Draft:House Made of Bongs

"House Made of Bongs" is the fifth episode of the third and final season of the comedy and teen drama, Reservation Dogs. It is the twenty-third overall episode. The episode was directed by Blackhorse Lowe and was written by Tommy Pico and Sterlin Harjo. It was released on Hulu on August 23, 2023, under their FX on Hulu content hub. The episode takes place in 1976 and features no appearances by the main cast.

Plot
In 1976 in Okern, Maximus, Brownie, Bucky, Irene, and Mabel are students at the same boarding school attended by Deer Lady, but now there are some Indian teachers, it is more like a regular boarding school, and there are sports teams called "Chieftains" (with an Indian mascot). It is the end of the school year. Maximus (who prefers to be called Cvpon) is filming his friends, making the home movies shown in episode 2. They go to a party by a lake where they smoke marijuana, drink, and take LSD. They talk about what they want for their older selves. Maximus has never taken LSD before and is very altered. Fixico arrives and is very popular. He has recently begun his training as a medicine man and Maximus is jealous. Fixico tries to make peace with Maximus but fails. Driving home, Maximus has his first encounter with the star people, but no one believes him.

Production
The episode was directed by Blackhorse Lowe and written by Tommy Pico and Sterlin Harjo. None of the main cast appeared in the episode, it instead primarily features five guest stars (Isaac Arellanes, Mato Wayuhi, Shelby Factor, Quannah Chasinghorse, and Nathan Alexis) who portray the younger version of characters who have previously recurred throughout the series. Lowe compared the script to Dazed and Confused and stated that his inspiration was taken from Steven Spielberg directed films such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. "House Made of Bongs" is set in the year 1976. . The episode forms a loose story arc with the following episode, "Frankfurter Sandwich," which is set in 2023, but was also directed by Lowe and co-written by Harjo. Cast and crew members screened Two-Lane Blacktop, Vanishing Point, and Husbands with Lowe at Circle Cinema in Tulsa, Oklahoma before filming on the two episodes commenced. Lowe also said they attempted to use as many special effects as they could in-camera rather than add them in post production. Featured music from the 1960s and 1970s included songs such as "I'm on Fire" by the Dwight Twilley Band, "Jailbreak"by Thin Lizzy, and "Call Me the Breeze" by J.J. Cale, as well as those from other artists including 13th Floor Elevators, Fanny, and Ultimate Spinach.

Reception
Reviewing for The A.V. Club, Manuel Betancourt stated that the episode allowed Reservation Dogs to "offer a much more robust vision of Native life over the decades" and noted the comparisons to Dazed and Confused. Betancourt also opines that the episode is one of the funniest in the third season and most inventive in the series overall. Kali Simmons with Vulture notes that "House Made of Bongs" allowed viewers to see the similarities between Maximus and Bear. TV Insider's Megan Darwish wrote that the younger actors "seemingly encapsulate their older counterparts with pitch-perfect performances". Alan Sepinwall, writing for Rolling Stone, mentions the contrast of the scenes set at the school compared to what is seen in the present-day set episodes and its state two episodes earlier in "Deer Lady". Pico and Harjo were nominated in the episodic comedy category for their work on the episode at the 2024 Writers Guild of America Awards.