Reservation Dogs - General Discussion

[MisterGlass]

She knows Bear's community and her status in it.  Deer Lady has a very specific reputation, one that people she's touched seem unafraid to share.  Either you've earned her vengeance, or you pass unharmed. 

It was a wonderful performance by this actress, equally serene and intimidating.

 

 

[Zaffy]

2 hours ago, MisterGlass said:

It was a wonderful performance by this actress, equally serene and intimidating.

She was amazing, I would definitely watch a spin off with Deer Lady

[possibilities]

10 hours ago, aghst said:

 Did she deliberately drop the book on the floor so that he would see the hoofs?

I think definitely, yes.

[Constant Viewer]

12 hours ago, aghst said:

Did she deliberately drop the book on the floor so that he would see the hoofs?  She

I think so.

[eejm]

On 8/2/2023 at 4:49 AM, thuganomics85 said:

Glad they were able to get Graham Greene to show up here, since he's probably one of the few recognizable Native American actors that hadn't appeared yet.
 

Graham Greene has said before that he wanted to see more humorous Native American characters on TV and in movies as so many portrayals were so dark and sad.  Hearing that I hoped/figured he'd show up on RD at some point.  I really liked how Maximus' story was tied in with Irene, Mabel, Brownie, and the other now-elders in Okern.  I hope we see him again before the end of the season.

Yay to the return of the Deer Lady, but what a rough episode.  I don't know much about residential schools other than that they were incredibly cruel.  Why exactly were the kids being killed?  Were they disobeying?  Koda mentioned he wanted to go fishing - did he and the Deer Lady go and were discovered?  Did the young Deer Lady sort of give up her mortality to follow the deer in the woods and eventually became her present self?

I figured the old man knew who the Deer Lady was and expected she was there for him.  He was lamenting being a terrible father and was looking over the pictures of the school when she arrived.  I'm a little surprised she didn't kill him before now - I figure he'd be number one in her book given what she saw as a kid.

I know the Deer Lady told younger Officer Big in the first season that she had known his grandma.  I'm a little surprised we didn't see the young Deer Lady meeting her at the school. 

Edited August 13, 2023 by eejm

[thuganomics85]

Big!!  Glad to see him again, of course.  While I've always believed the philosophy of "Any Zahn McClarnon is a good Zahn McClarnon", I really do love how this show has allowed him to branch out and play this type of character since he rarely gets to do so.  Hope this continues to help him get more comedic roles.  Wasn't expecting that post credit blooper either!

So, this episode has the gang back together, dealing with the fallout of their little escapade.  They all get punished (along with Jackie thanks to some classic "guilt by association"), and are made to work around the hospital.  Would have liked to have a seen a little more of the various pairings, but the moments we got were pretty fun.

I forgot about Cheese needing glasses, so I'm glad that has been resolved now.

Not sure if the bit with Bear and Jackie was just a way to have Rita and Bev banter over it, or if that might end up actually being a thing.  It is interesting that Bear is so open with her despite them being enemies at one point.

Willie Jack might be taking over Old Man Fixico's operation?

White Steve is the king of bingo and the NARDS!

[possibilities]

All the bingo calls were in the B section. I don't know why that struck me as so funny.

Every week I think this show is perfect. 

[ZuluQueenOfDwarves]

That little flirty scene between Big and Bev was kinda hot. Maybe I’m starved for real-life romance, but I ship it. 

[Pallida]

6 hours ago, ZuluQueenOfDwarves said:

That little flirty scene between Big and Bev was kinda hot. Maybe I’m starved for real-life romance, but I ship it. 

The in-show one or the credits scene one?

[aghst]

So is it suppose to be significant, Elora's father is a Rick Miller?

[ZuluQueenOfDwarves]

11 hours ago, Pallida said:

The in-show one or the credits scene one?

In-show! I’m not that desperate, I don’t share chewed gum!

[luna1122again]

This was just the sweetest episode. It was a palate cleanser after the tragic brutality of the Deer Lady episode. Cheese and his glasses, and how everyone was so sweetly positive about them, his 'wow, you're beautiful' to the girl at the optometrist, Big and Bev's gross but funny flirting. I just loved it all. 

