Reservation Dogs EP 08: "Satvrday" Season 1 Finale
The final crescendo! The gang freestyle at the Latin Quarter moment! Avengers Assemble! Many of the characters in the all-too-short first season make a final appearance in this special half-hour presentation. They will be back for SEASON TWO! AHO! Uncle Brownie (Gary Farmer) and the hilarious ancient warrior spirit, William Knifeman (Dallas Goldtooth) come back for an encore performance to show the young bucks how good comedy is done! AHO, White Jesus!
Traveling down the red road of trial and tribulation is our 4 Rez Dogs. Which ones are gonna go through with the move to Cali, or get swallowed up by the Rez?
Knifeman tells Bear in his vision, or rather, his vision had a vision, in stoic NDN-style that maybe there's something he left undone on the Rez that he should take care of before moving to Cali. Bear takes that as an Avengers Assemble moment to scrap with the rival gang that jumped him in EP 01.
But, thanks to an incoming Oklahoma tornado, the characters in the battle, their families, friends, and the Tribal Cop seek shelter in the basement of the Tribal Church while Uncle Brownie rides outside fighting off the tornado with his wise medicine man powers.
Tornado: 444,444,444,444 HP
Uncle Brownie: 420 HP
The episode is very funny and a great coda for the season. There are many more questions of where our heroes will be. Season two is a go, so just chill, get some Sonics with your cousins 'till the next episode (Wicka-wicka!)
I never thought stories like these would be broadcast. Ever. As a Native American man, I just thought that good things like these never happened to us. Never have I thought that the stories that my homies & cousins told sitting around a cook-shack campfire at night, scaring each other with stories 'bout The Deer Lady, The Little People, Bigfoot, Bad Medicine, Powwows, and Snagging would ever be broadcast.
When Reservation Dogs was announced and that "Infinity Stone" Taika Waititi was producing, I was hopeful. Is it gonna be a success? Yeah right, whatever! What's the catch?
Unfortunately, Doubt is a part of our genetic makeup. We are conditioned to expect the worst. Nobody listens to us. We are the forgotten race. We look too different. Native Actors/Writers are non-existent. What IS Native humor?
So, back to my first encounter with Native Humor on The Brady Bunch. (From my first EP 01 Blog) The Native episode was called: "The Brady Braves." The actor was Michele Campo, playing a boy, presumably, Apache, that is portrayed as first, aggressor, then noble savage. 1971.
1977. Standup comedian Charlie Hill of the Oneida up in (lips pointed north) Wisconsin, appears on The Richard Pryor Show. Has a successful career. Writes comedy for Roseanne.
44 years later.
In 2021, We finally get two Native/Indigenous comedy shows in Rutherford Falls & my new favorite show, fuckin' Reservation Dogs. Written and made by Natives, for everybody.
F'in' Finally! -FL