Elora hasn’t apologized for what she did, and Bear is still upset. If she leaves again, he tells his mom, they’re done. Rita disagrees. She says that’s not how family works. ..
Willie Jack keeps a good distance from Jackie. The speakers, a couple of native influencers, hand out notebooks and ask everyone to write about a time when they were happy. Willie Jack listens attentively, but he doesn’t say much.
One of the speakers, “Miss Matriarch,” encourages Jackie to share her story among her friends. When Jackie insists these people are her enemies, Miss Matriarch says, “That is a colonized way of thinking.” Back in the day, they didn’t have enemies among themselves. “These are your people,” she says. So, Jackie reads about when she was little and her brother taught her to ride a bike.
The teens go through several activities, including a potato dance. Jackie and Bear and paired up for a potato dance, which they struggle through but ultimately win. Willie Jack becomes upset and makes fun of Jackie, so Cheese berates her with a trademark sage remark. He says everyone is having fun here except for Willie Jack.
Elora guides a blindfolded bear through an obstacle course that represents how they need to rely on their own people. The course includes obstacles such as a rock wall, a tree, and a river.
Elora asks Bear if he can respect that she’s trying. “Are we good?” she asks. Bear says he doesn’t know yet. But he smiles when he sees they’ve crossed the finish line. ..
Next, the speakers take Willie Jack and Jackie aside for a trust fall. Jackie falls, but Willie Jack purposely doesn’t catch her. She tells her that maybe her brother should put her training wheels back on.
After Jackie storms out, others inform Willie Jack that Jackie’s brother had died. “I didn’t know that,” Willie Jacks says. ..
Later, Cheese asks the speakers about what decolonization is since it’s such a focus of the summit. How can the things they did today help to decolonize? The speakers are vague with their answers, but encourage the young people to keep asking questions and challenging themselves. ..
At the closing remarks, Willie Jack leaves. She finds Jackie at the front desk, sitting alone, and greets her. “Sorry about before,” she says. “I didn’t know you lost a brother.” Jackie tells her to watch her back.
Elora comments to Cheese and Bear about how Willie Jack did something that was really messed up. Bear scoffs. She can’t fault Willie Jack for being loyal. After all, that’s not something Elora knows anything about. He says she just left them and expected them to still be there for her. In one last scathing remark, he says she’ll end up just like her grandmother–alone.
Elora is mad now. She tells Bear she’s living in a drama and can’t see outside herself. She’s sorry she hurt him-but not sorry she left. Before leaving, she tells him not to talk to her for a while.
Elora is sitting in her grandma’s room when she hears singing. She turns on the light and it’s quiet. Elora sees that she’s completely alone in the house.
The Episode Review
Reservation Dogs is a brilliantly written and delivered comedy that is full of subtle humor. The strengths of the film are due in part to the writing, but also to the talented young actors who are equally adept at playing out intensely emotional moments. ..
This episode is another great example of how CBC’s “Decolonativization” series is exploring the complex and sensitive topics of colonialism and race. It manages to take a couple of rocky relationships and really dig into them, not resolving issues but exploring the hard feelings and changing the landscape of these relationships once again.
Willie Jack and Bear are now feeling guilty for their actions in the original script. Can the Rez Dogs take what their community has been trying to teach them all along? To rely on each other, and hold one another up? ..
