Mabel

The community gathers to say goodbye

**Mabel** is the fourth episode of the second season and twelfth episode overall of *Reservation Dogs*.

## Synopsis

The village comes together to send Mabel on her journey.

## Plot

Old Man Fixico lights a fire and performs a ceremony by Mabel's bedside. As Elora sits next to her, Wotko starts singing.

Several people prepare food and coffee.

Elora comes out to a living room full of people. Rita notices her and gives her a hug. Willie Jack offers her a mug of coffee, which she takes, along with a hug. Auntie B sits next to Mose and Mekko on the couch. They offer her their CD, but she has a pile of them at home already. Charley, Bear, and Cheese come in. They all hug Elora. Cheese tells Elora Mabel's in a better place and she tells him she's not dead yet.

Big comes in and hands Willie Jack a squash, telling her to cook it up when she asks what he expects her to do with it. Big sits down next to Cleo on the couch. Brownie comes in with drinks from Sonic. He drops them off then goes to talk to Mabel.

Brownie sits next to Mabel's bed and holds her hand. She doesn't react.

Big shows Cleo a conspiracy theory video. Cleo's not convinced. Teenie walks in, surprising Big. Rita approaches her and they quickly make peace over Teenie being gone. Teenie approaches Elora next, saying she looks just like Cookie. She introduces herself, but Elora knows who she is.

Bev and Jackie come in with food. Bev hands it off to Bear to take care of it. She makes Mose and Mekko get up, saying she's their elder.

Brownie approaches a group out behind the house. Jumbo, Ray Ray, and the others run away from him.

Willie Jack questions what Jackie is doing there and why she hasn't come over to help or say hi. Elora says she probably just needs to be invited. Elora calls Jackie over to help and she comes, but admits she's never made frybread. Willie Jack calls her a city girl. Teenie tells her to watch it because she's also from the city and can make bread better than any of them. Teenie says she'll teach Jackie how it's done.

Elora goes back to Mabel's room, where Teenie is sitting with her. Teenie puts lipstick on her and tells Elora she's going the right way.

As everyone gets food, Teenie asks Big if he ever got married. He says only to the law and asks if she's looking. She says she has too much baggage. He says it'll fit right next to his baggage. Mose and Mekko rap as people eat until Elora calls everyone's attention to herself. She wants to say a prayer before they eat. She asks Cheese to say it. He has everyone stand and asks Creator to bless the food and the people who made it. When he finishes, everyone starts to eat. Elora hands Bear a plate and asks him to take it out back.

Bear puts the plate next to the grill and goes to walk back. He stops when he hears a horse. It's Spirit, who picks up the food and starts eating it. He's there because Mabel is dying. He has to take her to orientation. He asks what Bear is doing there and he says he has to be there for his friend. Spirit says that's good, but wonders if Elora knows that. Bear assumes so, but Spirit says that's not enough. Elora is in pain. Bear needs to help.

Big says the IHS doctor says he has that "Marioko Aoki." Cleo doesn't believe that's a real thing, but Big insists it is. He asks if Cleo has ever walked into a library and had the sudden urge to go. Something about the books gets him going.

Jackie and Elora do dishes. At the table, Willie Jack says she's still upset with Jackie for jumping Bear. Cheese says Jackie never even met Mabel.

Jackie asks if she and Elora will get back on the road once everything is settled. Elora says yes.

Brownie asks Bear and Cheese if they're snagging yet. Cheese says he's fifteen. Brownie says he was a late bloomer too. Big says he was snagging when he was twelve. Group sex at Baptist church camp.

Teenie, Bev, Auntie B, and Rita talk about Cookie in the kitchen. Teenie tells a story of her and Cookie being drunk at church and Cookie trying to run out, but not making it in time. She puked in the aisle. Mabel was so sweet. She always saw the best in everyone. She thought Cookie was sick, but Fixico gave them away, talking about the "wine flu" that was going around. Mabel then kicked Cookie right in the ass, right out of church. But she still cured them with a big, greasy breakfast, even though she was mad. They agree that she made the best hash browns. Elora is surprised that Mabel did that. Rita says she changed after Cookie died. She took it really hard. They all did. Teenie couldn't come back after Cookie.

Elora tells Wotko she can sit with Mabel if he wants a break. He gets up and she takes his place next to Mabel's bed. She puts chapstick on Mabel's lips and wonders since when was she sweet.

Teenie and Rita watch Willie Jack, Jackie, and Elora clean up the kitchen and say the kids are just like they used to be. Rita says some of them are still there doing it. Bear pokes his head in, but quickly leaves.

