I have mixed feelings about my feelings

Continuing my trip down The Guardian's Top 50 TV Shows of 2023 

#20 : Reservation Dogs 

The most criminally underrated comedy on TV came to a brilliant end with its third series. The first-ever show created entirely with Native American talent has long been a masterclass in how to pinwheel between hilarious comedy and poignant meditations on grief, and its final season was no exception. Before it came along, there had never been a show with such a distinct and impeccably written and performed look at life on a US reservation. Hopefully, this piece of landmark TV is just the start of the floodgates opening.

I met this in '21 when The Guardian made me watch it - and I was really glad they did because I found it a surprisingly relatable tale of life on a Native American reservation. For some unclear reason, they didn't recommend season 2 last year and I missed that it existed, so it took me quite a bit of time to get round to season 3.

Quick recap of season 2 first - it's actually not all that funny because there's a surprising amount on death and alienation and how people are affected by them (although episode 5 takes a nice break as the Aunties let loose at a "work conference"). It's really well written though - you really care about the characters and what they're going though, with a whole load of personality and warmth shining through. They are also some impressive guest stars throughout the season - Lily Gladstone, Amber Midthunder, Megan Mulally and Marc Maron all pop up. The season finale delivers a kinda rapprochement for the main characters whilst also stranding them in LA and so making it perfectly clear that another season is coming...

...and here we are! Rescue from LA arriives rapidly in the form of bus tickets but only Elora (Devery Jacobs), Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis) and Cheese (Lane Factor) make it back to the reservation. Bear (D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai) gets lost and goes on a journey for a couple of episodes which involves a surprising lack of dehydration considering how much walking through the desert with no money he does. It's also, at times, really quite creepy and sinister which is all a bit of an unexpected swerve.

But he does make it home and it's nice to get the gang back together as they re-unite on the reservation - although we then immediately take another unexpected swerve into the past to visit some characters we barely know, which seems like an odd choice until the next episode nicely ties things up to the present day. And there's time for a few more diversions before we wrap things up nicely with a charming final episode which ties it all together nicely with a strong sense of community whilst also opening up paths away from the reservation for several of the characters.

It all manages to refer to Native American history and mythology in an educational and entertaining way, relating it to and contrasting it with present-day reservation life and the modern world in general. The concept of spirits is really nicely done as well, with either friends or random historical characters popping up at the least expected times to dispense useful or completely useless advice or to just shoot the breeze in a helpful or utterly unnecessary way.

It's not a full-on comedy, but it's a really well written piece of drama populated with characters who you really care about. Also, whilst I'm (thankfully) not a man with much experience of grief, this feels like it has a lot of wise and heartfelt words on the subject. It's also really well acted with the young cast previously mentioned being nicely believable in a worldly wise yet innocent way, but Devery Jacobs takes the plaudits for some great scenes, particularly in episode 9. 

Elva Guerra as Jackie also deserves a mention (although she doesn't have as much to do in this season) and among the elder actors, Sarah Podemski excels as Rita, Bear's mum with Zahn McClarnon also doing a great job as Officer Big. Dallas Goldtooth as William Knifeman and Kirk Fox as Kenny Boy also provide good comic support, but there are really too many to mention. Season three had less impressive guest stars though - I only recognised Ethan Hawke this time around.

I'm really glad The Guardian reminded me of this - I've enjoyed hanging out with all these people and watching them fail, learn and grow across three seasons. All in all, it's a really well written and acted series which is set in a completely alien environment whilst also being extremely relatable. So it's a strong recommendation from me which you've probably missed because it's not overly promoted on Disney+.

#19 - Sorry, no time available for this
#21 - Exactly as expected

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