Yahoo News ‘Reservation Dogs’ Series Finale: Sterlin Harjo On Saying Goodbye With Love, Legacy & “Fekke Hvmken”
SPOILER ALERT: This article contains detains of the Reservation Dogs series finale “Dig,” which dropped late last night on Hulu.
“I’m leaving,” Elora (Devery Jacobs) tells Bear (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai) in the Reservation Dogs series finale as they sit before the coffin of Old Man Fixico (Richard Ray Whitman). “It’s awesome … I’m proud of you,” Bear replies after a pause, giving his best friend his support. “I mean, of course, I’m going to miss you,” he adds, as the duo tell each other with tears how much they truly love each other after all they have been through over the show’s three seasons.
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“You’re reminded we’re a community, and we take care of each other, and that is something that I’ve always wanted to show in this show,” co-creator Sterlin Harjo says of the finale, the funeral and the series itself. As he has in every one of the Rez Dogs‘ three seasons on FX and Hulu, Harjo directed the finale, which he also co-wrote with Chad Charlie. “Everything that you see on this episode is exactly what happens in my community.”
It is a clear reflection indeed.
A delicately crafted departure full of mourning, celebration, reflection and community, “Dig” openly pays homage to its influences of auteur cinema, personal history and the setting of soundtrack. “Locked and loaded,” as Paulina Alexis’ Willie Jack declares, the emotionally and psychologically comprehensive finale ranks as one of the best series-enders the small screen has witnessed in a long time.
At a running time of 38 minutes and at the end of a 28-episode run, it is a thing complete unto itself with life and death and the importance of everything in between and beyond right up front.
Set among the Indigenous communities of rural Oklahoma and co-starring Lane Factor as “Cheese,” the Harjo- and Tailka Waititi-created Rez Dogs announced in late June that the third season of the Peabody Award-winning show would be its last. The third and final 10-episode season starring Zahn McClarnon, Kirk Fox, Gary Farmer, Elva Guerra, Sarah Podemski and Lily Gladstone debuted August 2 with a two-episode premiere.
Letting the “Dig” finale percolate a bit after its streaming debut late last night, Harjo spoke with me about bringing this conclusion together, his homage to Robert Altman, and some Robbie Robertson. Revealing a bit about his future projects (we see you, Ethan Hawke), the filmmaker also introduced me to the term “fekke hvmken” and how it lies at the heart of the end of Reservation Dogs.
DEADLINE: It’s an old TV trope that series finales can leave a sweet or bitter aftertaste. So what is your take on “Dig”?
HARJO: I think the last episode, for me, it’s kind of this welcoming end of all of my characters back to this community, this world. It’s also reflective I think, of what we created as a family, as artists. It is a very supportive, inspired, open community of artists making this show, and then that expanded to the fans, and the fans have been with us from the beginning.
Everything that you see on this episode is exactly what happens in my community.
We fast. We sing songs as you transport the body to different places, and you finally end in this church. The men dig. Women cook. You break the fast in the morning. You eat, and it’s all this thing of where we come together, and people are very sad, but they’re also laughing, and you’re reminded of why we do this. You’re reminded we’re a community, and we take care of each other, and that is something that I’ve always wanted to show in this show.
DEADLINE: The show had a uniquely strong bond with its audience, I found …
HARJO: Dom, I get so many heartwarming messages from people thanking me for making the show –Natives, non-Natives, all across the board. They’re all thanking me for making the show, and for me, the best thing that I can do for those fans that love this show is to make the best finale of any show that’s ever been done, you know? I personally think that this finale is as good, or better, than any finale ever made. I think that if it doesn’t satisfy you, I’d be very surprised.
DEADLINE: It is literally a goodbye with the death and funeral of death of Fixico, a deft move you’ve been building towards this final season. Why did you and Chad make that choice?
HARJO: Because, the show is about community, and so, for me, it was always going to be something like this. You know, I think that with Willie Jack and what she says at the end — it’s like, you know, some will leave, some will go, you know, but we’ll always come back here, we’ll always have each other, and it’ll keep going on like that forever. It’s just something like that. That’s, for me, the show. That’s like, we’ve permeated everything. This show can never not exist.
DEADLINE: So, is the journey over?
HARJO: Like a spinoff? Maybe, I have ideas, but they’re not this story.
DEADLINE: How do you mean?
