Happy Sunday, Streamers.
First - if you’re new here, welcome to The Sunday Stream, where you get the best streaming recs in your inbox every Sunday morning. If you like what you see, feel free to subscribe and share with a friend who never knows what to watch.
This week, we have a profoundly silly (or sillily profound?) comedy in the Rec Room that gives an underserved culture its due, and then another round of Stream It or Skip It.
Now let’s get to it.
Rec Room: Reservation Dogs
What It’s About: This comedy-drama follows the exploits of four Indigenous teenagers in rural Oklahoma who, after losing a friend to suicide, decide to steal, rob, and save to flee together to the faraway land of California.
Why You Should Watch: For teenage misadventures, laughs, and strangely deep wisdom.
I missed Reservation Dogs when it first came around, and now that I’m catching up, I’m kicking myself for doing so. Season 2 dropped earlier this month, and there’s so much to love about the show. It’s full of heart, laughs, and a spectacular all-indigenous cast that instills the show with a palpable sense of place that sometimes makes you feel like you’re watching a documentary. Most of all, the genuine care the creators take in depicting an underserved culture is not only admirable but done with real purpose. Reservation Dogs is not a random dart on the board for some development exec who greenlit a show in the name of progressivism - it’s a timeless coming-of-age story about class struggle made unique by the way it’s colored by indigenous culture. These teens want what any teen wants - autonomy, money for weed, sex, a car etc., etc. Those needs are coupled with questions of how (if at all) they reconcile the beliefs and practices of their ancestors within their contemporary world, which is often played for laughs but also takes on more profound significance as they look for meaning in the wake of their friend’s death. This juggling act is most on display with the show’s adept (and hilarious) takes on wisdom. One of Reservation Dogs’ best tricks is how over and over again, they poke fun at ancient indigenous wisdom while also showing most of it still holds water (as I write this in the middle of a wedding weekend, I assure you, “he who hoots with the owls at night cannot soar with the eagles in the morning” still tracks). You would be wise to check this one out.
Who’s In It, and Where You Probably Know Them From:
Most of the cast are relative newcomers, but there are a couple of faces you might recognize:
Zahn McClarnon - You might remember him from Longmire, Fargo, or the second season of Westworld.
Bobby Lee - This comedian’s been in everything, including Mad TV, Pineapple Express, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle.
Who Made It, and What Else Have They Done: The series was co-created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi, the latter you might recognize as the increasingly prolific mind behind What We Do In The Shadows, Jojo Rabbit, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Thor: Ragnorak, and an alleged upcoming Star Wars trilogy.
Where You Can Watch: Hulu
Stream It or Skip It?
First, the results from last week: 64% of you voted to stream House Of Hammer, which isn’t surprising given how salacious that show looks.
This week, we’ve got three pieces of content that we want to get your thoughts on. Use the polls to tell us - are you going to Stream It? Or Skip It?
Wednesday Addams
Coming soon to Netflix, Wednesday Addams is an Addams Family reboot focused on, you guessed it, their daughter Wednesday. With a strong cast and Tim Burton’s involvement (who famously passed on being involved with the original reboot movie in the early ‘90s), this could be one to watch. Snap snap.
The Greatest Beer Run Ever
Coming to Apple TV+ on September 20th, this film tells the (apparently) real story of a guy who decided to deliver beer to soldiers during the Vietnam War. And here, that guy is played by Zac Efron. Huh.
Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities
Coming to Netflix just in time for Halloween, Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities will be an eight-episode horror anthology series. Spooky.