There is a perception in the United States that Vermont is the only place to get maple syrup. Those from Quebec aka La Belle Province would challenge that assumption.
On the surface, you might think a 6-part series on maple syrup would be sticky and quite boring. Incompetent, small-time crime proves to be more interesting than you might imagine.
The Sticky is available on Amazon Prime Video in both Canada and the United States. This is one of the better attempts for the streaming services to produce Canadian content.
The disclaimer is clear: this is not the true story of the greatest maple syrup heist in Quebec. There really was a major maple syrup heist in Quebec.
The cast is Canadian with the exceptions of American actor Margo Martindale in a main role as Ruth Landry, owner of a maple syrup farm who is being hosed by Leonard Gauthier Sr. (Guy Nadon), who runs the association of maple syrup producers.
Ruth knows Mike Byrne (Chris Diamantopoulos) and Remy Bouchard (Guillaume Cyr) is the lone security guard of the maple syrup who challenges Mike to get back at his bosses.
Teddy Green (Gita Miller) and Detective Valérie Nadeau (Suzanne Clément) are the cops chasing after them. The Canadian cast includes Mickaël Gouin, Mark O'Brien, and Meegwun Fairbrother. Jamie Lee Curtis, an executive producer of the series, has a cameo appearance.
The series was created by Brian Donovan and Ed Herro with direction from Michael Dowse and Joyce Wong.
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Jason Jones went to Quebec to "investigate" this story for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart a decade ago. Jones got to compare the whole matter to Pablo Escobar and cocaine. The actual smugglers got the maple syrup into Vermont and New Brunswick (an intriguing way to get Quebec maple syrup).
There are small Quebec details such as mentioning CEGEP, tabarnac, and incorporating a strip club into the series.
The series takes place at the end of the sap season so there is plenty of snow to be found. Ruth and Remy explain the maple syrup process to Mike that is entertaining and informative.
There are 6 episodes in the 30 minute range. Will not take long to digest. The series is entertaining and engaging.
The way they go about this reminds us of a great quote from Mickey Rourke in Body Heat: "any time you try a decent crime, you got fifty ways you're gonna f-ck up. If you think of twenty-five of them, then you're a genius - and you ain't no genius." These people are not geniuses.
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Amazon Prime Video, with Three Pines and The Lake and now The Sticky, is definitely doing a lot better than Netflix in this race to produce Canadian content. The Sticky has some recognizable Quebecois and Canadian talent such as Cyr, Clément, Diamantopoulos, and Nadon.
The series is mostly in English with some French scattered in the script. The program is dubbed into numerous languages. We would be curious to watch the French-Canadian version, even if we couldn't follow that too well.
CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage
CanadianCrossing.com television coverage
The Sticky is available on Amazon Prime Video in both Canada and the United States.
video credit and photo credit: The Sticky/Amazon Prime Video