This Chilly Netflix Sitcom With 100% On Rotten Tomatoes Will Keep You Hooked

Young adulthood is tough for just about everyone, but for Siaja (Anna Lambe), an Inuk housewife and mother in the itty bitty fictional town of Ice Cove in Nunavut, Canada's northernmost province, it's kind of brutal. For starters, her husband Ting (Kelly William) is the town's golden boy and local hero, but she's miserable in their marriage. She's trying to raise her daughter Bun (Keira Cooper) to be a proud and capable young Inuk woman, but struggles with it herself and ends up deciding to leave her husband rather spectacularly, in front of the entire town, after she almost drowns and realizes she wants more from life. In "North of North," streaming on Netflix, we get to grow with Siaja as she finds her footing on her own and navigates her relationships with her precocious daughter, her willful single mother Neevee (Maika Harper), and the rest of the people in her close-knit community. 

The CBC series was created by Stacey Aglok MacDonald and Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, who wanted to show a different side of Indigenous storytelling and see their own experiences reflected onscreen, and it's pure joy. Lambe, who previously stole the screen in "True Detective: Night Country" as Officer Prior's wife, Kayla, is perfect as Siaja, who is awkward and incredibly relatable even when her life is completely alien to audiences who don't live near the Arctic Circle. Not only that, but every episode feels like a visit to Ice Cove, a place with plenty of emotional warmth even though the temperature is freezing. 

"North of North" has a 100% Fresh rating with 21 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes as of this writing, with critics praising the show for its authenticity and its mixture of big laughs with more dramatic subject matter. Siaja's big fumbles as she tries to gain her independence and work as an assistant to town manager Helen (Mary Lynn Rajskub, who "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" fans might recognize as Gail the Snail) are mostly comical, like accidentally burning down the town dump when she sets fire to a stuffed animal Ting gave her. But there are tinges of tragedy around the edges of everything, too. Though "North of North" doesn't explore it as deeply as something like the FX coming-of-age series "Reservation Dogs," the trauma that Indigenous people have endured is woven into the show's fabric, peeking through most in the character of Neevee, a recovering alcoholic who suffered in Canada's residential schools. 

Though they're not afraid to tackle tough topics, "North of North" is definitely a comedy first and foremost, and each episode is guaranteed to make you laugh a lot. The cast are all lovable, from the tough-as-nails Neevee to hard-nosed but quirky Helen to Siaja's snarky best friends, Millie (Zorga Qaunaq) and Colin (Bailey Poching), who run the local radio station. "North of North" makes Ice Cove a fun visit even as Siaja handles the difficulties of life as a newly single mother in a uniquely challenging environment. 

There have been a handful of fantastic television shows about Indigenous people across North America in the past few years, ranging from the deeply dramatic, like AMC's 1970s Navajo crime drama "Dark Winds," to much lighter fare, like the tragically cut-short workplace comedy "Rutherford Falls," which followed characters from the fictional Minishonka tribe. These shows all strive for authenticity with Indigenous and First Nations creatives both in front of the camera and behind it, but one thing "North of North" depicts in depth is young motherhood, and it's a truly unique perspective in television. 

There are lots of great TV moms out there, but we don't often get to see a single, sexy, still-stumbling young adult mother who's also an Inuk woman paving her own path forward. Neevee's sometimes strained relationship with Siaja and Siaja's increasingly complicated relationship with her own daughter makes for a compelling story about generational trauma, generational healing, and the connections between mothers and daughters that can transcend all cultures. 

"North of North" has been renewed for a second season and there will hopefully be even more where that came from, because this heartfelt comedy is a real treat. Season 1 is streaming now on Netflix.