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Book of Negroes, Featured

Recap: Book of Negroes Episode 1

To begin I must put this review into context. I have not read The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill. This will be my review untainted by previous knowledge of the story. That said…

This is the first of six episodes, featured on CBC in Canada and later this year on BET in the US, directed by Clement Virgo, and produced by Conquering Lion Pictures and Out Of Africa Entertainment. In it we will learn the story of Aminata Diallo and her life as both a slave and a loyalist to Britain during the Revolutionary War.

We open in 1807 in the House of Parliament in England. Aminata Diallo (Aunjanue Ellis) is waiting to testify on behalf of the Abolitionists petitioning the Court to end slavery. Her testimony is our story; Aminata is our Djeli (storyteller).

The elder Aminata transports us back to the time of Aminata’s youth (Shailyn Pierre-Dixon) in the village of Bayo and we learn she is raised as a Muslim by newly reverted parents. Her mother is a renowned baby catcher who travels freely from village to village and Aminata learns the same skills at her mother’s knee. Her father is the only member of her village who owns a Qur’an. As her story unfolds, we are told that the Man Stealers are targeting the local villages and so as a precaution Aminata’s father accompanies his wife and daughter to a birthing in one of the nearby villages. Coincidentally, it is on this very journey that the young family is ambushed on their way. Aminata is captured and shackled, her parents are left to die in the jungle, and Aminata’s village is set to fire.

The remainder of this episode deals with the treacheries Aminata was subjected to during her journey across land and water, from her village of Bayo (present day Segou, Mali, Africa) to Port Charles Town NC. Coffled to her fellow captives, she makes the long journey across the arid African landscape to where the river meets the sky (Atlantic Ocean) and the awaiting slaver. Along her journey, Aminata is befriended by one of her captors Chekura Tiano (Siya Xaba), who as it happens is also a captive. He had been sold to the leader by his uncle following the deaths of his own parents. Chekura shares his food and water, and unshackles Aminata for her journey – finding favour with her captors I think will be a theme throughout the story as we see this happen in a couple of instances throughout this episode.

The captives reach the shore and are imprisoned at the major slave trading operation located on Bance Island, branded, and then herded onto the slaver. The lead Man Stealer, no longer in need of Chekura sends him to the ship to be traded. Once on the filthy ship Aminata once again finds favour (and value), this time with “Medicine Man” Tom (Nick Boraine). Tom learns that Aminata is not only fluent in many of the tribal languages but she is a capable midwife. An agreement is struck; Aminata assists the Medicine Man, he will in turn help her.

Aminata’s strength of character is evident during this voyage. She avoids Tom’s advances and refuses his attempts to rename her “Mary”. With her position as The Medicine Man’s Assistant, and her assumed innocence of youth, Aminata is granted freedom from her chains and is allowed to move about the ship unencumbered. This freedom leads us to the climax of this installment. Aminata is able to secretly gather weapons and supplies them to her fellow captives. The slaves then orchestrate an ambush using the women in their midst to distract the sailors. Aminata takes refuge behind the ship’s wheel with Chekura providing extra protection from the bloody fight. Ultimately though, their meagre weapons prove fruitless to the well-armed crew. However, Tom the Medicine Man dies in the fight and a woman (Fanta, played by Nondumiso Tembe) who also hails from Aminata’s village is executed for her role in murdering him.

At long last the journey ends and we arrive at Port Charles Town, North Carolina in 1761. It is here that Aminata is sold to Robertson Appleby (Greg Bryk) for five pounds sterling and taken to his plantation. The episode closes with young Aminata falling into a deep sleep in the first comfortable bed she has seen in months and we are instantly transported years ahead with the young adult Aminata (Tenika Davis) being roused from her sleep to go “catch a baby”.

