The Curse

**The Curse** is the first episode of the second season and ninth episode overall of *Reservation Dogs*.

## Synopsis

As the town recovers from the tornado aftermath, Willie Jack tries to reverse a curse.

## Plot

Willie Jack talks to the picture of Daniel on the wall and tells him about the tornado and how everyone in town is doing.

Uncle Brownie sits nude and talks to a nearby dog.

Leon searches his truck for something.

Bear talks to Spirit, whom no one else can see.

Charley and Cheese hang out and talk.

Kenny Boy talks to a horse that got dropped at the junkyard by the tornado as Ansel watches in awe. Kenny Boy thinks Creator gifted him with a horse.

Big stands in a field, confused about where the catfish heads are coming from.

Bucky is having issues with his lady again.

Mose and Mekko's bikes were stolen.

Willie Jack finishes by saying Elora left with Jackie and now they're sworn enemies. Willie Jack blames herself for that.

Elora is driving and says the GPS is messed up. She asks Jackie to get it on her phone, but Jackie has a burner phone with no GPS. Elora pulls into a service station.

Jackie puts money into a "Medicine Man" machine and gets a fortune ticket that says, "Your medicine has grown weak. You must turn away from the path that you are on."

Elora picks up some jerky and an atlas. Then she goes over to Jackie, who is testing out knives. The clerk says she can't use the knife until she's bought it, so she slides it over to buy it.

As they leave, Elora nods to a boy in another car.

Bear walks past Daniel's house and sees a sign saying it's up for rent. Spirit appears to him and says he was on his way to another client when he saw Bear standing there looking sad and thought he'd stop by. He's surprised to see Bear there as he was supposed to be going to California. Bear says they were, but Elora ditched him. Bear's actually glad to see Spirit because he's been feeling really bad lately. Spirit doesn't have time to listen to his sad story, though, because he has to get to another client who thinks he's a spirit. He turned a storm, but anyone could do that. Bear's upset that Spirit is leaving after spending so much time invading his life. Spirit asks if he's gotten his sacred curlies in, his pubic hair. That used to mean you weren't a child anymore and you started working for the people. Bear's acting like a kid. He should take responsibility for himself. Bear says he's trying. As Spirit leaves, Willie Jack and Cheese walk up to collect Bear. Willie Jack heard that Daniel's dad was moving.

Willie Jack thinks it's all connected and recalls Brownie told them not to mess with bad medicine and they did it anyway. Bear says that was just her. Bear thinks Elora leaving without him is because she's selfish, not because of a curse. They argue over it until Cheese interrupts to draw their attention to the construction workers at the hideout. They ask one of the workers what's happening and he says the place is being torn down because someone bought it a week ago. The new owner, a Texas rancher, is going to build a megachurch there for white folks. He asks if the stuff is theirs and they're upset to see a pile of Daniel's things on the ground. Willie Jack is convinced it's the curse. They start gathering up the things.

Jackie can't figure out how to read the map in the atlas. The car starts beeping and then there's a loud noise, forcing Elora to pull over. She opens the hood and the engine steams. Elora wonders what they do now.

Brownie asks Spirit if he's a holy man now. Spirit says he isn't, but Brownie thinks he must be. He asks Spirit what Crazy Horse was like. Spirit says he was pretty awesome. He was in touch with his feminine side. Most people don't remember that men used to bleed once a month. Crazy Horse was the last one to do that. Then the white man took it from them. He also had a gimpy leg. Brownie doesn't believe Spirit knew Crazy Horse. Spirit admits he didn't really know know him. Brownie gets up and starts pulling his racy posters off the wall, saying holy men can't have colonizer breasts on their walls. Spirit says Brownie's not a holy man. Brownie says he's not a regular spirit. He's one of those backwards spirits.

Willie Jack, Bear, and Cheese approach Brownie's place. They hear him talking and think he's delusional. They see that he's thrown a lot of his things in the trash. When Brownie comes outside, Willie Jack says they need help, but he says they caught him in the middle of trying to make himself a better man. He sees the VHS Cheese has picked up and says he threw it out by mistake, takes it, and goes back inside. Willie Jack says they should just go in after him.

Willie Jack says the curse she did flipped on her. Brownie knows they used bad medicine. Brownie says she has to go back to whoever put on the curse and start there. He doesn't mess with bad luck medicine. Cheese, who is looking through Brownie's movies, says he should alphabetize them to make them easier to find. Brownie can't read the small letters and offers Cheese some Sonic to do it for him. Cheese agrees if Brownie will let him watch Big Trouble in Little China.

Elora and Jackie have abandoned the car and are carrying their bags as they walk down the road. A car approaches and they stick out their thumbs. The car pulls over and Victor asks where they're headed. They tell him LA and he says he can get them as far as Amarillo. He's going to the big white cross with Jesus. Jackie subtly hands Elora her knife and they get in the car. He offers them some flamers, but they decline. They say their names are Janet and Jackson. He turns on some music and starts driving. He talks about the music as he drives and then begins singing along. He tells them he's a traveling salesman, so he travels all over. He sells art prints. He tells them he has a son, but he doesn't know his son well. Another man is raising him. He's a teenager now. He asks if Elora and Jackie, who have been silent through this, are teenage girls. They don't answer. When Victor turns off the road, Elora asks why he turned there. He says there's a gas station up the road. Elora can see that he has half a tank, but he's worried about not finding another station once they hit the panhandle. Jackie and Elora start to question where he's taking them. Jackie tries to open the door and he locks the doors. Jackie takes off her belt, holds up her foot, and threatens to kick him in the face if he doesn't pull over. She kicks him twice when he doesn't comply and tells Elora to stab him. Elora stabs him in the shoulder and he starts screaming. Finally, he pulls over and tells them to get out. They get out of his car and realize they left their bags in his car, which had all their money. Jackie only has a few bucks in her pocket.

