WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the premiere of Reservation Dogs Season 1, Episode 1, “F*ckin’ Rez Dogs,” which aired Monday on FX on Hulu.
Reservation Dogs, the new FX on Hulu series, sees four kids living on an Indigenous reservation doing their best to thrive. Still grieving the loss of a fifth member, Daniel, the hometown gang has turned to petty crime to earn enough money to leave their sorrows behind. The premiere episode, “F*ckin’ Rez Dogs,” sees their goals upended when their nominal leader, Bear, goes through a spiritual crisis with the help of a well-intentioned but underwhelming source: an almost-veteran of the Battle of Little Bighorn known as William Knifeman.
Bear and his friends leave their hideout and remember better times when they get hit by a drive-by shooting. Fortunately, their attackers, a rival ‘gang,’ favor paintball guns instead of anything deadly. Still, the four absorb the attack with slow-motion Quentin Tarantino flair, falling elegantly down to the cracked pavement until their shooters drive off.
For Bear, the attack momentarily puts him in a different state of mind. It’s not clear if he’s actually having a spiritual vision or just letting his imagination go wild, but it doesn’t matter. It’s a testament to Bear’s self-esteem that his guide isn’t some renowned warrior. Instead, it’s some guy that didn’t make it to the Battle of Little Bighorn, as William Knifeman’s horse sunk its hoof into a gopher hole, and the tumble sent the foul-mouthed would-be warrior and his horse into the spirit realm to guide lost souls.
Under the goofy dialogue and his unheroic demeanor, William makes some good points. It’s tough to be a warrior and a good person to your people. William remembers how they were willing to fight for the things their people valued; although, he plays it up as a self-deprecating joke. It’s a key insight to how Bear feels about his town. The goal up to this point has been to leave, as Bear feels responsible for Daniel’s death, though it’s unclear what really happened.
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William Knifeman is some guy that couldn’t hack it on a battlefield, and Bear’s just a kid, but both find their way to some important revelations. They may have come too late for Knifeman’s spirit, but Bear still has his whole life to figure out what’s worth fighting for. What Knifeman has Bear remember is that it might be worth trying to save their town instead of running away. A glimpse of Daniel’s lingering ghost furthers this, as it doesn’t matter if Knifeman or these visions are real or not. The emotions associated with them are.
Maybe life in the town killed Daniel, but if Bear and his friends fight to make things better, maybe it won’t kill anyone else. Bear’s not ready to leave the town and Daniel’s spirit behind. Whether he likes it or not, those spirits are part of Bear until he figures out what it is he can do to find peace in Reservation Dogs, with new episodes airing on FX on Hulu Mondays.
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