Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for Season 2 of Reservation Dogs.

In television and movies, works that actually have a profound understanding of the intricacies of the way the Internet can have an influence on their stories are rare. While they can occasionally get some of the broad strokes right, most of them lack the nuance to navigate the way online culture has shaped the offline world. Too often, they just end up feeling like the narrative equivalent of “how do you do, fellow kids?” without having much of anything incisive to say. The newest episode of Reservation Dogs is one that actually gets this right by gently yet thoroughly exposing the modern-day huckster who makes their name online. It doesn’t do this with explosive sequences where the lie collapses around them; instead, it reveals the abundantly awkward ways that they can fast talk their way into positions of authority that are all built on a house of cards. Titled "Decolonativization," it is centered around characters we have not yet met in the show: Augusto (Elisa Pratt) and Miss M8triarch (Amber Midthunder).

They have come to visit the rest of the main characters on the reservation to share their profound wisdom in a symposium of sorts. What gives them this authority to provide lessons on how to live and navigate a harsh world? Well, they are influencers who have built an online reputation that has effectively tricked the adults into thinking they are somehow experts in ways no one else is. The only people that seem to be aware of how phony this all is are characters like Bear (D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai) who has been told he must attend the summit by his mother Rita (Sarah Podemski) after he threw a party while she was having her own wild time in the last episode. After helping set up, he takes his place in one of the folding chairs where he conveys a profound disinterest just in the way he sits. His mother then gives an introduction on a microphone that nearly shatters their eardrums with feedback. Shortly thereafter, another man informs them they will be welcoming “two outstanding role models” that he has “been DMing” for the past two years. It is a hilariously strange statement (why would they need to spend so long messaging?) that already has Bear looking skeptical.

What follows is an episode that is confined in location, taking place largely in a single room, while still being vast in comedic potential. Midthunder, in a fun comedic twist that shows her range after this year’s Prey, especially steals every scene she gets. She begins with a land acknowledgment that starts out fairly ordinary before taking a turn where she expresses appreciation for the dinosaurs. Midthunder delivers the line completely sincerely, making it all the more amusing to observe the quiet bafflement already taking hold of the audience. Cheese (Lane Factor) looks over at Bear in confusion while Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis) just silently nods, as if holding back a laugh. Midthunder continues to bring an uproarious level of obliviousness that is matched by Pratt, who gives a speech about how his character is, among many things, an actor and a model. What relevance his career has on anything he is ostensibly there to talk about is something that he never even tries to explain, making it all the more ludicrous as his bizarre bragging is met with almost total silence by the ambivalent audience.

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Image via FX

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It is only the beginning of Reservation Dogs' exploration of these characters' self-importance, which manifests as faux intellectualism. They are so devoid of any depth that the young characters clocked them right away when the adults could not. However, they all want the promised gift cards that serve as bribes to stick it out. Thus, they do and the absurdity continues. Both Midthunder and Pratt convincingly deliver all the right buzzwords that are necessary to keep up the act, ensuring it remains endlessly comical to witness the main characters playing along with their increasing nonsense. While there have been many stories that have tried their best to poke fun at influencers, it is this episode that emerges as the best. "Decolonativization" demonstrates how both Pratt and Midthunder are pitch-perfect at creating characters who have completely bought into their own bullshit, painting a portrait of the influencer as their true shallow self.

As they lead all the bemused participants through a day of glorified team-building exercises, it reveals just how empty those who build a personal brand around being influencers can be. The episode doesn't do this in showy moments, but by letting the actors embody fittingly cringeworthy yet no less comedic personas so completely that they feel almost real. They never overdo it, instead being understated in how uncomfortable they play each scene. This extends to when they sit down for lunch and Pratt continues to wear the microphone on his face. His character even has the audacity to claim that he has inspired one of the attendees to grow out his hair — even though, as is immediately pointed out to him, all of them only just met earlier in the day. Rather than respond, he ignores it and changes the subject so that he can protect his ego. Similarly, Midthunder plays her character with just the right amount of subtle pretentiousness that ensure her attempts to connect with the kids fall humorously flat.

Each are masters of spin, able to deflect even the most basic questions to ensure they continue to seem enlightened when they are simply pompous. Both of their performances are able to capture the charisma and cringe that is at the core of the characters. They manage to walk the fine line between being genuine enough in their delivery to fool the adults and sufficiently self-centered in their actions so that the kids see them for who they really are. They keep digging deeper into the comedic depths of the premise that most other shows just scratch the surface of. This all culminates in a great last conversation where Cheese chimes in to question what the purpose was of anything they did that day. It is followed by a painfully long pause before Midthunder delivers a perfectly timed “well…” before being interrupted by Pratt whose character then gives a nonsense response. When they are called out on that, it just gets folded back into an equally absurd explanation that can be boiled down to “this wasn’t supposed to make any sense and we have now given you the ability to ask questions.” Of course, they get in one last message: follow us on Instagram. It is the cherry on top of an episode that could easily be forgotten in all the other great ones of Reservation Dogs thus far. Even so, "Decolonativization" remains one that captures a narrative wavelength that resonates to comedic perfection.