Anna Lambe stars in 'North of North', an exceedingly appealing hangout comedy
“When people ask where I’m from, I say, ‘Think of the furthest place north you’ve ever been. Now keep going. Keep going. Yep. That’s us.” . Though the series was filmed in Nunavut’s capital, Iqaluit, the map we see when Siaja is introducing us to her world puts Ice Cove roughly on the uninhabited Prince Wales Island, about 2500 kilometers due north of Winnipeg.
If this is not the most remote locale for a sitcom in TV history, that’s only because we’ve had several set in outer space, plus a few taking place far away from any trace of civilization. Ice Cove has a small airport and a rivalry with a slightly larger nearby town. Still, you can’t blame Siaja — a vibrant woman in her 20s, played by Anna Lambe — from feeling a bit trapped in the middle of nowhere. Because of its geography and its size, and because the town is largely populated by Inuk people like Siaja, everyone is in everyone else’s business, and there isn’t a ton of room for upward mobility. Siaja got married right out of high school to town golden boy Ting , and her life ever since has been about supporting Ting’s latest adventure and raising their daughter Bun . She wants to get a job and carve out an identity of her own, but there aren’t many to come by. Worse, while the rest of the town loves Ting, at home he’s an overbearing traditionalist who wants no part of his wife working, and even agrees to adopt a relative’s baby without asking Siaja first. So Siaja leaves Ting, moves herself and Bun in with her free-spirited mother Neevee , and attempts to convince Helen . The two of them and director Anya Adams clearly understand her strengths as a performer. Lambe lights up the screen. More importantly, she pulls off the necessary trick for this kind of show, by keeping Siaja likable no matter how many things she’s messing up. She messes up a lot, from various assignments Helen gives her, to personal complications with town newcomers Kuuk and Alistair , to long-standing tensions with her mom. But you always want to root for her. Between the setting and various details about Inuk culture, it’s an excellent example of the old storytelling adage about making the universal specific, and the specific universal. In the broad strokes, none of the story points of the season are things you haven’t seen dozens, if not hundreds, of times before. But because of where they’re happening, and to whom they’re happening, much of it feels new, like an episode where Helen and Siaja assemble a team to play a game of “walrus dick baseball” against their rival community. 'The Tensions Were So Crazy': An Oral History of 'What About Bob?'Trump Is Losing in a Landslide in CanadaDirector Carl Rinsch Pleads Not Guilty to Charges in $11 Million Netflix SwindleSometimes, you travel someplace far away from home to have a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And sometimes, you go to a distant place and wind up discovering that other parts of the world are both different and similar to the ones you know.is the latter kind of trip. It’s not reinventing television, but between its setting and its star, it carves out a welcoming space for itself. With '1923' Ending, 'Yellowstone' Prequel '1944' Saddles Up Next20 hours ago
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