Reservation Dogs Season 3 Review: A Bittersweet Farewell
- The writing is even more ambitious
- Tremendous cast
- Emotional contrasts are daring and well-executed
- We just wish the show could keep going
Last season, the four heroes at the core of FX's "Reservation Dogs" achieved what they set out to do at the beginning of the series. They made it to California, fulfilling a promise they made to their fallen friend Daniel (Dalton Cramer), and growing closer to one another in the process. With that in mind, it's in some ways not surprising that series creators Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi chose to make Season 3 the final one, giving us one last chance to see what the quartet will do now that their greatest wish has been fulfilled.
But sending the Rez Dogs off into the sunset is, like the rest of the show, not an easy thing. In a series that's always thrived on the struggles, both big and small, of its core characters, we were always bound to see new conflicts arise as the series goes out, and we were never meant to expect a show that will end with a nice, neat bow on top of everything. What we can expect instead is 10 more episodes of glorious, complicated messiness, and all the beautiful human moments that implies. All that remains to be seen, then, is how "Reservation Dogs" will choose to go out, and what it still has to say along the way. If the first four episodes shown to press ahead of the season premiere are any indication, however the show concludes, it'll go out the way it came in: As a bitingly funny, remarkably moving piece of bittersweet human storytelling.
Coming home
As the trailers for the new season revealed, much of the early narrative in "Reservation Dogs" Season 3 does focus on our heroes — Bear (D'Pharoah Woon-A-Tai), Elora (Devery Jacobs), Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis), and Cheese (Lane Factor) — as they return from California to their Oklahoma home, and the repercussions that come with it. Their parents and guardians are, naturally, furious with them for having wandered off, but the fallout is about more than the often-hilarious punishments they face. For the Rez Dogs, being back home after such a trip is a reminder that they need to do what Daniel could not and live their lives in ways they find satisfying. For Elora, that means a search for a career path and, perhaps, a family secret. For Cheese, it means finding ways (literally and otherwise) to see things more clearly. For Willie Jack, it means connecting to certain aspects of her Indigenous roots in ways she never has before. And for Bear, it simply means searching, trying to quiet the voices in his head, looking for a purpose bigger than his own base desires.
Each of these journeys is, of course, complicated by a number of encounters both familiar and unexpected, from a brilliant guest-starring role for the legendary Graham Greene to a new encounter with one of the show's many mythic figures. There's a sense, even in the first episodes of the two-part season premiere, that the show is going for broke with these final hours spent with these characters, that each member of the foursome will reach places they've never dared go before. It's thrilling, compelling, and a fulfillment of all the promise the show first displayed with its wild, emotional first season.
On a very basic level, though, it's also just very nice to see the crew back in their old stomping grounds one more time, with all the supporting characters we've come to love over two seasons back from one more round. They're searching too, the show reminds us, whether it's following former Rez Dog enemy Jackie (Elva Guerra), Bear's mother Rita (Sarah Podemski), or the always-great Officer Big (Zahn McClarnon). Even Bear's spirit guide, William Knifeman (Dallas Goldtooth) has an added air of gravity to him, as the quest for fulfillment intensifies in each character. That makes the kickoff to the new season both wonderfully ambitious and an instant reminder that we're still dealing with one of the best things on television right now.
Heart and humor, one more time
From the very beginning, "Reservation Dogs" was the kind of show that deftly balanced its often chaotic sense of humor with a real sense of heart, but it was also never the kind of show that gave into empty, saccharine formulaic conclusions about life, love, or moving on. We got to know Bear, Elora, Willie Jack, and Cheese as young people who struggled — emotionally, financially, socially, and more — and the show never flinched from showing those struggles, or from peppering in laughs along the way. That's still true in the final season, but even by "Reservation Dogs" standards, there are new depths to its emotional complexity.
This is helped along by the always-stellar writing, of course, but even after two seasons of great work, it's truly stunning just how great the cast is in this final outing. Woon-A-Tai, Jacobs, Alexis, and Factor are all delivering incredible work, cementing their characters as some of the best on television in the last decade, and the supporting players in the series remain incredible, from McClarnon's scene-stealing to Podemski's endless wells of emotion. In a season that contains some of the show's most emotional moments, including what might be the biggest gut punch in the whole show, everyone is working at the top of their game.
This all means that one of TV's best shows has arrived at another level for its grand conclusion. "Reservation Dogs" has always felt like the kind of series willing to be bold with its storytelling, and here at the end that's translated into breathtaking, vulnerable, and endlessly warm and human moments. If we have to say goodbye, it's good that we get to say goodbye like this.
"Reservation Dogs" Season 3 premieres August 2 on FX.
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being reviewed here wouldn't exist.