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Aug 01, 2022 By Kyle Mullin Photography by Shane Brown/FX Web Exclusive

During the second season premiere of the Taika Waititi co-created, indigenous, groundbreaking FX comedy, Reservation Dogs, Elora, the most pragmatic and mature of the scheming, delivery truck-robbing Reservations Dogs gang, finally realizes her dream of leaving her dreary, albeit tight-knit rural Oklahoma rez. But her road trip to supposedly glamorous California is not as fulfilling, or even as manageable, as she had hoped.

Elora, who is played by Devery Jacobs with a gritty determination that almost hides the despair welling up in her eyes, drives to California not with her Rez Dog crew of childhood friends, like they had long planned. Instead, the passenger seat is occupied by Jackie, played by Elva Guerra with a stone-faced menace that doesn’t mask her trauma, the leader of a rival teen gang that are The Rez Dogs’ sworn enemies. This dizzying switch-up of allegiances was Season One’s cliffhanger after Elora was floored by fellow Rez Dog Willie Jack, in a splendidly foul-mouthed, heart-on-the sleeve performance from Paulina Alexis, deciding to stay behind. Willie Jack backed out after realizing everything she needs is on the rez, which became clear during a moving Season One episode where she goes hunting with her father, and begins mending their strained ties.

Willie Jack’s decision prompts Cheese, the mellowest, wisest but also most eccentric member of their gang, played by Lane Factor with an unpredictable quirkiness, to also stay behind. But he was likely looking for a reason to do so after feeling obligated to care for his ailing grandmother. By deciding to stay, Willie Jack and Cheese defy a tired “escape the rez” Native American literary trope, giving Reservations Dogs refreshing nuance.

Cheese’s and Willie Jack’s desertion reduced the California-bound posse to just Elora and Bear, her charming but childish polar opposite. Elora was already fed up with Bear when he squandered much of the loot from a potato chip truck heist that they staged in Season One to buy tacky swag to impress his father. But with his lived-in portrayal of the angsty Bear, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai sold that foolish decision as one that any scared boy hoping to impress his negligent dad could make–even if that deadbeat abandoned his family to become a hilariously awful Tik Tok rapper known for rhyming about fry bread, an indigenous supper staple.

Without Willie Jack or Cheese as buffers, Elora and Bear argued miserably. But they overlooked what’s truly agonizing their gang, family members, and much of their community, which is the untimely death of the fifth Rez Dog Daniel, Willie Jack’s cousin and Elora’s first love. His passing was detailed in a horrific Season One flashback that speaks to systemic indigenous societal epidemics. Those bleak scenes were deftly crafted by series co-creator Sterlin Harjo and frequent Rez Dog screenwriter and director Tazbah Rose Chavez. They left viewers with a vivid sense of the indigenous perils that are sure to haunt these characters well into Season Two.

So Elora resolutely flees, leaving the site of Daniel’s death, her impoverished community, and her friends, to drive to California with once bitter rival Jackie, who had slowly become a clandestine friend in Season One. Nothing goes according to plan for Elora during the four second season episodes released to critics. Her car breaks down. She and Jackie meet the latter’s addict mother, and steal some of her money, which adds dimension to an antagonist that would’ve been shallowly drawn on other, lesser shows. The pair hitchhike and get picked up by a socially awkward, milquetoast Christian who may or may not want to kidnap the indigenous runaways. And the duo try to steal a car, only to be chased by shotgun-toting rednecks in one of the most chilling television scenes of the year as it seems all too plausible in this era of MAGA-hatted bigots. It’s a harrowing, hilarious, at times heartbreaking adventure during which Jacobs displays vast range as Elora. By the fourth episode she reunites with Cheese, Willie Jack and even Bear, but the circumstances are dire and their friendships remain fractured.

While she’s gone, a number of funny and heartfelt subplots unfold back on the rez. Willie Jack — the series’ heart, soul and most steadfast source of humor — blames the Rez Dogs’ predicaments on “bad medicine,” a foundational belief of their tribe. She sets out with Cheese to woo more auspicious spirits. Her dubious gurus: local elders Uncle Brownie (a habitually stoned, wry-humored Gary Farmer, the veteran Iroquois character actor of Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man fame), and his decades-long foe Bucky (Hollywood legend Wes Studi, who is Cherokee and has appeared in everything from Dances With Wolves to The Last of the Mohicans). The old codgers convince (at least temporarily) Willie Jack and Cheese that they know how to bring about better medicine. Their clumsy efforts won’t disappoint fans of Reservation Dogs’ singularly sly humor. The same goes for fan favorite William “Spirit” Knifeman, the ghost of a Battle of Little Big Horn-era warrior who returns to counsel (or haunt, or most likely annoy) Bear with screwball, stream of conscious, nonsensical wisdom. One of Season Two’s best such scenes: Knifeman visiting Bear at a construction site porta potty, confident as ever in his flawed advice. Bear is working there, instead of helping Cheese and Willie Jack, because he decides California is a pipe dream and it’s time to find a job.

His first day at the roofing gig is the focus of the season’s third episode, and it shows Bear finally working through his growing pains. Not only does he earn an honest paycheck, but he also scales roofs and hammers shingles alongside Daniel’s father, leading to a frank and soul stirring conversation about grief between the two.

The fourth episode also zeroes in on grief. This time after the loss of a secondary, mostly off-screen character. Its forthright but subtle depiction of the reservation’s mourning rituals, and that community’s more casual tradition of gathering to send off one of their own, skillfully balances the series’ trademark humor and melancholy. Fans will also be relieved to finally see Reservations Dogs MVP Zahn McClarnon return as Officer Big in that episode. No doubt McClarnon was busy before then starring on his new AMC hit Dark Winds, another must-see series that depicts small town Indigenous life in a wholly different light.

Given the unpredictable character development and impassioned performances throughout these four episodes, the second season of Reservation Dogs is looking as promising as the first season, whose innovation and nuanced indigenous depictions won a coveted Peabody award, critical acclaim, and endless quotables from Knifeman. (www.fxnetworks.com/shows/reservation-dogs)

Author rating: 8/10