The bartender asks one of the barflies to take a look at the cooler. He says he's no maintenance man. Willie Jack and Bear walk in and the bartender asks where Brownie is. Willie Jack says he's a holy man now. Willie Jack says she needs the white wizard to undo what he did. The wizard says she's the one who did it. He can't help her because it's not his problem. He's just the intercessor. The barfly next to him says a job would sort the kids out. His own job is disability. Willie Jack asks for the hair back, but the white wizard doesn't have it anymore. Willie Jack and Bear leave.

Auntie B is cutting Bucky's hair as he tells the story of how he met Bethany. Auntie B says she's stupid if she doesn't take Bucky back. Willie Jack and Bear walk up to them. Aunt DeDe recognizes Bear and asks who his dad is. Auntie B steps in and tells her she used to snag around with him. DeDe says she was almost Bear's mama. Bear tells her his dad's in California now. Auntie B asks them what they need and Willie Jack asks for more of Jackie's hair. Auntie B says she doesn't give out hair. Willie Jack says she gave them some before, but she is emphatic that she doesn't give out hair. Bucky gets up to sweep up his own hair. Bucky says if they put a curse on someone, it'll come back to them. Willie Jack knows, which is why she's trying to undo it. Auntie B says again that she doesn't give out hair for curses.

As Willie Jack and Bear walk away, Bucky pulls up beside them in his truck and hands them copper figurines to put in their pockets. Then he tells them they're going to break the curse and they climb into his truck with him. Bucky says they need something from the person they cursed, something personal. It could be anything. Willie Jack thinks Jackie's Aunt Bev might have something. But she doesn't know where Bev lives. Bear says she works at IHS.

As Elora and Jackie eat, Jackie is impressed that Elora stabbed that guy. Elora's in a bit of shock over it. Jackie says he won't die from that because it's just his arm and she might have broken his jaw. But she did warn him. They don't like the catfish, which isn't nearly as good as Rob and Cleo's. Jackie asks about Daniel. Elora says it's been about a year since he died. He was the coolest. Jackie says her brother died. He was cool, too.

Olf Man Fixico is selling his wares outside the clinic again. Bucky tells him Bethany kicked him out again, the third time this month. Fixico gives him a book called "Man Moon," which he says will fix it.

Mabel gets called back at the clinic.

Willie Jack is at the desk talking to Bev, but has Bev wait when Cheese texts her. Bev clarifies that Willie Jack took Jackie's hair, had a white wizard put a curse on her, and now she needs something of Jackie's to break the curse. Bev asks for Willie Jack's address, but then says not to bother. She knows Willie Jack's mom and her dad works at the clinic. She says she's going to refer Willie Jack to drug court. Willie Jack walks away empty handed.

Outside, Willie Jack tells Bear that Bev won't help them. Bear still doesn't believe there's a curse.

Cheese is watching Big Trouble in Little China at Brownie's place. He thinks there were six extra frames when he exploded. Brownie asks if his friends are picking him up because he doesn't have any extra seats on the lawn mower. Cheese says they're almost done and Bucky's with them. He's really knowledgable about this stuff and might even be a wizard himself. Brownie tells Cheese to turn off the movie so they can go. Bucky doesn't know what he's doing and will make it worse.

Brownie rides on the lawn mower, pulling Cheese in a wagon behind him.

Bear and Willie Jack are still riding with Becky. Bear asks to pull over, which Bucky does. Bear gets out and says he supports Willie Jack, but he has to go. Willie Jack is upset to be all alone. Bucky says string theory explains this. He tries to explain it to Willie Jack.

Elora and Jackie walk. Elora has no signal on her phone. Jackie suggests stealing a car. She nods to a house with several cars in front of it. They climb into one of the cars and Jackie finds the keys in the center console. She tells Elora to get in, but they don't notice one of the owners is watching them. Elora and Jackie bail as the woman goes inside to get help. A few men jump into a truck and chase them down the road, firing their guns up in the air.

## 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
* Jana Schmieding as Bev
* Matty Cardarople as Ansel
* Josh Fadem as Victor
* Kimberly Guerrero as Auntie B
* Elva Guerra as Jackie
* Jon Proudstar as Leon Sampson
* Dallas Goldtooth as William "Spirit" Knifeman
* Geraldine Keams as Mabel Postoak
* Kirk Fox as Kenny Boy
* Wes Studi as Bucky
* Zahn McClarnon as Big Hill

### Co-Starring

* Lil Mike as Mose
* Funnybone as Mekko
* Dustin Wilson as Clerk
* Todd Jenkins as White Wizard
* Dorothea Porras as Aunt DeDe
* Ginger Gilmartin as Bartender
* Mark Hanson as Barfly
* Nathan Apodaca AKA Doggface as Uncle Charley
* Lanee Starr as Teenager
* Ryker Sixkiller as Native Worker
* Wotko Long as Security Guard
* Richard Ray Whitman as Old Man Fixico