I don't want this show to end. I want to know what happens to everyone until they die, many years from now. I just love them. 

Edited August 17, 2023 by luna1122again

[Nashville]

On 8/13/2023 at 6:14 PM, eejm said:

Yay to the return of the Deer Lady, but what a rough episode.  I don't know much about residential schools other than that they were incredibly cruel. 
 

“Bush league hell” would probably not be too much of an overstatement.  The rule of the day was assimilation into the (white) cultural mainstream.  When the Indian children entered the boarding schools:

• Their own clothes were taken away from them (usually burned), and school uniforms issued.
• Hair was cut according to mainstream standards.
• Contact of any kind with any facet of their previous home life was severely discouraged, if not outright prohibited; families generally weren’t allowed to visit, and sending/receiving mail was often thwarted without their knowledge.  The goal was isolation of the children so they could be “remade” as non-Indian, and the school masters were pretty damn good at their jobs.
• Speaking any language other than English generally resulted in severe beatings, whether the child knew English or not (hence the nuns often appearing to talk gibberish to the children - that’s what their English sounded like to a non-English-speaker).
• Children who died on-premises were often buried on-premises; parents frequently were not told their children had died, or - if they were told anything - were told they had simply “run off”.

That’s not near all, but it’s a start.  Basically the goal (especially in the Church-run boarding schools) was complete annihilation of the “heathen” Indian culture and assimilation into mainstream White society - and if they couldn’t pray the Indian out of the kids, then beating it out of them was an acceptable alternative.

 

On 8/13/2023 at 6:14 PM, eejm said:

Why exactly were the kids being killed?  Were they disobeying? 

The strong implication was James Minor was sexually abusing the young boys, then killing them afterwards to avoid exposure.  I don’t know if the nuns were in on ALL of what was going on - but they probably assumed the children died as the result of draconian discipline along the lines of what they themselves practiced with the children.

 

[aghst]

Aren't these characters also assimilated into larger pop culture?

Aren't "dogs" something out of hip hop?  Or those twins seem to be steeped into that lingo.

Sure they're conscious of their Native-American heritage and seems aware of the lore, like Deer Lady or the imagined warrior on the horse.

But the rest of the time, these kids are watching just a lot of TV and movies, listening to the same music as their peers from all other ethnic groups.

 

[Ilovepie]

On 8/16/2023 at 12:24 AM, thuganomics85 said:

Wasn't expecting that post credit blooper either!

The gum was hilarious - my favorite part was them cracking up. I love Bev in every scene she is in.

 

On 8/16/2023 at 12:24 AM, thuganomics85 said:

They all get punished (along with Jackie thanks to some classic "guilt by association")

That's "Probably Cause" to you! More Bev awesomeness.

 

On 8/16/2023 at 12:24 AM, thuganomics85 said:

Not sure if the bit with Bear and Jackie was just a way to have Rita and Bev banter over it, or if that might end up actually being a thing.  It is interesting that Bear is so open with her despite them being enemies at one point.

I liked Rita totally not buying it until they started hitting each other and then she was like "oh shit". Not sure how I feel about them being together. I don't really feel like this show needs a romantic plot with the kids. I would rather just see them all as friends.

[possibilities]

I wish I could buy this show on DVD. I hate that the enly pple who will see it are Hulu subscribers. I have some friends who I think would love it, but they're not going to sub to a streaming service just for one show, no matter how much I tell them how great it is. And they already have enough content from elsewhere and aren't motivated to add Hulu.

But if I bught the DVDs, they'd watch them. I can't just buy them a Hulu sub because they will feel time pressured to watch it fast and they tend to be very busy. It's frustrating. I think streamers are limiting their audiences by only making their stuff available to subscribers and not also selling DVDs.  

I'm a dinosaur, but I still think there's value in the old tech.

I'm going to drop Hulu as soon as this show is over, because I often go nearly a year without watching anything they offer. But, again, I'd buy this show on DVD if it was offered.

[Milburn Stone]

17 hours ago, Nashville said:

When the Indian children entered the boarding schools...

Thank you for your bullet point description of that hell, @Nashville. Illuminating and horrifying.

