Drama
The Rainmaker
This adaptation may lack the depth of its source material, but it isn’t a bad option if you’re itching for a new legal drama.
By the standards of her Inuit culture, Siaja did everything right.
Siaja got married out of high school to town superstar Ting. The couple had a child, Bun. She stayed home and raised that child up to school age.
But as Bun heads off to school, Siaja realizes that she hasn’t had a chance to live her life. Every moment of her life has been spent as background support to Bun or Ting. Or, for that matter, Siaja’s mother, Neevee. And with Bun out of the home for some time, Siaja figures she might try finding a job of her own somewhere.
Ting, however, has other plans. He’s already agreed to adopt his pregnant cousin’s child without talking with Siaja about it. And before they can discuss further, he accidentally knocks Siaja out of a boat and into the chilly Arctic waters of their northern Canada home. When he fishes her out, he calls her an embarrassment.
Upset, Siaja vanishes for a few days—as much as one can vanish in the small Arctic town of Ice Cove in Nunavut. She parties. She gets inebriated. She kisses a stranger.
Then, rebelling against practically the entire town’s mores, she tells Ting that they’re separating.
As you might expect, Siaja’s actions cause not a few problems for her. Pretty much everyone likes Ting, and no one likes how Siaja just disrespected her town’s elders. And that stranger she kissed? It turns out to be her long-lost father (eww), who returned to the town on a contract job and wasn’t even aware that he had a daughter.
And you thought you had a tough day.
It doesn’t matter where your small town is located: Gossip will always be the locals’ biggest hobby.
There’s not much else to do, especially in the frigid Arctic environs of North of North. And that’s the problem Siaja faces. She loves her little town, and she wants to help it succeed in any way she can. But messing up there means that everyone knows it. And regardless of her intentions, Siaja’s bound to make a few more slip ups in her life on the road to growth.
But make sure you, viewer, don’t also slip up while walking with Siaja: North of North includes sexual content. This includes LGBT content, characters engaged in sex or in their underwear and male rear nudity. Characters get inebriated. Crude language includes the f-word, misuses of Jesus’ name and more. And there are a few scenes where Siaja believes she’s talking with Inuit sea goddess Nuliajuk.
Siaja does begin to grow into a better person—as do quite a few of the other characters here. And in that regard, this small community really showcases the importance of love amid the struggles of the human condition. But those redemptive elements don’t quite offset many of the hard things Siaja—and viewers, for that matter—experience along the way.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at letters@pluggedin.com, or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
Siaja seeks to reinvent herself, but her husband’s disinterest in her desires causes her to react in a way that garners disdain from the whole town.
Siaja showers, though nothing is seen. A little girl finds a pair of underwear left by a woman’s one-night stand with him. It’s inferred that Siaja’s single mother likes to sleep around. There’s a reference to sex. A woman is crowned the best “bum hopper,” which includes her bouncing across a stage on her rear. Siaja passionately kisses her father (neither know of their relationship at the time).
Someone tells Siaja that she may become a sinner like her mother. During a town announcement, a woman interrupts by saying, “In the name of Jesus, amen,” prompting someone to remind her that they’re not at church. Siaja encounters a woman swimming towards her in the water whom she later states was Nuliajuk, the sea goddess in Inuit mythology. Someone asks if a woman’s bloodline includes shamans.
A man shoots a seal offscreen. Siaja falls off a speeding boat and into freezing waters.
People become inebriated via shots of liquor. We’re told that Siaja’s mother has been sober for 10 years. Someone vomits offscreen.
We hear the s-word six times. “H—” is also used. God’s name is used in vain once. Someone displays both of her middle fingers at a crowd while yelling, “Screw all y’all.”
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He’s also an avid cook. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
This adaptation may lack the depth of its source material, but it isn’t a bad option if you’re itching for a new legal drama.
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