Our take
This coming-of-age comedy series is about four indigenous teenagers in Oklahoma who try to get enough money to leave for California.
Co-created by Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit, Hunt for the Wilderpeople) and Sterlin Harjo, the show has so much of Waiti’s brand of heartfelt quirkiness that’s still very much grounded in reality. The main character, Bear, is haunted by an indigenous warrior spirit – only it’s a warrior whose horse tripped before he got to the battle so his wisdom doesn’t always come off as reassuring.
The teenagers commit various small crimes in their hopes of gathering enough money to leave, as they mourn a friend who couldn’t cope with the town’s environment. Reservation Dogs is such a good mix of comedy and drama, and it might be a little teen-y at times, but if you don’t mind that, it’s also very addictive.
What it won
Golden Globes
1 nom
Spirit Awards
2 wins
WGA
2 noms
The story
Four Indigenous teenagers in rural Oklahoma steal, rob and save in order to get to the exotic, mysterious and faraway land of California.
Elsewhere
"A near-perfect study of dispossession..."
— Doreen St. Felix
"The rhythm of the show is a drifting, unimpulsive storyworld, and its teenage characters shoulder against it resentfully, looking for adventure and escape."
— Kathryn VanArendonk
Streaming arrival
Who picked it
The Staff is the editorial team at A Good Movie to Watch, contributing reviews, recommendations, and streaming guides across film and television. Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, we track over 100 streaming services in the US. Founded in 2014 by Bilal Zouheir, the team is built around human curation rather than algorithmic recommendations.
