REVIEW: ‘Reservation Dogs,’ Season 2 Premiere

FX and Hulu’s Reservation Dogs is back with a two-episode Season 2 premiere. The Reservation Dogs themselves though? They’re pretty broken up. Elora (Devery Jacobs) and Jackie (Elva Guerra) are off to California, Bear (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai) is in his own world, and Cheese (Lane Factor) is just Cheesing around. Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis) is trying to reverse a curse she put on Elora and Jackie that she’s convinced is the cause of all their misgivings since then, but none of her friends are supporting her.

Reservation Dogs’ two-part season opener has everything the show is known for: good humor, absurd situations, old me yelling at the sky, and a really deep pain underpinning basically everyone at all times. Life on the reservation is pretty dismal and with the Reservation Dogs partially broken up, you know each of their pain is only going to multiply without one another. They need each others’ love to hold themselves up and without it, they’re bound to wither.

This is why I hope that the group reunites sooner than later. Some time apart is definitely good for their characters to an extent, but the group dynamic is a major part of the appeal, and if the whole season were to forgo time with all four main characters together, it will surely lose some of its luster, even if their individual journeys are compelling. The show ultimately thrives in its comedic elements—you can’t broach the subjects the show does without adding levity—so I’m especially hopeful that Reservation Dogs Season 2 gets the gang back together in short order. Especially given these first two episodes feel like they lean closer to the dramatic side of things.

Not to say it isn’t full of humor. With everyone in town kind of losing it in some way or another right now, there’s plenty to chuckle at. Especially Brownie (Gary Farmer) and his increasing antics. He was already one of the biggest sources of comic relief in the first season and he’s really baring it all so far in season two (pun entirely intended). I’m hopeful too that the Reservation Dogs’ recent truce with the NDN Mafia brings about even more humor, and emotion, than we’ve already gotten glimpses of in the Season 1 finale and the Season 2 premiere. They were really just flat background characters for the most part in the first season but they’ve already proven they have what it takes to be equally compelling and hilarious characters as the other kids.

The Reservation Dogs Season 2 premiere shows the Hulu Original is still in top form, with a new driving plot at hand. I hope it continues to strike the right balance of comedy and drama, given the lean towards the latter in the first two episodes, but either way, it’s really an excellent show no matter what with sharp wit and the kind of authenticity that popular media is generally missing.

The Reservation Dogs Season 2 premiere is streaming now on Hulu with new episodes airing on Wednesdays.