Madeline
Reservation Dogs is a uniquely funny dark comedy unlike other comedies I write about. It is about a gang of kids on an Indian Reservation. After one of their friends die, a group of kids decide they will do whatever it takes to make money and move to California. The show is a series of situations they come across in their effort to escape.
Premise of Reservation Dogs
A group of kids decide that they need to leave their Indian Reservation town in Oklahoma. To them, California is the promise land that will give them the lives they dream of. In order to raise the money needed to leave, they live a life of petty crime. They steal trucks to sell to the local junk yard. They steal the copper in the street lights to sell to the local junk yard.
The Fictional Reservation
As someone who is not Native American nor lives on an Indian Reservation, I am far from being an expert on the subject, that being said, from what I know about them, this show depicts what it is like pretty closely. They incorporate a lot of the culture both with humor and with seriousness.
There are depictions of beadwork, specifically bead worth that looks like penuses. They talk about cursing their enemies, which is not something most of the adults will acknowledge. And most of all, they depict white farmers taking their land and not giving them back leaving them to to a lifetime of difficulty.
The Characters of Reservation Dogs
The characters appear to be realistic, but there is a lot of historical characteristics that make this show funny. Most of the gang play serious characters with one liners that are funny but they interact with people who make the comedy of the show.
The leader of the pack starts with the good looking Bear. But his parents are what make his character funny. His mother who is on the search at all the bars for a father lawyer or a father doctor for her son. His father is a wrapper who sings about “greasy fry bread.”
There are the cousins who are little people and come in to comment on what the gang is doing. The entire junk yard family are straight up hillbillies who makes stereotypical jokes contradicting their hillbilly status. The coach who teaches driving but cannot drive himself.
Final Thoughts
This quirky show is very much one of a kind but I do suspect, with the success this show is seeing, there will be some copycats in the near future. It is a serious topic with a funny edge and a lot of darkness. If you have Hulu, it is a must watch. If you do not have Hulu, it is worth signing up for the free trial to watch.
