The reviews are uniformly warm, and the praise gathers around the same thing: the sense of place. Most critics find the rural Oklahoma reservation drawn with a specificity television rarely gives Native life, and credit the all-Native writers and cast for it. The four young leads are singled out for their ease with one another, and several reviews note that the comedy sits alongside grief and the pull to leave home without either being softened. Snack foods, back roads and small schemes are mentioned more than plot.
The spread is narrow. The one real reservation comes from Collider, which finds the season uneven, its tonal shifts and surreal touches distracting from the character work it otherwise admires. Other critics describe the same meandering pace as a virtue, suited to aimless teenagers and rewarding patience. A few treat the first run as promising rather than finished, and hope the characters are given more room to deepen.