Things have definitely changed in Rutherford Falls. In “D’Angelos,” Nathan (Ed Helms) tries to rediscover who he really is while Reagan (Jana Schmieding) fights for her place in the tribe. Last week Reagan dropped a major bomb on Nathan, revealing that he is not a real Rutherford. Nathan’s entire life has been about his family history. He didn’t take the news well.
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About a month has passed and things are moving along in Rutherford Falls. Reagan and Bobby (Jesse Leigh) examine the new billboard for the Rolling Thunder Casino. Reagan is on the billboard and she’s having doubts. She looks like she’s touching Wayne’s (Bobby Wilson) butt. Bobby starts to go over the plans for the casino groundbreaking, but Reagan is too busy looking at Josh’s (Dustin Milligan) insta. She’s really missing him. Bobby thinks that’s sad and will have no part of it.
Bobby does miss Nathan though. And so does Ms. Fish (Beth Stelling). she’s been tracking his Venmo transactions and says Nathan wants to be caught. Reagan has called, texted, DM’d and PM’d Nathan, but he won’t reply. She says they have to let him be alone and let him work out his issues on his own.
Nathan is driving … well … he’s not really going anywhere specific, but he’s eating a lot of junk food. He decides to find his Great Uncle Calbert (Michael Canetty). Calbert was his uncle on his mother’s side and thinks he might have some insight about why his mother lied to him. Calbert is in a nursing home in Phoenix. As soon as he finds Calbert, Nathan starts asking questions. Calbert doesn’t give him any clear answers and invites Nathan to the hot tub to continue their discussion.
REAGAN
Reagan asks Wayne and Sally (Julia Jones) to help her build the Minishonka Wakanda by working at the cultural center. They both decline saying they can’t be associated with her. She’s too braggy about the billboard. Wayne is on that billboard too, but people think he’s inspirational. Sally calls him a role model.
Everyone that Reagan offers a job to declines her offer. According to Bobby, the people say she’s too taboo and braggy about the billboard. Terry (Michael Greyeyes) says it’s crabs in a bucket. It’s a metaphor. When one crab tries to climb out of the bucket, another crab will pull him back down. Basically, no one can be too successful because there’s always someone to yank them back. Bobby does this on a daily basis.
Reagan thinks Rayann (Geraldine Kearns) is her crab. Terry says everyone is someone else’s crab. It’s systemic. Terry is a crab to the security guard at the casino. That guy used to date Terry’s wife in high school. And for that reason, he will never be promoted. Reagan decides she needs to confront Rayann, but Bobby says it’s not just Rayann. He shows them comments on an anti-Reagan Facebook group. It’s up to 2,259 people. They really hate Reagan.
NATHAN
Nathan goes on about who he thought he was in Rutherford Falls. Calbert says the past doesn’t matter. He tells Nathan to enjoy the present and forget about what happened in the past. Nathan says Calbert gets it.
A nurse interrupts them and looks at Nathan suspiciously. She asks if Nathan is bothering Calbert, but Nathan explains who he is. The nurse informs Nathan that Calbert is actually Steven. She asks Steven if he knows Nathan. Steven is just happy that someone else can actually see Nathan.
The guard at the front gate gave Nathan the wrong unit number. Calbert is in a wheelchair in a room by himself while a girl taps dances on a stage. He had a stroke in 2015 and hasn’t spoken since. Nathan calls Duz (Benjamin Koldyke) and acts like everything is fine in his message. But really, he’s screaming.
BUCKET OF CRABS
Reagan doesn’t understand why the people don’t like her. The comments on the Facebook group question her credentials because she doesn’t speak her native language or participate in ceremony. Another comment asks if the people who take the job will have to serve Reagan like a queen.
Terry thinks this is all bad publicity. Someone is actually selling merchandise against Reagan. She asks if Terry is going to shut down the center. He says no but he may have to reconsider who will run the center. Regan wants the chance to defend herself. She asks Terry to set up a meeting with leaders of the group so she can prove she’s the right person for the job. Terry agrees, but he won’t promise her anything.
