chapters, or when Willie Jack eulogizes what she gained and lost in Fixico’s passing, and how “every little thing” means something to a community like theirs. Even Bear’s final meeting with his warrior Spirit (Dallas Goldtooth) goes to unexpected places. By the end, torches have been passed, and new paths are being taken while their pasts and futures remain entwined.
Harjo and team are to be commended for taking such interesting chances with story structure and character progression. They were never afraid to momentarily pause story arcs to introduce one-off episodes solely focused on the journeys of individual characters. Those diversions allowed us to bond with the broad spectrum of characters and feel welcomed into this community as outsiders looking in. The writers also deftly incorporated the spiritual world into their scripts, giving it weight and respect when needed, or taking the piss – as they often did in scenes with Spirit – with equal aplomb. In the end, all of the odd asides and seemingly unconnected pieces ended up snapping together to have a consequential impact on how the core characters evolved. It’s not an easy thing to gracefully tie so many threads together and have it all track. But this show made it look effortless.
Reservation Dogs leaves the stage earning its distinction as a fantastic television series that will likely go down as one of the greats of the 21st century. It was also an incubator for a collection of massively talented Indigenous storytellers, in front of and behind the cameras. Having witnessed what they were able to accomplish together, one can’t help but be very excited, and hopeful, about what they’ll do next.