So far I have only a couple minor complaints. I am a stickler for small details and I find that even though they may seem minor, I find them highly unnerving. Early on we see Aminata with her father as she practises her writing. I have to wonder, why is it that a man who knows how to read Arabic is teaching his daughter to write Arabic words in the Latin alphabet? Further, the scene in which Aminata is praying is a very poor representation for Islamic prayers (no female would have situated herself for prayers with her back to a man, at the very least even in the situation as a captive she would have likely positioned herself closer to the vegetation to preserve some sense of modesty).

All in all though, this was a great opening episode and I cannot wait to see what unfolds next. Let me know what you think or perhaps what you are most looking forward to in the next episode in the comments below.

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Featured

Chopped Canada sets dramatic Season 2 table

It may not have had the stress of competing on Chopped Canada–returning for Season 2 on Saturday–but having lunch with two of the show’s judges was still pretty daunting. Would John Higgins and Anne Yarymowich–he the director of George Brown College’s Chef School and she an instructor there–note my nervousness and trepidation surrounding the collection of forks in front of me?

The setting for our late-November sit-down was The Chef’s House, George Brown’s student-run restaurant where those enrolled in the Chef School program not only work in the kitchen preparing dishes but at the front of the house too, taking orders and passing plates to paying customers. As for how I fared in front of Higgins and Yarymowich? Passed with flying colours. Hey, I can devour food with the best of them. As we chowed down on tasty treats (I went for the country paté appetizer and braised beef main), we chatted about Season 2 of Food Network Canada’s culinary competition.

Both admitted to having many of the same reactions I do watching chefs struggle to create edible offerings out of the mystery ingredients. Their first thought is always, “What would I do with that?” followed by “What are they doing?!?!” as questionable decisions are made as time starts to tick down. The challenge for the competitors will be made even harder, I was told, though the structure remains the same: more chefs from across the country compete for $10,000 in front of Higgins, Yarymowich and fellow returning judges Susur Lee, Lynn Crawford, Michael Smith and Roger Mooking, and new panelists Massimo Capra, Antonio Park and Eden Grinshpan.

Saturday’s return finds Carol Christie of Sooke, B.C., Brian McKenna of Langley, B.C., Mario Spina of Calgary and Keith Hoare of Mississauga, Ont., challenged by a Middle Eastern ingredient in the appetizer round, monkfish in the entrée round and tofu for the dessert. The tension in the challenges have been upped to new heights, with themed episodes scattered throughout the 13 episodes, including a Viewer’s Choice competition on Feb. 7 spotlighting prairie oysters, ketchup chips, Gefilte fish and squid ink.

Higgins and Yarymowich were mum on winners, promising only that Season 2 is more dramatic than the first. I can’t wait.

Chopped Canada airs Saturdays at 9 pm. ET/PT on Food Network Canada.

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Comments and queries for the week of Jan. 9

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Three TV shows and one story took hold of readers this week. There was lots of praise for Donald Sutherland’s Pirate’s Passage and The Book of Negroes but Lost Girl fans have started to lose faith in the final season. Meanwhile, readers weighed in on D.K. Latta’s piece for The Huffington Post. Check out the link to read one particularly insightful observation.

My wife and I just watched Pirate’s Passage. Wow, that really was very good, very top-class and well done. I’m 64, and I wish we’d had Canadian stories like this to read and on TV and as literature studies in school when I was growing up. Thanks to all for Pirate’s Passage! Please do lots more.–Steve and Tracy

I just finished watching Pirate’s Passage, and already I want more. This is a wonderfully produced project; I cannot recommend it enough to anyone wanting to enjoy a good old Canadian story.–Brandon

The Book of Negroes looks fantastic and I can’t recall such a great miniseries being made in Canada since Anne of Green Gables came out. Sure, there have been attempts, but for the most part there’s been political thrillers or issues-heavy miniseries that only appealed to niche viewers and failed ratings-wise. I am curious how The Book of Negroes will do in the ratings. There’s been plenty of promotion and the trailer is very enticing.–Alicia

