This awards season, give the Reservation Dogs ensemble everything
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Good TV ensembles come in many forms, but the best have one thing in common: They work well together, and even better apart. In just two seasons, the actors of Reservation Dogs — assembled by casting director Angelique Midthunder — have emerged as one of the strongest, most authentic ensembles on TV today, from the four extraordinary leads down to the very last guest star and recurring player.
For SAG Awards voters who may have missed it last season (ahem), a quick recap: Created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi and featuring a predominantly indigenous cast and crew, Reservation Dogs follows four lifelong friends: Elora (Devery Jacobs), Bear (D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis), and Cheese (Lane Factor). Ever since the fifth rez dog, Daniel (Dalton Cramer), died by suicide, Bear and his pals have been drifting through life on their Oklahoma reservation, wrestling with grief and grappling with their place in this world — both as friends and as teens on the verge of adulthood. The second season found the group more alienated from each other than ever. Elora and her former rival Jackie (Elva Guerra) hit the road in her grandmother's dilapidated sedan, looking for something better in California. Their cross-country journey implodes almost instantly (car trouble, gun-toting rednecks), and episode 2 sends them on a surreal detour to the dinner table of an odd and lonely divorcee (guest star Megan Mullally).
Reservation Dogs delivered phenomenal showcase episodes for each of the leads in its sophomore outing. Bear takes a job as a roofer, where the orientation boils down to "figure it out" — kind of like life. When his "cousin-uncle" Charley (Nathan Apodaca) is arrested, Cheese is shipped off to a dismal group home run by a brusque recovering addict named Gene (Marc Maron). Willie Jack goes to see Daniel's mom, Hokti (Lily Gladstone), in prison to seek advice about her friends. Instead, she receives guidance from a host of ghostly ancestors who surround her with love and strength as she and Hokti pray in the stark visitation room.
Shane Brown/FX Jana Schmieding, Tamara Podemski, Sarah Podemski, and Natalie Standingcloud on 'Reservation Dogs.'
But the strength of Dogs' ensemble extends far beyond the top of the call sheet. Episode 5 focuses entirely on Bear's mom, Rita (Sarah Podemski), and her fellow "aunties" Bev (Jana Schmieding), Natalie (Nathalie Standingcloud), and Teenie (Tamara Podemski) as they let loose at the annual Indian Health Services conference. Though the main cast is mostly absent, "Wide Net" deepens our understanding of the core four by exploring the needs and regrets of the women who helped raise them.
Few shows in their second year would have the confidence to devote a whole episode around supporting players; Reservation Dogs does it twice without breaking a sweat. In "This Is Where the Plot Thickens," Lighthorseman Big (Zahn McClarnon) takes an extended (and accidental) LSD trip in the woods, coming face-to-face with the pain of his past, the dreaded Deer Lady (Kaniehtiio Horn), and secret society of powerful white men dressed as catfish and performing a grotesque initiation ritual in a forest clearing.
In the end, though, it all comes back to the reservation dogs. After finding an old letter from Daniel, the gang piles into Elora's grandma's beater and head out for the coast. This time, they make it all the way to California. Standing in the surf, they laugh-cry their grief into the ocean air, while Daniel's spirit joins them for one last group hug. It's a moment of true ensemble magic, at the end of a season highlighted by remarkable individual achievements, too many to list here. (Still: Gary Farmer, Dallas Goldtooth, Wes Studi, Bobby Lee, Kirk Fox, we see you!) Surely that's enough to earn a spot on your shortlist, SAG voters? (The Critics Choice Awards honored the show this week with four nominations, including Best Comedy Series.) History is ready to be made. Skoden!
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