Reservation Dogs (Season 3) Episode 5: The third and final season of ‘Reservation Dogs’ is getting better with every new episode. Until now, it showed the result of the secret trip by its gang of indigenous teens. While Aunt Teenie helped them get back from California, they forgot to check if Bear was with them. After being left behind, Bear went on a whirlwind of an adventure where he met Maximus and Deer Lady. Besides the spirit, he also saw the conquistador, which Jackie could not believe.
Now, the fifth episode delves into events from the past of a bunch of indigenous teens. But none of them are the Rez dogs we meet episode after episode. These are friends of Maximus, the man Bear met during his solitary journey. This episode’s Dazed-and-Confused style treatment makes it an incredibly nostalgic kick. Thanks to a grounded and empathy-driven direction by Blackhorse Lowe, you feel nostalgic for these people and places even if you have not lived these particular experiences.
Spoilers ahead.
Reservation Dogs (Season 3) Episode 5 ‘House Made of Bongs’ Recap:
The fifth episode follows the past of Maximus, the old man Bear met in episode 2 of the third season. We see a bunch of teenage characters that were introduced as older people. Like Richard Linklater’s cult classic, Dazed and Confused, we see the lives of indigenous teens from Okern, Oklahoma, in 1976. A car is parked next to St Nicholas Training School, and three teens walk out. Irene and Mabel ask Brownie to fix his car door. In the class, Bucky walks in shouting ‘Frankfurter Sandwiches’. Every student understands the reference and giggles at it, acknowledging that Bucky quite often acts impulsively.
Summer Break
The coach asks Bucky to ‘kick rocks.’ Then, he addresses his students about their summer break. He asks them not to act like jerks, partying around, fornicating, and whatnot. The man does his job to make the teens understand – they need to act responsibly. Once others leave, he approaches Maximus, who wants to be referred to as Chebon. The coach asks if Maximus is going to stay in the dorm. Maximus does not answer anything right away. Then, he starts walking through the school’s doorway, shooting with his camera, capturing his mates and seniors. Among them are Mabel and Irene, who have a short talk with him. They ask him to turn the camcorder off before Brownie comes.
The Three Stooges
Mabel and Irene ask Maximus if he got the windowpane. He forgot but promised to get them soon. Maximus walks out to find the ‘Indian country’s answer to the Three Stooges’ – Limpy, Shrimphy, and Pimply. He asks them to help with finding window panes. They direct him to check with Fixico – the old ‘medicine man’ that Willie Jack hoped to be a successor to. Maximus had been fighting with teen Fixico (his cousin) over a girl named Mabel. He says that Fixico and Mable broke up.
One of the stooges reminds him not to hold grudges against his family member. Later, Bucky asks him to come home with him for the summer. Maximus says that he does not want to feel like a burden. Besides, he has the perfect excuse of spending time watching movies in the theatre and reading books. Anyhow, Bucky requests him to let go of his resentment toward Fixico.
Maximus & Fixico
A still from Reservation Dogs (Season 3) Episode 5The coach notices his ex-student, Brownie, outside the school. He thinks Brownie should have cared about opportunities to grow his life beyond what is immediately available. Brownie, however, is more concerned with going with the flow. Soon after, these teens go out to have some snacks. While they talk about drugs, Fixico arrives in his car. Maximus does not want to get drugs from him. But Brownie still walks out and gets hold of them. Meanwhile, Mabel tries to cheer Maximus up by asking about something that he genuinely is passionate about ‘the golden light.’ He explains it, and she makes him not feel like a nerd for doing so.
Why was Maximus upset at Fixico?
Later, they all go out near a lake. While others enjoy smoking with Fixico, Mabel stays back with Maximus to have a heart-to-heart. He says that he is not mad about Mabel’s relationship with Fixico but about some family affair. Maximus felt that Fixico always looked down on him. So, he felt ignored, and Fixico’s fascination with medicine made him feel even more side-lined. Fixico’s parents could afford to pay for his interests, but Maximus did not have any such support. He is upset that Fixico does not even acknowledge these differences.
Future Aspirations
The teens start talking about their aspirations. Brownie uses his welding schools to get to travel to many places. He plans to save enough money to use his fighting skills to good use. Irene says she wants to join AIMS and storm the capital. Mabel says she wants to raise babies and have a family. Maximus says he also wants to have kids. He does not have a clear vision of his future. He only aspires to make movies like the ones he loves watching. But everyone starts laughing at his big Hollywood dreams. Maybe the lack of Native American representation in the production and in front of the camera makes them not consider it a believable alternative. Nevertheless, Maximus gets upset and calls out their crab mentality. Stoned Bucky, who wishes to be a scientist, starts rambling about Heisenberg and his theories.
Reservation Dogs (Season 3) Episode 5 Ending Explained:
The Alien Meeting
Brownie hands them acid pills to get high. Maximus, apparently, was having a trip for the first time out of peer pressure. In the middle of his dialogue with Bucky, he starts zoning out. By nightfall, others decide to hit the road. Fixico takes a step forward to close the distance and invites him home to meet their grandmother. But Maximus is still not over his anger toward Fixico. So, he hardly cares about it.
Eventually, Maximus drives his friends back home. Irene starts rambling about the concept of boarding school being ‘Anti-Indian.’ She talks against not just stripping people of their language but also breaking their social structures. Mable shuts her up. Bucky says it is like cutting links. He rambles on and on about self-worth and suddenly starts singing. ‘How beautiful it is to never search for who you are, everything is here in the millenniums of certainty, living in the mirror,’ he recites. Maximus tries to stay sane while everyone dozes off. Suddenly, he sees a bright light outside. He stops the car and walks out to see an alien who communicates with him.
Suddenly, others wake up and ridicule Maximus’s vision. He keeps calling aliens their relatives. They say it’s just in his mind. In the scenario, Maximus feels woefully ignored. It showed a mirror to the bigger picture of his sadness. No one believed in his vision, and everyone made him feel alien in his own skin. It resulted in him never being the filmmaker or the artist he could have been.
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Reservation Dogs (Season 3) Episode 5 Links: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Wikipedia
Reservation Dogs (Season 3) Episode 5 Cast: Devery Jacobs, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Lane Factor, Paulina Alexis
Reservation Dogs (Season 3) Genre: Comedy
Where to watch Reservation Dogs