The writers have not given the relationship between Lost Girl‘s Bo and Lauren much dignity. In the second show in which they were a true couple (Season 3), the writers had them flinging sarcasm at each other; not a good start for a relationship. When Bo went through the trial of the Dawning, when she emerged, there was no embrace or kiss with Lauren. Lauren was just standing there with all the others, there was no indication of them as a couple. Then shortly after that, the writers had Lauren ask Bo for a break in their relationship. She goes off to join Taft. In the 4th season, Lauren joins the Dark and foils the Morrigan, which to me indicates that Lauren wanted Bo all along, that she was trying to gain Bo’s favor by her actions against the Morrigan. And now in Season 5, they are “exes”? When did we get that discussion??–Sue

Got a question or comment about Canadian TV? greg@tv-eh.com or head to @tv_eh.

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Featured, Sunnyside

City celebrates the zany with wild, wacky Sunnyside

A man’s top hat gives him incredible luck. A coffee barista may be Satan himself. Babies duke it out in a mini-ring while adults bet on who will win. A house’s wall leaks blood. Townsfolk seek life advice from a disembodied voice echoing from a manhole. With all of those characters and story angles introduced in the show’s first few minutes, it’s hard to put a finger on just what Sunnyside is. So we asked star Pat Thornton.

“It’s like a sketch show that exists in a sitcom world,” he explains. “It’s all about the characters that live in the neighbourhood. Like The Simpsons, where you get to know everyone and you come back to see them. There’s no narrative that you have to follow. You just drop in and then move on.”

Created by Gary Pearson (This Hour Has 22 Minutes) and Dan Redican (The Kids in the Hall), Sunnyside boasts wild characters placed in even wilder situations. In Thursday’s debut episode, for instance, a young woman breaks off her relationship with a criminal who then goes on a shooting spree. The police arrive, and while in the midst of the firefight one female cop’s mom wanders over to chat. She’s hit by stray bullet, but keeps on talking to her daughter as if nothing has happened. In another, a husband tells his wife he’s taking their infant for a walk. Instead, he drops by a seedy warehouse to engage his daughter in Baby Fight Club. The scenes are so out of left field in their content that your first reaction is shock–how’d they come up with that??–before you break into laughter.

Sunnyside‘s cast is a who’s who from the Canadian comic and sketch world, including Thornton (Too Much Information and the Comedy Bar Comedy Podcast), Kathleen Phillips (Dan for Mayor), Alice Moran (Too Much Information), Kevin Vidal, Rob Norman (The Nut Job), and Patrice Goodman (Cracked), who assume the roles of such characters as Shaytan the devilish barista, Meth Kimmie, Handy Hank, hemp-wearing Ferg, Rookie Kerri the cop, and hot, hot yoga instructor Penny. Norm Macdonald checks in as The Hole, Sunnyside’s version of Google.

Turns out Pearson and Redican both had show pitches in to Rogers. Executives liked aspects of both projects and asked the pair to work together on what became Sunnyside.

“I know there’s a part of Toronto called Sunnyside, but this is a fictional neighbourhood,” Pearson says. “It’s kind of like Parkdale or Roncesvalles. It’s a neighbourhood in transition. There are rich people, yuppies and stuff, and some poor people, people of different sexual orientations and races and they’re all jammed together in this one place. We see their relationships and how they interact with each other, but at the same time there is magic in the neighbourhood and weird things happen.” (See: the bleeding wall.)

If ad time is any indication, City has high hopes for Sunnyside. The network has been splashing promos for the comedy series all over prime time, something Thornton isn’t used to, but welcomes.

“It was a huge vote of confidence,” he admits. “I like the angle that we take with this show. It’s just, ‘Let’s get weird.'”

Sunnyside is certainly that. And undeniably funny.

Sunnyside airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on City.

