Frankfurter Sandwich

**Episode Name** is the sixth episode of the third season and 24th episode overall of *Reservation Dogs*.

## Plot

Cheese enters a run-down building with a sword. A zombie nun comes up behind him and he slices her head off. Another zombie appears and he does the same thing to that one.

Cheese is in his room, playing a video game with a VR headset. Irene comes in and suggests that he start cleaning up his room. He wants to get to a checkpoint first. She tells him his relatives are at the door and want to take him for some hamburgers. He asks her to tell them he'll catch up with them later. She says it's a beautiful day and suggests that he go out on the porch and visit with them for a while. He says he'll clean up today, but asks her to tell them he's sick. She says okay, but he needs to get out of his room. He's been in there for too long.

Irene tells Elora, Bear, and Willie Jack that Cheese has the sniffles. Elora asks her to let Cheese know they miss him.

Irene makes a call.

Irene and Bucky watch Cheese play his game.

Irene pushes Cheese out the door with Bucky and tells him to have fun. Cheese is confused, but Irene just tells him to go with his uncles and they'll take care of him. When he's told what day it is, Cheese says time flies when you're fighting zombies. The uncles say they fight zombies you can't see, like racism and the man. They're there on Mission Operation: Nephew Rescue. Cheese gets in Big's car while Bucky and Brownie get in Bucky's truck.

When they stop, Brownie tells Cheese he's going to learn to provide by catching some fish. He's going to learn to be a man. Cheese will be leading the way. Big puts a helmet on him while Brownie gives him a blade. Cheese wonders what happens if they don't catch anything and Bucky says he brought some frankfurter sandwiches.

Cheese slices away foliage as they walk through the woods.

The group arrives at a clearing. Big asks if Cheese has ever put up a tent. Brownie says they're Indian, so they don't sleep in tents. You might as well bring your whole house if you're bringing a tent. Bucky says he sleeps in a hammock and holds it up to show them while Brownie lays out his sleeping bag. Bucky teases Brownie for sleeping with his eyes open, but Brownie does that so he can keep his eyes on Bucky. Big lays out a tarp and tells Cheese to get started, but Cheese doesn't know what to do. Big takes the pole himself, but struggles with it.

Big shows Cheese how to bait a line. Brownie is smoking a joint nearby, despite having promised Big he wouldn't smoke in front of Cheese. Brownie says it's not a drug. It's medicine. Cheese sees Bucky throwing drunk root into the water and asks what he's doing. Brownie explains that it's an old Muscogee way of fishing. You spread the powder around and it gets the fish drunk, so they float up to the surface. Cheese thinks it's a great idea, but Big says he's scaring the fish away and tells him to stop. Bucky invites Cheese to join him, but Cheese is worried about e. coli in the water.

Cheese finds fishing boring. Brownie says he needs to change his mindset. It's not about the fish. His mind is going too fast. He has Cheese pick up some dirt and interact with it. There's nothing like it anywhere else in the world. He has Cheese take a big breath and says it's healing. He has Cheese listen to the sounds around him, but then he passes gas. Brownie says that's what it's all about, them being in nature together. Big gets a fish on the line, but is unable to reel it in. When Bucky pulls out another fish and puts it in his bag, Big tells him to stop cheating.

Bucky cooks the fish. He tells Cheese the key is Himalayan salt. He carries some with him wherever he goes. He asks Cheese what's going on with him. Cheese says his friends are older than he is and it feels like the differences between them are getting bigger and bigger. Eventually, they'll find new people and leave him behind. He's pushing them away before that can happen. Bucky says they're all connected and cannot be disentangled. Cheese doesn't understand until Bucky tells him he doesn't want to break those bonds. Big checks on the food and Bucky says he's almost done, but he'll need more wood. Big has Cheese come with him to get some.

Big tells Cheese he'll need to be on the lookout because they're in Bigfoot country. Cheese asks if Big really believes in Bigfoot. Big says that Bigfoot doesn't care if you believe or not. He's out there. Cheese would think animals were fake if he'd never seen one. Cheese just wants to see one, but Big makes him spit because talking about spirits conjures them. Big then says he's seen four Bigfoots.

*Young Big is in the woods looking at his Playboy collection. As a family of Bigfoots approaches, he starts to smell them. He turns and locks eyes with them.*

Big tells Cheese that they just walked away after that, which Cheese finds anticlimactic. Cheese takes from the story that sometimes you need to cry and you don't know it. Big adds that Bigfoot is real.

Bucky serves up a plate for Cheese. He offers up his homemade hot sauce, which he warns them to sprinkle on. Big takes it and dumps it on his food. He takes a few bites and then stops.

Big is on the ground retching. He threatens to arrest Bucky as Bucky, Cheese, and Brownie laugh at him.

Big shows Cheese how to use a stick to start a fire. Cheese smiles when it works.

The four men pee together in the woods.

The four men sit together and Cheese asks what's next. Big says they just sit there. That's what they do in the woods. Cheese asks if they don't play games. He has an idea, something he learned at the boys home. He gets a stick and says they'll pass it around and talk. He starts. He introduces himself and says he's a pretty happy person in general. He passes the stick to Brownie, who says he's a sex addict and he's glad to be there. He passes it to Bucky, who also says he's happy to be there. Cheese likes that and asks how Big is feeling. Big takes the stick and says he's realized he's been bottling up a lot of pain. As men, they're taught not to recognize those feelings. He lost a friend, two friends, and he put it all on himself. He knew he was trying to help, trying to be a good man, but he was just avoiding it. The guilt started to eat him up. He's realized they all make mistakes and that's okay. He starts to cry and Cheese tells him to let it all out. Brownie takes the stick next and says he and Bucky had a friend they lost. He didn't die. They just lost him. They don't think he knew that he could rely on them. He had nobody. Brownie offers the stick to Bucky, who takes it and says Cheese reminds them of that friend, Maximus. His grandma saw him pulling away like Maximus. Something happened and they didn't believe Maximus. He needed them and they turned their backs. Cheese says they couldn't have known, but Bucky thinks he should have. They're just men and they make mistakes and they don't know anything. All three men are openly sobbing. Cheese says it was more effective than he thought. He doesn't know Maximus, but he promises not to turn out like him. He has them and his grandma and his friends. He promises to see his friends as much as he can. Big wants them to go watch the sunset. Cheese says he has to make a phone call first.

Cheese, Bucky, Brownie, and Big eat Sonic with Elora, Bear, and Willie Jack. Bucky thanks them for the bounty and Brownie says they're living off the bounty of the land.

## 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

* Gary Farmer as Uncle Brownie
* Casey Camp-Horinek as Grandma Irene
* Wes Studi as Bucky
* Zahn McClarnon as Big Hill

### Co-Starring

* Bodhi Okuma Linton as Young Big
* Sterlin Harjo as Adult Bigfoot
* Kenny Bartram as Zombie Priest
* Krista Perry as Zombie Nun