I have a strong urge to hope and pray that some of the boarding schools were run by compassionate leaders. (Similar to my prayer that some plantations and concentration camps were marginally less horrific than others.) I have no urge to rewrite or censor history. There can be no forgiveness for treating human beings as property, no matter that some in charge weren't as monstrous as others. I need to know more about the Indian Boarding Schools, just to know how widespread the worst of it was. 100%? 75%? 50%? Any percent is unforgivable. But I want to know if my hope for less than 100% is sheer wishful folly.

[pasdetrois]

22 hours ago, Nashville said:

I don't know much about residential schools other than that they were incredibly cruel.

Several White boarding-school proponents have been credited with declaring "In order to save the man we need to kill the Indian." Or "Kill the Indian in him, and save the man." Initially the abuse was excused as punishment for failing to be obedient, but at some locations it became wide-scale horror, including systematic sexual abuse and murder (severe beatings, untreated illness and injury, malnutrition, etc.). The management of the majority of the schools was contracted out by the federal government to Christian overseers, such as the Jesuits, and it attracted hateful racists, pedophiles and sadists.

I visited a former boarding school out West many years ago and admired the beautiful gift shop that was built of local stone. The Indian shop managers explained that the labor to move those heavy stones to the building site was done by young children and teenagers who boarded at the school. They pointed out the graves of the children who died doing that work.

Quote

I have a strong urge to hope and pray that some of the boarding schools were run by compassionate leaders.

In fairness, I have read books by or about Indians who described more benevolent treatment. And some Indian parents volunteered their children for school because their families were starving, homeless, etc. Acts of desperation.

Without dismissing the cruelty, the more damaging issue may be tearing so many children from their families and the purposeful annihilation of an entire culture.

Edited August 18, 2023 by pasdetrois

[Nashville]

1 hour ago, Milburn Stone said:

Thank you for your bullet point description of that hell, @Nashville. Illuminating and horrifying.

I have a strong urge to hope and pray that some of the boarding schools were run by compassionate leaders. (Similar to my prayer that some plantations and concentration camps were marginally less horrific than others.) I have no urge to rewrite or censor history. There can be no forgiveness for treating human beings as property, no matter that some in charge weren't as monstrous as others. I need to know more about the Indian Boarding Schools, just to know how widespread the worst of it was. 100%? 75%? 50%? Any percent is unforgivable. But I want to know if my hope for less than 100% is sheer wishful folly.

Simple statistics would indicate your hope is not folly; hell on one side of the bell curve almost necessarily dictates Heaven on the other side. :)

But, yeah: either through benevolence or cluelessness (or, more than likely, a combination of the two), some of the boarding schools weren’t nightmarish - at least, that’s what I’ve heard told.

[Nashville]

And purely a personal aside here: I’ve been a little in love with Kaniehtiio Horn (the actress playing Deer Lady) ever since I first saw her portrayal of Tanis in Letterkenny.

[possibilities]

I mean, some slave owners were probably more brutal than others, but the fundamentals were still brutal even if there were slight variations.

The Boarding Schools were an atrocity. If there were some people with in them who were less brutal than others, that doesn't change the fundamental nature of the project.

20 hours ago, aghst said:

Aren't these characters also assimilated into larger pop culture?

Aren't "dogs" something out of hip hop?  Or those twins seem to be steeped into that lingo.

Sure they're conscious of their Native-American heritage and seems aware of the lore, like Deer Lady or the imagined warrior on the horse.

But the rest of the time, these kids are watching just a lot of TV and movies, listening to the same music as their peers from all other ethnic groups.

 

Assimilation is not the same as what you see on Res Dogs. Assimilation means erasure. It is not the same as integration, or awareness of the dominant culture, or of things outside your own heritage, or an ability to code switch to navigate, or a sharing and exchange of ideas with appreciation thereof. It's when a minority is absorbed into the dominant culture so as to be indistinguishable, and it is not a two way street.

What was happening in the Boarding Schools was not "teaching English" or "helping children to navigate the wider world" or anything even remotely on that spectrum.

Lots of info is available. Just do a websearch.

