The Best Coming of Age Show Ever

Reservation Dogs Deserves a Place as One of the All Time Great Shows

Think of the all time great coming of age television shows. Happy Days, Family Ties, The Wonder Years. They all have the same dynamic. They’re family shows that occasionally focus on the perspective of kids. They’re nostalgic in the way Happy Days and Wonder Years took place 25+ years before they aired and Family Ties was supposed to focus on hippie parents raising kids in the Reagan era. They’re actually aimed at adults. Most importantly, they document those important milestones with episodes of when kids slowly turn into adults. Other teen shows that fail are either too childish or too serious.

Reservation Dogs outdoes them all.

Never has a series worked so well taken from the perspective of teens in an adult world and watch them process everything they are dealing with. It’s honest, funny, heartbreaking, endearing and true to its characters better than any other show I’ve seen. But it’s so much more than just the best Coming of Age show ever:

• It’s the best depiction of rural town American life.

• It’s the only real show taken honestly from the perspective of Native American life.

• It’s a launching pad for the careers of Native American actor, writers, directors and creatives.

• It is a love letter to often neglected Native American culture and it’s contributions to American culture.

Below are 10 reasons why this show is not only the best coming of age show ever on television, but why it deserves a place as one of the best shows.

1. The setting. I can’t recall ever seeing an episode of a television show (other than limited shows and cop dramas) take place on an Native American reservation. For Reservation Dogs, the entire show takes place on the reservation. In that, it is an entirely unique and yet familiar location. Many may think, “Well how do I relate to that?” If you’ve ever lived in or been to any rural setting, the customers at Old Muggies Bar, the local convenience store or grocery and the general parade of characters around town will feel completely familiar.

2. The main story. The best coming of age stories focus on kids wanting to branch out from their surroundings and make their way out into the world. There are obstacles, hard truths and experiences along the way that make them view the world differently.¹ For those “young warriors” growing up surrounded by the poverty, despair and boredom of the reservation, getting out and getting to exciting Los Angeles is all they care about. At the end of last season, they finally made it there, and it was not what they anticipated.

3. The main characters. Bear is a young man without a father figure around trying to find his place in the world. Elora Danan² looks out around town and only wants to get as far away from it as she can. Cheese is a good natured boy who just doesn’t know where he fits in. Willie Jack is a fun energetic girl that is the spirit animal of the group. The show follows them both as a group and individually showing them grow and take what they experience. It succeeds on both of those levels.

4. The supporting characters. Some of the best episodes are the ones that focus on the more peripheral characters of the show. Two from last season focused on a group of women from the Public Health Clinic at a convention and a Buddy Cop escapade between the conspiracy-minded Reservation cop and the sketchy salvage yard working coming across, well, I wouldnt want to ruin it. Both of them add color, fun and depth to all the characters and the setting in which they live.

   

   The supporting characters are vital to a show like Reservation Dogs because as a Coming of Age story, the focus is on the kids, but they need guidance. The adults on the show are an amalgam of parent figures looking out for them and their best interests. Sometimes, they’re a lot more in arrested development like the kids are, and it makes for some of the funniest scenes on the show.

5. The writing. The writers room for the show consists of all Native Americans, and they have a keen eye for the nuances of rural american and reservation life. For instance, in most native cultures, looking an owl in the eyes is considered an omen. What do they do on the show?— blur out the eyes of any owl, whether it be stuffed, a lawn ornament or the background of a set piece. At the beginning of a season one episode we meet an old white couple talking about certain aspects of Native American ideas when they hit a deer, which is later picked up by our protagonists for backstrap steaks. An episode where they hang out around the front of the health clinic selling meatpies remains one of my favorites in how well written it was.

   

6. The insights into Native American Culture. Bear continues to see his spirit guide, a comedic gem of a Native American stereotype who is the ghost of one who died at the Battle of Little Big Horn when his horse tripped, fell over and landed on him.

   

   The writers certainly don’t mind making jokes that take some of the seriousness out of cultural depictions at a time when most shows make it too intense and serious. It pays off later when we encounter a serious deep dive into the culture. When Elora Danen’s grandmother dies, the whole ceremonious and formal aspect feels all to human. When Willie Jack goes to prison to seek the advice of an old friend’s mother, the scene provided probably the best visual I’ve ever seen on television. This one:

7. The guest appearances. Some truly great Native American actors make appearances and truly showcase the Native community. Wes Studi (Heat, Geronimo) is a regular in the town. This season we will see Graham Greene (Dances with Wolves, Die Hard with A Vengeance). Gary Farmer plays “Uncle Brownie,”³ and Zahn McClarnon (Doctor Sleep, Fargo) plays “Officer Big,” two of the best reasons to watch the show. One episode ended with Redbone playing “Come and Get Your Love” which I never realized was a Native American Rock band. But to me, the best appearance which really sums up Reservation Dogs was the cranberry juice drinking, Fleetwood Mac listening longboarder, Nathan Apodaca, who shows up in several episodes in season 2. (Watch the scene on the link where Cheese makes fun of him about TikTok and his “Dozens of followers”)

https://www.imdb.com/video/vi3950495001/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

8. The heart. Everyone on the reservation looks out for one another. Friends form a bond that is more than just skin deep. Even the rival “gang” the “NDN Mafia” want the same things as our heros and aside from the snipes back and forth show some respect. Everyone is just trying to make it through this world and some of the best moments are when the rivals demonstrate depth and care for one another. It’s what we all want our communities to be like, but rarely experience.

9. It’s hilarious. Whether its the shows opening ten minutes of a truck heist completely going askew, the peculiarities and quirks of the individual characters or the irreverent situations they seem to find themselves in, there’s always something to laugh about in the show. Even on serious episodes, which there are, there is something funny that happens that just breaks the tension. The writers are keenly aware that sometimes to feel the pain or depth of emotion of an item, it helps to smile and take it in first.

10. The themes it promotes are universal. Anyone, and I mean EVERYONE, can relate to what this young group of teens are going through. In that sense, you can’t help but root for them as they endure every obstacle in their way. This is what makes it the best Coming of Age show ever.

Sadly, this is set to be the last season of Reservation Dogs, starting in August. Do yourself a favor right now and binge the first two seasons. You won’t be disappointed. Season 2, particularly is outstanding— it starts out good, achieves greatness quickly and then reaches a lofty perch as one of the best with its closing episodes, capped by Tim Capello (Tina Turner, The Lost Boys) playing “I Still Believe” on the sax.

PurpleAmerica’s Cultural Corner

Watch Reservation Dogs Season 1 and Season 2 Now. Period.

PurpleAmerica’s Final Word on the Subject

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Footnotes and Fun Stuff

1. I always think of a T.S. Eliot line, “We will not stop exploring, and the end of our discovery will be to return to where we began and see it again as we did the first time.”

2. Named after the baby in the movie Willow.

3. One of the best episodes introduces him and its a riot as he tries to sell 20+ year old ditch weed and make amends for beating 40 people up in a bar years earlier.