Teenie joins Big, who is looking up at the sky. He says events like these are strange. They bring people together. Seems like they should have gotten together before a death. Teenie says a death seems like the best time to come together. It gives closure. She wonders what would have happened if they came together after Cookie died. Big says no one really hung out after that. It ended everything. But it would have been good for him to see Teenie. Now Mabel's going. It's weird. Big doesn't know why he's there. He's not doing a lot. Teenie says they're there for Elora.

Jumbo, Ray Ray, and Charley say goodbye to Mose and Mekko, who grab their bikes and leave, saying they're too short to get high. Bev takes Jumbo's joint with her as she leaves. Auntie B asks Cleo if he wants to check out the beaded medallions she was telling him about. He asks for a rain check and she scoffs and leaves.

Jackie and Bear are slumped together on the couch, asleep. Cheese comments on that. Teenie asks who's single in town. She's trying to find a hometown snag. Willie Jack nods toward Big, who is snoring in a chair. Teenie asks Willie Jack if she has a snag. She says no, and no boyfriend or girlfriend either. She can't be tamed. Leon says she doesn't need any of those shitasses. She can focus on school and deal with those idiots later. Teenie says they used to call Leon Haj dog because no one could down as many beers as him. He once peed in a dryer. Leon gets up to leave. The others giving him crap for leaving wakes up Jackie, who immediately moves away from Bear.

Teenie asks Elora what she's going to do with the house. It's hers once Mabel passes because she's closest to Mabel. She can make it her own or fix it up and sell it, then take the money and go to school. Elora asks when Teenie moved away. Teenie says when Cookie died, she left and didn't know what to do, so she enlisted. She got to travel all over and got a degree. But she was home when Elora was born. They couldn't put her down because she would scream. Cookie was tired, so Teenie held her and rocked her for hours while Cookie slept. She wishes she'd come back sooner, just to see Elora. Teenie hugs Elora.

Jackie asks if Cheese doesn't like her and he admits that he doesn't. He's not supposed to. But life's short. Maybe she's not as bad as they thought. After all, she's there. Jackie says she's there because her aunt made her, but Cheese knows that's not true.

The next morning, everyone is still asleep, strewn over every seat in the house. Elora's the only one awake. She gets up out of her bed, where Teenie is still sleeping. She looks around at all the pictures on her wall. Brownie comes in and tells her it's time. Teenie wakes up and goes with him. Elora follows.

Everyone gathers in Mabel's room and sings. Teenie and Elora sit right next to her. Teenie tells Mabel it's okay, that Cookie's waiting for her. As Mabel takes her last breath, Teenie hugs Elora to her. Elora gets up and leaves the room, so Rita holds Teenie.

Bear wakes up and hears the singing. He watches Elora walk outside, saying she needs air.

Elora goes behind the house and cries. Mabel appears to her as a spirit. She thanks Elora, saying she did good. Elora asks her what now. Mabel says now she's going to go. As she walks away, she tells Elora not to give away her blue willow dish set or she'll haunt her. She says goodbye.

## Cast

### Starring

* Devery Jacobs as Elora Danan Postoak
* D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai as Bear Smallhill
* Lane Factor as Cheese Williams
* Paulina Alexis as Willie Jack Sampson

### Guest Starring

* Tamara Podemski as Teenie Postoak
* Kimberly Guerrero as Auntie B
* Jana Schmieding as Bev
* Sarah Podemski as Rita Smallhill
* Gary Farmer as Uncle Brownie
* Dallas Goldtooth as William "Spirit" Knifeman
* Geraldine Keams as Mabel Postoak
* Elva Guerra as Jackie
* Jon Proudstar as Leon Sampson
* Zahn McClarnon as Big Hill

### Co-Starring

* Lil Mike as Mose
* Funnybone as Mekko
* Darryl W. Handy as Cleo
* Nathan Apodaca AKA Doggface as Uncle Charley
* Migizi Pensoneau as Ray Ray
* Bobby Wilson as Jumbo
* Jula Harjo as Hospice Nurse
* Wotko Long as Security Guard
* Richard Ray Whitman as Old Man Fixico

## Notes and Trivia

* This episode is dedicated to: Beverly Factor Butler, Roger Butler, Linda Kaye Davis, David Galanin, Shan Goshorn, Johnnie Mae Kalinich, Tóta Kenneth, Alex McKay, Magushin Pauline Potts, Will Sampson, Tim Sampson, and Dace Tiger.