In 2011 and 2012, over a interval of a number of months, some 3,000 tons of maple syrup, then price $18.7 million (Canadian) have been stolen from a Quebec warehouse, in what turned often known as the Nice Canadian Maple Syrup Heist. That was severe enterprise in Canada, whose flag is the maple leaf and which provides a lot of the world’s maple syrup, however additionally it is undeniably amusing.
And so the theft, and the battle between the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers (Fédération des producteurs acéricoles du Québec), which controls the circulate of spice — I imply, syrup — and unbiased producers who discover the federation autocratic, heavy-handed and unfair, have turn into the premise of “The Sticky.” Premiering Friday on Prime Video, its each episode opens with the disclaimer that that is “absolutely not the true story” of this true story. (The true true story is instructed in “The Maple Syrup Heist,” a Season 1 episode of the Netflix documentary sequence, “Dirty Money,” and it’s nicely well worth the watch.)
Creators Brian Donovan and Ed Herro (“American Housewife”) have taken the weather of this story and compacted them right into a typically entertaining small city comedy, if an unusually offended one, which sits firmly on the facet of the person towards the group. That the sequence opens with the invention of a physique in a barrel of syrup, accompanied by a mariachi rendition of “La Cucaracha,” ought to provide you with an thought of the tone “The Sticky” goes to take.
Out entrance is Margo Martindale’s Ruth (not based mostly on however maybe faintly impressed by anti-syndicate activist Angèle Grenier), who someday finds an official-looking individual pulling the faucets from her maple bushes, claiming that Ruth is an “unlicensed operator.” The registered operator, her husband, Martin (Joseph Bellerose), is in a coma; a lot to the displeasure of her physician sister, Florence (Vickie Papavs), Ruth is retaining him at dwelling, fearful that he’ll die in a hospital. Behind this all is tinpot tyrant Leonard (Man Nadon), head of the Quebec Maple Assn., which he regards as his private fiefdom and who’s scheming to take over the farms that neighbor his personal, Ruth’s included. He’s the Mr. Potter on this Canadian Bedford Falls.
The caper originates with Remy (Guillaume Cyr), the underappreciated lone safety guard on the syrup warehouse, the place 1000’s of barrels are saved as a “strategic reserve;” whilst his bosses reject his proposal to rent extra safety, he has been quietly making off with a barrel a month with the assistance of a good friend, Orval Steeks (Jason Cavalier), who sells it on the maple syrup black market. (That could be a actual factor.)
Guillaume Cyr, Margo Martindale and Chris Diamantopoulos type an unlikely gang in “The Sticky.”
(Photograph: Jan Thijs 2022, Jan Thijs 2023/Jan Thijs)
Turning 40 and going nowhere, he’s inspired by his candy mink-farmer father (Michel Perron) to intention excessive, and so he begins to suppose greater. This brings him inside the orbit of Mike (Chris Diamantopoulos), the ineffectual native consultant of a Boston mob, who in flip will attain out to Ruth, seemingly an previous good friend; their historical past — extra particularly his historical past with Martin — is unexplored, however I assume we are going to study one thing in a second season. (This one ends very a lot in mid-sentence.) And so a gang is fashioned.
The weather of the theft are much like its real-world mannequin — taking barrels, siphoning the syrup, changing it with water and placing the barrels again — although the place the precise crime came about over months, right here a man-made ticking clock requires that it’s achieved inside days. It is not sensible, besides as tv.
Crime as a type of self-actualization has an honorable comedy historical past — “The Producers,” “Going in Style,” “Cat Ballou,” “Our Flag Means Death,” simply off the highest of my head — and by making their thieves underdogs, the creators guarantee we are going to root for them, nonetheless silly their plans. Sadly, that physique on the high of the present throws a wrench within the works, making it tougher to care whether or not the trio succeeds, or to grasp, as soon as it’s made plain, why they even go on collectively. Syrup is simply syrup and cash is simply cash, however homicide is … homicide. It’s a black comedy, certain, however meant indirectly to be heartwarming. Your discomfort might range, in fact.
In a uncommon starring function, Martindale owns the sequence, which fortunately lets her rip. Her Ruth is offended, annoyed, unhappy, powerful, tender, bullish and reckless, but hamstrung by circumstance; she is determined to maintain her farm in an effort to take care of her husband. In a memorable scene, she careens via city, shouting and cackling, dragging a tree behind her truck, which she sends flying via the glass entrance of the affiliation headquarters. (The half was created for Jamie Lee Curtis, who needed to drop out, however reveals up as a visitor star; to not spoil something, however you possibly can see her within the present’s trailer, pointing a gun and saying, “Open the door, Mike. I am freezing my balls off.”)
“Fargo” viewers will certainly be reminded of “Fargo,” with which “The Sticky” shares snow, fur hats, out-sized characters and crime. (There’s a lot much less homicide, although.) Representing the police are native officer Teddy (Gita Miller) and hard-boiled Montreal murder Det. Valérie Nadeau (Suzanne Clément), who we assume is legendary based mostly on Teddy’s dazzled response when she walks within the door, asserting, “I need a non-crap hotel.” In “Fargo,”the pair would have main roles, and “The Sticky” doesn’t use them practically sufficient.
Every episode ends with a pop track in French, protecting an previous American pop track, and it’s price sticking round for these, in the event you love French covers of previous American pop songs. Qui est avec moi?
