Drama
Tempest
Tempest raises some relevant questions about faith, but strong violence may make this Korean thriller a tough watch.
The Rez Dogs share a dream: to leave their homes on an Oklahoma reservation and journey to California.
The “California dream” was born in the mind of Daniel, who died last year. But the remaining members of the gang (Elora, Bear, Cheese and Willie Jack) wish to honor his memory by seeing it through.
Only problem is, they don’t exactly have the resources to go to California. Most of them come from poor, broken families. So they decide to get the money through other methods.
They start stealing.
FX on Hulu’s Reservation Dogs is notable for a few reasons: It’s the first series to feature all Indigenous writers and directors, along with an almost entirely Indigenous North American cast and crew. (It’s also the first series to be filmed entirely in Oklahoma.) As such, a lot of Native American culture comes into play.
There’s a strong sense of community on the reservation. Kids whose dads abandoned them or whose moms passed away find other parent figures to look up to. And teens are encouraged to embrace their culture and the ways of their ancestors.
Those ways involve some animistic spiritual practices. Bear is frequently visited by an Indigenous warrior spirit claiming to have been sent to act as a guide to the teen, for instance. After a tornado hits their town, Willie Jack blames herself for the disaster since she asked a white man (who claimed to be a wizard) to curse her nemesis. And elders in their community agree she messed with “bad medicine,” sending her on a mission to reverse the curse.
Though most of the spiritual stuff (as well as the “gang issues”) is played for comedy, the show still has some serious issues.
We learn that Daniel died by suicide, and there’s a flashback to this scene in the first season. (And we later hear about another boy who similarly passed away.)
Language is also obscene, with frequent uses of the f-word and multiple racial slurs (again, played for comedy).
So while Reservation Dogs gives a compelling look into Indigenous culture, most families will probably have their reservations about the show.
The Rez Dogs attend a youth seminar geared at teaching Indigenous teens to reject colonialism and embrace their roots.
A woman says she had sex with another woman’s husband and son (though not at the same time, she defends). She worries the other woman may have poisoned her food and refuses to eat it. A woman stops dancing with a man when he hits on her.
During a trust fall exercise, Willie Jack allows her nemesis, Jackie, to fall to the ground. She then makes a rude comment about Jackie’s brother before someone informs her that Jackie’s brother died. (Willie Jack apologizes, but Jackie is still upset with her.) When told to write down their favorite memory, one of the teens asks what they should write if they’ve never been happy.
We hear that some teens “go spray-painting, fight and steal.” A boy is punished for throwing a party while his mom was gone. Another boy wears a necklace with a marijuana pendant. We see someone drink an energy drink from a wine glass. An adult accidentally blows smoke from a smoke machine into the faces of several teens, who cough. A girl rudely changes seats, claiming she doesn’t want to get lice from another person.
A woman talks about all the people and creatures (including dinosaurs) who “owned” the land before Native Americans. There are spiritual references to ancestors. A man instructs a girl to hold out her arms to catch someone “like Jesus did for you.” A girl imagines hearing her ancestors singing.
We hear dozens of uses of the f-word, as well as the s-word, “a–,” “b–ch” and “p-ss.” Several people call a redheaded kid “White Steve.” (And a flashback shows the boy went through an initiation of sorts, allowing his Indigenous friends to beat him up in order to be embraced by their crew.) We hear other racially-charged statements.
Most of the teens who attend the seminar only do so to receive a fast-food restaurant gift card. And while they don’t learn much from the self-promoting influencers who lead it, they still have fun bonding with their peers.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
Tempest raises some relevant questions about faith, but strong violence may make this Korean thriller a tough watch.
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