The Globe and Mail
Drew Hayden Taylor
Published December 16, 2020
CBC
The recent TV adaptation of Eden Robinson’s clever novel
Son of a Trickster was amazing for two reasons. First, it demonstrated how far contemporary Indigenous storytelling has come from its days hanging around the campfire and kitchen table. Secondly, the fact that it mixed the real with the surreal was a great watershed moment. Stories like that take chances. It goes down avenues that a few decades ago would have seemed unlikely. It embraces the fantastic.
Co-written and directed by Michelle Latimer, the show (
Trickster, on CBC) explores the difficult life of a teenager who discovers his father is Wee’git, the Heiltsuk trickster. And that comes with a lot of personal and supernatural problems. Who knew?