Reservation Dogs

A show like this lives or dies on the chemistry of its cast, and Reservation Dogs has talent in spades. ... More than anything, Reservation Dogs is a perfect summer series, one that takes places on languid afternoons and moves at an unhurried pace.

From the cast to the setting, there’s a clear, abiding sense of place that runs through the small community in which the show is set. There’s history and pain and struggle there, but it never lapses into poverty porn; at all times, Harjo, Waititi, and the rest of the cast and crew treat their characters with dignity and nuance, even as we laugh with/at them.

“Reservation Dogs” is a near-perfect study of dispossession. ... “Reservation Dogs” is a mood piece, and a sweet one, a collection of intertwined and poetic portraiture that focusses not solely on the central cast.

Like a lot of great art, Reservation Dogs challenges its audience with wit and style to look in spaces that have long been ignored, and identify with experiences that are outside their own.

Harjo and Waititi take their time painting the picture. They introduce outsiders (who stereotype residents) and give us a strong sense of what it’s like on the inside. ... “Reservation Dogs” is the comedy you never expected but may just need. It’s powerful dive into a world that’s oh-so deep.

The show is not a downer but a welcome look at an under-represented culture through Waititi’s and Harjo’s cracked lens. It’s a series full of oddball characters with a likeable quartet at its center.

“Reservation Dogs” is a lovely, eminently watchable triumph.

“Reservation Dogs” takes a couple of episodes to find its footing, but by episode three, I was hooked.

Reservation Dogs is making important strides, not least of which is being one of the best new shows of the year.

“Reservation Dogs” is kooky, hilarious, and just what you’d expect from the minds of co-creators Waititi and Harjo.With a cast of newcomers you’ll want to watch weekly, this is a surprising series that illustrates why everyone’s story is worth telling.

For all its quirkiness, Reservation Dogs remains emotionally resonant because its central foursome is so instantly, vividly drawn.

After the first two episode, we want to see these kids get that money and leave, even though we know that’s not likely to happen. Even if they steal everything in sight, Harjo and Waititi have seen to it that we quickly want to root for them to steal even more, even though we know we shouldn’t. That’s a pretty damn good sign.

From the pilot on, “Reservation Dogs” arrives fully formed, with a cinematic eye for its sun-baked environs. ... Bear’s journey is engagingly detailed in the four episodes screened for critics (of eight total), so it’s a bit disappointing that the show fails to deepen any of the other characters, even to establish their friendship dynamics.

It’s challenging to look into the future and imagine what this series might become. Still, there’s every reason to hope and believe that this is a show that’s only just finding its footing, and all the stuff that feels smart and unusual right now will only become deeper, more confident, funnier, and more distinctive.

There are times the humor needs a moment to breathe but with the dense subject matter and only about 26 minutes each episode, that’s a risk the showrunner (also Harjo) is willing to take. Overall, these dangerous creative choices pay off. The clever banter and creativity allows for a unique perspective to be seen on television for the first time.

A show like Reservation Dogs feels long overdue. And this exact show? It’s awfully good, even if its heroes are bad at being bad.

Viewers are supposed to invest in the conflict between our heroes and the Indian Mafia — or perhaps the dream move to California — Reservation Dogs hasn’t tightened its storytelling enough for that to be the case for me. And maybe it never will. ... In any case, there are more than enough pleasures to be found in this easygoing, but quietly revolutionary, Southwestern snapshot.

Harjo and Waititi have presented a promising and welcome contribution to teenage malaise and misbehavior on the small screen. For that, it's well worth the watch.

These are the low-key and absurdist moments that fill the otherwise empty hours of their days, both cementing and testing their bonds of friendship. The show’s title may be a wink in the direction of Quentin Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs,” but the comparison ends there. If anything, the show’s episodic, site-specific misadventures will bring to mind another FX series, Donald Glover’s “Atlanta,” and there’s a loose, throwback ‘70s feel to here.

The series captures a feeling more successfully than it develops its characters, but there’s a thematic power to that aimlessness.