REVIEW: ‘North of North’ Is A Native Sitcom We Need

Developed by Stacey Aglok MacDonald and Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, North of North follows Siaja (Anna Lambe), a young Inuk woman. She’s the wife to the town’s favorite man (Kelly William), Ting, a mother to a cute kid named Bun (Keira Belle Cooper). And she’s a daughter to a mother, Neevee (Maika Harper), who has made many public mistakes. Up until this point, she’s always been defined by someone else. After a near-death experience and realizing that Ting doesn’t come close to respecting her, she decides to make a spontaneous and very public exit from her marriage.

Trying to build a future for herself, she tries to stop just being a volunteer and instead become Helen’s (Mary Lynn Rajskub) assistant, giving back to her small Arctic town of Ice Cove, Nunavut. The only problem is that everyone knows her business, and they won’t let her forget her mistakes. But when Alistair (Jay Ryan) and his assistant Kuuk (Braeden Clarke) show up with the chance for a Research Center that will bring money and more infrastructure to the town, Siaja finds a way to recreate how she sees herself, and stop worrying about what other people see her as.

North of North uses comedy to throw continuous curveballs at Siaja. Alistair may be more connected to her than she thinks, her mother’s pain may just be rooted in something more that she’s willing to share just yet, and maybe love is still possible as she starts to spend more time with Kuuk. However, the series isn’t focused on setting up Siaja with happy endings in every direction.

Siaja is a mess, and that’s what makes her relatable in North of North.

Instead, North of North captures the messiness of life and lives in it. The narrative across the series’ eight episodes is far from having Siaja reach perfection. Ultimately, the series is about telling the audience that the ugliness of life, the mistakes, is all worth living.

There is a moment in the series, in the final episode, where Siaja restructures a saying. “Cracks are for the light to shine in.” But instead of looking for something bright on the other side, Siaja says that cracks are to let it shine out, because not everything has to be perfect.

Sometimes, it’s okay to be a little broken; sometimes, that’s important. We are not our worst moments. That’s a clear piece to the series’ story. But we also can’t ignore them. We’re shaped by them, and as much as we may want to erase them from our lives, they’re central to making us who we are.

North of North is a heartfelt look at Native life, motherhood, pressures, and resiliency. But more importantly, North of North is hilarious. A Canadian series, this sitcom embodies elements in story structure that resemble Kim’s Convenience in how it tackles societal pressures and the love of family in one swoop. This is a Native series, but it’s done in a way that shows life in Ice Cove as it is. Siaja is just a mother and a wife who wants more.

Siaja is a bold character, and it’s her rough edges, her mistakes, that make her someone to root for and fall in love with. She’s intelligent and loving, and her clumsiness that feeds her insecurities is something I see myself in. Siaja wants more out of life than what she’s found. She doesn’t want to be defined by her husband Ting or her mother’s mistakes. At the same time, North of North isn’t about Siaja leaving all of her familial responsibilities. It’s about finding space for herself in them.

Anna Lambe as Siaja is funny and vulnerable. But she’s also strong, even if the world doesn’t see her that way. Where people see her mistakes, the camera shows audiences her resiliency. She has had to deal with a lot in life, but she keeps on trying. It’s Siaja’s faults that make her feel real, and ultimately showcase the beauty of North of North.

The other highlight of North of North is Maika Harper as Neevee, Saija’s mother. A recovering alcoholic and a single mom who has lied to her daughter all of her life, Neevee carries the weight of every decision. She’s mean, funny, and most importantly, she loves intensely. She’s a mother who is proud to be one, but also carries guilt that keeps her from being kind.

Neevee has the chance to shine in North of North, both as she decides to bring her past secrets to light and as she starts to realize she can trust Saija’s dad, when he comes back to town. Neevee has been hardened by the world, but it doesn’t mean that she doesn’t care about Saija, it jsut means that she wants Saija to survive and to take a different path in life

Neevee and Saija capture an imperfect mother-daughter relationship that grounds this Netflix series.

The humor in the series is dark at times. Death, daddy-issues, alcoholism, and even a joke about an Indian Residential School, and more, all show the roughest parts of life. By using jokes, North of North drops down an empathetic bridge for the audience to cross. You may be uncomfortable with the subject matter, but you have an entry point. The series balances heavy-subject matter delicately at times and wields it like a sledgehammer at others. It all works.

North of North is also a bilingual series. The series is primarily in English. However, it also has Inuktut language throughout. The Inuit characters move in and out of both languages when it’s comfortable, and the story feels more intimate because of this. Additionally, the series’ soundtrack features a mixture of popular songs in their original versions and those sung in Inuktut as well.

North of North uses a typical sitcom format, and it thrives because of it. This is a Native sitcom with a universal story. The fast pace of the series benefits from how quickly you get to know the characters. More importantly, the short episode runtimes are used to perfection as we see the web of relationships in Ice Cove get explored. All of it works, and no one feels left behind in the hustle to make the most of the eight episodes.

North of North is streaming now on Netflix.