Trickster
Created by Michelle Latimer & Tony Elliott
Based on Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson
Directed by Michelle Latimer
Starring Joel Oulette, Crystle Lightning, Craig Lauzon, Anna Lambe
Take a disaffected high school boy with a messed-up home life and few prospects. Have him discover one day that he has special powers that can change everything. Such powers come at a cost and increase his personal alienation.
It’s the basic plotline for half the comic books out there and what seems like 90% of all anime plots. It’s also the basis for most fantasy novels.
But this one, aside from being better done than most (no radioactive spiders, I promise!) is different in that it is a tale of the life and legends of a First Nation tribe in Kitimat, British Columbia. According to CBC, “Set upon a supernatural, fantastical world of magic, Trickster is a coming-of-age tale about growth and discovering yourself. However, at the centre of it all, it is a story about family; the impact residential schools had on generations, the unwavering commitment and unconditional love a mother has to protect her son, and a teenager’s journey in discovering his biological parentage.”
Jared, the highschooler in question (Oulette), starts seeing a stranger in their small remote community (Kitimat is on the shores of BC about 100km from the southern tip of the border with Alaska) and then other weird stuff starts happening, like a raven who follows him around and starts making pithy observations. The stranger turns out to be a fellow named Wade who is in fact a Trickster, a god of mischief and chaos (like Loki or Coyote) – not evil per se, but hazardous to be around because he delights in stirring the shit. Not surprisingly, the raven is also Wade.
Jared learns that Wade is actually his biological father, and he will become the next Trickster. But there is a huge task he must perform first. He must kill the Trickster.
While the characters in the series are specific to two tribes in Kitimat (“The Kitamaat call themselves Haisla (“dwellers downriver”); and the Kitlope Henaaksiala (“dying off slowly” which isn’t as grim as it sounds—it just means longegivity runs in the tribe)” the actors are all First Nation, although in Canada that covers a lot of territory. Anna Lambe, who plays Sarah, Jared’s romantic interest, is actually from Iqaluit, which is north of Québec and closer to Norway than to British Columbia. But the tone is authentic and respectful.
The acting is solid, and the plot just eerie and otherworldly enough to put it a notch above other similar tales. The six-part first season grabs your interest and maintains it.
Canadian residents can watch it streaming on CBC Gem; American and other folks will see its debut on the CW January 12th, 2021. It’s certainly worth the wait.
