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Tarantino’s gritty ultraviolence is used for an absurdist point about hope in Reservation Dogs.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the premiere of Reservation Dogs Season 1, Episode 1, “F*ckin’ Rez Dogs,” which aired Monday on FX on Hulu.
Reservation Dogs isn’t shy about its Quentin Tarantino inspirations, starting with a radio broadcast that puts an equally dry and wry Indigenous twist on that classic K-Billy Sounds of the ’70s opening of Reservoir Dogs. Season 1, Episode 1, “F*ckin’ Rez Dogs,” also twists and inverts Tarantino’s ultraviolent anger and lack of trust, going so far as to put the iconic slow walk in black suits at the end of the pilot instead of the beginning. It’s heady yet unusually hopeful because, as Reservation Dogs opens, the worst has already happened.
Reservation Dogs’ premiere opens with a heist, set to the chill beat of an Indigenous host introducing a tune by The Stooges, and the tune he picks, Iggy Pop’s “I Wanna be Your Dog,” is a callback to his own less than legal days of snag-fishing on the Oklahoma rivers. This is a timeless track that would slot effortlessly into any Tarantino film, and Reservation Dogs‘ tone is set from here, as these kids are up to the same kind of trouble as those from decades ago. The episode even ends with a funeral, followed by a visual callback to the slow walk and black suits from Reservoir Dogs’ opening.
The Tarantino’s themes in Reservation Dogs aren’t subtle, with Bear even having a Reservoir Dogs poster in his room. Plus, the lives of these Dogs are minimalist yet rough, and there’s trouble with a rival gang. However, the absurdism creeps in alongside the grittiness, as a drive-by shooting takes on an operatic air despite the ammunition being paintballs, as opposed to the usual violence in a Tarantino film. Despite this, the stakes run high for the Dogs, who grieve the loss of their fifth member, and crime is a way for them to deal with said grief.
The show’s premiere then takes the black-suited slow walk that marks the promo posters for both the Tarantino movie and Reservation Dogs and puts an emotional spin on it. In the Tarantino film, the Dogs are ready to go on their diamond heist, with no idea how much it’s about to cost them. Meanwhile here, it’s not known what happened to Daniel, the fallen friend, but Bear, Elora Danan, Cheese and Willie Jack say goodbye to him, and they’ve dressed up for the occasion. Afterward, they walk in slow-motion, not to look cool but to carry their heavy grief.
The rival gang then speeds by, but this time they only show off how they’ve taken the Dogs’ rightfully stolen goods. However, the Dogs aren’t in any shape to get revenge on the competing mafia. Instead, they begin to tilt toward the idea of becoming the town’s vigilantes. To top it off, Cheese throws in a Tarantino joke, asking if he can be the group’s Mr. Camouflage.
On the one hand, the running Tarantino gag is about disadvantaged kids playing in a world that’s bigger and tougher than they’ve got the heart to be. At the same time, it’s clear this is about subverting their world’s tendency toward cruelty. It’s a rough life, but kindness matters, and these four kids will never sell each other out the way Tarantino’s pack did, and the spirit of their friend will stay with them as they figure things out for themselves.
It’s a hopeful twist on Tarantino’s classic themes, and with new episodes airing on FX on Hulu every Monday, it’ll be exciting to see how Reservation Dogs reworks the styles and tones associated with the show’s namesake.
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