Here are a few of the first results I got from searching:

https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2021/08/28/1031398120/native-boarding-schools-repatriation-remains-carlisle

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/22/us-investigation-native-american-boarding-schools

https://boardingschoolhealing.org/education/us-indian-boarding-school-history/

https://www.bia.gov/service/federal-indian-boarding-school-initiative

https://www.wideopencountry.com/1923-american-indian-boarding-schools/

There are a few in The Atlantic, plus a long list of others. These are just the first few that came up when I searched.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 18, 2023 by possibilities

[pasdetrois]

Not to get too off-topic, but some contemporary Native folks have started using "adjusted" in place of "assimilated." Too lengthy to explain here, but it has to do with their personal understanding of history and experience, and their determination to use their own words for their own experiences.

[mledawn]

Thank you @possibilities

Equating popular culture with long-enduring cultural genocide wasn't sitting well with me.

Residential Schools removed/stole children from their homes. It was the literal mission of Residential Schools to remove all trace of culture and language from the children who were forced to attend. Residential Schools were devastating to generations of Indigenous people and leave a legacy of trauma. The last one in Canada closed in 1996.

In Canada, there is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept 30th that recognizes the traumatic legacy of the Residential School System. It was Orange Shirt Day prior to being federally named. 

[sistermagpie]

22 hours ago, aghst said:

Aren't "dogs" something out of hip hop?  Or those twins seem to be steeped into that lingo.

 

Others have talked about the difference in what's going on there (and remember, these kids are living after decades of attacks on their culture so we're not seeing what they would look like without it) but just wanted to say I always assumed the title Reservation Dogs was supposed to refer to actual reservation dogs. That is, the outdoor, stray and feral dogs that live on reservations and are often used as a symbol of reservation life and people. Definitely Native culture, not HIp Hop.

Edited August 18, 2023 by sistermagpie

[aghst]

In general though, what percentage of people who are more than half Native-American are living on reservations?

The characters featured on the show seem to have limited economic options.

I would also gather that few people raised most of their youth on reservations are able to find job or school opportunities far away.

We know a lot of small town people don't get away, go to college or find jobs in big cities where there are more opportunities.

Add in discrimination and it's probably more difficult for Native American teens.

But there must be some number of people who've been able to build lives within the larger American culture?

[pasdetrois]

Yes, definitely Native culture and terminology. Some of my Native friends who live on reservations also say "reservation curs." In many cases, there are too many dogs running freely and producing too many puppies (as elsewhere). The U of Minnesota has a program where vet students, some of whom are Native, go into these communities and treat the animals and do spay/neuter.

[pasdetrois]

34 minutes ago, aghst said:

In general though, what percentage of people who are more than half Native-American are living on reservations?

In the 1960s/70s the federal government convinced many Native Americans to leave their reservations, or their allotments, and move their families to big American cities, promising them jobs and homes. Guess how that worked out?

As a result of this and other events, according to the latest Census, and more specifically the National Council of Urban Indian Health, approximately 70% of enrolled tribal members do not live on reservations at this time.

Quote

I would also gather that few people raised most of their youth on reservations are able to find job or school opportunities far away.

I don't think this is true in contemporary times. I don't have statistics, but some Native people have moved to cities in order to work for the federal government, such as DC (Bureau of Indian Affairs, Indian Health Service), or they commute long distances each day from their reservations, such as from the Navajo Nation and pueblos to work in Albuquerque and Gallup.

As controversial as they are, the casinos have poured many dollars and jobs into tribal communities.

Some Native kids go to present-day tribal colleges, some of which are within the regions where they grew up. There are STEM programs targeted to Native students.

I've heard many a Native student or young adult say he or she will return to work on or near a reservation, giving something back.

30 years ago, it was a different story. And on some reservations that are remote and have no economic resources, things are still very bad. See the new move "War Pony."
 

Edited August 18, 2023 by pasdetrois

[mledawn]

The name of the show is a play on the name of the movie “Reservoir Dogs” and the plethora of wild “rez dogs” on the rez. You can see how the characters were styled on the promos of the first season in their black suits with white shirts and black ties.

[Ilovepie]

1 hour ago, aghst said:

In general though, what percentage of people who are more than half Native-American are living on reservations?

The characters featured on the show seem to have limited economic options.

I would also gather that few people raised most of their youth on reservations are able to find job or school opportunities far away.

We know a lot of small town people don't get away, go to college or find jobs in big cities where there are more opportunities.

