The Red Road: The Complete Second Season

Set in rural New Jersey in a small town next to the reservation lands of a Native American tribe (which finally receives federal recognition this season), this intelligent Sundance original series revolves around the tense relations between the two cultures, while also noting the impoverished state of many of the Native Americans. The second season takes place a year after the events of the first in the aftermath of an attack by Russian gangsters. Martin Henderson stars as police officer Harold Jensen, who is promoted to chief, and Jason Momoa is ex-con Phillip Kopus, who returns to the reservation after taking the fall for Jensen's crimes (and his own drug dealing past). Attempting a fresh start, Kopus also tries to protect his mother (Tamara Tunie)—a dedicated tribal elder—after the chief is murdered and a rival tribal chief (who happens to be her ex-husband) pressures her to put a casino on their newly-anointed sovereign land. This season is overburdened by multiple storylines, including one involving a sort of Native American mafia and another surrounding the schizophrenia of Jensen's wife (Julianne Nicholson), which has its roots in dark secrets from her childhood. While these dramatically potent plotlines are involving, they also don't quite fit with the gritty realism and socially-conscious observations of the show's other stories (more interesting here is the discovery of a decades-old conspiracy that has poisoned the land). Compiling all six episodes from the 2015 second and final season, extras include behind-the-scenes featurettes. A strong optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)