WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Reservation Dogs Season 1, Episode 7, "California Dreamin'," now streaming on FX on Hulu.
The Reservation Dogs make a big deal about leaving their small Oklahoma town. It's a theme that comes up regularly in previous episodes, from Willie Jack's talk with her father, Leon, about her dreams, to the struggle between Elora Danan and Bear in the premiere about what to do with the money they've been saving. It's a goal that keeps haunting the Dogs, but "California Dreamin'" brings an underlying question into the foreground: do they actually want to leave or outrun their grief?
"California Dreamin'" starts by mixing flashbacks of Daniel's last day with Elora Danan's latest attempt to get her driver's license. The DMV is as haphazard as everything else on the reservation, and the clerk is bemused that this is just another in a long string of attempts by Elora to get a formal license to drive. She keeps failing the exam for some reason, and the whole conversation happens under a tourism poster for California. The California dream hangs over every Dog, but for Elora Danan, it's a very real weight in her life.
Elora Danan wasn't all that different a year ago. A little bit more outgoing, maybe, but finding her friend's body has made her a quieter person and more prone to chewing on her own thoughts, as this latest episode shows. She now seems all in on Daniel's dream of leaving the reservation for California, though a year ago the idea was met with a halfhearted 'sure.' To help that goal along, she needs that driver's license. It begs the question of what went wrong in her prior licensing tests; although, her beater of a car lends a partial answer. However, there's a quiet suggestion that the real hinderance is herself.
Every Reservation Dog has slightly sabotaged the goal for themselves. Willie Jack seems like she wants to stay close to home, hunting each season while still figuring out what she wants to do. Cheese is drawn to the idea of becoming a tribal cop instead of leaving to be a detective. Bear's feelings are complicated, but by the end of the premiere he's the one that suggests staying to fight to make their town better. However, Elora's deeply mixed, and what she really wants doesn't come all the way to the forefront here because her grief is still consuming her.
The flashbacks in this episode show that going to California was Daniel's dream, and with that in mind, it makes it easier to look back at the series thus far and see that his dream has become a way for the Dogs to try to retroactively save their friend's spirit by leaving the town and its troubles behind. It's an obligation to leave, not a reflection of what these kids really want. They want change, something to improve, a way to save future kids like Daniel, and it's a hard thing to realize that running away isn't the fix they're looking for.
A glimpse of a tourism poster in the background is another sign that what happened a year ago is still driving these kids today. Their grief will eventually ease, and the obligation they feel toward Daniel's desires should eventually focus on another goal. It's already been hinted at, with Bear's idea to fight for the town. The hardest part of loss is sometimes living without someone, but at the same time, that's what's most necessary to honoring them.
Created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi, Reservation Dogs drops new episodes every Monday on FX on Hulu.
0 Comments