Add in discrimination and it's probably more difficult for Native American teens.

But there must be some number of people who've been able to build lives within the larger American culture?

I think this show has shown a mix - Teenie left, and in this episode, Willie Jack's dad spoke to Elora about going to the community college in Ohern, so there are some opportunities for education and getting out. Obviously, Bear's dad also left, but I wouldn't exactly say he's thriving.

[Nashville]

3 hours ago, possibilities said:

 

I mean, some slave owners were probably more brutal than others, but the fundamentals were still brutal even if there were slight variations.

The Boarding Schools were an atrocity. If there were some people with in them who were less brutal than others, that doesn't change the fundamental nature of the project.

 

100% agreement; “benevolence” of any sort - if it existed - did so on a purely individual level, with specific caretakers.  By the very nature of their mission the boarding schools as an institution were bureaucratically disinterested at best, and actively malevolent at worst - attitudes generally reflected by the staff.

[sistermagpie]

2 hours ago, aghst said:

In general though, what percentage of people who are more than half Native-American are living on reservations?

Not sure what the question is here? Because yes, it's true that plenty of Native Americans don't live on reservations for a lot of reasons--that's also influenced by the concerted effort at genocide. Oklahoma might not be the place where the ancestors of these kids called home at all. Reservations weren't supposed to be good places to live. The fact that all the people in the show seem to speak English exclusively seems like another sign of success in what the boarding school nuns were trying to do. There's also a lot of rules about blood quantum and being considered a member of a tribe etc. And US Native kids all grow up in 21st century US and its culture. 

Speaking as someone who isn't Native American, it seems like it can just be complicated and different for every person. 

[aghst]

2 hours ago, sistermagpie said:

Not sure what the question is here? Because yes, it's true that plenty of Native Americans don't live on reservations for a lot of reasons--that's also influenced by the concerted effort at genocide. Oklahoma might not be the place where the ancestors of these kids called home at all. Reservations weren't supposed to be good places to live. The fact that all the people in the show seem to speak English exclusively seems like another sign of success in what the boarding school nuns were trying to do. There's also a lot of rules about blood quantum and being considered a member of a tribe etc. And US Native kids all grow up in 21st century US and its culture. 

Speaking as someone who isn't Native American, it seems like it can just be complicated and different for every person. 

On this question of assimilation, I wondered how typical the everyday life depicted in the show was of everyday life experienced by Native Americans.

So if there was a large population who didn't live on reservations, perhaps they were integrated into other cities, there would be a lot of assimilation.

For instance, do these kids speak any of the NA languages or have they mainly been raised and educated in English and the school curriculum is similar to other kids their age in nearby towns -- putting aside the quality of the education but whether the curriculum is set by counties or state bodies.

 

Or is it more typical that people who live in reservations most of their lives are segregated, have different educational experiences, are cut off from a lot of employment opportunities -- beyond discrimination, like if you have a reservations zip code, are you automatically eliminated from consideration for jobs -- or even something as basic as access to services that people outside the reservations have, like cable TV, Internet, etc.?

 

[Milburn Stone]

7 hours ago, mledawn said:

Equating popular culture with long-enduring cultural genocide wasn't sitting well with me.

Can you elaborate? Did the episode create this equivalence? Or are you saying that any treatment of the subject in popular culture (e.g., a show on Hulu titled Reservation Dogs) is inherently offensive?

[mledawn]

29 minutes ago, Milburn Stone said:

Can you elaborate? Did the episode create this equivalence? Or are you saying that any treatment of the subject in popular culture (e.g., a show on Hulu titled Reservation Dogs) is inherently offensive?

No. This is an Indigenous-created show, with Indigenous writers and an Indigenous cast and crew. I cannot fathom a more qualified group to handle such a subject.

[aghst]

Fresh Air re-ran an interview with one of the creators.

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/18/1194376133/reservation-dogs-co-creator-says-the-show-gives-audiences-permission-to-laugh

He talks about the role of popular culture when he was growing up, how he came to be able to watch cable TV when he was young and poor, how it no doubt influenced him to go into TV and film production.

Also about how hip hop appealed to him and other Native-Americans of his age.

So this particular circle of indigenous kids was influenced a lot by popular culture.