HARJO: For this story, for this story to end, I wanted to bring everyone back because, yeah, I needed to, like, properly send everyone off. It’s this family that I created that’s based on my family. It’s not about four kids. It’s about this whole community, and I’m meaning to show that, because that’s what it’s about and it is beautiful. And my real family were there.
DEADLINE: That’s amazing.
HARJO: Yeah, my real family, they’re extras in the show, you know?
DEADLINE: Very cool
HARJO: Yeah. So, it’s like … it’s more meaningful than I can really say, because my family was there celebrating the show with me. And, you know, my family couldn’t be prouder of the show.
DEADLINE: I bet
HARJO: My dad said something one day that really stuck with me. He said, “the show gave Native people a reason to really hold their head up and be proud.” To hear my Native dad say that, you kind of think … like, it doesn’t matter what any nomination you don’t get. It’s like, that’s what matters — that somebody could say something like that about something that you created.
There was this idea in our culture called “fekke hvmken.” Which is the idea you’re so close to people or so in sync. It was used in war, in battle together and stuff. You would be so in sync with each other, or it could be that love or family, but you’d be so in sync with each other, that your heart beats at the same time.
DEADLINE: That’s beautiful.
HARJO: I know, right? Your heart syncs up and beats with each other, and that’s really what it felt like on this show, the whole crew, every actor, everyone that was involved.
It was like we were just on the same page, and we didn’t have always talk to get it.
So, in the finale, there’s not a lot of over-explaining anything. We don’t talk … like, the show never over-explains anything. Even in the finale where we’ve done it all, it’s just about letting this unfold beautifully and experience what we’ve been talking about this whole time. We’ve been talking in this whole show about how community’s important. Kenny Boy (Kirk Fox) even says it, and you know, now let’s experience it.
DEADLINE: For you creatively, how did that translate getting on camera?
HARJO: Interesting you ask. You know, when I was deciding what to do, how to direct it, I thought, who does this the best? And I immediately thought of Robert Altman and Nashville.
DEADLINE: Really?
HARJO: Yeah, how he brings so many characters together and has them interact at the same time, and you know, so, there’s a lot of homage to Nashville and Robert Altman films in that finale. I was inspired by Atlanta too. I look at shows like Atlanta, and I feel really good about the future of cinema and the blending of TV and movies. I think that we’re in a good place, and I’m excited to see what comes out of that.
DEADLINE: Let me bounce a “that’s interesting” back at you …
HARJO: (laughs) Alright ..
DEADLINE: …because, you know, I always feel, when I watch Rez Dogs, there’s such a great sense of culture and community. I mean within Indigenous culture, the setting of Oklahoma, but there’s also a great feel, a love of cinema, a love of music – like the spot-on use of The Band’s “The Weight,” which the recently departed Robbie Robertson wrote.
HARJO: Yeah, he was an Indigenous artist and they’re of my favorite bands, you know.
We put it there, and it was like, oh, man, how perfect would that be if we could use this, and not to mention that it’s one of the most famous songs that’s been used on Easy Rider and whatever other movies. But I wanted it to be something that was recognizable and that’s been used in cinema, because, you know, Reservation Dogs is a show that isn’t afraid to point out and to wear its influences on its shoulder, on its sleeve.
I think that is our real connection to Tarantino – the show is full of homage to cinema that I love and that the other filmmakers love, and the same thing goes with music. I mean, there are some old cuts on this whole show that I hope people rediscover stuff because of it. But, also, here, it was important, man, important to shout-out to Robbie Robertson, who was a Native musician, and was a very talented musician that we just lost.
DEADLINE: You mentioned the future of TV and cinema earlier. So what comes next for you?
HARJO: I have a lot. I have a lot happening. You know, there’s a couple projects with Ethan Hawke (who was in Rez Dogs‘ penultimate episode) that I have. There are some feature films as well, and so, I hope to go right in. I had a great break after the show, but I’m ready to direct again.
DEADLINE: And in saying goodbye to Rez Dogs, even just for now…
HARJO: You know, Dom, there’s nothing that makes me prouder than if something that I created has a pivotal place in the lives and careers of the artists and the actors and the filmmakers and the writers that worked on this show. That was my favorite part. Being able to give opportunity, because that’s all we need. We had the power. We just have to have opportunity, and FX allowed me to do that, and I’m always grateful for that.
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