“This is Absolutely Not the True Story of the Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist.”
The opening crawl of all six episodes of Prime Video’s “The Sticky” is meant to make clear that this stranger-than-fiction comedic thriller plays fast and loose with the truth. But it also draws a parallel to its most blatant inspiration, the not-so-true story of “Fargo,” both the Coen brothers film and the Noah Hawley FX iteration. Once again, a crime saga unfolds that features a few locals of the great snowy northern half of the continent who get caught up in something that’s way more complicated and violent than they first expect. “The Sticky” struggles for about an hour—the first two episodes—but then finds its footing just in time to end in a cliffhanger that promises more second-season chaos. In a remarkably crowded end-of-year slate of quality new programs like “Black Doves,” “A Man on the Inside,” “The Agency,” and “The Madness,” it’s easy to see a show like “The Sticky” getting lost, but this quick watch is sweet enough to seek it out, you betcha.
Unlike “Fargo,” the base of “The Sticky” actually is true. In 2011 and 2012, thousands of tons of maple syrup were stolen from a storage facility in Quebec. You probably didn’t know (I didn’t) that the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers accounts for 77% of the global supply. So there’s money in those trees, and the heist of the syrup from the federal facility accounted for the most valuable such crime in the history of Canada. The actual criminals were led by Richard Vallieres, who masterminded a scheme for trucks to be rerouted and syrup to be replaced by water. The creators of “The Sticky” eschew most of the facts of the case, using the idea of a syrup heist to tell a new story of quirky characters making waves of bad decisions.
Esteemed Character Actress Margo Martindale riffs a bit on her crime lord persona from her incredible turn on “Justified,” as she plays Ruth Landry, a maple syrup farmer who has fallen on hard times after her husband has gone into a coma. Trying to keep her farm from going under has sent Ruth against the power-hungry Leonard (Guy Nadon), who wants her land and trees at any cost. Trying to find the money to fend off the land-grabbing Leonard leads Ruth into the path of Remy Bouchard (Guillaume Cyr), a kind-but-dopey security guard at the nearby syrup warehouse. He’s basically alone at the facility, even though he’s asked for help, and he’s started a side gig stealing a barrel at a time to sell on the syrup black market. That’s the case until he meets a Boston mobster named Mike Byrne (Chris Diamontopoulos), and they devise a plan to steal the syrup, bringing in Ruth as the third wheel. Remy is the inside man, Ruth is the brains, and Mike is the brawn. It’s a proven formula.
The first two episodes of “The Sticky” – it’s only 30-minute chapters for six episodes, which means you can watch the entirety of it in less time than “The Brutalist” – feel stuck, unable to balance the character-building needed for a show like this with the right tone. They alternate trying too hard to be quirky and not trying hard enough to get the plot going. Luckily, the show comes together when they get the throat-clearing out of the way and get down to business. The mid-section of the season becomes a cat-and-mouse as two cops try to figure out what’s going on, and our three “heroes” stay ahead of them. It’s well-written and well-directed (by Michael Dowse of “Goon,” one of the most famous Canadian comedies ever), even if its heavy dose of northern quirk does sometimes recall “Fargo” a bit aggressively.
Jamie Lee Curtis, who produces the show and was once set to play Ruth before agreeing it was a better fit for Martindale, shows up as a true criminal in the back half of the season and gives it a much different, darker energy. A likely criticism will be that the show arguably fails to fulfill its premise, setting us up for a memorable heist that doesn’t really come, punting potential chaos to the second season. One imagines that the draw of Curtis and Martindale will make that happen, but it would be truly disappointing if we don’t get to find out what happens to Ruth, Remy, and Mike, true or not.
Whole season screened for review. Premieres on Prime Video on December 6th.