Reservation Dogs: parents' guide
Best for ages 15 and up. Rated TV-MA.
A funny, tender and sometimes heavy comedy-drama for teens 15 and up, ideally watched with a parent. Four Native teens in rural Oklahoma scheme to get to California after their friend's suicide, and three seasons follow their grief and their community. Language is constant, with many f-words and some slurs. Adults drink and smoke marijuana, and a 1970s flashback shows teens taking LSD. Season 2 adds male rear nudity and a crude sexual ritual with dead catfish. A flashback shows the friend's death being discovered, a grandmother dies, and a season 3 episode depicts the abuse and killing of children at an Indian boarding school.
What's in it
Violence
ModerateA rival gang beats a teen and fires paintballs at the group, armed men chase two girls, and a masked hate group assaults two men and holds them captive. A season 3 episode shows children beaten and killed at a boarding school.
Language
StrongConstant f-words and s-words, with dozens of f-words in a single season 2 episode by Plugged In's count, plus 'ass,' 'bitch' and 'piss.' Racial slurs and racially charged nicknames appear, often as humor.
Sex and nudity
ModerateMostly crude talk, such as a woman boasting she slept with another woman's husband and son, and aunties looking for hookups. Season 2 shows an uncle wandering naked (male rear nudity) and a masked group's ritual involving crude sex acts with decapitated catfish.
Drinking, drugs and smoking
StrongAdults drink, sometimes heavily, and smoke marijuana; an uncle grows weed the teens help sell, and teens who steal marijuana face consequences. A 1970s flashback party shows teens drinking, smoking pot and taking LSD, and a tribal officer unknowingly drinks a psychedelic-laced soda and hallucinates.
Scary or intense scenes
ModerateGrief drives the show. A flashback shows the discovery of a teen's suicide, a grandmother and an elder die, spirits appear, and a drugged man relives a death. The season 3 boarding school episode about abuse and killings of Native children is especially intense.
Sensitive topics
- Suicide
- Death of a parent
- Child abuse
- Death of a child
- Racism
Worth talking about
The show touches on the history of Indian boarding schools and how a community carries grief together. Ask your teen what the characters learn about asking for help after a loss.
On our lists
Similar picks around 15+
Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, Plugged In, Wikipedia, justwatch.com. The age is our judgment, not an official rating, and every family draws its lines differently: read the notes, not just the number. Spotted something we missed? Tell us. How we rate.