[sistermagpie]

1 hour ago, aghst said:

So this particular circle of indigenous kids was influenced a lot by popular culture.

But I don't understand why that's significant? I mean, clearly they are, but why wouldn't they be like most kids? They mention pop culture. Bear's dad is a would-be rapper. Their aunties practiced dances to pop music. Elora Dannen's literally named after a character in Willow. 

Quote

Can you elaborate? Did the episode create this equivalence? Or are you saying that any treatment of the subject in popular culture (e.g., a show on Hulu titled Reservation Dogs) is inherently offensive?

I think they were referring to the conversation here, not the show.

Edited August 19, 2023 by sistermagpie

[Pallida]

I’m going to try to not make this a thesis, and I’ll be touching on important points brought up and explained well above, but it seems like there’s a need to really unpack the complexities of the forced oppression of indigenous folks in the United States. (I am not nearly as familiar on what happened in Canada, but it seems pretty analogous.) I am not indigenous, but these are topics I’ve been trying to continue to learn about for decades at this point.

The United States government has systemically tried to “kill the Indian, save the man” using many different methods across generations that have led to the current situation. Forced relocation stripped people from their traditional homelands, traditional knowledge on food, and at times grouped people together who had no cultural linkages. Boarding schools further tried to strip indigenous people of their culture by taking them away from their homes and families, removing their languages, and at times imposing a new religion. The above-mentioned push by the government to get native young adults off of reservations was again problematic: big promises, little reward. It is not a surprise that many resistance movements cropped up around the same time (such as the occupation of Alcatraz and the occupation at Wounded Knee). Further resistance movements include language revitalization programs (which can be quite challenging when there are limited speakers) and embracing traditional ecological knowledge. These can be additive to dominant culture, but navigating both worlds takes effort.

Reservations are often economically depressed and have the associated social issues – but is that surprising when reservation lands were the places that White people didn’t want to use? But rather than write them off as simply wastelands or whatever, it’s important to also see the benefits of being near one’s culture for those who feel a connection to it. Many may not live on the reservation but it is still home. They still go back for ceremonies.

I think it’s important to make it very clear that there is no singular Native American culture because some of the language used in this thread hints at that. The US federally recognizes 574 Native American and Alaska Native groups, many of which are conglomerates of multiple tribes following forced relocation onto reservations, and plenty that are not federally recognized. Cultural norms and traditions can vary widely, even when in close proximity. The Diné (Navajo) and the Hopi have completely unrelated languages and cultural norms even though Navajo Nation fully encompasses the Hopi mesas. While general indigenous oppression leads to a commonality and shared history, that does not mean they have the same culture. I’m reminded of a trip to Zuni where an elder spoke of how there was an attempt to provide housing on the reservation, but it used a White cultural norm that did not mesh with the Zuni cultural norms. They were able to reduce harm by changing to a housing setup (housing around a central shared space/plaza) that encouraged connections among people instead of the isolation of the other setup. In contrast, the Diné were traditionally often spread far apart (perhaps because they tended livestock?). In other words, there is no one size fits all.

I appreciate that this show doesn’t try to explain all of this to the viewer. The show isn’t trying to be the education platform for non-indigenous folks who often don’t get taught this history unless they seek it out. I hope it inspires people who don’t know to keep asking questions and trying to learn.

This may have been a bit of a thesis...

[Constant Viewer]

On 8/17/2023 at 8:38 PM, possibilities said:

But, again, I'd buy this show on DVD if it was offered.

I feel the same for a couple of shows on streaming platforms.

[Milburn Stone]

10 hours ago, sistermagpie said:

I think they were referring to the conversation here, not the show.

I guess I missed the part in our conversation where popular culture was equated with cultural genocide. I just re-looked at all the posts of the last couple weeks and I'm still not seeing it.

[sistermagpie]

4 hours ago, Milburn Stone said:

I guess I missed the part in our conversation where popular culture was equated with cultural genocide. I just re-looked at all the posts of the last couple weeks and I'm still not seeing it.

There was a discussions about the effort to wipe out Native culture and forcibly assimilate Native kids into white culture, and that led to a discussion of how much the modern day kids on the show are willingly part of the larger white culture. I think the poster was saying that suggested--even if unintentionally--that the two things were similar. Not because playing video games was like cultural genocide, but because cultural genocide was like playing video games. 

