Critic Reviews

In every scene Reservation Dogs combines its Native American heritage and its US indie film heritage in a potent and smoothly smokable blend. So spark it up.

It took no time at all to understand Bear (D’Pharoah Woon-A-Tai), Elora (Devery Jacobs), Cheese (Lane Factor) and Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis), nor to slip into the show’s world where the banal could meet the surreal at any given moment. The same holds true in Season. ... This is a show so self-assured in its own voice and perspective that it’s not just gratifying to watch, but a welcome relief.

Both in its tenor and subject matter, the comedy deserves to be understood in its own terms. Luckily, as its second season makes clear, Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi’s award-winning FX show continues to blaze a path for itself.

It’s every bit as good as the first [season], maybe better — meaning that there’s plenty of time for Emmy voters and audiences to catch up with what may currently be the best show on TV.

Season 2 of Reservation Dogs offers up a vision all its own that feels more unclassifiable. What makes this all work is how the rich characters are interwoven into everything, drawing us deeper into what is both a gorgeous and tragic tapestry of their lives that are still unfolding before us.

Amid and around these quietly shattering emotional beats, Reservoir Dogs is hilarious. ... This is one that richly deserves your attention, and which you should not snub.

Sure, it’s billed as a comedy but there are so many touching moments it could easily top the shows that are billed as dramas. ... You’ll also see why there are many rites of passage in a teenager’s life. Some come with guidance; others require a little on-the-job experience. All should be preserved as beautifully as these.

Even as there remains a persistent sense this closing chapter could have been the beginning of so much more, there is also a feeling that we are starting to wind down to something beautiful.

No one on this show steals focus, all working together to make the world around the Rez Dogs feel complete. The characters in this comedy feel like they exist between episodes, not just sent in by writers to sell a laugh or make a point.

“Reservation Dogs” isn’t just great. It’s magic (sometimes literally so).