‘North of North' invites you to travel, well, pretty far north
Soon, Siaja and her young daughter have moved in with her troubled, charming mother Neevee (Maika Harper), who runs a supply store, while Siaja dives into the process of convincing Helen (
The show is awfully cute; it has a needle to thread between showing off the charms of its unusual setting and making clear that these are also people just living their lives like anyone else, even if they use a Ski-Doo to get from place to place. There are moments when 'North of North' can feel both a little overproduced and a little underbaked. There's an unfortunate overreliance on peppy music cues to close out scenes, and the writers sometimes resolve conflicts far too swiftly. You might find yourself wishing the show could just relax more into its storytelling and let its subplots unfurl with more jagged edges, and more zingers.
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(L to R) Maika Harper as Neevee, Nutaaq Doreen Simmonds as Elisapee in "North of North."
Jasper Savage/Netflix/JASPER SAVAGE/NETFLIX
The show's more jagged parts are often the most compelling, thanks to especially strong work from Harper as Neevee. Siaja may still be working out who she wants to be as an adult, despite being a parent, but she's a reasonably open person. Neevee is a recovering alcoholic whose difficulties forced Siaja to take care of herself as a child, and she's none too thrilled when Alistair reappears. She's mercurial, the type of woman who responds to her granddaughter's behavior troubles in school by impulsively letting her skip a day and go play. She's hot and cold with both Siaja and Alistair, but Harper makes those choices feel true to a person working through some inner conflict. Siaja is our protagonist, but Neevee can be something of a fascinating antihero.
The show's setting also lets it dig into conversations about Inuk culture. Siaja and the other younger folks of her generation can often understand some Inuktitut but not speak it, while older generations may not speak much English. Canada's history of residential schools, which took Native children from their families, looms in the background, a gruesome reality that the show manages deftly as a present but not forefronted trauma.
In other words, 'North of North' is just plain interesting. The first season may be overburdened with exposition establishing how these characters live their lives, but it shows promise as a place to visit.
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Lisa Weidenfeld can be reached at
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