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Featured, Saving Hope

Review: Saving Hope divides the heart

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After that tense midseason finale, it certainly was a bit of a slower paced beginning that ultimately built up momentum during Wednesday’s two-hour premiere of Saving Hope. Minus the spreading news of Alex’s pregnancy and Molly’s drug overdose, the first hour was more of a primer for the emotional fallout of the battle for a heart transplant and the reaction to Alex getting knocked up. But more on that plot point later.

There was, however, an overabundance of terrible personalities plaguing the halls of Hope Zion during the first hour, “The Parent Trap.” First there was Tammy, the MMA fighter so aggressive and defensive it was nearly impossible for Charlie to do his job. Naturally, Charlie was able to thaw her frosty exterior (with a little help from his ghostly capabilities) to find out that Tammy’s medical problems were rooted to her secret lupus diagnosis. But despite my dislike of her character, I really appreciated that Tammy’s spirit wasn’t a huge part of the episode and it simply helped Charlie solve her medical mystery before bringing her back to the land of the living. The spirits are a huge part of Saving Hope but it’s nice when they aren’t constantly in Charlie’s way, as was the case for both “The Parent Trap” and the second hour’s episode, “Hearts of Glass.”

Also bringing down the good vibes of the hospital was Elliot Stout, a litigation-friendly Bay Street bulldog (so not in the Kyle Lowry way) who believed he was entitled to a donor heart over sweet foster mother, Leila, pulling an ethical and legal card the hospital couldn’t ignore to get it. No surprise why we never saw anyone visiting the guy during his lengthy stay. It was an especially brutal storyline since we’d already become well acquainted with Leila and her relationship with foster-daughter Giselle throughout the two episodes, so to see him steal Leila’s heart and watch the soon-to-be-mother die hours later was just terrible.

Taking the situation hardest of course was Dawn, who forged an interesting relationship with Giselle while the girl watched over her future mother. Dawn’s brash attitude sometimes doesn’t sit well with me, but seeing her offer the girl small comforts was a solid reflection of the good within her character I sometimes can’t see. And seeing Leila cross over to the other side when Dawn gave Giselle a hug of comfort was another touching moment for her character.

Then there was the return of Molly, Dana’s seriously troubled daughter (who reminds me way too much of Modern Family’s Sarah Hyland for some reason). Not only does Molly not know what the Find My Phone app is (perhaps she was thinking of Find My Friends, which is a little more upfront with its creepiness), she basically forced Alex into a weird position as the middleman in her fight with her mother. Luckily it worked out for the best to have Alex there, what with Dana’s inability to function as a doctor when Molly overdosed, and the mother-daughter pair were finally able to somewhat have an honest conversation about her dangerous habit.

Undoubtedly the biggest splash of the night was Alex’s casual admission to Dawn that she was indeed pregnant, something that made me do a double take to ensure I’d heard right. Of course with everything going on between Alex, Charlie and Joel (out on bail and still miraculously allowed to work at the hospital) the pregnancy wrench and who’s the daddy mystery just makes things 10 times more awkward between the three. But hey, Dana’s going to be a great godmother!

Although the two were at each other’s throats a bit about the paternity mystery, they were able to band together in order to work on a patient (played by Degrassi grad Adam Ruggiero). The two always have a remarkable capability to put their work before their intertwined personal lives, but until Alex gives the go-ahead for that paternity test, things are only going to get more tense between the three from here.

So who do you think is the real father? Place your bets with Zach now, or let us know in the comments.

Notes:

  • I can’t believe how calm Charlie was reacting to the news of Alex’s pregnancy. His nice guy status is only reaffirmed through instances like this.
  • As Maggie mentioned, the thought of someone making hot dogs in a coffee pot is both disgusting and intriguing to me.
  • Grade Your M.D. made me chuckle only because of how often I’ve used Rate My Professor to look up my teachers. And yes, the hotness rating is a real thing.
  • Best line of the night goes to Charlie: “Joel?! Kills a guy and he’s still employee of the month.”

Saving Hope airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on CTV.

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