THE BOOT CHALLENGE
Nathan found out that Ronnie D’Angelo opened a restaurant 20 years ago. He no longer owns it, but Nathan thinks someone at the restaurant might be able to tell him where his father is. He drives to the restaurant and sleeps in his car. The next morning, he goes inside.
Nathan asks the waitress about the people’s photos on the wall. The first row of photos are the D’Angelos. The rest are people who took the boot challenge. The story is … when the first D’Angelo came over from the old country, he was so hungry he ate three dinners in one sitting. A large pizza, three pounds of spaghetti and meatballs and three pounds of chicken parm. If someone can eat all of that in an hour, they are an honorary D’Angelo for life and their meal is free. Nathan decides to take the challenge. The whole restaurant stops to watch. Nathan barely finishes the meal. As he is telling them his name, Nathan throws up.
DRAGGING CRABS
Since the meeting was last minute, the owners of the Facebook group requested a digital meeting. Over 900 people join the meeting online. Reagan starts by saying she’s a proud Minishonka woman with two master’s degrees. One in museum studies; the other in Russian Literature. This issue is not about her. It’s about fostering and protecting the Minishonka culture. She decides to take questions.
The first question is asking her to count to 50 in Minishonka. She can’t. Someone asks to speed skate in the parking lot. Rayann asks if Reagan is still snagging a snoopy white nerd. Reagan admits that she and Josh broke up. Then Reagan goes off on Rayann because her white daughter in law buys sage from Urban Outfitters.
Reagan starts dragging others on the live feed. The viewers start laughing and sending hearts. Bobby encourages Reagan to keep dragging people to the bottom of the bucket. Reagan keeps going, calling out someone who bought their regalia instead of making it. Someone told everyone they went to Standing Rock but really went to Disney World. And one of the viewers is VEGAN!
Reagan says this is all okay … except the sage thing. In some way, they all feel like they’re not enough. She tells them to keep talking about her behind her back, saying she is secretly Puerto Rican. She’s going to continue to work on the center to make the Minishonka Wakanda.
Reagan says they’re not a monolith. She just wants all of the crabs to get out of the bucket because the bucket is the problem. Until then, she says eff it! She will make what she makes and hope that more people like it than don’t. Reagan Wells is not going anywhere. Terry is impressed, but half of the people actually left the live feed to go to the Slipknot concert.
AMERICAN POWER KEG
Nathan’s photo goes on the wall at D’Angelo’s, but the photo was taken after he puked. He returns to the road and calls Reagan. He says he’s somewhere in Nevada. Nathan tells her about the photo. Regan is happy to hear from him. People are really worried about him. Nathan says he needs to tell her something. He doesn’t get it. “It” meaning life. He knows she tried to help him and he apologizes for how he treated her.
Reagan thanks him for the apology. She says the world is too big and complicated to think they can divide people into the enlightened and the stupid. She asks when he’s coming home. Nathan says he doesn’t have a job or a house or a family. Reagan says he has a family who loves him. Change is hard; even when it’s good. And the town sucks without Nathan. He says it may have to be that way for a while. He’s driving but says it’s good to hear his voice. Reagan says she’s there for him before hanging up.
Nathan changes the radio station and stops on a familiar voice. It’s Josh. Josh is doing a podcast about Rutherford Falls. It’s seven episodes. He says it’s the story of a small town and a nearby Native American reservation experiencing a reckoning 500 years in the making. He paints the Minishonka as a struggling tribe, just trying to find success. And Nathan is a hapless roo who fails to prevent his own demise. The podcast is called, “An American Power Keg: The Story of Nathan Rutherford.”
RELATED: Catch up Rutherford Falls Season 1 Recaps Here!
You can stream episodes of Rutherford Falls on Peacock.
News Editor, Senior Contributor, and Press Editor. Coordinate breaking news, trailers and press releases. I also contribute reviews, recaps and interviews. Creator of the Indigenerd Wire, a column dedicated to the Indigenous creatives in pop culture.
GGA's resident Indigenerd, a little bit rez, a little bit classy...with a love for all things Star Wars, zombies, science fiction, and Indigenous. My ultimate goal is to start my own podcast.
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