So that's why they were grateful for the post laying out the difference.

[mledawn]

A nice interview with Paulina Alexis on Willie Jack's journey in the show. Hopefully not paywalled as she touches on how the show reflects her own life on her rez, including the deaths by suicide of two of her family members.

Reservation Dogs’s Paulina Alexis Found Solace in Willie Jack’s Healing Journey

 

[MisterGlass]

Just a minor touch I enjoyed in the hospital episode - the shirt White Steve won at bingo was from 2017.

On 8/17/2023 at 8:38 PM, possibilities said:

I'm a dinosaur, but I still think there's value in the old tech.

We must have something to cling to when the internet goes down.  And more than that, HBO has proved in the last year that things which exist only in streaming can be snuffed out of existence very quickly.  Hopefully after the show wraps they'll consider a box set.

[Nashville]

On 8/18/2023 at 11:05 AM, pasdetrois said:

Not to get too off-topic, but some contemporary Native folks have started using "adjusted" in place of "assimilated." Too lengthy to explain here, but it has to do with their personal understanding of history and experience, and their determination to use their own words for their own experiences.

I would respectfully suggest a more accurate word than “assimilated” might be “eliminated”.

[Nashville]

On 8/17/2023 at 8:38 PM, possibilities said:

I wish I could buy this show on DVD. I hate that the enly pple who will see it are Hulu subscribers. I have some friends who I think would love it, but they're not going to sub to a streaming service just for one show, no matter how much I tell them how great it is. And they already have enough content from elsewhere and aren't motivated to add Hulu.

But if I bught the DVDs, they'd watch them. I can't just buy them a Hulu sub because they will feel time pressured to watch it fast and they tend to be very busy. It's frustrating. I think streamers are limiting their audiences by only making their stuff available to subscribers and not also selling DVDs.  

I'm a dinosaur, but I still think there's value in the old tech.

I'm going to drop Hulu as soon as this show is over, because I often go nearly a year without watching anything they offer. But, again, I'd buy this show on DVD if it was offered.

You may still get the chance.  Depending upon the contractual arrangement between Hulu and FX Productions, FXP may still retain Blu-Ray / DVD marketing rights - and if so, I don’t see them passing up any chance to make a buck.

 I mean, hell; if I could get the entire run of Day 5 on Blu-Ray, then anything is possible.  😆

[eejm]

Elora is thinking about going to college.  I know she dropped out of high school - did she finish or get a GED at some point?  Did I miss that?

Edited August 20, 2023 by eejm

[ZuluQueenOfDwarves]

Do we ever find out why she dropped out in the first place? She’d already done so in the flashback episode where she dances with Daniel then finds him the next day, so it wasn’t her grief that precipitated it. 

[Nashville]

9 hours ago, ZuluQueenOfDwarves said:

Do we ever find out why [Elora] dropped out in the first place? She’d already done so in the flashback episode where she dances with Daniel then finds him the next day, so it wasn’t her grief that precipitated it. 

I don’t recall if the show ever directly addressed it, but I had the distinct impression Elora had originally dropped out because she and Daniel were planning to run off together to California.

[BeckyThatcher]

What a surprising lovely painful episode. Seeing Maximus in his youth as he is visited by a “star person” and knowing how all this plays out leading to his isolation and mental health treatments. Grandma Mable! Fixico already destined to be a medicine man and in the present day we know he now faces his own demise.

Maximus’ friends dismiss his visitation so will Bear’s friends do the same? Is the future already set to repeat this story or will Bear’s friends accept him? Is this one of the points in the episode?

A haunting powerful story that will linger in my thoughts.

[cdnalor]

Wow, flashback to my teen years in the 70s!  The actor playing young Brownie really nailed it.  Could his dialogue have been looped in by the adult actor?  The voice and accent seemed too perfect at times.

 

[eejm]

I really enjoyed seeing the elders’ origin stories.  I feel for Maximus in particular and how sad it is for such a bright kid to be hit by something that affected him so profoundly - and not in a good way.

Young Irene was played by Quannah Chasinghorse, a successful model and the real-life girlfriend of D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai (Bear).