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Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
Sometimes, you have to lose. That’s just how it goes every now and then. Such is the case when the Reservation Dogs have a delay in their plans.
Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi’s Reservation Dogs Season 1 Episode 4 (titled “What About Your Dad”) takes from our emotions and replaces them with some despair. Staff writers Bobby Wilson and Tommy Pico pen the teleplay for the episode, while staff writer Sydney Freeland returns as the director. This review will include spoilers, as the title of this article suggests, so please read ahead at your own discretion.
Plot Summary
According to FX on Hulu, here is the synopsis for the series’ third episode.
The town gets ready for Bear’s rapper father to come into town and perform at the local IHS conference.
Devery Jacobs plays Elora Danan Postoak, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai plays Bear Smallhill, and Paulina Alexis plays Willie Jack. Lane Factor plays Cheese. Sarah Podemski appears as Rita, Bear’s mother.
Elva Guerra stars as the NDN Mafia leader, Jackie. Xavier Bigpond and Jack Maricle appear as Weeze and White Steve, respectively. They are all members of the Reservation Dog’s rival gang. Kimberly Guerrero stars as Willie Jack’s Aunty B. Lil Mike and Funny Bone star as the reservation’s rap duo, Mose and Mekko.
Sten Joddi and Garret Hedlund guest star as Punkin Lusty — Bear’s father — and David — a man from a bar with whom Rita hooks up —, respectively.
Discussion
This week’s Reservation Dogs narrative includes way more plot details than is described in the synopsis above. The Reservation Dogs request that Auntie B make a beaded medallion for Bear’s father. The boy later receives a microphone medallion in the shape of a member. The larger issue here is Bear’s spending the group’s funds ($90 to be exact) to head to California. When Elora is approached by NDN Mafia leader, Jackie, she is offered a spot in the gang. It seems Jackie’s rhetoric to get her into the other group has worked, although there is hope that Bear and the Rez Dogs will replenish the lost cash.
Meanwhile, Rita meets a man (Hedlund) at a bar and hooks up with him. She wakes up in his rich mansion-like home. Bear’s mother soon discovers that this man is a doctor who bought the house back, having once been owned by his great-grandfather. Two major red flags are revealed: his great-grandfather bought this land from the Natives long ago, and David has a tattoo on his left arm of the Confederate flag and “Indian feathers” on the side.
I love how attentive “What About Your Dad” pays to detail. The episode begins with Punkin Lusty’s music video about “greasy greasy frybread”. When the Rez Dogs are shopping for his arrival, there is a specific type of camera work that piqued my interest. Bear is a fan of Godzilla and is meant to see the film with his father, who is later revealed to lie about his canceled flight from Los Angeles to East Oklahoma. We briefly see Natives playing basketball or riding bikes on the reservation. Even the box of beads that the Dogs open is an homage to Tarantino’s other cult classic, Pulp Fiction.
Performances and Character Developments
This episode of Reservation Dogs features the first appearance of Punkin Lusty. If I’m going, to be honest, I’d rather not see any more from him. Joddi accurately plays the role of the type of father who does not want to be present in his family’s life. It gets to a point where I don’t even like him; in fact, I hate him. When Rita asks him how old his son is, he doesn’t give a correct and proper answer. Consequently, we have Woon-A-Tai who performs the role of Bear Smallhill well and even develops profoundly with Podemski’s Rita, especially with the episode’s final scenes. I hope to see more of their dynamic as mother and son as the series progresses.
Jacobs is great as Elora, although, in terms of development, she’s kind of rocky. Who knows what will happen in the latter half of the show’s first season. Bear’s decision to spend the group’s travel funds on a medallion — a useless purchase given that Lusty doesn’t come to the reservation — sets the Dogs back by $90. This means they will have to work harder to somehow recover that amount, one way or another.
Final Thoughts
“What About Your Dad” is one of the more emotional and intriguing episodes of Reservation Dogs so far. It’s a lovely continuation of the series premiere as well as its third episode. Where the previous three episodes of the series are full of comedy involving running from the law, going to the clinic for minor conditions, and helping an elderly man sell old marijuana, this week’s episode possesses serious gravity, for the most part. Bear and Rita’s scene inside the car in the clinic parking lot is deserving of some praise. Wilson and Pico’s writing is also laudable, crafting and producing the best story of the series thus far.
The episode is about different forms of loss: losing the love and affection of one’s father, losing a people’s land, and losing other necessary resources worthy of value, such as money. Only time will tell if these problems are soon to be resolved later this season.
Harjo and Waititi’s Reservation Dogs is now available on FX and FX on Hulu!
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Managing editor & film and television critic with a Bachelor's of Arts in English Literature with a Writing Minor from the University of Guam. Currently in graduate school completing a Master's in English Literature.
If you hated Punkin after this episode I did my job as a first time actor! I’m also totally opposite of this guy , I’m married and have a family and would never be that way. But as most know a lot of youth can relate to this and so can I , myself being in the shoes of bear having those conversations with my dad and mom. Hits home for a lot of us with father issues or just absent parent issues period. Thank you I’m glad you hated him means I did a good job! StenJoddi aka Punkin Lusty eeeeeee!