“Dogs” drifts through quietly compelling tales

There’s a type of show that ripples through the history of the FX network.
It goes from “Louie” to “Better Things” to “Atlanta” and now to “Reservation Dogs” (shown here), which starts its final season Wednesday (Aug. 2).
Yes, this show is different in some key ways: The others were on FX; “Reservation Dogs” is produced by the FX people, but is strictly on Hulu. The others each focused on one star – Louis C.K., Pamela Adlon, Donald Glover; “Dogs” centers of four teens, drifting through life.
But the spirit is the same. These are shows that feel no compulsion to extract consistent laughs or huge plot twists; it is enough to see interesting people go through life’s odd twists.
“Seinfeld” said it was a show about nothing, but it kept bringing cascades of laughter. These FX shows don’t do that; they might be funny one moment, quietly moving the next; then they reach an interesting sort of neither. They can also change sharply from week to week.
“Reservation Dogs” stands apart (a little) because of its setting. In small-town Oklahoma, we see these American Indian teens – Bear, Elora and Willie Jack, who are shown here, and Cheese — drift through life. This is the first major show in which everyone – writers, producers, directors, main stars – has indigenous roots.
At times, it seems like nothing much will happen … but as last season was ending, there were big steps.
The teens fulfilled their goal of driving to California and scattering their friend’s ashes on the ocean. They lost their money, their car was stolen and they got help from a homeless chap they dubbed White Jesus. And Bear – whose dad is a rapper in California – said he wasn’t going back.
That’s where this season starts, with two episodes Wednesday and weekly ones after that. Bear – plagued by imaginary conversations with a long-ago warrior – sometimes ends up in a separate storyline. The second episode is weird; the third (Aug. 9) is alternately sad, strange and surreal.
All of this arrives at the same time as the second season of “Dark Winds,” a superb Navajo mystery series at 9 p.m. Sundays on AMC (with new episodes debuting Fridays on AMC+). There are even a few actors shared by both shows:
— Zahn McClarnon stars in “Dark Winds” as Joe Leaphorn. He’s already popped up briefly in eight “Reservation Dogs” episodes.
— Elva Guerra plays a solemn and pregnant teen in “Dark Winds”; Joe’s wife, a nurse, took her home to avoid doctors who had been sterilizing native women. Guerra is also prominent in “Reservation Dogs” as Jackie, stoic and dyed-blonde, once the enemy of the main characters and now a key colleague.
Thoses two will be back on the fourth episode (Aug. 16), once the original set-up has been re-assembled. First, however, there are other quetions.
Can the penniless teens get back home? Do they want to? Will Bear find his way?
Like many good shows, this one could hold our interest forever. Like way too many, it’s ending early; the producers have already said that this 10-episode season will finish telling the story.