Every October somebody in my group chat asks the same two things: is Monday actually a holiday, and what's good to watch if it is. The first half depends on your city. The second half I can answer, because I've spent a frankly dumb amount of money subscribing to every streaming service in the US, and Indigenous-led film and TV is one of the few categories where the catalogs split cleanly between services. Nobody has everything. Each one has a lane.

So here's the head-to-head. Not a list of 25 titles you'll never get to. Four services, what each one really has, and which one I'd pay for if I could only pick one.

The short version

Hulu wins. Not by a mile, but clearly. Reservation Dogs alone would get it there, and Hulu also has Prey, Echo and the documentary Sugarcane. Netflix is the runner-up with the most new stuff. AMC+ is a one-show subscription, but that one show is Dark Winds. Apple TV is where the two prestige movies live. Everything below is the argument.

Hulu: the one I'd keep

Reservation Dogs is the reason. Three seasons, complete, all on Hulu (it was an FX show, which is why it never got the marketing push of a Hulu original). Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi built a comedy about four teenagers in rural Oklahoma that somehow turns into one of the best shows of the decade by the third season. If you only watch one thing from this whole article, it's that.

Then there's Prey, the 2022 Predator movie set in 1719 Comanche territory, with Amber Midthunder carrying the whole thing on her back. It's a Hulu original, and the version I'd point you toward is the full Comanche-language dub, which is sitting right there in the audio menu. It changes the movie.

Hulu also shares Marvel's Echo with Disney+ (Alaqua Cox, Choctaw setting, far better than its reputation suggests), and Sugarcane, the National Geographic documentary about Canada's residential school system that picked up an Oscar nomination. Heavy, but it's the one I'd argue every adult should sit through once.

Price: Hulu with ads is $11.99 a month, no ads is $18.99. The Disney+ and Hulu bundle with ads is $12.99, which is a silly-good deal if you want Echo and Sugarcane from either side.

Who it's for: anyone starting from zero. Also anyone who already has it through the Disney bundle and never realized what was in there.

Netflix: the most new stuff, the least focus

Netflix doesn't have the single best title, but it keeps adding. North of North, the Inuit-led comedy from Nunavut co-produced with CBC and APTN, landed in 2025 and is funny in a warm, specific way that caught me off guard. Rez Ball, the 2024 basketball movie set on the Navajo Nation, is a solid crowd-pleaser for a family night. Frybread Face and Me is a quiet coming-of-age film that deserved more noise than it got. For kids, Spirit Rangers is the rare preschool show with a majority-Native writers' room, and it shows.

The catch: Netflix licenses as much as it makes, so things come and go. Earlier seasons of Dark Winds have turned up on Netflix before and then left. Treat anything that isn't a Netflix original as temporary. Search the title before you count on it.

Price: $7.99 with ads, $17.99 standard, $24.99 premium.

Who it's for: people who already have Netflix (so, most people) and want to know what to search for. I wouldn't add Netflix just for this category. I also wouldn't cancel it.

AMC+: the Dark Winds subscription

My honest take on AMC+ is that it's a one-show service for most people, and that's fine when the show is Dark Winds. It's the Tony Hillerman adaptation with Zahn McClarnon as Joe Leaphorn, 1970s Navajo Nation, noir pacing, and a mostly Native writers' room and cast. Three seasons are up, a fourth was renewed, and new episodes land on AMC+ the same night they air on AMC.

The app is clunky. I'll just say it. It's better than the 2022 version, but it still feels a step behind everyone else. AMC+ also folds in Sundance Now and Shudder, which is a nice bonus if you like horror and irrelevant if you don't.

Price: around $9.99 a month with ads, $12.99 without. Check the current number on AMC's site because they've shifted it more than once. It's also sold as a channel add-on through Prime Video and Apple TV, which is often the smoother way to actually watch.

Who it's for: Dark Winds people. Subscribe for a month, binge, cancel, come back next season. There's no shame in this. It's the whole point of cord-cutting.

Apple TV: two movies, both worth it

Apple's service (they dropped the "plus" from the name in 2025) has the shortest list and the highest average quality. Killers of the Flower Moon is the obvious one. Scorsese, three and a half hours, and Lily Gladstone's performance as Mollie Burkhart is the center of the film and holds the whole thing up. Then Fancy Dance, the smaller Gladstone movie from Erica Tremblay, about an aunt and niece on the Seneca-Cayuga Nation searching for a missing sister. I prefer it, honestly. It's the one I went back to.

Price: $12.99 a month, with a free week for new subscribers that covers both movies if you plan it.

Who it's for: movie people. Not a long-term subscription for this category, but a very good weekend.

The table

Service The must-watch Also worth it Monthly price Verdict
Hulu Reservation Dogs Prey, Echo, Sugarcane $11.99 ads / $18.99 no ads Best overall
Netflix North of North Rez Ball, Frybread Face and Me, Spirit Rangers $7.99 ads / $17.99 standard Best if you already pay for it
AMC+ Dark Winds Not much else, honestly ~$9.99 ads / $12.99 no ads One-month binge
Apple TV Killers of the Flower Moon Fancy Dance $12.99 Free-trial weekend
Peacock Rutherford Falls Nothing else in this lane $10.99 / $16.99 Only if you have it

The free stuff

I'd be a bad cord-cutter if I skipped this. Molly of Denali streams free on the PBS Kids app, no account needed, and it's the first nationally distributed kids' show with an Alaska Native lead. The main PBS app also rotates Indigenous documentaries through Independent Lens and POV, and the lineup tends to get refreshed around the holiday, so it's worth a scroll. Tubi and the Roku Channel cycle older films like Smoke Signals in and out. I'm not going to promise a specific title is on a specific free service this month, because those catalogs change weekly. Search by name. It takes ten seconds.

Peacock, the footnote

Rutherford Falls is still on Peacock, two seasons, co-created by Sierra Teller Ornelas with Ed Helms and Mike Schur. Big network-sitcom energy, and Jana Schmieding is great in it. It got cancelled, which was the wrong call, but what's there is complete and doesn't end on a cliff. Not worth a subscription on its own. Very worth a watch if you already keep Peacock for football.

If you're reading this around October 12, 2026

This is the time-sensitive part, and the only part that'll go stale. The federal holiday lands on Monday, October 12 this year, so a lot of people have a three-day weekend. If you're running a one-month trial strategy, start Hulu on Friday, not Monday, because the ads tier gets you Reservation Dogs and Prey immediately and you'll want the whole weekend. If you already have Netflix, North of North is a one-sitting show. Check AMC+ for the current state of Dark Winds season four before you sign up; if new episodes haven't started, there's no rush. And the usual caveat: nothing above needs cable, an antenna, or anything beyond Wi-Fi.

My actual pick

Hulu with ads, $11.99, one month. Watch Reservation Dogs start to finish. If it lands the way it landed for me, you'll want Dark Winds next, which is a different month and a different service. Netflix is a bonus if you have it. Apple's free week is dessert.

That's about as much as I'd spend on this. Pay for one, borrow a trial for another, and don't let anyone sell you a bundle for a category that fits comfortably in a single subscription.

I'll be on the couch. Enjoy the day off, if your city gives you one.

Marcus

— Marcus Bell