Reservation Dogs is "so past" Emmys

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https://www.gq.com/story/reservation...arjo-interview

Reservation Dogs Creator Sterlin Harjo on Balancing Jokes and Tears in the Season 2 Finale, and Not Caring About Emmy Snubs

“The fact that I get to tell this story and we're on Season 3, I mean, that's better than any Emmy.”

BY ARIEL LEBEAU

October 3, 2022

In the final minutes of the second season of Reservation Dogs, the eponymous clique of Indigenous teens at the center of the inventive FX series gaze at the ocean for the first time, having ventured to California from their landlocked home of Oklahoma to fulfill a promise made to their late friend Daniel. Cheese, the group’s gentle philosopher, marvels at the tide: “It just keeps going,” he says, also summarizing the thematic undercurrent of Season 2, in which the rez dogs strive to find balance and heal through the elliptical waves of grief.

Led by creator and showrunner Sterlin Harjo, Reservation Dogs swivels from raw emotion to absurdist humor to spiritual revelation with impressive grace in its brief 25-30 minute episodes, bolstered by visual and cultural specificity that distinguishes it from anything else on TV. Harjo cut his teeth as an independent filmmaker and member of sketch comedy troupe The 1491s before teaming up with fellow Indigenous writer/director Taika Waititi to co-write the Rez Dogs pilot, which premiered on International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples in 2021. The series draws from Harjo’s personal experiences of growing up in Oklahoma, as well as the experiences of his cast and crew, all of whom are also Indigenous—making it the first TV production of its kind.

Season 2 of Reservation Dogs gestures to the ways Native communities are impacted by the carceral system, intergenerational trauma, and depression/suicide, while retaining the humor and heart that make the show and its characters so rewarding to love. Harjo’s knack for keeping the show grounded yet light on its feet is on perfect display in the season finale: One minute you’re snickering at a delightfully odd cameo from Incubus frontman Brandon Boyd as White Jesus, and the next you’re ugly-crying from the healing power of friendship and community.

Harjo chatted with GQ about what went into writing Season 2, the importance of community, and what he really thinks about the Emmy voters who snubbed the show.