Reservation Dogs 2021

This season I've thought more and more about what makes a television series become part of the fabric of frequent conversations. Why do some which become a part of the zeitgeist fail to work for me? And why do some series that hit for me not get noticed by SAG-AFTRA.

I’m talking about the series Reservation Dogs on FX. Many in entertainment acknowledged the excellence of this series, just not the SAG-AFTRA nominating committee. The show captured my heart, my imagination, had me bent over laughing, and awash with tears.

Created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi, the series centers around four indigenous teens who are living on a Reservation in Oklahoma - Elora (Devery Jacobs), Bear (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), Cheese (Lane Factor), and Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis). We follow the kids as they face adversaries and attempt to save money for their exodus to California. The audience quickly realizes these teens are confounded by the grief from the death of a friend.
Illustration of an image still of Reservation Dogs on FX. Four indigenous teens walking in suits.
Illustration by Andrea Izzy Anthony of an image still of Reservation Dogs on FX. Four indigenous teens walking in suits.

In star-turns, each of these actors breathes heart, authenticity, and comedy into their roles. The episodes explore group dynamics and individual challenges, giving the performers the opportunity to showcase their skills in nuanced storytelling.

Notable for many reasons, Reservation Dogs is the first series entirely filmed in Oklahoma. The hour-long dramedy boasts a creative team of all indigenous writers and directors, and an almost all Indigenous North American cast and crew.

The exceptional acting carries through to the series and supporting cast with memorable performances from prolific actors like Gary Farmer and Zahn McClarnon. The comedic chops on Dallas Goldtooth as Spirit have infiltrated my psyche. (Gary Farmer and Jana Schmiedling can also be seen on Peacock’s Rutherford Falls.)

Bouts of fantasy heighten the comedy in the series, but with each adventure, the audience comes to feel the weight and challenges of the choices in front of these characters.

How Reservations Dogs on FX could fail mention at the SAG-AFTRA Awards remains a frustration to me. Ensemble award! Let's chant it here! Ensemble award.

Perhaps the “dramedy” genre confused the nominating committee or the length? Should it have competed against the one-hour dramas? Should it have competed against the mostly half-hour comedies? Well, The Great, snuck in a nomination, clocking in at over fifty minutes an episode, so, it can't be about the length. Looking at the list of nominees, I can certainly find room for Reservations Dogs in either category.

The supreme excellence of all the work, the writers, the directors, the cast, the crew, makes me, a television fanatic, demand we give it all the awards. I'm not alone in believing this production deserves. Read at the bottom the awards this debut season amassed. But SAG-AFTRA missed the mark.

Confession, I feel this way after seeing any movie by Taika Waititi, too. But it really seems a perfect fit for Sterlin Harjo to team up with Taika Waititi. Like Harjo’s Reservation Dogs, Waititi's most moving work examines the edge of adolescence, barreling into a teenage loss of innocence, without losing that sense of awe.

I can’t give it any awards except an illustration of adoration. But this series deserved two. Can’t leave Dallas Goldtooth’s Spirit out of the fun.

Illustration by Andrea Izzy Anthony of Dallas Goldtooth on horseback as Spirit on Reservation Dogs on FX.

AFI Awards, USA

Won, AFI Award

TV Program of the Year

Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards

Nominated, Critics Choice Award

Best Comedy Series

Film Independent Spirit Awards

Won, Independent Spirit Award

Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series

D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Devery Jacobs, Zahn McClarnon, Funny Bone, Lil Mike, Lane Factor, Sarah Podemski, Paulina Alexis

Nominated, Independent Spirit Award

Best New Scripted Series

Sterlin Harjo, Garrett Basch, Taika Waititi

2022

Golden Globes, USA

Nominated, Golden Globe

Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy

2022

Writers Guild of America, USA

Nominated, WGA Award (TV)

New Series

Sterlin Harjo, Tazbah Chavez, Migizi Pensoneau, Bobby Wilson, Sydney Freeland, Tommy Pico, Taika Waititi

Nominated, WGA Award (TV)

Episodic Comedy

Sterlin Harjo, Taika Waititi

For episode "F*ckin' Rez Dogs (2021)".

2021

Gotham Awards

Nominated, Gotham Independent Film Award

Outstanding Performance in a New Series

Devery Jacobs

Won, Gotham Independent Film Award

Breakthrough Series - Shortform

Sterlin Harjo, Garrett Basch, Taika Waititi

#ReservationDogs, #FX, #DallasGoldtooth, #DeveryJacobs, #Sterlin Harjo, #TaikaWaititi, #D'PharoaohWoon-A-Tai, #LaneFactor, #PaulinaAlexis, #GaryFarmer, #ZahnMcClarnon, #JanaSchmiedling, #SAG-AFTRA, #dramedy, #comedy, #Television, #TV Series, #CharacterStudy, #entertainmentindustry

Original post: https://aweinmotion.com/blog/2022/1/26/character-study-reservation-dogs-fx-dallas-goldtooth-devery-jacobs-dphaorah-woon-a-tai-lane-factor-paulina-alexis-and-the-whole-darned-cast-crew-and-creative-team

What can be stated about this program that hasn't previously been stated? In all aspects, it's terrific. The writing, direction, acting, flow of the storylines, and feel of an oft-forgotten culture is tremendous. I felt that that the particular efforts of Devery Jacobs and Paulina Alexis were amazing. They both played quite difficult, delicate roles, and they absolutely nailed them!

Some of what I greatly appreciated about this show was how deeply-ingrained the culture of Native American peoples were into the storylines. This show existed on so many levels at once, and all done so well, it was truly astounding. It was quite the achievement in television. Most importantly, the writing didn't gloss over life events that affect us the most. This show encapsulated a tremendous sense of loss on the behalf of many characters, b/c that was a fact of life on many Indigenous reservations. The fact that the writers didn't create a singular episode from it, but instead, used it as an overarching storyline was to their credit and should be commended.

This show could be difficult to watch at times, b/c it wa so powerful, but the lives of the characters were important and deeply-rooted in a community that mattered. This was the type of television we should be watching, not just b/c it was so fantastic, but b/c, it was so important to how we relate to one another.

This story had so much heart rooted in its message of family, friendship, and togetherness in community. It's unfortunate that we were only honored with three, short seasons of this masterpiece, but in a way, I believe that its brevity will cause it to linger in our collective conscience for a long, long time. These characters, especially the four at the core of the series, Elora Danan Postoak, Willie Jack, Cheese, and Bear Smallhill, left an indelible mark of how friends and family were there for one another through thick and thin. I'm glad that I got to spend some time w/ all of them, and learn of their culture and community, while gleaning a bit of understanding of what makes them who they were as a people and as individuals. Mvto, Rez Dogs.