‘North of North' Is a Warm Arctic Comedy
'North of North,' streaming on Netflix, is a bright Canadian comedy set in a fictional Inuk community in Nunavut, remote and TV-quirky. Gossip travels fast in a small town, and our heroine, Siaja (Anna Lambe, terrific), is giving everyone plenty to talk about.
Now that her little girl (Keira Cooper) is in school, Siaja feels a bit lost. She's married to her high school sweetheart, Ting (Kelly William), who kind of sucks, and while she's glad her mom (Maika Harper) is sober now, their relationship is patchy, and she has never even met her father.
While seal hunting with Ting, Siaja falls off the back of their boat into the icy waters, and she has a mystical and transformative experience. Back on shore, Ting berates her, but this time is not like the other times. This time she leaves. Siaja needs something for herself: a job, yes, but also a purpose. And hey — who are those handsome strangers who just got to town?
'North' operates in the ways lots of shows about women in their 20s who pursue self-actualization operate. Siaja's sexual and romantic high jinx are played for laughs and for growth, and the story finds its true heft in the excavation of her mother's pain. As Siaja resituates herself within her community, she discovers that she has plenty of natural talent that need only be cultivated and directed.
She initially scrambles in her new gig as an assistant to the capricious head of the community center (Mary Lynn Rajskub, very fun). 'Just make sure you look busy when Helen comes in,' one co-worker warns.
'When does Helen come in?' Siaja asks.
'When you least expect it,' says another.
The show's abundant warmth and its tenderness for its characters suggest a slightly hokier, cornier show. But the edge and depth of 'North' do emerge over its eight episodes, in both the casual cruelty within Siaja's marriage and in snappy humor. ('You're an ambassador?' 'A brand ambassador.')
On the whole, this is a cozy sweetheart show with lots going for it. There is one aspect, though, that casts a grotesque shadow over everything. It occurs at the end of the pilot, so this is a spoiler, but only barely.
One of those handsome strangers in town is Alistair (Jay Ryan), and when Siaja first meets him, she is drunk and spiraling, and he is hot and friendly, so they impulsively make out a little. But lo: Alistair is actually her father. Aaaaaaaahhhh! Save it for 'The White Lotus'! The show treats this as merely cringe, but it lands as inescapably disturbing.
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