Reservation Dogs (Season 3) Episodes 1 & 2: ‘Reservation Dogs’ on Hulu started as a teen comedy-drama about the lives of people ‘on the rez’. Its teenage characters made the most of their time in the rez and had fun while engaging in petty rivalries among other adolescents. There were some aspects of loss, grief, gentrification, and financial responsibilities, among others, that were later explored in a much broader context. The writing and the brilliant execution kept fusing the humor with the absurdity to yield amusing results.
The third season now shows the aftermath of their trip to Los Angeles. The teens traveled from their town in rural Oklahoma to Los Angeles to fulfill their late friend Daniel’s wish. While the other gang planned to return to Oklahoma, Bear decided to stay back to find the truth about his past.
*Spoilers Ahead*
Reservation Dogs (Season 3) Episodes 1 & 2 Recap:
Episode 1: BUSSIN’
The episode begins with Spirit (Dallas Goldtooth) speaking in his trademark meandering style. He leads us to a story ‘that is about to happen’ in the kids’ lives. Earlier, Elora (Devery Jacobs), Bear (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), Cheese (Lane Factor), and Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis) traveled to Los Angeles to fulfill Daniel’s long-lost dream. After their car gets stolen, they go through a rollercoaster of an adventure. They finally find a moment of joy around the beach, where they imagine Daniel present next to them. Even though they have no money, Bear does not want to leave. At least, not just then.
Bear’s Father
Bear tries to meet his father and reaches his doorstep. After a few knocks, a lady walks out with a baby on her shoulder. Bear mentions his father’s name, and the woman says he has not been there for a while. Since there seems to be no hope of a meeting, they decide to leave. Meanwhile, Elora’s aunt, Teenie (Tamara Podemski), desperately tries to find her niece and her gang. Bear’s mother, Rita (Sarah Podemski), calls her to locate Bear at the earliest. She is annoyed that he left without informing her at all.
The White Jesus (aka the street person that the gang met the day before) tags along with them to a parking lot. Teenie gets angry that they are leaving without saying even a proper goodbye to her. They all believe they will return to their town by flight and enjoy all its luxuries. Teenie busts their bubble and lets them know that they will only get a bus ride back home. While traveling, Cheese shares his anxiety about Elora and Bear probably leaving the town. Willie promises him that she will not leave him, no matter what.
The next morning, they get down and waited for their transfer, which is supposed to leave in about an hour. Bear talks about a failed meeting with his father. ‘What now?’ he wonders, since their actions cannot bring Daniel back. While he goes to the washroom, the next bus arrives at the stop. Elora goes out to speak with her aunt and learns she just lost her job. Teenie liked this job in Phoenix even though she missed being back in Rez. She notes how a person grows physically but remains practically the same, being left with just more baggage.
Bear’s Journey
Meanwhile, the Spirit cryptically tells Bear he should not get on that bus. Bear still walks out but is slightly late. The bus had already left without him. Since another one leaves the next day, and he has no money to buy a ticket, he stays there, stranded and alone, unsure what his next course of action should be. In his moment of doubt, Spirit reappears. ‘The path of healing lies in an opportunity to help others,’ Spirit claims. He mentions how having ‘nowhere to go’ can be Bear’s way to self-discovery. While Bear aimlessly walks around, a fellow passenger speaks with Cheese on the bus and notes how ‘everything is connected.’
Meanwhile, Elora invites Teenie to crash at her place since she just lost her job. Seeing Elora forgetting their past differences, Teenie decides to reveal something about Elora’s life. She tells Elora that she has a White father, who is very much alive and is still in contact with her. It all comes as a shock for Elora, who was not aware that she could still get in touch with him. Once they all reach home, they suddenly realize that Bear is not with them. They realize they mistook someone else as Bear. Back in California, Bear recalls his meeting with his father’s new partner. Before leaving, Bear left a note addressing his father. Once the gang left, the woman opened it to learn that this young lad is her partner’s son.
Episode 2: Maximus
Bear & Maximus
On his solitary journey across a deserted land, Bear comes across a conquistador (Eric Mainade). While he scares Bear with his sword, Spirit arrives in Bear’s surreal mindscape to save him. Spirit redirects the man to another land for gold. Besides, he keeps sharing cryptic aphorisms but refuses to share an answer with him. Spirit only advises him to keep walking. Bear gets angry at Spirit’s useless wisdom and insults him. Right after, he gets hit by an arrow and is taken to a house. The man takes off Bear’s blindfolds and offers him some water. While Bear only wants to know where he is, the man creeps him out.
Bear says that he only wants to return to Oakland. This man, Maximus (Graham Greene), reveals that he is also from Oakland and starts talking about how ‘everything’s connected.’ While Bear looks around his room, Maximus talks about UFO sightings all over Oklahoma. He believes that they have a connection to the rising number of hospitalizations from back then. The man speaks like a conspiracy theorist about the things he sees, whereas Bear says how he sees Spirit sometimes. Bear asks to go to the washroom planning an escape. But that attempt fails.
Maximus drives Bear to a nearby plot from his strange-looking vehicle to show his greenhouse. He grew plants over there just if any ‘star person’ arrived. Maximus speaks about how there are things beyond what one sees. ‘Sometimes, it can just be a feeling,’ he says. He brings Bear to a house where he claims to use radio signals to communicate with the extra-terrestrials. Inside the house, Maximus shows an old footage of him as a youngling with his friends. He suggests that his friends left him, and he was given shock treatment since he spoke about things that one cannot see or hear. Bear says his friends are not like this and that they do believe him. ‘Then what’s your problem?’ Maximus asks. It makes Bear introspect upon the good things he still has with him that he perhaps does not value as much.
Reservation Dogs (Season 3) Episode 2 Ending Explained:
Maximus goes out and drinks water directly from the well. Bear thinks it is unsanitary, only to realize later that the coffee he drank earlier was made out of the same water. Through that scenario, Maximus points out how one need not be averse to minor difficulties. The man takes Bear to a cave and says that it will take him right to the highway in case anything happens. The path has some dead cats and snakes. Then by the night, he brings the kid back to his house to share his old-age wisdom. He notes how the things in the future are often a reflection of the past. The man also makes Bear realize how love is not true only if reciprocated. Then they cook their meal and have it together. Later at night, while he tries to connect his signal, the Feds arrive outside his place and take him away. Once again, Bear is left to be on his own. He drives the man’s car up to his greenhouse and picks up some veggies in his bag. Then, he goes to the cave-like tunnel that the old man told him about. He reaches the other side, perhaps to embark on yet another adventure.
